Nazis in the New World: German Students in the United States, 1933-1941

by Aaron Gillette

Overview

The incredible story of Nazi German exchange students in the United States during WWII.

In the 1930s, international exchange students in the United States celebrated their Christmas breaks in Florida, enthusiastically engaged in college-aged antics, rowdy parties, and the defiance of authorities. In between such mayhem, they admired the beauty of America; quietly discussed their impressions of their host country; and agonized over their future, which would now be reshaped by their study-abroad experiences. These were not typical international college students, however. These students were Nazis.

In Nazis in the New World, Aaron Gillette reveals the unknown history of Nazi German exchange students sent to America in the 1930s. After receiving the Gestapo's stamp of approval, they were instructed to use their charm and charisma to promote the Third Reich. Some also served Hitler as covert operatives against the United States. In many cases, the Nazi government came to regret sending its students across the ocean.

Gillette argues that Nazism was an abject failure in the United States, that antisemitism was on the decline, that German espionage in America was a disaster for the Reich, and that FDR and J. Edgar Hoover brilliantly manipulated Nazi blunders to propel America into the war against Hitler and to empower the FBI. Meanwhile, numerous German exchange students in the United States were transformed from Nazis into fiercely patriotic Americans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421450773
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	05/27/2025
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Aaron Gillette (THE WOODLANDS, TX) is an associate professor of history at the University of Houston-Downtown.

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Abbreviations
Note to Readers
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Nazi Infiltration of the Student Exchange
2. Recruitment and Training
3. Nazis in the New World
4. Disillusionment, Resistance, Refuge, and Opposition in Exile
5. The Exchange Students' Propaganda and Espionage Missions
6. Consequences of the Nazi-era German-American Exchange
Conclusion
Bibliography
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This book places student exchanges at the center of relations between the United States and Nazi Germany during the crucial decade of the 1930s. In doing so, it proves that the analysis of educational exchange can produce unique vantage points for reinterpreting international relations. The result is a work of considerable value.
—Giles Scott-Smith, Leiden University

Aaron Gillette has produced a cogent, original, and fascinating account of the previously under-researched topic of German exchange students in the United States between 1933 and 1941. He carefully examines the whole range of students, from those attempting to spy for the Nazi regime to those who dissented from it.
—Lisa Pine, Institute of Historical Research, University of London

Nazis in the New World is impressive scholarship on an important and heretofore under-told story about American higher education and how institutions behave.
—John R. Thelin, author of A History of American Higher Education