Free American State (Part I)

I was going to post this later, but it’s the Fourth of July, and I figured this would be the most appropriate time to post this. This was a piece originally by AH.com user Bookmark1995, and whilst it was rewritten by yours truly, I did keep most of the ideas. Special thanks to him for allowing the piece to be published here.

So, yeah, to celebrate the holiday of bourgeois revolution:

Excerpts from Erik Staropolski, Rat-Line: The Life and Times of American Anti-Communist Exiles, (New York: Albert A. Knopf, 1988)*

By 1941, Virgil Effinger and William Dudley Pelley were well-integrated into foreign Nazi life, if somewhat controversial to their Berlin benefactors.

The SS-Silberne Legion had proven a great propaganda tool. Pelley’s leadership, however, had left much to be desired. Incompetent even at commanding small paramilitary forces during the Revolution, Pelley was ill-suited for leadership of a motorized infantry, and his attempts to command it during Czechoslovak and Polish Wars were nothing short of disastrous.

Eventually, as the Nazi war machine worked to vanquish the communist menace once and for all, Pelley was formally removed as leader (keeping his SS rank as consolation, however), replaced by Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg , a more reliable English speaking German commander. Pelley eventually went back to writing, working as both an English translator at Enver-Verlag, the main publishing house for the NSDAP, and as founder and editor of Security , an English language newspaper aimed at American and British expatriates. He wrote a strong condemnation of the comic strip character Superman (“a degenerate Judeo-Bolshevik fantasy aimed at authoritarian, anti-Aryan tendencies”) in Security to accompany Goebbels’ denouncement of similar American cultural touchstones. It was believed by the Ministry of Propaganda that such bombastic denouncements would have more effect coming from “loyal patriotic Americans’ rather than the German government. Effinger, Henry Ford, and other major exiles became prominent interviewees, alongside those like Wallis, Princess Consort and Julius Streicher.

Effinger, a former Klansman, had previously been the leader of a White regiment called the Silver Legion of Michigan during the Revolution. Whilst having been vicious in his attacks on Africans, Jews, and communists in his time with the Legion, his unstable mental state and tendency towards extreme violence led to the dissolution of the Silver Legion within a month of its formation and Effingers removal from command.

Once in Germany, he became an auxiliary officer of the Gestapo, and whilst his skill set from the Legion proved useful in capturing enemies of the regime, he was eventually demoted to a desk job due to his inability to control his temper and tendency to accuse critics of being crypto-Jews and communists (a habit which led to his initial exile from Cuba).

When Operation Teutonic began, Effinger, Pelley, and their thousands of American expatriate followers were eager to join the war effort that sought any able bodied male. Pelley (effectively forbidden from any meaningful command) was given the role of war correspondent for Der Stürmer, writing in the final issue of Security about “the eventual reversal of the Red Tide, not just in Russia, but in America”.

Effinger was initially tolerated during his transfer to the Silberne Legion, but gradually his own extremist tendencies (such as turning his gun on his compatriots for perceived treason) became too much even for the SS, and Kennedy had him transferred out from the front by September 1940.

Despite their removal from the front, Effinger and Pelley were convinced victory in Southern Russia and the Caucasus was certain, so the two began to push for the creation of a pro-Nazi American government. To serve as its seat, they decided a “trial run” was needed for how to govern a reconquered America. Taking inspiration from Americana in Brazil, William Walker, and Fordlandia, they struck on the idea of an American reconstruction in the occupied parts of the Soviet Union.

In April of 1941, Pelley and Effinger met with their benefactors Göring and Henry Ford about the idea of an “Nazi-American model city” in the Soviet Union. Göring was lukewarm on the idea, feeling that conquering the Soviet Union for Lebensraum was the top priority, not an occupied America in the indeterminate future, but Ford, himself having tried his own American colony in Fordlandia, was more enthusiastic, and agreed to show it directly to Hitler

Hitler and Goebbels thought the creation of an American government-in-exile would be useful in propaganda efforts, showing their commitment towards reversing the tide of communism. They were also optimistic about potentially invading America, and felt that a “trial run” would give insight into how to govern it, and perhaps convinced the “Aryans” to rise up. “By showing the bounty our Aryan Americans cousins enjoyed under the Reich,” wrote Joseph Goebbels in his personal diaries revealed after the war, “we can convince Americans in DeLeon-Debs to rid themselves of Bolshevism without firing a shot on their land.”

Hitler authorized the creation of Pelley’s “American City”, and the Belarusian town of Maly Trostenets, the site of an extermination/concentration camp was eventually chosen. Construction began with slave labor from Soviet POWs and Jews from Austria and Czechoslovakia.

On July 4th, 1941, the Free American State was proclaimed from the doorstep of the new “provisional capitol building” in Maly Trostenets, and formally opened on July 7th. At the first ever session of the “Supreme Congress of the Restored United States of America”. Pelley was named its first President, living and governing in the “White House” (actually the ornate home of a murdered commissar).Effinger, as Pelley’s right-hand man, was named the commander of the American State Security Bureau, effectively nothing more than a small renamed subgroup of Gestapo, and was tapped to serve simultaneously as First Secretary and Secretary of War.

A version of the 1789 Constitution, with most of the subsequent amendments removed (replaced by racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-communist directives) was used as the basis for the government.

On paper, The Free American State was a federalist constitutional republic (the facade was debated in Nazi circles, with a version of the Enabling Act rejected). The 20 man Congress (10 Representatives, 10 Senators) met in a recreation of the Capitol Building and mostly gave the illusions of an American democracy. In truth, it was composed entirely of Pelley’s appointed puppets, and the Congress a rubber-stamp to his policies.

The Free American State is often described as “a micronation with teeth”, because the community was unusually developed for a proto-state. There was a radio station (Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft-Amerika/“Free America Radio”), post office, newspaper (The New Liberator), library, and local police (The aforementioned ASSB). There was even a small studio (Patriot Studios) where Dudley made a series of propaganda films aimed at the American exile community about the wonders of Maly Trostenets (only a few of these films have survived to the present).

For the few children of the American expatriate community or German settlers brought into Maly Trostenets to set the framework for the ‘future of America’, a grade school was established, designed to indoctrinate the “future leaders of a restored, white America” in the Nazi doctrine. Despite the protestations of Pelley and Effinger, most of the educational decision-making of the new Maly Trostenets Central Academy was done from Berlin, with them closely following the same line that most German schools followed at the same time with some American aesthetics.

Students were obligated to join the “true” Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, effectively puppet organizations of the Hitlerjugend and BDM (unrelated to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in Americuba), respectively. Unwavering oaths of loyalty to “The Supreme Liberator”, Adolf Hitler were mandated every morning, along with tributes of loyalty to Effinger and Pelley. Students would be taught that Germany was the supreme nation on Earth, and that without Germany, they would never have hope to restore their republic from the “insidious Judeo-Bolsheviks and their negro puppets.”

Along with basic subjects, like English, German, and Math, they were taught a heavily Nazified version of American history, including George Washington being the first National Socialist, slavery being a moral imperative, and the Jews being responsible for “negro liberation” and the revolution.

In the community, a demented, outwardly clean version of Old Republic had been recreated in Maly Trostenets, a mixture, somewhat of the Antebellum South (despite Pelley and Effinger both being Northerners) and the pre-Depression America, with accompanying servants and slaves being drawn from the local Byelorussian, Jewish or prisoner of war population.

Men and women walked around wearing the more conservative fashion of the 1920s. The old Stars and Stripes hung over the town, albeit a Swastika in place of the stars. Much of the land was covered with hastily constructed white-fence homes designed with the idea of cultivating a ‘perfect American family’ in mind. Though beneath the seemingly idyllic living standards existed depraved behaviours, such as frequent minstrel shows and posters all over depicting bloodthirsty creature-like depictions of blacks, Jews and other minorities.

The members of this community even had their own church set up by Pelley, calling it Silver Christianity. It combined Nazi Positive Christianity with Pelley’s own spiritual beliefs, drawn from theosophy, spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, and pyramidism. This particular institution was the first indication to the Nazi leadership in Berlin that Pelley was starting his own personality cult, separate from Hitler’s. Many believed Pelley was attempting to usurp Hitler’s power, particularly Goebbels, who discussed replacing Pelley numerous times. Despite this growing friction, it is believed that Henry Ford played an instrumental part in protecting Pelley and Effinger at the time from any retaliation from Berlin for disloyalty and disobedience.

For a period of time, this community enjoyed a high standard of living, eating on average almost 15 times the calories allowed to Soviet and American POWs. The streets were orderly, clean, and devoid of any crime or disorder.

In exchange for their bounty, the members of the Free American Republic would be party to some of the ghastliest crimes of the war. Almost all the “Restored/Free Americans” in the service of the Third Reich would end up working at the nearby concentration camp, in one capacity or another.

Much like their Ustaše counterparts in the Independent State of Croatia, the Free Americans guards and commanders gained a reputation as being even more brutal than some of their German counterparts. Many Jews, Soviet civilians and POWs were savagely beaten and tortured by overzealous Nazi-Americans, particularly if they ended up directly under the purview of Effinger.

Not every Free American loyalist served directly as guards or controllers at the camp. Many of the younger supporters, as well as some of the women, served in support roles, directly contributed to the genocide. Fragmented records acquired at the time indicated that upwards of 20% of the supporting staff at the Maly Trostenets extermination camp identified as a “Free American”, the largest ever share of collaborators at any one given camp throughout the war.

Life was no easier for Soviet citizens who were forced to work in the American community itself. They were confined to housing not even suitable for cattle, and were virtually starved to keep resources towards feeding the “superior” residents. Many Belarusian women found themselves conscripted into a brothel for the various commanders of the ASSB and the Maly Trostenets camp.

Even those who were given relatively light domestic jobs were worked and abused horrifically by the members of household . Effinger was reported to have beaten a servant to death at breakfast for accidentally spilling coffee on his lap, and was very brutal to other house servants.

Notably, to bring some culture to the FAS, Pelley attempted to organize such events as square dancing competitions, American style picnics, and parades. Musicians were recruited from the camps and the local Soviet populace to play at these events.

In his 1968 memoir of surviving the camp, Sousa in Belarus , Herman Rosenfield*, a German Jewish clarinetist recalled:

“We were mostly from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, so we weren’t very familiar with much of the American folk music we had to play, like “Hail, Columbia” or the music of John Philip Sousa. They eventually had to recruit some POWs who did know them to teach us. We’d play at these events during the day, then return to the camps to play for the other internees. Pelley called us ‘helpful’”

But one group in particular was singled out by Dudley and Effinger: American POWs. Blacks, Jews, and Trinitarians (“even more degenerate than Papists”) were often murdered on the spot for their perceived treachery. Female soldiers were often singled out for savage beatings and rape. Black POWs were enslaved in an attempt to emulate the Antebellum South (ironically, treated slightly better than the local Soviets, however).

Male American POWs considered to be of “Aryan or Nordic stock,” however, were given the choice of “throwing off Bolshevik chains and embracing true America.” Pelley considered his Faustian bargain “an act of true repentance by true Americans,” regarding these “good Aryan men” to be merely misguided than truly Bolshevik.

In order to convince them to switch sides, the POWs were paraded around the American part of Maly Trostenets, and made to look at the “true beauty of a restored America”, fed large meals, and subjected to propaganda, and eventually brought before Dudley himself, who would use his oratory powers to manipulate the POWs.

While some did turn turncoat, the actual effectiveness of this method was questioned. The case of John Henry George, one of the most notorious guards who was not only turned, but was convinced to rape and murder his female comrade, would be instructive. At his 1948 court-martial, Dr. Anita Germain, a psychiatrist who interviewed him stated on the stand:

“Pelley and Effinger appear to have preyed on George’s own insecurities. George was already ideologically uncommitted, and his conscription would only exacerbate that. George had been cited multiple times for his violent temper and tendency towards “sexual deviancy”. Effinger was able to take those attitudes and direct them through strategic grooming and intense psychological torture into violent complacency specifically on Effinger’s command. It was never about conversion.

Another notorious war criminal from Maly Trostenets, Richard Heinz (called “Richard the Black” or “The Blonde Devil” for his brutality) recalled in 1999:

“The ‘Tour of Death’ is not just what they showed in the media. The pageantry of it was never really that convincing, at least for me. I wasn’t really swayed by the pristine streets or Pelley’s nonsensical rantings. It’s…. They never show what they also did. The starvation, the torture they put us through. The way they’d just dull you enough to make you susceptible to their commands. They’d just wear you down, and rebuild you in their image. I just don’t think I could’ve resisted.”

Pelley and Effinger also specifically targeted draftees and those who weren’t ideological to better hone their craft.

What’s more, the vast majority of these “Aryan” POWs did in fact refuse, much to the confusion of Effinger and Pelley. One, Johan Seigmund*, tried to shiv Pelley as the latter attempted to indoctrinate him, and another, Anthony Schmitt*, escaped to give the first reports of Maly Trostenets. An example was made of these “race traitors,” shooting them or literally throwing them to the dogs.

By 1942, Maly Trostenets became simultaneously one of the most peaceful parts of the front and one of the most savage places in Nazi occupied Europe. Indeed, even Berlin was growing increasingly wary of Pelley and Effinger, who often defied Nazi directives and were increasingly deemphasizing Hitler’s role in “liberating America”, in favor of turning Pelley into a savior, in spite of his lack of military experience.

However, Henry Ford remained an ardent supporter, supplying Model Ts and Ford dealerships for the Free American State, as well as arranging luxuries like oranges and Coca-Cola to be sent, in spite of rations. *[WPA]: Works Progress Administration *[NBI]: National Bureau of Investigation