Hans Schmidt (Waffen-SS)

Hans Schmidt
Born(1927-04-24)April 24, 1927
Völklingen, Germany
DiedMay 30, 2010(2010-05-30) (aged 83)
North Carolina, United States
Nationalitynaturalized American
Occupation(s)Businessman, political activist
Known forveteran of the Waffen-SS
founder of the German-American National Political Action Committee (GANPAC)

Hans Schmidt (24 April 1927 – 30 May 2010) was a German-born naturalized American citizen, member of the Waffen-SS during World War II, and founder of the German-American National Political Action Committee (GANPAC). He was primarily known for his promotion of White separatism, Nazism, antisemitism, and Holocaust denial. Schmidt was arrested in Germany on hate charges in 1995, but avoided standing trial by returning to the USA while released on bail.[1]

Early life

Schmidt was born on 24 April 1927, in Völklingen. During Nazi rule, he was a member of the Hitler Youth, and, by his own account, joined the Waffen-SS in 1943 at the age of 16,[2] and served as a corporal in the SS Division Leibstandarte. Schmidt was wounded twice during campaigns in Hungary, Austria, and the Battle of the Bulge.[3][unreliable source?] He left Germany in 1947, arrived in the United States in 1949, and became a naturalized citizen in 1955 in Chicago.[4]

Political activism

GANPAC

In 1983, Schmidt founded the German-American National Political Action Committee (GANPAC), which published the GANPAC Brief in English and the USA-Bericht ([U.S.A. Report]) in German. GANPAC was characterized as "pretending to represent the 52 million Americans of German descent" by the German magazine Der Spiegel,[5] as "openly anti-Semitic" by The New York Times,[6] and as "virulently anti-Semitic" by the Anti-Defamation League.[7] GANPAC was also accused of promoting Holocaust denial.[8]

Between 1983 and 1985, GANPAC raised about $55,000 in contributions,[9] but, unlike other political action committees, did not make any financial contributions until the late 1980s, when it began donating money to the election campaigns of conservative Republican candidates. However, Schmidt's efforts to ingratiate himself to politicians ended up backfiring, as his delusions about them repeatedly humiliated him in public. To give one example, when U.S. Senator Steve Symms gave a $1,000 contribution from GANPAC to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the Idaho Holocaust Council, Schmidt complained to the Federal Election Commission and was bluntly informed that Symms' actions were completely legal and he had no case—and Symms publicly disavowed Schmidt's beliefs as well.[6] GANPAC also made a contribution to Democrat Bob Edgar who was running against Jewish Republican candidate Arlen Specter, only to have Edgar state that while he wanted to take over Sen. Specter's seat in the Senate, he actually agreed with Specter's pro-Israel views.[10]

The Santa Monica offices of GANPAC were fire-bombed in 1985, causing $50,000 in damage. Schmidt claimed the Jewish Defense League carried out the attack, a claim the JDL rejected.[11]

The GANPAC Brief was published out of Washington, D.C. (1983-1989), Santa Monica, California (1990-1993), Burke, Virginia (January–March 1994), and Pensacola, Florida (April 1994-July 2004).[12]

GIEA

Schmidt also founded the German-American Information and Education Association (GIEA), which is presided over by E. Stanley Rittenhouse, a known anti-Semite,[1] who "served as chief legislative representative for the Liberty Lobby,[13] a far right organization founded by Willis Carto, whom the Anti-Defamation League calls "perhaps the most influential professional anti-Semite in the United States".[14]

National Alliance

In one of his last speeches, William Luther Pierce briefly discussed a longtime friendship with Hans Schmidt.[15]

Arrest

On 9 August 1995[16] Schmidt was arrested at the Frankfurt airport by German authorities after copies of his newsletter, USA-Bericht, were discovered. He was charged with "incitement to hate" (Volksverhetzung in German) as a result of a letter he had sent to a German state legislator in Schwerin.[4] Schmidt came to regard the German government as treasonous and controlled by "Oberjuden" ("top Jews"),[8] and claimed the U.S. embassy provided false information to Germany to persecute him.[17] The ADL applauded his arrest.[18] Due to poor health, he was released on bail in January 1996. He fled Germany and returned to the US to avoid further persecution.[17] He wrote a book about this experience, titled Jailed in 'Democratic' Germany (1997).

Later life and death

Schmidt continued anti-Semitic campaigns, first by calling for a repeal of the Kosher tax (specifically addressing the Adolph Coors Brewing Co.),[19] and later by writing a book entitled End Times/End Games (1999) where he listed all the ways "Aryans" were more accomplished than Jews and begged all Jews to voluntarily leave white-majority countries on their own accord. His influence waned as his friend Ernst Zundel's career withered, and he died in 2010. He had no known survivors.

Quotations

  • In a postcard, GANPAC claimed that "Jews were not gassed by the Nazis ... the numbers and reports of predetermined extermination are greatly exaggerated by professional liars".[20]
  • According to the German Verfassungsschutz, Schmidt, protected by US law, was very outspoken in his publications and cites an example from The Jewish Question in 20th Century in America": "In the last 200 years, European observers have noted that the Jews are not interested in 'Equality of the Races' but in destroying the white Race."[21]
  • The 1996 annual report of the Verfassungsschutz of Lower Saxony, quotes from an issue of USA-Bericht: "What I dislike most about Jews is their apparent deep dishonesty. [...] An outstanding example for this deep dishonesty of most of the Jews [...] is the constant denial of Jewish excessive power [...] [It is] of course indispensable that the Jews are pampered in Germany, just as in nature, it is a parasite's due."[22]

Writings

  • Jailed in 'Democratic' Germany: The Ordeal of an American Writer (1997). Published in Milton, Florida by Guderian Books as a 490-page paperback (ISBN 0965413403).
  • End Times/End Games: The Final Months of the Jewish Century (1999). First edition published in Pensacola, FL by H. Schmidt as a 406-page paperback (ISBN 0966904702). Second revised and enlarged edition published as a 489-page paperback (ISBN 0966904710). Published in German as Endzeiten, Endspiele: Der Ausklang des jüdischen Jahrhunderts (2000) in Pensacola, FL by Hans Schmidt as a 508-page paperback (ISBN 0966904729).
  • SS Panzergrenadier: A True Story of World War II (2001). First published in Pensacola, FL by H. Schmidt Publications as a 402-page hardcover (ISBN 0966904745). Second edition published on 20 April 2002 as a 407-page hardcover (ISBN 0966904753).
  • Hitler Boys in America: Re-Education Exposed: A Comparative Study of the Soul Destroying Effects of the Allied Imposed Re-Education on the Psyche of the German People (2003). Published in Pensacola, FL by H. Schmidt Publications as a 319-page hardcover (ISBN 0966904761).

References

  1. ^ a b Grumke, Thomas (2004). "Relations Between Right-Wing Extremists in Germany and the United States, 1945-1990". In Detlef Junker (ed.). The United States and Germany in the era of the Cold War, 1945-1990. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 496. ISBN 0-521-83731-6. Archived from the original on 2019-12-15. Retrieved 2013-08-12.
  2. ^ Schmidt, Hans (2002). SS Panzergrenadier: A True Story of World War II publisher's blurb. H. Schmidt Publications. ISBN 0966904753.
  3. ^ Schmidt, Hans (1998). "German WWII Vet Reviews 'Saving Private Ryan'". The Campaign for Radical Truth in History. Michael A. Hoffman II. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b Anti-Defamation League (June 1996). Schwartz, Alan M. (ed.). Danger Extremism: The Major Vehicles and Voices on America's Far-Right Fringe. Anti-Defamation League. pp. 135–137. ISBN 0884641694.
  5. ^ "Rassisten-Basis USA. Rechtsextreme in Amerika unterstützen die deutsche Szene". Der Spiegel (in German). 5 December 1994. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. GANPAC gibt vor, die "52 Millionen Amerikaner deutscher Abstammung zu repräsentieren.
  6. ^ a b "Washington Talk: Briefing; Gift Is His to Give". The New York Times. 28 October 1987. Retrieved 8 June 2015. It was "the height of hypocrisy," [Schmidt] said, for Mr. Symms to "turn over their hard-earned monies to people that are diametrically opposed to Germanic ethical or moral values."
  7. ^ "Extremism in Florida. The Dark Side of the Sunshine State" (PDF). Anti-Defamation League. 2006–2007. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-04-28.
  8. ^ a b Kaplan, Jeffrey; Weinberg, Leonard (1998). "The Ties that Bind: The Euro-American Radical Right's "Special Relationship"". The Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right. Rutgers University Press. pp. 78–80. ISBN 0-8135-2564-0. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  9. ^ Anderson, Jack (24 July 1985). "Political Group Keeps Earnings for Own Use". The Ocala Star-Banner. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  10. ^ Jones, Mother (April 1987). "Frontlines: Rudolf Hess Fan Club Seeks Help". Mother Jones. p. 14. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  11. ^ "JDL Denies Office Firebombing". Los Angeles Times. 5 June 1985. Retrieved 8 June 2015. Schmidt [...] said he believed the JDL was behind the firebombing because "that's their purpose."
  12. ^ GANPAC Brief record. Library of Congress. OCLC 15993092. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  13. ^ Carto, Willis A. (16–23 July 2007). "Israel Violating the Genocide Convention: Israel, United States Accused of Denying Basic Human Rights to Palestinians". American Free Press. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Willis A. Carto: Fabricating History". Anti-Defamation League. 2001. Archived from the original on 2012-01-30. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
  15. ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-07.
  16. ^ "American's Trial on Racism Opens". Wilmington Morning Star. No. 71. 5 January 1996. p. 6A. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  17. ^ a b Michael, George (2003). Confronting Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA. Taylor & Francis. p. 168. ISBN 0-203-56321-2.
  18. ^ "ACTIONS BY DENMARK AND GERMANY AGAINST AMERICAN NEO-NAZIS PRAISED BY ADL". Anti-Defamation League. 24 August 1995. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  19. ^ "The "Kosher Tax" Hoax: Anti-Semitic Recipe for Hate". Anti-Defamation League. January 1991. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  20. ^ Pentlin, Susan Lee (2001). "American Germanists and the Holocaust, 1933-1945: The Legacy". In David Benseler; Craig W. Nickisch; Cora Lee Nolendorfs (eds.). Teaching German in Twentieth-Century America. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 143–144. ISBN 0-299-16830-1.
  21. ^ "Argumentationsmuster im Rechtsextremistischen Antisemitismus. Aktuelle Entwicklungen" (PDF) (in German). Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz. 2005. p. 12 (footnote). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-22. Retrieved 2010-11-04. Die jüdische Frage im 20.Jahrhundert in Amerika, in der es heißt: "Im Laufe der letzten 200 Jahre haben europäische Beobachter festgestellt, dass die Juden nicht auf 'Rassengleichheit', sondern auf die Zerstörung der weißen Rasse aus sind."
  22. ^ "Verfassungsschutzbericht 1996" (in German). Niedersächsisches Innenministerium. 2005. p. 40.