The Chicago Controversy: Part One – WMAQ TV (NBC) Chicago –
Evening News – Unit 5 Report – Broadcast Date: May 10, 1987
Peter Karl, Reporter
Marsha Bartel, Producer
Copyright 1987, WMAQ TV News
All Rights Reserved
Transcript prepared by Political Research Associates
PETER KARL: There are many private citizens who are working
hard to support the Contras. We have found some of them have ties
to Nazi Germany. Working through groups who wave the banner of
anti-communism, some have the ear of foreign policy makers, and
some don’t like to talk openly about their past.
The Nicaraguan Contras needed money. So national security
advisor Lt. Col. Oliver North made it his job to get it. And,
according to the Tower Commission report, North turned to this
man, retired General John Singlaub, for help.
[Screen: 1985]
JOHN SINGLAUB: I represent hundreds of thousands of
Americans who are sympathetic to your cause, and want to help.
PETER KARL: In 1985, Singlaub promised the Nicaraguan
Contras the backing of the Americans. He turned to a private
network of anti-communist organizations for help–some right here
in Chicago.
[Screen: DR. ALEXANDER RONNETT, CONTRA FUNDRAISER]
ALEXANDER RONNETT: I consider myself a freedom fighter.
PETER KARL: Dr. Alexander Ronnett is a Chicago area doctor.
He is actively involved in a number of anti-communist groups
working for the Contras.
ALEXANDER RONNETT: If they do want to struggle for liberty,
they deserve the help of anybody that understands the situation politically.
PETER KARL: Ronnett provided both moral and financial
support to the Contras. He travelled overseas to raise money. His
journey brought him into the offices of Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet, and into the White House.
PETER KARL: Have you ever been invited to the White House?
ALEXANDER RONNETT: Many times, yes.
PETER KARL: For briefings?
ALEXANDER RONNETT: Yes, almost every month…twice…
PETER KARL: On national security and all that sort of stuff?
ALEXANDER RONNETT: Yes.
PETER KARL: You’ve been invited?
ALEXANDER RONNETT: Yes.
PETER KARL: For what purpose?
ALEXANDER RONNETT: To attend, to be briefed on certain
situations…
(fade under)
PETER KARL: But who is Dr. Alexander Ronnett? A Unit 5
investigation reveals that he belongs to a controversial
organization that dates back to the days before World War II. It
was called the Legion of the Archangel Michael. According to
these counterintelligence reports, it was an extreme right, shock
organization that used criminal means to achieve its goals. It
was labeled as anti-Semitic and fascist.
The Legion was also known as the Iron Guard. It began in
Romania in the 1930’s. Its members swore blood oaths in support
of its leaders. The goal of the Iron Guard was to purify the
Romanian race; and to that end, the Guard supported the
Nazis–and worked to rid Romania of communists and Jews.
Efraim Zuroff is with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel.
EFRAIM ZUROFF: They were very xenophobic, very anti-Semitic.
Their agenda was the exclusion of Jews, from Romanian politics,
from Romanian life…they viewed the Jews as an enemy.
PETER KARL: According to this document from the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, Dr. Alexander Ronnett’s name is on the list of
Iron Guard members who were active during World War II. The list
was turned over to the Justice Department. The Justice Department
says it could not comment specifically on the report.
[Screen shows list of names): Dr. Alexandru Ronette-Rahmistriuc]
ALEXANDER RONNETT: You can put a lot of things on paper, you
can make a lot of accusations–and it is how you resolve them,
that is the essence. And as it stands today, in my opinion the
Justice Department of the United States is the injustice department.
PETER KARL: Ronnett says he never was a member of the
Legionnaires in Romania, but admits to being a strong supporter
of the Legionnaires today. His office is lined with symbols
representing the Legion. Ronnett says he’s rewriting history to
favor his point of view. His books talk about the Jewish menace
in Romania in the 1930’s and 40’s. Quote:
“Because their exclusive and hoarding mentality had
broken the financial and commercial equilibrium of the country
and because by means of corruption and hidden pressures, the
Jewish community had become a veritable state within a state.”
ALEXANDER RONNETT: Economy and politics go hand in hand, you
cannot separate them. So who has the money, who has the
economical power, will control the political arena, too.
PETER KARL: So you wanted to limit the number of Jews who
were in power?
ALEXANDER RONNETT: That’s right…or…not eliminate
them. It’s just curtail their influence…economical influence.
PETER KARL: You should know that Dr. Ronnett was very active
in the Reagan/Bush campaign in 1984, but he has taken an
autographed picture of President Reagan off his wall because he
disagrees now with the President’s handling of the Iran-Contra
affair. Those involved in the Chicago Controversy are small in
number, and we don’t mean or intend to paint ethnic groups with
the broad brush of anti-Semitism or fascism. Tomorrow at ten,
more on the Chicago Controversy, and the Nazi connection.
The Chicago Controversy: Part Two
Broadcast Date: May 11, 1987
(Transition from report on Iran-Contra hearings)
RON MAGERS: …what Robert McFarlane and others did was
try to find some private money to aid the Contra cause, and some
of the private money, and support, came from Chicago.
CAROL MARIN: Peter Karl and Unit 5 have learned the Contra
connection goes from Chicago all the way back to the Nazis of
World War II. Peter…
PETER KARL: Carol and Ron, the Reagan Administration may be
surprised to learn about the background of some of the people
they did business with to deliver aid to the Contras.
Go back in time 40 years to World War II. Many Eastern
European countries had a common goal: stop Russia and communism,
no matter what the cost. And for at least some period, many
turned to the Nazis for support. Now forty years later, it’s a
similar story in Nicaragua. They call themselves freedom
fighters, and they are vowing to stop communism, no matter what
the cost.
A Unit 5 investigation has found that some people with ties
to Nazi Germany forty years ago are members of groups actively
providing support to the Nicaraguan Contras today. Even more
surprising, some of those groups are right here.
[Screen: John Loftus, Former Investigator]
JOHN LOFTUS: Well, the Nazis didn’t go away. They are in
Chicago. They are working on another covert operation… .(fade under)
PETER KARL: John Loftus is a former investigator for the
Justice Department. For two years he tracked down alleged Nazis
living in America.
JOHN LOFTUS: If we had known who John Kosiak was, he would
never have set foot in America.
PETER KARL: In the early years of the war, John Kosiak was
an engineer in Byelorussia, an area bordered by Russia on the
east and Poland on the west. When the Nazis took over, a puppet
government was established. And according to this roster, John
Kosiak was promoted to a leadership role in that puppet government.
JOHN LOFTUS: It’s the politicians like Kosiak that helped
run the Nazi empire.
PETER KARL: Kosiak wrote this book on the history of
Byelorussia. He describes the ongoing relationship between the
puppet government and the Nazis. He even shows this telegram sent
to Adolph Hitler in June of 1944:
“Fuehrer: …The Byelorussian people will unbendingly
fight together with the German soldiers against our common
enemy–Bolshevism. We hope and believe in the final victory which
under your direction will bring a happy future.”
It was approved by the members of the Byelorussian Congress…
Kosiak among them. John Kosiak is now living in the Chicago area.
JOHN LOFTUS: John Kosiak helps propagandize for the support
of the Contras.
PETER KARL: Kosiak refused to do an on-camera interview. But
reports show he is active in several anti-communist organizations
currently working to support the Nicaraguan Contras. One group is
the ABN, the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations. It’s a worldwide
organization, and its news magazine pictures ABN leaders with
some powerful politicians, such as Vice-President George Bush,
and even President Ronald Reagan.
JOHN LOFTUS: Backing the ABN is like hiring the Ku Klux Klan
to be your consultant for school desegregation. Anyone who allows
their name to be affiliated with the ABN…is going to be
terribly embarrassed.
PETER KARL: Why embarassed? Because according to this book,
, in 1980 seven of the eleven leaders of the
ABN, and several of the organizations they represent, are listed
as having close ties to the Nazis. Example: the Romanian
Legionnaires. US Army counterintelligence reports describe the
Legion’s role as Nazi collaborators during World War II. It is
listed as being anti-Semitic and fascist.
Dr. Alexander Ronnett, the Chicago leader of the Legion
today, vehemently denies those charges, and he also says the ABN
does not have any ties to the Nazis.
PETER KARL: (TO RONNETT) What do you say to the people who
say ABN is a collection of neo-Nazis…
ALEXANDER RONNETT: Neo-Nazis…
PETER KARL: …fascists…
ALEXANDER RONNETT: …fascists, and criminals, and
everything like that. I would tell them, even the [unclear] “kiss
my butt,” because you are an idiot, even to believe that, and
mimic some other [unclear] that told you that.
PETER KARL: The Chicago ABN is only a small part of the
private network working to fund the Contras, and there is nothing
illegal about what they are doing. But what worries John Loftus
is that they are speaking for Americans.
JOHN LOFTUS: There are a lot of good people in the world who
are anti-communists. We don’t have to resort to the dregs of humanity.
PETER KARL: In fairness, we want to make it clear that the
vast majority of Eastern Europeans had nothing to do
with these organizations.
The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)
Archive/File: people/b/bellant.russ bellant.a01
From oneb!cs.ubc.ca!destroyer!caen!uunet!olivea!sgigate!sgi!cdp!cberlet Mon Dec 14
13:13:01 PST 1992
Article: 8144 of alt.conspiracy
Path: oneb!cs.ubc.ca!destroyer!caen!uunet!olivea!sgigate!sgi!cdp!cberlet
From: [email protected] (NLG Civil Liberties Committee)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: Bellant: Old Nazi Networks in US
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 12 Dec 92 02:28:00 GMT
References: <[email protected]>
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Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cberlet Dec 11 18:28:00 1992
/* Written 9:11 pm Dec 8, 1992 by cberlet in igc:publiceye */
/* Written 8:30 pm Dec 6, 1992 by cberlet in igc:p.news */
/* Written 7:35 pm Mar 7, 1990 by nlgclc in igc:publiceye */
Bellant: Old Nazis/Appendix 1
