Evidence of German American Bund in STL
Using a variety of sources, I was able to find evidence of the German American Bund in the St. Louis area of Missouri. This was difficult because it required using the testimony of Fritz Kuhn, who testifies as a witness in a hearing investigating suspicious activities occurring within the US. Additionally, I had to use information from the FBI records on the German American Federation/Bund Part 11 of 11 which showed a variety of information regarding employees of the Bund as well as financial contributors.
Fritz Kuhn, the president of the German- American Bund, lists out the first officers of the Bund and the locations in which they served. Kuhn testifies that a man under the name Mr. George Froboese was the district leader of the Middle West district of the United States for the German Bund organization. In the Middle West district is the city of St. Louis Missouri.
Once the district leader of the middle west district had been identified, I was able to begin digging for other evidence outlining his involvement in the Bund. Below, is information provided by the FBI stating his employment for the Bund as well as explaining that the main mailing address for the Bund was being disguised as another business.
Even more than that, the FBI identified those that made financial contributions to the organization, and on August 29, 1940, a woman named Mrs. Beck from St. Louis contributed $113, a pretty significant amount of money during this time. This can be seen in the statements below. Overall, it is clear that the German American Bund had followers in Missouri, and even the St. Louis area. Some participated in the form of employment, others donated and gifted money to the organization, and others simply followed the anti-democratic ideologies that the Bund was promoting.
Overall, I went on an exciting journey to find evidence of the involvement of the German American Bund organization in the St. Louis area. This was challenging and I felt really engaged while digging through the various documents to learn more about how to find evidence without an article stating it blatantly. While researching, I began to understand that an organization such as the Bund had to go through extensive measures to attempt to keep much of its organization’s activities a secret, considering the ideologies they were promoting. I enjoyed being able to learn how to uncover those less obvious clues that pointed to Bund activity in St. Louis.
