Samuel Dickstein

[Gorque]

I'm assisting my son by gathering some research material from the N.Y. Times archives on the German American Bund for his Master's thesis and during my search for articles on Fritz Kuhn, I came across the name of U.S. Representative (and later New York State Supreme Court Justice) Samuel Dickstein, who during the latter half of of the 1930, was a leading force in establishing the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the same committee that would play so crucial a role in exposing Bund activities within the United States.

As it turns out, per the research of KGB archives by Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev in their book from 1999, The Haunted Wood, Samuel Dickstein was a foreign agent in the employment of the NKVD at the time and who the NKVD considered so greedy that they gave him the code of "Crook".

Adding a further twist to this story, Fritz Kuhn, in response to various accusations by Mr. Dickstein on March 11, 1937, openly accused Rep. Dickstein on the same of being a spy, although the accusation was completely baseless and thoroughly unconvincing.

Dickstein, not I, is one of the country's biggest enemies. I think he is a spy for Soviet Russia ... Dickstein is a Jew, born in Russia. I consider myself a better type of citizen than he is.

Sources: The Haunted Wood review http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/03/reviews/990103.03persict.html

Wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Dickstein_%28congressman%29

and see Henryk's post and link http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=60746&start=15

[Carl Schwamberger]

First question to pop into my head is if there is any information on this in the US intelgence records. A decade or so ago the records concerning the Rosenbergs was made public, and other records concerning Soviet spies in the US at that time. Perhphas there is something on Dickstein.

I have to remark that the attack on him for being "Jewish" is almost funny. Aside from showing how the idea of the Jewish/Bolshivk consipircy still lived in the US it was made in the same era that Stalin was preparing his supresion/purge of the Jews in the USSR.

[Gorque]

First question to pop into my head is if there is any information on this in the US intelgence records. A decade or so ago the records concerning the Rosenbergs was made public, and other records concerning Soviet spies in the US at that time. Perhphas there is something on Dickstein.

That's an excellent question Carl. If there is corroborating matter within US intelligence, then that would nail it for me. However, a lack of information shouldn't be viewed as refuting Mssrs. Weinstein and Vassiliev's research either. I, personally, would be troubled, if I learned that US Intelligence had evidence/suspicions on Mr. Dickstein, as he was a Congressman with access to more secure information than the average American, and the intelligence services didn't move swiftly against him by way of entrapment or arrest. Then again, he could have been a double-agent for the U.S. government. The permutations involved with espionage is enough to make one's head swim due to the number of possibilities involved.

I have to remark that the attack on him for being "Jewish" is almost funny.

I prefer the term 'ludicrous' in regards to Fritz Kuhn's allegation.

Aside from showing how the idea of the Jewish/Bolshivk consipircy still lived in the US it was made in the same era that Stalin was preparing his supresion/purge of the Jews in the USSR.

The archived news articles are a treasure trove for those researching the popular mood of the times. To me, it's well worth the price of a subscription.