Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
62 | JANUARY 19 • 2023
A Nazi in Michigan
T
his week, I am writing about something much different
— a Nazi in Michigan. It is an obscure, a bit disgusting,
but interesting story that was a completely unexpected
discovery as I cruised the pages of the William Davidson Digital
Archive of Jewish Detroit History.
Have you ever heard the story of Dr. Edward V
. Sittler?
Sittler was a bone fide Nazi who briefly held a professorship at
the Michigan College of Mining and Technology (now Michigan
Technological University) in Houghton, Michigan. Hiding his
past, Sittler was hired by Michigan Tech in September 1949. To the
college’s credit, the administration soon discovered his nefarious
background and fired him two months later in November 1949.
Michigan Tech should not feel too badly about being fooled
by Sittler. He also briefly held a professorship at Northwestern
University before Michigan Tech, and one at Long Island University
that he resigned in 1959 (see the Dec. 25, 1959, and Aug. 9, 1960,
issues of the JN).
Born in Illinois, the son of a Lutheran minister, Sittler was raised
in Delaware, Ohio. Although his parents were born in America, his maternal
grandfather was German, and his maternal grandmother was Alsatian.
Sittler studied the German language at Ohio State University and Bard College before traveling to
Germany in 1937. Shortly after Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, thereby starting World
War II, Sittler applied for German naturalization and renounced his American citizenship.
Sittler joined the Nazi Party in 1942. During the war, he worked as an English-language
announcer for Nazi propaganda radio broadcasts. Eventually, Sittler enlisted or was drafted as a
private in the SS, serving in Italy near the end of the war.
After the war, Sittler was brought to the U.S. by federal authorities as a witness for trials of two
Nazi supporters. He was only supposed to stay in the States for a short time, but Sittler overstayed
his welcome, remaining in America until 1954, when he was deported to Cuba. Sittler reentered
the U.S. that same year and was soon hired as a professor at Long Island University. He resigned his
position in 1959 after his story became widely known.
On Aug. 9, 1960, Sittler was denied U.S. citizenship. The immigration examiner in New York City,
William Kenville, rejected his application, noting that Sittler had not established his attachment “to
the Constitution,” nor was he “well-disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.”
Referring to his Nazi activities, Sittler claimed that he was “politically immature at the time.”
Moreover — like many Nazis and Germans of the era — denied that he had ever sworn allegiance
to Hitler or had knowledge of concentration camps and the Final Solution.
Sittler appealed to the Federal Court. It was rejected in April 1963. The presiding judge wrote an
opinion stating that Sittler’s testimony was filled with “distortion, half-truths, incomplete answers,
misleading responses, evasion, concealment…” In short, as immigration law requires, Sittler was not
a person of “good moral character.”
Sittler subsequently returned to West Germany and died there in 1975.
The story is largely forgotten, but it bears remembering. It’s also a bit sad. Not for Sittler —
good riddance — but for the fact that any American would support and contribute to the
Nazis in Germany.
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair