National Socialist League (United States)

The National Socialist League, was a neo-Nazi political party in the United States that existed from 1974 until the mid-1980s. It was founded in 1974 by Russell Veh at Los Angeles, United States. Veh financed the party using the profits from his printing business. He also financed the party with a film distribution unit that specialized in Nazi propaganda films, including Triumph of the Will. The National Socialist League had chapters in various parts of California.[1]

History

The party was founded in 1974 by Russell Veh and several other neo-Nazis. The National Socialist League was unique in restricting its members to gay Nazi men. The group distributed membership applications declaring NSL's "determination to seek sexual, social, and political freedom" for Aryans.[2]

Before disappearing in the 1980s, the National Socialist League put out a journal called NS Kampfruf.[3]

Organizing efforts in San Francisco

The National Socialist League placed advertisements identifying themselves as the Gay Nazis that included their phone number in order to recruit new members during 1974 and 1975 in the classified ad section of the San Francisco gay newspaper the Bay Area Reporter.[4]

Anti-Jewish film distribution controversy

While normally low-profile, the NSL stirred a controversy in 1983 when it attempted to market the infamous 1930s Nazi anti-Semitic hate film that had been pirated by the group. An article in the Los Angeles-based Heritage and S.W. Jewish Press, titled "'Gay Nazis Peddling Vile 'Jud Suss' Film", named Veh and the National Socialist League. "We are most familiar with Mr. Veh (which is an alias, incidentally) and his notorious operations," said legitimate film distributor, David Calbert Smith III.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kaplan, Jeffrey (2000). Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook of the Radical Right. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-7425-0340-3.
  2. ↑ Newton, Michael (2007). The Ku Klux Klan: History, Organization, Language, Influence and Activities of America's Most Notorious Secret Society. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-7864-2787-1.
  3. ↑ Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, Fall 2000
  4. ↑ Back issues of the Bay Area Reporter, available at the Main Library of the San Francisco Public Library, located at 100 Larkin St.
  5. ↑ Heritage and S.W. Jewish Press, September 16, 1983
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