Clarence Simonsen, in his blog “Preserving the Past,” describes the photo above, on a page of his blog, as follows (spelling as-is): “This German image was taken on 26 July 1936, when American Fritz Julius Kuhn [far right] was invited to the Reich Chancellery in Berlin and had his photo taken with Fuhrer Hitler [left]. The man in the background is Canadian Fuhrer Adrien Arcand, and this title should be -‘The Three Fuhrer’s.’ Kuhn has just presented Hitler with the ‘Golden Book’ containing hundreds of American signatures from well wishers in the United States.”
Clarence Simonsen’s “The Three Fuhrers” Enlarged
Simonsen’s alleged “proof” that Hitler, Arcand and Kuhn met together in 1936
Clarence Simonsen’s ‘Man in the Middle’
Clarence Simonsen says the man in the middle of the photo above (and the gallery of three views below) is Adrien Arcand meeting with Hitler in 1936. Let’s take a look at the sleeve. Notice that the sleeve is a mess. That’s because the arm band of the German-American Bund has been removed.
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- Let’s take a good look at that sleeve.
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- Let’s take a good look at that sleeve.
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- Let’s take a good look at that sleeve.
FORGING THE PAST
A blogger by the name of Clarence Simonsen who deems himself a WWII expert has posted a photo of Adolf Hitler in a meeting with high-ranking members of the German-American Bund in Berlin in the summer of 1936.
Simonsen runs a blog entitled “Preserving the Past”. He describes his blog and his motives in the footer:
“Preserving the Past is a blog about just that. Clarence Simonsen has been researching a lot about the past especially about World War Two for close to 50 years. This blog offers him the opportunity to share his views about what history often neglected.”
The post in question is called “Nazi Propaganda and the Three Fuhrers”. (I’m using the Wayback Machine, but the original post is still online.)
The man at far-right in the photo is Fritz Kuhn of the German-American Bund. Simonsen claims the man in the middle is Adrien Arcand. Simonsen claims this photo proves that “Three Fuhrers” met together in Berlin in 1936: Adolph Hitler, Adrien Arcand and Fritz Kuhn.
Simonsen wants us to believe this photo proves Adrien Arcand was a creature of Hitler in Canada. (Arcand was never a creature of Hitler. He was a devout Roman Catholic who used Catholic social doctrine to create his own new version of fascism.)
Simonsen has a couple of problems. Problem number one: the photo he points to is a fraud. The man in the middle is not Adrien Arcand, but another man, a member of the German-American Bund. The sleeve is a mess on that center man because the arm band has been removed by someone who has tampered with the photo.
Problem number two. A number of shots were taken of that particular meeting of the German-American Bund with Hitler in Berlin in 1936. Several are on the Internet. Some are better in quality than others. One is an almost identical shot, online at Getty, and we clearly see that the man in the middle is wearing a German-American Bund arm band on the very same sleeve where it has been blotted out in the Simonsen photo.
Man in the middle at Getty Images clearly is wearing a black Bund arm band.
In an almost identical shot online at Getty, the man in the middle is wearing the Bund arm band.
The man in the middle is really a member of the German-American Bund, in the uniform of the German-American Bund, including the arm band, the tie and suspender. The photo without the arm band shown by Clarence Simonsen was either deliberately or recklessly used by him to claim that the man in the middle is Arcand. This is a fraud on history, and you would have to have very poor vision to think that fellow in the middle was Adrien Arcand.
That photo is below, one more time, using embed code from Getty, and adding a group shot from the same meeting, also from Getty (click the right-hand arrow to slide it):
Embed from Getty ImagesAdrien Arcand was not an American, he was not a German (as he, himself, publicly noted). He was not a member of the German-American Bund. He would therefore not be wearing a Bund uniform with a Bund armband. Whoever removed the armband did not remove the single suspender and the necktie that seem to go with the Bund uniform.
A Getty Group Shot of the Same Meeting
Also from Getty – same meeting, opposite angle, clear arm band.
Simonsen also posted an image of Adrien Arcand from Life Magazine (below). Here, Arcand is wearing his Legionnaire’s uniform. We see clearly again that there is no resemblance between the center man at the Hitler-Bund meeting, and Adrien Arcand.
Adrien Arcand and some of his Lieutenants
Adrien Arcand at this time (1936-1938) had greying and thinning hair swept to the right. Arcand had a long aquiline nose, and he always wore a narrow moustache with space above it. Moreover, if Arcand attended a formal meeting of any kind, he would surely have worn his own Legionnaire’s uniform, not a shirt, tie and suspender belonging to an American group. And we note in the group-shot above that all the members of the German-American Bund are wearing the shirt, tie, arm band and suspender.
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- Head of Arcand shown by Simonsen, credit to LIFE
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- Head from the group shot at Getty
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- Head from the forged picture used by Simonsen
The fellow in the center of blogger Simonsen’s forged photo has a full head of hair parted on his right side and swept to the left. He is younger than Arcand is at that time. He has a bushy moustache from under his nose to the top of his lip. His nose is rounded or pinched at the end. The shape of the head is not the same. In fact, his head in the forgery seems to be squeezed as though the forger may have tried to make him “thinner”.
Simonsen’s forgery -vs.- Getty’s real photos
Forged photo in Simonsen post.
Simonsen rejoices:
“The arrest of Fuhrer Arcand finally ended Hitler’s Aryan dream in Canada, however across the border in the United States, his dream was still growing under the American Fascists dictatorship of Fuhrer Fritz Kuhn. [sic]”
Conclusion: blogger Clarence Simonsen, author of “Preserving the Past,” has used a fraudulent, tinkered photo to allege that Adrien Arcand met Hitler in 1936 and was a creature of Hitler. Simonsen has not “preserved the past” at all. He has falsified it. He has palmed off an obvious forgery. And he did so either carelessly or deliberately.
In honor of Free Speech and the Natural-Law right of self-defence, blogger Mr. Simonsen has been invited to come over here and comment on this post.
Inviting Clarence Simonsen to come and comment
Invitation to Clarence Simonsen, enlarged.
Down With Hate! 