Camp Siegfried, the Nazi Camp on Long Island

[Louis]

In the mid-1930s an organization called the German-American Bund established fifteen summer camps throughout the USA, including one in Yaphank in Suffolk County, on Long Island.
The German American Bund, that was previously known as “Friends of New Germany” was devoted to promoting a favorable view of Nazi Germany.
The summer camp taught Nazi ideology but claimed to show its loyalty to America by displaying the flag of the United States at the camp entrance alongside a Nazi swastika.

Camp Siegfried, as well as all the other Bund facilities and gatherings, provided an opportunity for Nazi sympathizers to “meet people who think as you do.” The camp’s leadership “also established a youth group that recreated the Hitler Youth program for its young participants complete with uniforms, banners and songs.

https://imgur.com/oZ1JFMM

Camp Wille und Macht—Will and Might—came first, in 1934, and was joined in New Jersey by Camp Nordland in Andover and Camp Bergwald in Bloomingdale. In Wisconsin, Camp Hindenberg claimed ground along the banks of the Milwaukee River, the Deutschhorst Country Club in Pennsylvania and Sutter Camp in Los Angeles, California, but and children left their homes for Camp Siegfried in Long Island. So really these were Nazi camps in USA.

Campers were dressed in uniforms featuring the Hitler Youth’s lightning bolt insignia, adorned with swastika pins and given knives inscribed with the phrase “Blut und Ehre,” or “blood and honor.” Daily activities also took on militaristic tones, including target practice and the Sieg Heil salute.

From the German Gardens street plan in Yaphank. Hitler St? Goebbels St? Its crazy but really!

This, the Camp Siegfried, was forcibly shut down by the US government when Germany declared war on the Usa. It had been protected by the 1st Amendment until that time, when it became illegal for US citizens to swear allegiance to Germany.​

 

[Louis]

@Gunner I looked at the map and is it close to where you reside?

 

[Gunner]

Yes, not too far indeed.
Over the years there have been many documentaries, articles in newspaper and on TV about Yaphank's past.

There were (are?) a bunch of lawsuits about bylaws that say how the home sale can be advertised and who people can and cannot sell their houses to.

"While the parades are gone and the streets have been renamed, one thing has not changed: The original owners of this tract of land kept a clause in its bylaws requiring the homeowners to be primarily “of German extraction.”

"The league owns the land on which the homes are situated and leases the property to homeowners, Schneiderman said. State investigators found that the league prohibited public advertisement of properties for sale. Members seeking to sell their homes could only announce a listing in person at member meetings or through internal flyers and meeting minutes circulated to the existing membership."

Things were settled with the State and Federal government around 2017.

From a 2014 article in the New York Times:

"While the parades are gone and the streets have been renamed, one thing has not changed: The original owners of this tract of land kept a clause in its bylaws requiring the homeowners to be primarily “of German extraction.” That has kept this community of 45 families almost entirely white."

This the article but not sure you can read it without subscribing.

Nazi Past of Long Island Hamlet Persists in a Rule for Home Buyers (Published 2015)

A couple in Yaphank, N.Y., is suing a community organization, saying the housing practices are discriminatory and violate the Fair Housing Act.

www.nytimes.com