Evening star., 1942-07-04
Kunze, Bund Leader,
Sought on Spy Charge,
Arrested in Mexico
Is One of Five Men
Indicted at Hartford
In Plot to Aid Axis
B, the Associated Press.


B, the Associated Press.
NEW HAVEN, Conn, July A.
The tall, dark, acting "Feuhrer' of
the German-American Bund, Ger
hard Wilhelm Kunze, who a Federal
grand jury in Hartford charges
plotted to aid Germany and Japan
by furnishing them with United
States military information, today
was being held, FBI officials said,
in a Mexican Jail.
The arrest of KunZe, self-de-
scribed third-generation American
aiming for the establishment of a
white mans United States" was dis
closed here and in Washington by
Federal Bureau OF Investigation
heads, who declared it could be
safely assumed that steps would be
taken to return the national bund
leader to this country.
Gn Mexico City, Police Chief
Gen. Miguel z. Martinez said
nina believed to be Kunze was
arrested in a small coastal town
near the Gulf port of Vera Cruz,
where two Mexican tankers were
torpedoed last week. Police
agents who were shown clear
picture of KunZe declared,
That's the man." but Gen.
Martinez would not oflcially
commit himself.
(The Mexican police were re-
served about the whole case be-
cause, it was learned, they had
evidence the man they seized
has been in contact with a num-
Der of German agents operating
in Mexico)
Indicted at Hartford.
Kunze, Anastase Vonsiatsky, head
OF the All-Russian Fascist party,
and three others were indicted in
Hartford by a Federal grand jury
on June 10 on charge of con-
spiracy to violate the 1917 Espionage
Act by furnishing military and de-
fense information to the chief Axis
members.
Indicted with these two were DR..
Otto Willumeit, head of the Chicago
division of the German American
Bund; DR.. Wolfgang Ebell, Ell Paso,
Tex. physician, and the Rev. Kurt
B. Mohlzahn, Philadelphia clergy
man and former German army
officer.
Vonsiatsky and Dr.. Willumeit
quickly pleaded guilty. The former
was sentence dto five years in prison,
while sentence Of the Chicago pris-
oner has been deferred until after
the trial of the others, slated July
Is in Hartford.
Richard H. Simons, Connecticut
FBI agent, who announced Kunze's
arrest, lauded Mexican authorities
for their cooperation.
Meanwhile. Thomas j. Dodd, jr,
special assistant to the Attorney
General, said in Hartford that he
was ready to 60 to Mexico and
pointed out that Kunze, who became
national leader of the Bund in De-
cember. 1889, after the conviction
of Fritz Kuhn in New York on theft
and forgery charges, is an American
citizen, which will facilitate return
ing him to the Connecticut capital.
Grand Jury Charges.
The grand jury indictment
charged that:
"Kunze was designated to serve
as the intermediary to carry infor-
nation abroad and was given $4,000
for travelling expenses by Vonsiatsky,
the arrangements being completed
last July at meeting in Chicago
hotel attended by Kunze, Vonsaitsky
and DR.. Willumeit.
I'm the meantime, Vonsia tsky was
in touch with Japanese government
officials to ascertain what type of in
formation they most desired.
The accused decided that Kunze
should leave the United States by
way Of Mexico, and Mohlzahn
agreed to the use of his Philadel-
phia address as a return address
for KunZe's mail.
Last September, Kunze and DR..
Willumeit conferred with DR.. Ebell
in Ell Paso. and in November Kunze
rejoined DR.. Ebell in Ell Paso and
was driven by him to the city of
Chihuahua, Mexico. Thereafter
Kunze wrote letters to Vonsiatsky
from Chihuahua in care of DR..
Ebell. ="
Mr.. Mohlzahn and DR.. Ebell have
pleaded innocent.
Claims U. S. Citizenship.
Kunze has declared he was an
American citizen, but has refused
TO give the place of his birth. He
said he lived in Camden, N j., until
1916, and then moved to Philadel-
phia, where he resided 81 years. In
1897 he went to New York.
A grand jury at Newton, N. j., in
dicted Kunze and nine others on
October 10, 1910, on charges of pro-
noting hatred against people of the
Jewish religion
Before becoming leader of the
Bund, ne was its national public
relations director and he once head
ed bund camp at Yaphank, Long
Island.
Kunze was sentenced to IL to IA
months in prison on the New Jersey
indictment, but was freed after the
State Supreme Court declared the
statute unconstitutional.