June 10, 2009
Shooting Suspect Wrote Of "Holocaust Hoax"
Known White Supremacist James Von Brunn, 88, Served Time For Attempted Kidnapping In The 80s
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At left, undated photo of James Wenneker von Brunn taken from his Web site; at right, slain museum guard Stephen Tyrone Johns. (holywesternempire.org/USHMM)
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James Wenneker von Brunn's web site, www.holywesternempire.org (holywesternempire.org)
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Play CBS Video Video Holocaust Museum Reacts To Shooting Sara Bloomfield, Dir. of the U.S. Holocaust Museum and Joseph Rosbochil the museum's Dir. of Protection Services held a news conference on Wednesday's shooting, killing security guard, Stephen T. Johns.
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Video Museum Shooter Called Neo-Nazi Federal officials are now examining details in the life of James Von Brunn, the 88-year-old suspect behind the recent shooting at the Holocaust Museum. CBS News' Bob Orr reports from Washington, D.C.
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Video Shooting Inside Holocaust Museum At least two people have been shot inside the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Joel Brown reports.
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Photo Essay D.C. Museum Shooting Gunman opens fire inside crowded Holocaust Museum, killing a security guard.
James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, gained infamy in December 1981, after an attempt to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve, including then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker - the current chair of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Von Brunn was arrested at the Federal Reserve on Dec. 7, 1981, with a revolver, a hunting knife and a sawed-off shotgun on his person, according to reports.
Postings on his own Web site - which is filled with racially-motivated hate speech - reveal von Brunn's grievances with the government that motivated his attempted kidnapping.
"I intended to bind their hands, and persuade them to appear on Television," von Brunn wrote on his site, www.holywesternempire.org. "There, on camera, I intended to read to the American public my indictment of these treasonous liars. If I survived I expected to be arrested, then stand trial before a jury of my peers."
According to reports at the time of conviction, von Brunn told police he wanted to take Federal Reserve Board members hostage to focus media attention on the board's responsibility for high interest rates and the nation's economic turbulence.
Von Brunn was sentenced in 1983 to 11 years in prison after being convicted by a jury and judge to whom von Brunn referred on his Web site with racial epithets. He served six and a half years in prison, and most of his sentence was carried out at the Ray Brook, New York Federal Correctional Institution.
After his arrest, he wrote a letter to then-Navy Secretary Jim Webb (now a Democratic Senator from Virginia) to create interest in his case, referring to himself as a "political prisoner."Guard Killed In Holocaust Museum Shooting
Photos: D.C. Museum Shooting
According to the autobiography on his Web site, von Brunn served on a PT boat during the Second World War and was based on Corsica, an island off the southeast coast of France. He wrote of recovering a Nazi flag from an enemy boat and keeping it until it was "destroyed" after his "house was torched in 1977."
In 2002, von Brunn published on his Web site a book that detailed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, with chapters such as "the Holocaust Hoax" and "the Negro." The book was mostly anti-Semitic but also attacked all non-white ethnicities.
"We are witnessing today on the world stage a tragedy of enormous proportions: the calculated destruction of the White Race," he wrote.
He threatened to take action against minority races, writing "we will offer a plan to remove the cancer from our cultural organism."
Von Brunn moved to New York City after World War II, and by his own account served as an advertising executive and film producer for 20 years. He claimed to be a member of Mensa, the high-IQ society.
Born on July 11, 1920, Von Brunn currently resides in Annapolis, Maryland.
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 108 Comments
- Anyone else notice the resemblance between Von Brunn and Paul Harvey? They even sound similar...
Posted by bannednancy at 7:06 AM : Jun 12, 2009
Paul Harvey is dead and gone! Let him rest in peace! Besides Paul Harvey was a good and decent man and was not a racist and was never involved with any racist groups! I don't think he would appreciate being compared in any way to this man! - Reply to this comment
- The guy didn't eat his grits. Grits solve everything.
- Reply to this comment
- Once a kook always a kook.
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- People like this guy are both crazy and scary!
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- With all the red flags this guy had flying around him, why didn't someone in authority get wind of it? Big Brother is watching everything else.
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- This guy seemed to hate everyone! Blacks, Jews, both Bush Presidents, Obama, Volker.... everyone! The list goes on and on. If you try to pick what direction (Left or right) this guy was coming from, you will get a brain cramp. We don't need Left Politicians and Right Politicians trying to point the finger at one side or the other for this nut case.
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- Look for John Boehner to want these domestic terrorists moved to his state. After all, he defends rightwing extremists, and calls them "constituents"...
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- REMEMBER," WE WILL NEVER FORGET'!!!
FAYBOUIVER - Reply to this comment
- Only at leftwing central can they claim a problem in america is rightwing extremism. Hteir have been only a couple isolated incidents of a wacko like this guy murdering for ideology and suddenly it is compared to other terrorist related attrocities with no comparisn in scale or scope. Furthermore the libs that frequent this sites jump on the bandwagon and classify all republicans and conservative americans into the same group as this psycho. While our new progressive society and media outlets like CBS are turning a blind eye to the daily attrocities of Islamic radicalism, even going so far as too rename the War on terror and the terrorists these same groups are shifting focus to a few idiots in an attempt to deflect form more pertanent global risks to freedom. Only at at this time in America could such false propoghandizing happen. If not for the haters and sheep that dislike anything right of center could this story have legs. When a news story becomes nothing more than a venue to rally a political base without regard for balance it is no longer the news, it is agenda driven hate, not unlike the hate this man committed against the black guard and this museum.
Posted by notblue at 8:19 AM : Jun 11, 2009
Wrong! Fact is, there are virtually no radical left-wing violent groups in America, whereas there are plenty of extreme right-wing violent terrorists. Name some violent left-wing extremists who kill people. - Reply to this comment
- Only at leftwing central can they claim a problem in america is rightwing extremism. Hteir have been only a couple isolated incidents of a wacko like this guy murdering for ideology and suddenly it is compared to other terrorist related attrocities with no comparisn in scale or scope. Furthermore the libs that frequent this sites jump on the bandwagon and classify all republicans and conservative americans into the same group as this psycho. While our new progressive society and media outlets like CBS are turning a blind eye to the daily attrocities of Islamic radicalism, even going so far as too rename the War on terror and the terrorists these same groups are shifting focus to a few idiots in an attempt to deflect form more pertanent global risks to freedom. Only at at this time in America could such false propoghandizing happen. If not for the haters and sheep that dislike anything right of center could this story have legs. When a news story becomes nothing more than a venue to rally a political base without regard for balance it is no longer the news, it is agenda driven hate, not unlike the hate this man committed against the black guard and this museum.
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- Apparently, those who claim this terrorist "looks good for 88" just can't read. The caption on the photo says, "At left, undated photo of James Wenneker von Brunn taken from his Web site." Don't you people understand the meaning of the word "undated"?
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- This is a non-issue.
Posted by CarlR609 at
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As your life has been fool. - Reply to this comment
- Von Brunn currently resides in Annapolis, Maryland.
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No, he currently resides in jail pending a federal pen.
What a racist whackjob.
A lot like people who post here. - Reply to this comment
- Wow, this guy is scary. Anyone who actually believes his rantings need to get a reality check. The holocost dident happen? Then my 85 year old pappy must be a liar, since he and his troops were some of the first to enter those prison camps. He must be lying about the hundreds and hundreds of human bones in mass graves - one thing though, he is not lying and those images have haunted him for the rest of his days. People like Von Brunn are very dangerous spreading their hatred and propaganda.
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- State_Run_Media that is not true at all. I am an Obama "Foller"... Learn to spell and get your facts straight before making a statement like that!!!
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- I heard that this guy was critically injured in the shooting. He is in the hospital and not expected to survive. I am a Christian and maybe I shouldn't say this but it would be a good thing if he didn't live to get out of the hospital.
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- The anti-psychotic drugs he was taking finally made him snap. He fits the classic profile of such a person who mixes hatred with mind altering prescription drugs. The doctor involved fixed him up real well. Even though he is 88, he is not too old to be executed.
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- I'm going to say again that this guy is no Christian! He may have joined a church but he's no Christian! He's just an insane nut who should have been legally declared mentally incompetent and locked away in an institution years ago!
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- That von Brunn sure looks good for 88 years old,must be pretty spry too.
I thought harboring all that hate was supposed to eat you up from within,like a cancer?
Maybe having your own web page helps keep you young. - Reply to this comment
- The Holocaust is the most well documented event in History in thousands and thousands of pages of print, video, and oral history. The Germans were pathologically obsessive about documenting every single nuance and number of their acts. Only f*u*c*k*i*n*g idiots and overt racists with their own sick agenda would "deny" it.
Posted by ncx at 5:25 AM : Jun 11, 2009
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The issue is not that anyone denies that the Holocaust happened which coincidentally some believe resulted in the deaths of just as many non-Jews as Jews. The issue is that the Holocaust is the only historical event in history where researchers are stigmatized and denied the opportunity to improve the accuracy of its historical record. There are many facts and previously unavailable records that are now available that could provide researchers a more accurate analysis of the Holocaust. These researchers are not only denied the opportunity to improve historical accuracy but absurdly jailed for the crime of "Holocaust Denial". Historical research is always a work in progress and should never be stymied.
It is akin to calling those who research Columbus's voyage as "Columbus deniers" or that they are Italian haters. - Reply to this comment
