Frank Collin
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Francis Joseph Collin (born November 3, 1944) is an American former political activist and Midwest coordinator with the
American Nazi Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise Nation ...
, later known as the National Socialist White People's Party. After being ousted for being partly Jewish (which he denied), in 1970, Collin founded the
National Socialist Party of America The National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) was a Chicago-based organization founded in 1970 by Frank Collin shortly after he left the National Socialist White People's Party. The NSWPP had been the American Nazi Party until shortly after the ...
. (N.S.P.A.) In the late 1970s, his planned march in the predominantly
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
suburb of
Skokie, Illinois Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, neighboring the City of Chicago's northern border. Its population, according to the 2020 census, was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's do ...
was challenged; however, the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
defended Collin's group's freedom of speech and assembly in a case that reached the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
to correct procedural deficiencies. Specifically, the necessity of immediate appellate review of orders restraining the exercise of First Amendment rights was strongly emphasized in ''National Socialist Party v. Village of Skokie'', 432 U.S. 43 (1977). Afterward, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the party had a right to march and to display swastikas, despite local opposition, based on the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...
. Collin then offered a compromise, offering to march in Chicago's Marquette Park (where
Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
had been attacked in 1966) instead of Skokie. After Collin was convicted and sentenced in 1979 for child molestation, he lost his position in the party. After being released early on parole from prison, Collin created a new career as a writer, publishing numerous books under the pen name Frank Joseph. He wrote
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
and " hyperdiffusionist" works supporting the pseudoarchaeological idea that Old World peoples had migrated to North America in ancient times and created its complex societies of
indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. This thesis is rejected by mainstream scholars.


Early life, family and education

Collin was born and raised in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
, where he attended local schools. His father, Max Frank Collin, was born Max Simon Cohn in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, on August 23, 1913, the son of Jewish parents who were murdered in
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
, and was a survivor of Dachau concentration camp. Frank's mother, Virginia Gertrude née Hardyman, was born in Chicago on August 18, 1920, and was Catholic.


Adult life and career

As a young man, Collin in the 1960s joined
George Lincoln Rockwell George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American far-right political activist and founder of the American Nazi Party. He later became a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs, st ...
's
National Socialist White People's Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise National ...
. He became the Midwest coordinator. He broke with the NSWPP due to a disagreement with Rockwell's successor,
Matt Koehl Matthias Koehl Jr. (January 22, 1935 – October 9, 2014) was an American Marine, neo-Nazi politician and writer. He succeeded George Lincoln Rockwell as the longest serving leader of the American Nazi Party, from 1967 to 2014. Like the C ...
, who was elected as the party leader by popular vote after Rockwell was assassinated on August 25, 1967. The falling out stemmed in part from published accounts by Max Collin, Frank's father, who said that he was a Jewish Holocaust survivor and had changed his name from Cohen (or Cohn) to Collin. Frank Collin denied having Jewish roots and maintained that his father was not telling the truth. In 1970, Collin formed another organization, the
National Socialist Party of America The National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) was a Chicago-based organization founded in 1970 by Frank Collin shortly after he left the National Socialist White People's Party. The NSWPP had been the American Nazi Party until shortly after the ...
(NSPA), later known as the
American Nazi Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise Nation ...
. It attracted other disaffected members of the NSWPP, as well as Michael Allen, Gary Lauck and Harold Covington. Covington helped buy a building for the group which they called Rockwell Hall, where Collin and some other members lived in a barracks in upper floor. Collin ran for
alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...
of Chicago in 1975 and pulled 16% of the vote. The NSPA began holding anti-black demonstrations in Chicago's Marquette Park. The Chicago authorities became concerned about violence and passed an ordinance which required demonstrations to post large insurance bonds. Collin went to the ACLU and they filed a suit. While the case was proceeding without public notice, Collin attempted to contact other cities about holding demonstrations.
Skokie, Illinois Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, neighboring the City of Chicago's northern border. Its population, according to the 2020 census, was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's do ...
, a suburb of Chicago, responded with a notice that the group would need to post a bond, similar to the recently enacted ordinance in Chicago. Collin's plan for his neo-Nazi group to march in uniforms through Skokie, which was heavily Jewish with numerous residents who were Holocaust survivors, generated public outrage and the media attention which Collin sought. Also in 1977, Koehl's NSWPP began a campaign in their paper ''White Power'' about Collin's father being Jewish, including publications of what they stated were Max Simon Cohn's . papes. Collin and the NSPA leadership continued to deny the claim and said the images were fakes.


Child molestation conviction

During this time, according to Jeffrey Kaplan, Covington found pictures in Frank Collin's desk that linked Collin to the sexual abuse of young boys. In what Kaplan described as a play for power in the organization, Covington and the other NSPA members turned the evidence on Collin over to the police. After Collin was arrested, Covington took over leadership of the NSPA and moved the headquarters from Chicago to North Carolina. A 1980 article in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported that "Frank Collin was expelled from the American Nazi Party for illicit intercourse with minors and the use of Nazi headquarters in Chicago for purposes of sodomy with children. The report indicates that the Nazis "tipped" the police who arrested Collin. Collin was convicted of child molestation and sentenced to seven years in prison at the Pontiac Correctional Center in 1979. He served three years.


Author

Upon his release from prison, Collin "reinvented himself under the pseudonym of Frank Joseph, a
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
writer and pagan worshiper." His time in the Pontiac Correctional Facility in Illinois had coincided with the period when Russell E. Burrows worked there as a prison guard. He subsequently wrote many books and articles in support of
Burrows Cave Burrows Cave is the name given to an alleged cave site in Southern Illinois reputedly discovered in 1982 by Russell E. Burrows. Burrows says it contained a number of artifacts. Through the many inconsistencies and implausibilities that revolve aro ...
, an alleged cache of ancient treasure in an unrevealed location, supposedly discovered by Russell Burrows in southern Illinois." In 1987, he had his first New Age book published, ''The Destruction of
Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...
: Compelling Evidence of the Sudden Fall of the Legendary
Civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). ...
''. He wrote articles for ''
Fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...
'' magazine, and he was also the editor of ''The Ancient American'' magazine. ''The Ancient American'' focuses on what it says is evidence of ancient, pre-Columbian transoceanic contact between the Old World and North America, with the implication that all complex aspects of North America's indigenous cultures must have originated on other continents. The magazine's claims are similar to discredited nineteenth century theories, and as a result, they are considered dubious or exploitative by scholars.


Books (as Frank Joseph)

*''The Destruction of Atlantis: Compelling Evidence of the Sudden Fall of the Legendary Civilization'' (Atlantis Research Publishers, 1987) :*Reprinted 2004, Bear and Co., *''Atlantis in Wisconsin: New Revelations About the Lost Sunken City'' (Galde Press, 1995) *''Edgar Cayce's Atlantis and Lemuria: The Lost Civilizations in the Light of Modern Discoveries'' (A.R.E. Press, 2001) *''Lost Pyramids of Rock Lake: Wisconsin's Sunken Civilization'' (Galde Press, 2002) *''The Lost Treasure of King Juba: The Evidence of Africans in America before Columbus'' (Bear and Co., 2003) *''Synchronicity & You: Understanding the Role of Meaningful Coincidence in Your Life'', 2003, *''Last of the Red Devils: America's First Bomber Pilot'' (Galde Press, 2003) *''Survivors of Atlantis: Their Impact on World Culture'' (Galde Press, 2004) *''The Atlantis Encyclopedia'' (New Page Books, 2005) *''The Lost Civilization of Lemuria: The Rise and Fall of the Worlds Oldest Culture'' (Bear and Co., 2006) *''Opening the Ark of the Covenant: The Secret Power of the Ancients, The Knights Templar Connection, and the Search for the Holy Grail'' (New Page Books, 2007) *''Atlantis and Other Lost Worlds'' (Arcturus, 2008) *''Advanced Civilizations of Prehistoric America: The Lost Kingdoms of the Adena, Hopewell, Mississippians, and Anasazi'' (Bear and Co., 2009) *''Power of Coincidence: The Mysterious Role of Synchronicity in Shaping Our Lives'' (Arcturus, 2009) *''Mussolini's War: Fascist Italy's Military Struggles from Africa and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and Soviet Union 1935–45'' (Helion & Company Ltd., 2009) *''Gods of the Runes: The Divine Shapers of Fate'' (Bear and Co., 2010) *''Atlantis and 2012: The Science of the Lost Civilization and the Prophecies of the Maya'' (Bear and Co., 2010) *''The Axis Air Forces: Flying in Support of the German Luftwaffe'' (Praeger, 2011) *''Ancient High Tech: The Astonishing Scientific Achievements of Early Civilizations'' (Bear and Co., 2020)


In popular culture

*Collin was played by George Dzundza in '' Skokie,'' a 1981
television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
about the planned march and court case. *A character based on Collin was played by
Henry Gibson Henry Gibson (born James Bateman; September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor and poet. His best-known roles include his time as a cast member of the TV sketch-comedy series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 19 ...
in the 1980 film ''
The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respecti ...
''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collin, Frank 1944 births 20th-century far-right politicians in the United States Living people American Nazi Party members American people convicted of child sexual abuse Illinois politicians convicted of crimes Skokie Controversy American modern pagans Politicians from Chicago American people of Jewish descent Atlantis New Age writers Writers from Chicago Hyperdiffusionism American political party founders Neo-Nazi politicians in the United States Neo-Nazis of Jewish descent Modern pagans of Jewish descent