Hans Schmidt (Waffen-SS)

Schmidt was born on 24 April 1927, in Völklingen. During Nazi rule, he was a member of the Hitler Youth, and, by his own account, joined the Waffen-SS in 1943 at the age of 16,{{cite book|title=SS Panzergrenadier: A True Story of World War II publisher's blurb|isbn=0966904753|last1=Schmidt|first1=Hans|year=2002|publisher=H. Schmidt Publications }} and served as a corporal in the SS Division Leibstandarte. Schmidt was wounded twice during campaigns in Hungary, Austria, and the Battle of the Bulge.{{cite web|last1=Schmidt|first1=Hans|title=German WWII Vet Reviews 'Saving Private Ryan'|url=http://www.revisionisthistory.org/reviews.html|website=The Campaign for Radical Truth in History|publisher=Michael A. Hoffman II|access-date=8 June 2015|date=1998}}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2016}} He left Germany in 1947, arrived in the United States in 1949, and became a naturalized citizen in 1955 in Chicago.{{cite book|author1=Anti-Defamation League|editor1-last=Schwartz|editor1-first=Alan M.|title=Danger Extremism: The Major Vehicles and Voices on America's Far-Right Fringe|date=June 1996|publisher=Anti-Defamation League|isbn=0884641694|pages=135–137}}

In 1983, Schmidt founded the German-American National Political Action Committee (GANPAC), which published the GANPAC Brief in English and the USA-Bericht ([U.S.A. Report]) in German. GANPAC was characterized as "pretending to represent the 52 million Americans of German descent" by the German magazine Der Spiegel,{{cite news|title=Rassisten-Basis USA. Rechtsextreme in Amerika unterstützen die deutsche Szene|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13686362.html|work=Der Spiegel|date=5 December 1994|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022112743/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13686362.html|archive-date=22 October 2012|language=de|quote=GANPAC gibt vor, die "52 Millionen Amerikaner deutscher Abstammung zu repräsentieren.}} as "openly anti-Semitic" by The New York Times, and as "virulently anti-Semitic" by the Anti-Defamation League.{{Cite news|date=2006–2007|url=http://www.adl.org/learn/ExtremismFloridaINSIDE.pdf#page=21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060428221220/http://adl.org/learn/ExtremismFloridaINSIDE.pdf#page=21|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-04-28|title=Extremism in Florida. The Dark Side of the Sunshine State|publisher=Anti-Defamation League|page=17}} GANPAC was also accused of promoting Holocaust denial.{{cite book|last1=Kaplan|last2= Weinberg|first2=Leonard|first1=Jeffrey|author-link1=Jeffrey Kaplan (academic)|title=The Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right|date=1998|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=0-8135-2564-0|pages=78–80|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZJU6wJvJBIC&pg=PA78|access-date=8 June 2015|chapter=The Ties that Bind: The Euro-American Radical Right's "Special Relationship"}}

Between 1983 and 1985, GANPAC raised about $55,000 in contributions,{{cite news|last1=Anderson|first1=Jack|author-link1=Jack Anderson (columnist)|title=Political Group Keeps Earnings for Own Use|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ye40AAAAIBAJ&pg=3884,4444933&dq=|access-date=8 June 2015|work=The Ocala Star-Banner|date=24 July 1985}} but, unlike other political action committees, did not make any financial contributions until the late 1980s, when it began donating money to the election campaigns of conservative Republican candidates. However, Schmidt's efforts to ingratiate himself to politicians ended up backfiring, as his delusions about them repeatedly humiliated him in public. To give one example, when U.S. Senator Steve Symms gave a $1,000 contribution from GANPAC to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the Idaho Holocaust Council, Schmidt complained to the Federal Election Commission and was bluntly informed that Symms' actions were completely legal and he had no case—and Symms publicly disavowed Schmidt's beliefs as well.{{Cite news|date=28 October 1987|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/28/us/washington-talk-briefing-gift-is-his-to-give.html?scp=508&sq=&st=nyt|title=Washington Talk: Briefing; Gift Is His to Give|access-date=8 June 2015|work=The New York Times|quote=It was "the height of hypocrisy," [Schmidt] said, for Mr. Symms to "turn over their hard-earned monies to people that are diametrically opposed to Germanic ethical or moral values."}} GANPAC also made a contribution to Democrat Bob Edgar who was running against Jewish Republican candidate Arlen Specter, only to have Edgar state that while he wanted to take over Sen. Specter's seat in the Senate, he actually agreed with Specter's pro-Israel views.{{cite news|title=Frontlines: Rudolf Hess Fan Club Seeks Help|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=neYDAAAAMBAJ&q=GANPAC&pg=PA14|access-date=8 June 2015|work=Mother Jones|date=April 1987|page=14|last1 = Jones|first1 = Mother}}

The Santa Monica offices of GANPAC were fire-bombed in 1985, causing $50,000 in damage. Schmidt claimed the Jewish Defense League carried out the attack, a claim the JDL rejected.{{cite news|title=JDL Denies Office Firebombing|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-05-mn-15670-story.html|access-date=8 June 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=5 June 1985|quote=Schmidt [...] said he believed the JDL was behind the firebombing because "that's their purpose."}}

The GANPAC Brief was published out of Washington, D.C. (1983-1989), Santa Monica, California (1990-1993), Burke, Virginia (January–March 1994), and Pensacola, Florida (April 1994-July 2004).{{cite book|title=GANPAC Brief record|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchArg1=ganpac&argType1=all&searchCode1=GKEY&searchType=2&combine2=and&searchArg2=&argType2=all&searchCode2=GKEY&combine3=and&searchArg3=&argType3=all&searchCode3=GKEY&year=1515-2015&fromYear=&toYear=&location=all&place=all&type=all&language=all&recCount=25|publisher=Library of Congress| oclc=15993092 |access-date=8 June 2015}}

Schmidt also founded the German-American Information and Education Association (GIEA), which is presided over by E. Stanley Rittenhouse, a known anti-Semite, who "served as chief legislative representative for the Liberty Lobby,{{Cite news|date=16–23 July 2007|title=Israel Violating the Genocide Convention: Israel, United States Accused of Denying Basic Human Rights to Palestinians|first=Willis A.|last=Carto| author-link=Willis Carto|access-date=8 June 2015|work=American Free Press|url=http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/genocide_convention.html}} a far right organization founded by Willis Carto, whom the Anti-Defamation League calls "perhaps the most influential professional anti-Semite in the United States".{{Cite news |year=2001 |title=Willis A. Carto: Fabricating History |publisher=Anti-Defamation League |url=http://www.adl.org/holocaust/carto.asp |access-date=2010-11-05 |archive-date=2012-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130055841/http://www.adl.org/holocaust/carto.asp |url-status=dead }}

In one of his last speeches, William Luther Pierce briefly discussed a longtime friendship with Hans Schmidt.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13FxlU9R8A |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107142032/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13FxlU9R8A |archive-date=2017-01-07 |url-status=dead|title=YouTube|website=www.youtube.com}}

On 9 August 1995{{cite news|title=American's Trial on Racism Opens|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19960105&id=8assAAAAIBAJ&pg=4004,1363178&hl=en|access-date=8 June 2015|work=Wilmington Morning Star|issue=71|date=5 January 1996|page=6A}} Schmidt was arrested at the Frankfurt airport by German authorities after copies of his newsletter, USA-Bericht, were discovered. He was charged with "incitement to hate" (Volksverhetzung in German) as a result of a letter he had sent to a German state legislator in Schwerin. Schmidt came to regard the German government as treasonous and controlled by "Oberjuden" ("top Jews"), and claimed the U.S. embassy provided false information to Germany to persecute him. The ADL applauded his arrest.{{cite web|title=ACTIONS BY DENMARK AND GERMANY AGAINST AMERICAN NEO-NAZIS PRAISED BY ADL|url=http://archive.adl.org/presrele/neosk_82/2519_82.html|publisher=Anti-Defamation League|access-date=8 June 2015|date=24 August 1995}} Due to poor health, he was released on bail in January 1996. He fled Germany and returned to the US to avoid further persecution.{{Cite book|last=Michael |first=George |author-link=George Michael (professor) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c33aeF0FCGgC&pg=PA168|year=2003 |title=Confronting Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA |publisher= Taylor & Francis |isbn=0-203-56321-2 |page=168}} He wrote a book about this experience, titled Jailed in 'Democratic' Germany (1997).

Schmidt continued anti-Semitic campaigns, first by calling for a repeal of the Kosher tax (specifically addressing the Adolph Coors Brewing Co.),{{cite web|title=The "Kosher Tax" Hoax: Anti-Semitic Recipe for Hate|url=http://archive.adl.org/special_reports/kosher_tax/print.html|website=Anti-Defamation League|access-date=8 June 2015|date=January 1991}} and later by writing a book entitled End Times/End Games (1999) where he listed all the ways "Aryans" were more accomplished than Jews and begged all Jews to voluntarily leave white-majority countries on their own accord. His influence waned as his friend Ernst Zundel's career withered, and he died in 2010. He had no known survivors.

• In a postcard, GANPAC claimed that "Jews were not gassed by the Nazis ... the numbers and reports of predetermined extermination are greatly exaggerated by professional liars".{{Cite book|last=Pentlin |first=Susan Lee |editor=David Benseler |editor2=Craig W. Nickisch |editor3=Cora Lee Nolendorfs |year=2001 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQ0gRndzJI8C&pg=PA143|chapter=American Germanists and the Holocaust, 1933-1945: The Legacy |title=Teaching German in Twentieth-Century America |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=0-299-16830-1 |pages=143–144}}
• According to the German Verfassungsschutz, Schmidt, protected by US law, was very outspoken in his publications and cites an example from The Jewish Question in 20th Century in America": "In the last 200 years, European observers have noted that the Jews are not interested in 'Equality of the Races' but in destroying the white Race."{{Cite news|year=2005|url=http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/download/SHOW/broschuere_0511_2_antisemitismus.pdf#page=13|title=Argumentationsmuster im Rechtsextremistischen Antisemitismus. Aktuelle Entwicklungen|language=de|publisher=Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz|page=12 (footnote)|quote=Die jüdische Frage im 20.Jahrhundert in Amerika, in der es heißt: "Im Laufe der letzten 200 Jahre haben europäische Beobachter festgestellt, dass die Juden nicht auf 'Rassengleichheit', sondern auf die Zerstörung der weißen Rasse aus sind."|access-date=2010-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122150656/http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/download/SHOW/broschuere_0511_2_antisemitismus.pdf#page=13|archive-date=2009-11-22|url-status=dead}}
• The 1996 annual report of the Verfassungsschutz of Lower Saxony, quotes from an issue of USA-Bericht: "What I dislike most about Jews is their apparent deep dishonesty. [...] An outstanding example for this deep dishonesty of most of the Jews [...] is the constant denial of Jewish excessive power [...] [It is] of course indispensable that the Jews are pampered in Germany, just as in nature, it is a parasite's due."{{Cite news| year=2005| url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:J-fR4DmGzPYJ:cdl.niedersachsen.de/blob/images/C873971_L20.pdf+Jahresbericht+1996+Verfassungsschutz,+Niedersachsen&hl=en&gl=ch&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjfjDard7VUaYJbDlOmYhlA9N6CPLDrb_6aV109Rbs0_xuLmBPPFUO-uks8JDIE1ta64epmL1JLKOJyWj4KzNXk9U8KzA14ouQdweZHUcdHfPr4CZoKxlhy5iVENHhH0Ofz1xa9&sig=AHIEtbQsyZgitWAY1AyMV-x8hxwE34xUlg| title=Verfassungsschutzbericht 1996 | language=de | publisher=Niedersächsisches Innenministerium | page=40}}

• Jailed in 'Democratic' Germany: The Ordeal of an American Writer (1997). Published in Milton, Florida by Guderian Books as a 490-page paperback ({{ISBN|0965413403}}).
• End Times/End Games: The Final Months of the Jewish Century (1999). First edition published in Pensacola, FL by H. Schmidt as a 406-page paperback ({{ISBN|0966904702}}). Second revised and enlarged edition published as a 489-page paperback ({{ISBN|0966904710}}). Published in German as Endzeiten, Endspiele: Der Ausklang des jüdischen Jahrhunderts (2000) in Pensacola, FL by Hans Schmidt as a 508-page paperback ({{ISBN|0966904729}}).
• SS Panzergrenadier: A True Story of World War II (2001). First published in Pensacola, FL by H. Schmidt Publications as a 402-page hardcover ({{ISBN|0966904745}}). Second edition published on 20 April 2002 as a 407-page hardcover ({{ISBN|0966904753}}).
• Hitler Boys in America: Re-Education Exposed: A Comparative Study of the Soul Destroying Effects of the Allied Imposed Re-Education on the Psyche of the German People (2003). Published in Pensacola, FL by H. Schmidt Publications as a 319-page hardcover ({{ISBN|0966904761}}).

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• [https://archive.org/details/GanpacBrief219 Copy of GANPAC Brief no. 219, vol. 19, issue 1 (January 2001)]

{{Historical revisionism}}

{{White Nationalism}}

{{Neo-Nazism}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Hans}}

Category:1927 births

Category:2010 deaths

Category:Emigrants from Allied-occupied Germany to the United States

Category:American neo-Nazi propagandists

Category:American Holocaust deniers

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Category:German Holocaust deniers

Category:German neo-Nazi propagandists

Category:People from Völklingen

Category:SS non-commissioned officers

Category:Hitler Youth members

Category:Military personnel from Saarland

Category:Prisoners and detainees of Germany

Category:Waffen-SS personnel