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