When the U.S. entered into World War I in April 1917, the country quickly mobilized to support the war effort.
In Minnesota, the legislature decided to create a unique organization to coordinate state efforts — the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety (MCPS).
This seven-member commission was tasked with everything from food distribution to conserving fuel, but soon one of the biggest items on its agenda became rooting out perceived disloyalty to the United States.
As the country joined the ongoing war against Germany, the commission was particularly suspicious of Minnesota’s German-American population, the state’s largest ethnic group.
Were they loyal to the Kaiser or to President Wilson? It didn’t help that, prior to the war, many German-Americans advocated for neutrality.
Rally in New Ulm
Armed with broad powers from the state — including the ability to seize and condemn property and examine any public official’s conduct — the MCPS was eager to stamp out potential threats. In the summer of 1917, several public officials in New Ulm, a city founded by German immigrants that was still heavily German, found themselves under the commission’s scrutiny.
On July 25, 1917, 8,000 people gathered at a draft rally in New Ulm, where 2,000 draft-age men, a color guard and two orchestras paraded through town.
Three-term New Ulm mayor, Dr. Louis Fritsche, and Albert Pfaender, the city attorney, spoke to the crowd, urging men to comply with the draft.
But they shared hopes that New Ulm citizens wouldn’t be sent to fight fellow Germans in Europe.
Pfaender gave the main address, declaring that German-Americans were loyal to the U.S. and ready to do their duty.
But he also wondered if war with Germany was supported by the majority of the country. He added that the Constitution allowed for a draft only if an invasion of the U.S. occurred. Petitions circulated during the rally, calling on Congress to not send draftees abroad.
This Minnesota Commission of Public Safety poster was circulated to boost loyalty during World War I.German leaders under fire
Within a few weeks, the MCPS charged Fritsche and Pfaender with “promoting and participating in seditious public meetings” and demanded they appear before the commission.
When Pfaender visited St. Paul on Aug. 14, one of the commission members declared that he deserved to be shot for his words at the rally.
The commission also gave the two men a loyalty statement to sign, but they both refused.
The MCPS recommended that its chairman, Gov. Joseph Burnquist, suspend the men from office, which he did on Aug. 21.
At the same time, the commission planned a campaign to convince Minnesotans that true patriotism meant accepting the draft. Sept. 4 was declared Dedication Day to honor draftees, and Burnquist made sure to appear at a meeting in New Ulm.
At a New Ulm banquet for draftees, guests were given a loyalty pledge, which included declaring that criticism of the draft laws was a “menace” to the war effort.
‘Un-American’
In the fall of 1917, the government held removal hearings and took testimony in New Ulm. Fritsche and Pfaender attempted to offer their resignations to the city council, but the MCPS ordered the council not to accept them.
In hearings, the men denied that they were attempting to stir up a seditious movement and argued that the main objective of the rally was to educate and placate men on the draft laws, which were unpopular in Brown County.
But it became clear that, in the eyes of the MCPS, anything less than full support of the national war effort and its policies from public officials was unacceptable. On Dec. 1, the governor permanently removed Fritsche and Pfaender from office, on the grounds of malfeasance for sponsoring an “unpatriotic and un-American” rally.
The Brown County Bar Association also expelled Pfaender, and the MCPS urged the State Medical Society and the Brown-Redwood County Medical Society to revoke Fritsche’s license.
Returning to normal
Pfaender and Fritsche’s removal were only part of the MCPS’ wider efforts to stamp out potential sedition from German-Americans.
Throughout its tenure, the commission investigated German textbooks for anti-American content and started a registry of non-citizens, among other activities.
But when World War I ended in November 1918, the commission’s purpose disappeared and it soon ceased its activities, officially dissolving in 1920.
Removal from office wasn’t the end for Fritsche and Pfaender.
By 1920, New Ulm had returned them both to their old positions of mayor and city attorney.
Lauren Peck is a media relations and social media associate for the Minnesota Historical Society.