History: Naturalization Hearings (2 Jul 1942)

Contact: Duane Horn

----Sources: Greenwood Gleaner, July 2, 1942

About 150 persons--40 of them newly made American Citizens heard Judge Emery W. Crosby scathingly denounce Domestic enemies of the nation in an address at a Citzenship day program and flag pole dedication ceremony on the Court House lawn Tuesday afternoon, June 16, 1942.

The domestic enemy he described as a person who had taken the oath of allegiance and has been admitted into citizenship in the United States, and then works to undermine the concept of American freedom and democracy.

Declaring that "we have them in Neillsville" as well as in Wisconsin and the United States, Judge Crosby asserted that "they are like a cancer, for they eat from within."

"I have seen them swear allegiance to this nation, and then turn around and defame, the President of the United States and the courts and all the agencies which have been created to preserve the freedom that they enjoy" he said.

In his address, Judge Crosby referred to the visit to Neillsville of Laura Ingalls, noted aviatrix, who just after Pearl Harbor, was sentenced in Washington for failure to register as a Nazi agent. She spoke on an America First platform in the W. R. C. Hall.

"Some day" he continued "I will hold a 'de-naturalization' hearing in the court room," he predicated, inferring that such a hearing would be for the benefit of the nation's domestic enemies sheltered in Clark County.

Those who received naturatization paper were: Poles--Mary Kotcon, Willard; Helen Leniekski, Thorp; Peter Sandel, Withee; Anna Kmieciak, Thorp; Anna Gajda, Thorp; Mary Sopiarz, Thorp; Yuzafa Barbara Koitys,Thorp; Amalia Kopp, Neillville; Bernice Krzyzanowski, Thorp; John Hrobak, Neillsville; Evelyn Constance Mamayek, Thorp; Josephine Smoczyk, Stanley: Plyllis Helen Zurakowski, Thorp; Anna Symbal, Stanley; Katarczyna Maciejewski, Owen; Mary Grendzinski, Thorp; and Ludwik Olenski, Owen, Wis.

Swiss--Oscar Carl Voiland, Neillsville; Casper Marty, Neillsville; Louise Bachmann, Thorp; Jakob Leiser, Neillsville, Henry Harder, Neillsville, Wis. Finnish--Ensio Bjorn, Owen; Henry Hjalmar Sjostrom, Owen; Hilma Sjostrom, Owen, James Edward Erickson, Unity.

Yugoslavian--Mary Hribar, Willard; Frank Schwab, Willard; Johanna Ortin, Owen, Wis.

Czechoslovakian--Mary Nowozielski, Greenwood; Helen Mazola, Neillsville, Wis.

Danish--Anna Elizabeth Neilsen, Greenwood; Abe Lisbperb Neilsen, Withee.

Swedish--Ben Nels Skoog, Thorp; Rlichard Emanuel Krantz, Neillsville, Wis.

Russian--Carl John Scheuerman, Abbotsford; Lydia Krutsch, Neillsville, Wis.

Austrian--Marian Celar, Neillsville, Wis. Norwegian--Bolette Minsaas, Greenwood.

There were some 20 petitions for final hearing filed by residents of Clark County born in Germany. Action on these are being continued until investigations are completed. The order applies to all subjects of countries that have declared war on the United States.