Evening star., 1944-10-05
Trip 10 Germany
AS Bund Guest
Related 10 Jury
Army Corporal Says
He Swore to Be
True to Nozi Couse
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.

. ANoA@SOhAAS
was under cross-examination to-
day at the sedition trial, told the
District Court jury how he and a
group of other 'teen-age youngsters
belonging to the Youth Movement
of the German-American Bund
were taken to Germany in 1888,
taught at Nazi school and pledged
with ceremonial oath to be true
to the German cause"
The witness, Corpl. Roy H.
Schlote, %, stationed at Mobile,
Ala, said he joined the youth
branch of the bund at Milwaukee
when he wss IA. He attended sum-
mer bund camps in Wisconsin, he
said, and was selected by his leader
to represent Milwaukee on the trip
to Germany.
There were about 80 in the youth
party. he said, with about half the
members girls. In New York, he
added, they met Fritz Kuhn, then
national bund leader. and other
officials, and were told they were
going to Germany to learn Nazi
principles so they could bring them
back to teach youth groups.
Told to Hide U. S. Flags.
"They told U.s." the witness said,
that our youth movement card
would be more valuable in Germany
than passport"
When they arrived in Germany,
Corpl. Schlote said, they were met
at the ship by an official named
Hugo Haas. They were wearing
tiny American flags in their lapels,
he related, and Haas told them to
put these flags away, because they
would be considered an insult to the
German government"
For two weeks, he said, they went
sightseeing throughout Germany,
and some visited relatives. Then
they met in Berlin, and there were
two meetings of the youth move
ment which were addressed by
Hitler, Goebbels and other Reich
leaders. Hitler, he recalled, spoke
about the significance of the youth
movement.
The tourists then were taken to
a school, and given a course in ma
tional socialism which lasted three
or four weeks, Corpl. Schlote said.
There were students from other
countries, he explained, and they
nI hyy
various parts of Germany.
Tells of Instructions.
What was your Instruction."
asked Chief Prosecutor o. John
Rogge.
They explained the principles OF
the German Socialist party" the
witness replied. There were in
structions in the German religion,
which was under control of the
party; of race, German history,
culture and aims"
What were you taught about ma
tional socialism,"
How it was founded, what It's
aims were and how sooner or later
its principles would be covered
throughout the world"
The witness was II at the time.
He said when the party was en-
barking on the return voyage to the
United States, the notes they had
taken at the lectures, souvenirs and
other effects relating to the school
were collected. These were re-
frIrNad RI tho cf,ylarte H1r t,Jy,
ist named Dinkleacker when they
got back to New York, Corpl Schlote
said.
They Took Oath.
WAS there an oath adminis-
tered?' asked the prosecutor.
'Yes, we took an oath to be true
to the German cause. No one was
supposed to know about the oath.
1t was supposed to be kept quiet.
And nothing was supposed to be said
about the school. We were not to
write letters about it or tell any
one when he got back"
Afterward, at bund youth meet
ings, they had the same close -order
drill they were taught in Germany,
sang from a German song book and
greeted one another with "Sieg he'll"
Corpl. Schlote said he left the
bund around 1910. because "he was
beginning to understand just what
was expected and what was going
on" He added: Il decided it was
no place for me, being an American
and wanting to be an American"
Under cross-examination by Maxi.
milan j. st. George, attorney for
Joseph E. McWilliams, one of the
26 defendants, the witness admitted
he had heard the Dickstein House
Committee had investigated the
bund and given it "a clean bill of
health" He also conceded that he
had heard nothing at bund youth
meeting un-American that he could
recall until he went to Germany.
Rude Awakening.
"The trip" the corporal explained,
made me realize just how un-
American the bllnd was"
Lawrence Dennis, a defendant
representing himself, pressed the
witness to describe the oath he had
taken in Germany, but he could not
recall 1t in detail, remembering only
that it pledged them to loyalty to
Germany. They made ceremony
of it, he said, standing in a circle
at night while an official pronounced
the pledge.
Asked if it was an oath to sup
port Nazi Germany, Corpl. Schlote
said he supposed you could call
1t that.
Mr.. Dennis demanded why the
witness had waited SO long after
returning from Germany, two years,
to leave the bund.
II had girl in the bund," he ex-
planned, provoking laughter.
Later in the tilt with Mr.. Dennis,
the corporal said he had not spread
the teachings he had learned in
Germany, as he was supposed to
fdo, but merely had taken part in
sports and social gatherings spon-
sored by the bund "and had good
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