Evening star., 1944-06-29
Sailors Visited
|bund's Center,
Witness Asserts
German Seumen
Also Come to Coast
| Headquarters

Also Come to Coast
Headquarters
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Several sailors OF the American
Navy, in addition to seamen from
German merchant ships, visited the
Deutscheshaus. German-American
Bund headquarters In Los Angeles,
|a Government witness testified to-
day at the mass sedition trial in
District Court.
The witness, william A. Book.
hacker, who said he joined the bund
to make an undercover investiga-
ton for group of Los Angeles cit
izens, described the visit Of two blue
jackets from the battleship Nevada
| in 1898.
| The witness said a defendant,
Herman Max Schwinn, West Coast
bund leader, introduced the sailors
to some bundists. saying:
Here are two Of our members
from the American Navy
Two other sailors from the battle
ship West Virginia dropped into
bund headquarters on another occa-
sion, Mr.. Bockhacker said.
The two bluejackets from the West
Virginia, the witness added, came
back to the Deutscheshaus another
time and were arrested by naval
officer and taken oa1f
German Sailors At Meetings.
Merchant sailors from German
ships would visit the bund in groups
and take part In meetings, Mr..
Bockhacker said.
Describing his experiences as a
member Of the bund's o. D., or uni
formed group, the witness said tf1ey
were drilled and instructed in sharp
shooting.
The O. D.. meetings were opened
with a mass Na1 salute and the
singing of the Nazi Horst Vessel
song and the American anthem, Mr..
Bockhacker said.
Earlier. another Government Wit
ness, Valentin Bilbo, a bund MEM
Der, testified that the defendant,
William Dudley Pelley, leader OF the
Silver Shirts. declared in a speech
at bund meeting: I'm the Amer
ican Hitler"
Wanted to Salute Hitler.
Mr.. Bockhacker said Schwinn
110y ova%f -
Communist speeches and once. said
the happiest moment Of his life
would come when he stood in the
presence of the greatest man in the
world, Hitler, with arm raised in the
Nazi salute.
The witness said Roy zachry pre-
dicted in speech to bundists: The
time will come when Jews will be
hanging from every lamppost and
tree in the country"
"A nonbundist defendant, Charles
B., Hudson, Omaha, addressed an
anti Communist convention spon-
sored by the Los Angeles Bund. Mr..
Bockhacker said.
The witness explained, under
questioning by Chief Prosecutor o.
John Rogge, that after he joined the
bund as an undercover man In 1897,
he received $35 week from Leon A.
Lewis, a Los Angeles attorney, for
about two years. The witness said
he reported his findings to the FBI
and to the Los Angeles sheriff's
office.
Members of the State Militia of
California also visited the German
House" Mr.. Bockhacker testified.
He quoted Schwinn as saying early
in 1899 that since England was reg
ulating Palestine" he didn't see why
Hitler couldn't interfere in this
country. America, Schwinn was said
to have added, was not democracy,
but democracy"
Moseley Mentioned for Leader.
At bund meeting, the witness
said, the name of Gen. George Van
Horn Moseley came up. and Schwinn
said 1T would be awful nice If the
general could be the national leader
of an organization similar to ours
1.-The members were elated," Mr..
Bockhacker added.
Once, said the witness, Gerald
Winrod. Wichita, Kans, Defend
ant, was scheduled to speak at
Angeles Temple. but Schwinn ex-
planned that when plans for the
meeting became known it was can
celed.
The witness said he saw Schwinn
writing Winrod and the defendants
said he was inclosing ST for some Of
Winrod's pamphlets.
He said" Mr.. Bockhacker added.
that whatever Winrod said or did
was all right with him."
Mr.. Bockhacker testified late yes
terday that he joined the bund IN
September, 1887, after describing at
a meeting of the Elks' Breakfast
Club trip to Germany he had just
made. Several members who were
American Legionnaires, the witness
said, asked him why he didn't utilize
his knowledge of the German Ian
guage to find out what the bund
woo uOiIAS'
Later, he said, he talked to
Schwinn and to Arno Rissi, local
unit leader, about joining the bund.
They had him sign an application
which had to go to national head
quarters in New York and also to
Washington, he added 1t came
back approved in about six weeks.
the witness said, and Schwinn told
him the Los Angeles German Con-
sui, named Giesling, and the Consul
at Denver, Mr.. Bockhacker's for
mer residence, had indorsed his
membership.
Joined Uniformed Group.
The witness said he joined the
O. D. and remained member Of
the organization until December,