United States v. Ebell, 165 Civil.

• Decision Date: 02 April 1942
• Docket Number: No. 165 Civil.,165 Civil.
• Citation: 44 F. Supp. 43
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. EBELL.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas

44 F. Supp. 43

UNITED STATES v. EBELL.

No. 165 Civil.

District Court, W. D. Texas, El Paso Division.

April 2, 1942.

William E. Clayton and R. Neill Walshe, Asst. U. S. Attys., both of El Paso, Tex., for the United States.

W. Joe Bryan, of El Paso, Tex., for defendant.

BOYNTON, District Judge.

This is a civil action, in its nature an action in equity, brought by the Government of the United States of America for the cancellation of a certificate of naturalization granted by order of this Court to the defendant Dr. Wolfgang Ebell on April 3, 1939; the United States alleging in its First Amended Complaint that such order of Court granting certificate of naturalization was secured by fraud on the part of the defendant, and illegally, as set forth in the various clauses and paragraphs of the First Amended Complaint filed by the Government herein.

The granting of naturalization and citizenship to an alien is the exercise or granting of a privilege to such alien by the Government granting same, and not a matter of right that can be claimed by an alien. Therefore all of the requirements prescribed by law as to the granting of naturalization must be fully met and complied with by the applicant, an alien seeking naturalization.

An order of naturalization once entered by a Court of competent jurisdiction is not to be lightly set aside, and once entered is not to be set aside unless it be clearly shown by competent evidence, by a preponderance of the evidence offered by the Government, that such order was secured by fraud, as result of fraud, or in some manner illegally obtained.

In this case the record shows, by testimony offered, that the defendant, Dr. Wolfgang Ebell, was born in Germany July 28, 1899, an alien. That he was educated in the schools of Germany; that he served in the German Army during World War 1; that after such war he studied medicine in the schools of Germany; that in 1927 he went to Mexico as a salesman for some German firm or corporation, and emigrated to the United States of America in 1930, coming to El Paso County, Texas, where he married, acquired property, and has remained since such time.

On July 28, 1933, he made and filed a declaration of intention in this Court to become a citizen of the United States of America, and on April 3, 1939, an order of this Court was entered granting his application and directing issuance of a certificate of naturalization to the defendant.

The evidence shows he was corresponding with relatives and others in Germany, some officials of the Government of Germany, and was interested in and in touch with conditions and matters taking place in Germany, while in Mexico and following his coming to the United States, as evidenced by exhibits introduced in evidence on trial of this cause, letters and communications in 1931 and 1933, and that in conversations he gave utterance showing his sympathy in Germany, and affairs and conditions in Germany, and became irritated and angry when persons, American citizens, might make remarks concerning actions of the Government of Germany and of people in Germany, and on one occasion stated that "Hitler would rule the world." I believe that remark was made in 1940 — there is evidence to that effect — and in 1941, and used the term "You Americans" in conversing with an American citizen, or citizens. He became a subscriber of "The Free American", a publication of the German-American Bund, edited in New York by Gerhardt Wilhelm Kunze, and published at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The editor of the newspaper, Gerhardt Wilhelm Kunze, was the recognized leader of such organization, that is, the German-American Bund, at that time in the United States of America, and a representative of the National Party of Germany in the United States of America.

The defendant became a member of the German-American Bund in the United States of America between the time of the filing of his declaration of intention in this Court and the entry of an order granting his application for naturalization, in connection with which, at such time, he took an oath of renunciation of allegiance to the German Reich, and oath of allegiance to the United States of America, without any mental reservation or purposes of evasion, in accordance with the terms and provisions of such oath that was imposed on April 3, 1939.

The evidence shows that the newspaper "Free American", published as an organ of the German-American Bund, edited by Gerhardt Wilhelm Kunze, advocated and was in sympathy with the Nazi government in Germany, that is the Nazi National Party of Germany, and under the leadership of Hitler, extracts of which have been read here which advocated doctrines, in the opinion of this Court, contrary to a democratic form of government such as set forth and prescribed in the Constitution of the United States of America, as shown by expressions contained in such newspaper, the "Free American", and pamphlets containing speeches of Hitler and others found in the possession of the defendant Dr. Wolfgang Ebell at...