Seeking information about William Gerald Bishop
I am seeking information about William Gerald Bishop (also known as William Arneck and under a number of other names). Bishop was a leader in the American Nazi movement before and during World War II, a propagandist and organizer who went so far as to plan a coup d'état. I already have located a great deal regarding his activities from 1935-1947 and am working with various national archives to extract more. However, there are two topics on which I have found very little. One is his history prior to 1935 (other than the various stories he told, all of which are highly suspect). I do not think anyone can help much with this, as he seems to have risen from total obscurity, but would be grateful for any pointers.
However, his fate after November 1947 is of great interest and there may be some relevant records. After being detained in federal facilities (including Ellis Island) during the war, he was subject to deportation (some claimed he was actually Austrian, though he denied this). Ultimately he exhausted his legal appeals and was deported to Austria on or about 11/18/1947. He may have been turned over to the Soviet authorities as a kind of indirect execution, but there are indications that he survived. The right-wing paper "Common Sense" (not a trustworthy source, but the editor was a friend of his) reports that he was alive and well shortly after the deportation. And a 1951 CIA report regarding Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl and Raimund Strangl alludes to him in a way that suggests he was still living and probably connected with some sort of low-level intelligence work. The CIA disavows all knowledge. I suspect that he may have been recruited to work for the CIC or CIA due to his multilingual fluency and credibility with the former Nazis they often employed, but he also may have been freelancing. There is a likelihood that he died (probably executed by the Soviets) in the early 1950s, but it is also possible that this did not happen until years later.
Jan 7, 2021 3:06 PM
