Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's Jill. Jen and I wanted to give you a heads up about the content on today's episode. It may be triggering for more sensitive audiences. Refer to the show notes for more specifics and take care while you listen.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: On this episode of Common Mystics, we uncover the secret Nazi cells operating in 1930s Los Angeles and the ordinary Americans who risked everything to expose them.
I'm Jennifer James.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: I'm Jill Stanley.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: We're psychics.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: We're sisters.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And this one comes to you from Los Angeles, California.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: That's right, Jennifer. So let's discuss how we picked up our friend Emily and we were driving around Santa Monica and that's where we set our intention.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Well, Jill, we picked up our friend Emily, we were driving around Santa Monica, and then we set our intention.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Okay, Let me tell you guys. Okay? So if you're just watching or listening to it, I have created B rolls for this episode and I'm trying something new. So please look at the shit show on YouTube that we are going to post because I don't know how this is going to work and I'm already thrown off. But. Jennifer.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Yeah? Can you. Can I also add something, by the way?
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: I'm so impressed with how natural you are on.
On camera.
So natural.
Not an ounce of, like, makeup pride, any of that.
Yeah, no, really, I. I love it.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: I got caught in a downpour today.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: And I got home and I was like a wet rat. And then it was really cold and I was shivering and like, all my makeup was off. But then it got hot as hell.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: That's exactly what you look like. So. Yes.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: So I went through all the phases today.
I was like, cold and, like, feeling homeless. And then I got here and I
[00:02:28] Speaker B: was like, oh, I'm glad you're here today. Thank you. Thank you for showing up. Ready to go? No. This is going to be fun. So. Love you. It's all good.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: I love you too.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Okay, so our intention.
Stop playing with your hair. Our intention.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Was as it always is. As it always is. What is it?
[00:02:50] Speaker A: No, you do it. You always do.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Why do I always have to do.
Was as it always is, to find a verifiable story previously unknown to us that allows us to give voice to the voiceless.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: That's right, Jennifer.
Oh, there we are driving around the Santa Monica mountain.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Yeah, that's exactly what it was like. I'm looking at win winding roads and the sea in the background. Really beautiful.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: And our friend Emily Was picking up on a Nazi camp in the hills.
Stupid psychic.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: That is crazy.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: Like, who would have even. Like, where did that come from?
[00:03:32] Speaker B: I don't. My mind is blown.
I was picking up. Oh, so go ahead, please.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: No, no, no. Please, please.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: I was picking up on an H initial.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: That's right, you were.
And we were driving around the greater Los Angeles area. So you're looking at a slide of the greater Los Angeles area we pulled towards. Oh, do you remember how we almost got, like, totally arrested at the military compound?
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Oh, yes, yes. We're like.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: We're looking for a beach. They're like, there are hundreds of beaches. I was like, okay, thank you. Bye.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Yeah, they had no.
What's the word? Humor. They were humorless about, like, they were not playing at all.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: No.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Super serious at that. Give me your wallet right now.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Before you make a U turn, give me your id. Right? Do not come back. We don't want to see you ever again. And I was like, yes, sir.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Here we go.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Anyway, what were you picking up on?
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Proud male energy, pride and service.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Service, meaning service military.
Yes, yes. Okay, very good.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: But specifically, service to one's country, not just like the military, you know, so it's more open.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: Gotcha. And I was definitely picking up on World War II.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: Yes, you was.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Yes, you was.
And you had a. A song playing in your head that you couldn't get out.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Yes. Freedom, Freedom.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: George Michael.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Oh, I love that.
I like the new Freedom Freedom 98.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: As opposed to Wham Freedom. I mean, they're both good.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: I love Wham Freedom.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: You do?
[00:05:17] Speaker A: I do. That's a song.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the right. Stop singing. Yeah. Oh, that one. Oh, yeah. Okay.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: All right.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Okay. So now we are. So we are zoning in on the research.
We were looking into Nazis in Los Angeles. So that brings us to the 1930s in Los Angeles, because it's not neo Nazis. It was Nazis.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Like the originals. Like OG Nazis.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: OG Nazis.
Okay. So Los Angeles sold itself as sunshine reinvention and a make believe. And that brought swastikas, armed extremists, secret informants, plans for violence on the American soil.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Who knew?
[00:06:04] Speaker A: I didn't know.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: This was news to me.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: I didn't know. I didn't know that.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: So we looked into the Nazis.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Well, you did. Thank you for putting this outline together, because I learned a lot. And one of the things I learned was about what was going on during the Great Depression.
And you kind of have to go back a little bit because I think the Great Depression, it was definitely around in the 30s, but it was the 1920s, when really the seeds of it started, right before the crash, even before the stock market crash. But during the Great Depression, Los Angeles was an area that was rapidly expanding.
But other things that were expanding at the same time frame were. Was unemployment, labor conflict, grievances, specifically that veterans had following World War I, and political fear.
And all of this created a very fertile ground for extremist movements across the country.
But the region, Southern California, had a long history of what's called nativism.
You know what nativism is? How would you describe.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: I.
I wouldn't have it.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Look. Okay, you would.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: I would. I would not describe it.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Well, let me.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: Because.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Let me.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Yes, please. Because you.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: You.
Because you're a little unprepared.
That's okay. I knew you would be.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: So I. Look brand.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Okay. Nativism is the idea that people who are native or born to a country should be favored amongst those people who are newly. Have new. Newly immigrated to the country. Makes sense.
Yeah. I mean, it's not a new idea for certain, but there was a big history of nativism in Southern California as well as it was one of the strongest centers of the Ku Klux Clan outside.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: Did not. Did not know that.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Neither did I. That messed up. And can you tell me why? It has such a stupid name?
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Isn't it? Isn't it like.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: I. I have no idea. I did not look this up. But it bothers me because it's so hard to say. It's like an evil tongue twister.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: You know what it is? Like the fraternities, you know how the fraternity houses, it's.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: That they use Greek.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the close.
I think so.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Someone correct us if Jill's wrong, which is quite possible anyway. Yeah. So that there was a history of that. Not good. But also. Also, Jill. Southern California was home to roughly 150,000 German Americans.
And because of that, about 50 German American organizations. Not saying they were all evil, but large pocket of Germans living here in the Southern California region. And approximately one third, one third of the nation's disabled veterans lived in the region as well.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Now, Nazi organizers believed that they could use this environment in Southern California to exploit the. Their anger over the federal benefit cuts that the federal government was making to disabled veterans. So the Nazis are like, this is perfect fertile ground to. To, you know, raise up some anger amongst these people. Right, because you need anger to. I guess you need to be angry to be a Nazi. Have you ever met like a perfectly Happy Nazi? No, I mean, I've never met a Nazi.
Why are you covering your mouth right now?
They're, you know, they're angry. They have to be angry.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: I think it's the language. I think the language itself lends itself to like aggression. You know what I mean?
[00:10:13] Speaker B: It's so like German.
German is a. Yes, German is a very aggressive.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: It like sits in the back of your throat and it's like you have to gargle. Yeah.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Yes.
I wonder how I say love you in Germany should look. I don't know.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Sounds aggressive.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: I bet you it sounds scary.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: Tell you that you'd be a lot scarier if you were German.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Can you imagine if I were Russian?
[00:10:41] Speaker B: No, let's not go there. Let's stick with. With German and Nazis and how angry Nazis. You have to be angry to be a Nazi and you don't have any self love.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: I believe. I believe that. That you don't love yourself.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: And I don't care if I offend any Nazis listening. I really don't.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: I don't think any Nazis are alive anymore.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: Now they're just neo Nazis.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Yeah, now they're just wannabe Nazis.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: All right, whatever. Moving on. You might ask. Well, we're looking at some B roll here, Jill. What are we looking at?
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Oh, my God, I'm so glad you asked. So the Nazi organizations, you know, we were talking about how Nazis were using these German American clubs to infiltrate them and to change the perception of the. Some of people that may have grievance in the culture. And it made it all the way to the front page of this Los Angeles Times article that Hitler was like plans on boycotts and things like that to infiltrate just to create Nazi cells on the American soil. So that's.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: Don't you just love looking at old newspapers, though?
[00:11:43] Speaker A: Sometimes they're really hard to read.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: Yeah, but I love the ads especially. Anyway. What's this?
[00:11:50] Speaker A: This is just a map of Los Angeles.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: This is just what, like, should be playing in the background when you're talking.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Oh, sorry.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: No, no, no, it's fine. It's totally fine.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: So you might ask, why did the Nazis. Why did Hitler's movement land in la? Like, why there? Why?
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Yeah, why did Los Angeles appeal to Adolf Hitler? Like, I get it. Like, I. We went there and I love.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: I would. I would live there. But he wasn't looking for real estate, you know.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: No, no, he wasn't. No, no. He may be sunshine.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: So Los Angeles offered more than just Potentially sympathetic people for the Nazi movement.
Hollywood, Jill. Hollywood.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: The most powerful storytelling machine and potential propaganda in the world.
Hollywood. Adolf Hitler, as well as his underlings understood that film had the ability to shape public opinion.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Show does.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: And German diplomats pressured the studios to avoid unfavorable portrayals of the Third Reich, while local extremists blamed Jewish studio leaders for. For anti German images.
So they had a vested interest in what was happening in Hollywood and what types of films were being produced and shown around the world.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: Also, there's something else important about la. It's not all just about Hollywood, you know.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Yeah, it kind of is, but.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Well, kind of. But they also have a harbor.
And this harbor in LA was less watched, a little more undercover than New York. Right.
So if you want to move stuff, any sort of propaganda or money or secret operatives.
German vessels would arrive at the port carrying Gestapo officers and providing a channel between the local extremists there and officials in Berlin.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: That's insane. But I want you to describe the picture that you're looking at right now, because this is shocking to me.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: I am looking at what looks like a little portion of Los Angeles in the city.
I'm looking at a furniture store and some other stores, and I'm also looking at flags hanging. I'm looking at a swastika flag hanging
[00:14:35] Speaker A: not so far from the American flag.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And there's another flag that. It's black and white, so I don't know what that One is with three
[00:14:43] Speaker A: stripes, but this is from April 1936 in downtown LA on Broadway Street.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: That is insane that there was a swastika on a flag right next to the American flag.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: And nobody. La.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: In la.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: In la.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: And nobody was alarmed enough to be like, take that down. You know, weird.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Especially after. I mean, this is not long after World War I. You know what I mean? Like, they were feeding on the grievances of the. The veterans. So you would think that, like, someone would be like, hey, this seems a
[00:15:22] Speaker B: little sus for sure, but no.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Okay, so Nazis organized in Los Angeles.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: I cannot even believe this.
After Hitler became the German chancellor In January of 1933, Nazi representatives helped establish Friends of New Germany in the United States.
Friends of New Germany was an organization that would evolve into the German American Bund.
I almost said German American band, but it's Bund. It is Bund. I mean, a band would be more fun.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: I mean, who doesn't like a good band?
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Everybody likes a band and a performance.
What do you like better, a marching band or a Bandit, isn't marching a band.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: That is not marching.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Marching bands are fun during football games.
[00:16:21] Speaker A: I mean, I'm not a football fan,
[00:16:23] Speaker B: so I'm not either. But the choreography while you're holding like big instruments, that's mighty impressive.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: How cute though, is our Jenny B. For liking football because all her boys in her house likes football.
Like, how cute is that?
[00:16:38] Speaker B: That's adorable. I never got into football.
Okay. So in Los Angeles, the group the Friends of New Germany turned into German American Bund group, operated from 902 South Alvarado Street, a converted mansion containing the Alt Heidelberg Restaurant, the Aryan Bookstore, different offices and a meeting hall. So that's where they were organized. Wow. I'm looking at these pictures. This is beautiful. What a beautiful building.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: I know.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: This looks classy.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: They have some money.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: Yeah, they do. Shoot, that looked nice.
And at an August 1933 public meeting, approximately 100 people gathered under American, Imperial German and Nazi flags. Interesting.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: This.
[00:17:35] Speaker B: What are we looking at?
[00:17:36] Speaker A: This is a snippet from the paper that shows the American flag and the Nazis flag and people hiling. Is it Hiling Hitler hailing Hitler?
[00:17:46] Speaker B: They have their hands raised.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Yes, in the. In. In a. Very definitely Hitler Hitler. Yes. Yes.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: Heil Hitler. Yes.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: That's from the Los Angeles Times.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Dude, that's insane. Brown shirted guards stood around the hall. I bet that they were like security and they. And recorded speeches by Hitler and President Paul von Hindenburg played on a phonograph.
And the evening ended with Nazi salutes.
So they basically got together and played records.
Mean, angry Hitler, hateful Hitler records.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: That does not sound fun.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: No.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: No. It really sounds like they were up to no good.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: But you know what happened?
[00:18:38] Speaker B: What happened?
[00:18:40] Speaker A: It did not go unnoticed. You can just look at those pictures. They were in the newspapers. They were like. They were Gestapo members on the streets of la. So someone was like, oh, hello, this. Hello. Knock knock. This doesn't seem right. Someone should look into this. And someone does.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Oh, good.
So it. Apparently undercover reports revealed ambitions far beyond a cultural club. Oh, so it wasn't just a cultural club. They were up to no good.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: I mean, they're Nazis.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: True. They hate themselves. They're angry.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: We get it.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Leaders discussed a future moment that they called dirt tag. Or the day when unrest could be used to justify an organized seizure of power in America.
Oh, my gosh. They hope to recruit the veterans. Of course. We talked about that. Penetrate National Guard units, obtain armory floor plans, secure weapons and organize stormtroopers. They were really going to try to take over the United States. Holy cow.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: They definitely were trying to infiltrate some very strategic places in our. In our society.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Unbelievable. And over the following years, informants uncovered or monitored their threats and schemes that involved Jill.
The murder of Jewish residents, machine gun attacks in Boyle Heights, the lynching of Hollywood figures including Samuel Goldwyn, May and Charlie Chaplin, sabotage the docks and military facilities, stealing weapons, and even a sham fumigation business that could be used to kill Jewish families.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: This is chilling. I cannot even believe that these plans were underway in LA in the 30s.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: I know.
I mean, sit with it for a moment.
So in. In. I mean, in the 1930s, the Nazis. Hitler.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: Adolf Hitler infiltrated parts of the United States in the form of social clubs to take over some pivotal society.
Yes. Yes. Oh, man.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Wow. And military. This is crazy.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: I have. And how did I not know this?
[00:21:15] Speaker B: We were never safe.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: We never, never. Okay, there is an important historical distinction that I want you to. To disclaim here.
[00:21:25] Speaker B: Okay, here we go. The sources document plans, discussions and conspiracies. But not every scene scheme reached an operational stage. Okay, thank goodness. So they were just dreaming big spitballing? No, everything.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Yeah. No bad ideas in a brainstorm. You just keep it going.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: Okay. I feel a little better that they weren't at the operational stages of these terrible ideas scheme.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: But some schemes were. So keep that.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: So his historians don't claim that the groups were capable of conquering the United States, but the danger.
The. The danger lay in their targeted violence and sabotage that could have resulted in real death, real murders. Yes.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: Oh, but.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: But.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: Enter.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: To the heroes.
Yay.
Oh, Leon Lewis.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Yes.
Okay, tell me about him.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: Well, Leon Lewis, this.
I like him. I like his eyes. He's got kind eyes. See, you can tell he's not a Nazi because he's not full of hate. Leon Lewis was a Jewish attorney, World War I veteran, an early leader in the Anti Defamation League.
That's the good counterpart, right? That's like Glinda, the Good Witch. Yeah, the Wicked Witch of the West. Right.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: Depending on if you're watching Oz or Wicked.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: True. Good point. Maybe that's too complicated, but this is the good counterpart to the German Bund.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: Yes, yes.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: Okay. He had followed along with Hitler's rise for years, and he understood that Nazi ideology did not stop at Germany's borders. Damn.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: See, now, again, didn't know that. Like I knew that they were going around Europe, but the United States? Come on.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: I did not know that either.
When local and federal authorities treated the threat with indifference and when some law enforcement personnel were even sympathetic to the Nazis.
Lewis built his own intelligent network. Wait a minute. He built his own group of spies?
[00:23:40] Speaker A: Yes, because he was like, knock, knock. Oh, this Nazi thing looks like it's getting out of hand. And they're like, oh, yeah, calm down, Jewish attorney. You're. We're fine. We're America.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: And he's like, I'll do it myself. Yep, good for him.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: Created his own network of spies.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: And he was smart about it because he recruited people who the Nazis would trust.
They were non Jewish.
They were German American veterans, which, of course, the Nazis were identifying as a group.
These Germans, though, they're obviously, their loyalty to German culture did not automatically translate into loyalty to Hitler, obviously. I mean, that should go without saying that all the Germans weren't Nazis. Right. That all Germans were not in support of Hitler.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: I think it's really important to. To remind people that Nazis was just a political party, the same way the Democrats are a political party, so now are the Republicans. So not every American is one or the other. Or some people just didn't care or indifferent and just aren't tuned in. Right.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: And so they entered meetings, these undercover people, they befriended leaders.
They copied down documents and listened to drunken boasts. I mean, they acted like real spies. Even, like, drawing floor plans of places and filing reports on what was happening within these hurtful, awful German bond associations.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: They gather names, groups.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: Now, Hollywood executives got in on it, funding Leon Lewis's operation. And in March 1934, representatives of the major studios pledged approximately $22,000 for them to continue the intelligence work.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: Because they were like, we in danger, girl.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm looking. I'm looking at some Hollywood people, including Charlie Chaplin over there without the mustache. You know, he looks kind of washed out without his mustache.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Is. Which one's he? Hip.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: He is second from the right.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: Yeah, that's where my mouse is.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: Oh, I can't see your mouse. I can only see Charlie Chaplin. And I think that's Norma Shearer, if I'm right. Oh, I think that's. What's her name? Mary Pickford. All the way to the left in the polka dots.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Yes. Isn't she adorable?
[00:26:16] Speaker B: She is. She doesn't have her long wig on, though. Anyway, I don't know if that's Norma Shearer or not. That might be Gloria Swanson. Anyway, that. This is insane.
Unbelievable. There's, like, a little war happening in la. Oh, my gosh.
So, Jill, that really brings us to the true hero of our story, Captain John Schmidt. What.
What was that last picture of a Close up key. What. What is that?
[00:26:47] Speaker A: Evidence remained under a locking key.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: So it's a stylistic.
[00:26:52] Speaker A: Yes, that's the B roll that we're not. Yes, yes, yes.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Okay. Very effective imagery there, Jill.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: And who are we looking at?
[00:27:02] Speaker B: Captain John Schmidt. That is his profile.
When you can't see into his eyes, it's harder to get a read on his personality.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: You need to.
[00:27:12] Speaker B: But I like that he's, he's got the smile line, so that's a dead giveaway that he's, he's not hateful.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: And his, the sides of his mouth go up a little bit, so it looks like he's smiling. He looks like he somewhat like he's observing something that's humorous.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: He does slightly, but he's not. Ha, ha ha, laughing.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: No, it's not like a cartoon humorous. It's like,
[00:27:36] Speaker B: isn't that. It's like curious humorous.
John Schmidt, the gentleman we're looking at, he was born in Bavaria in 1879, and he served in the German Imperial army when he was young. And then he immigrated to the United States in the year 1900.
He became a naturalized citizen of the U.S.
in 1908 and enlisted in the U.S. army.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: And later records identified him as a retired regular army captain, although some accounts describe earlier ranks during his service.
So he was definitely a ranked retired veteran.
World War I unfortunately left Schmidt physically and emotionally wounded.
Like so many other veterans, he was actually hospitalized for six years with a condition that we would understand these days to be post traumatic stress disorder.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: Oh, God.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: He lived with chronic pain, physical and emotional.
Jill. He is exactly the type of person that the Nazis are targeting.
[00:28:57] Speaker A: I know, I know.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: And he is one of the good guys.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Wow.
So during the Depression, federal reductions to veterans benefits stripped him of much of his disability pension.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: Oh, in 1933, he was unemployed, he was ill. He was close to being destitute.
On paper, he was the perfect target for the Nazi recruiters. German born military, trained for, financially desperate and wounded by American government's treatment of its veterans. Damn.
But, but the Nazi recruiters completely misunderstood him because Schmidt's hardship did not destroy his loyalty to the United States. I'm getting, I'm getting.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: I'm getting goosebumps.
I'm getting goosebumps.
[00:30:08] Speaker B: This is like, I want to cry right now.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: Please don't cry. This is insane.
[00:30:15] Speaker B: As a member of the, of the Americanism Committee of the Disabled American Veterans, he was deeply concerned about groups that threatened American democracy.
Now, on August 17, 1933, Schmidt entered the Friends of the New Germany headquarters on South Alvarado Street. Oh, this is the bad group.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: This is the bad group.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: Goes into the enemy. The enemy organization.
And he met with regional leader Robert Pape, Herman Schwinn, and the bookstore owner, Paul Thets.
So he met with the big ones. Thank you. And afterward, he submitted a report back to his boss, Leon Lewis, under the code name 11. I love that his code name was 11.
Is it angel number 11? 11. He was the first of the veterans who became central to Lewis's spy network. Oh, my gosh. I love this. But he's going to be in danger, Jill.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: I know, but keep going, Keep going.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: I could never be a spy. I'm getting nervous right now. I'm getting nervous for him right now.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: You cannot lie.
So you could not be a spy. It's so bad.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: So bad. I am the worst liar.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Okay. The Nazis saw Schmidt as one of their own. Oh, he.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: He fooled him because.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: Because he was German born, he was blond, he was blue eyed, he was military. And he put on a show of being embittered.
[00:31:52] Speaker A: Mm.
[00:31:54] Speaker B: Schmidt played the role that they expected.
And he allowed them to believe that he shared their anti Semitism and anger while quietly documenting their real goals.
[00:32:07] Speaker A: That's insane.
[00:32:09] Speaker B: What is it?
[00:32:10] Speaker A: That's insane.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: Yeah, but it wasn't just him, Jill.
[00:32:14] Speaker A: I know. I love this. Stop it right now.
[00:32:16] Speaker B: Tell us.
Tell us also.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: His wife, Alice.
His wife Alice.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: His wife, Alice Schmidt. John didn't work alone. He worked along. His wife, Alice Hannon Schmidt, she became informant number 17.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: Goosebumps.
[00:32:35] Speaker B: In fact, while dining at the Alt Heidelberg.
Sounds fancy building. Well, yeah, that's the building where all of the Nazis are. Alice went upstairs looking for the powder room, and she was stopped by one of the people who were like, there. And they were like, that's verboten.
And John saw this, and he suspected that if they're cutting people off from going to the upper floor, that's where they were concealing arms or equipment. And so he was able to report that. So they kind of worked together. I bet she knew exactly where the bathroom was.
[00:33:10] Speaker A: Of course she did. Alice, come on, girl. She was good.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: And later, the other thing she did was she would work around the reading room and listen to conversations, and people would just ignore her. And then she would report back what they were talking about. Oh, my gosh.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: Can you imagine your husband coming home one day and was like, look, I. I was recruited to do this dangerous thing and it's gonna put me in jeopardy. And she was like, okay, whose car Are we taking.
Right.
Yes.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: The Schmidt's together attended dinners and social events with Nazi leaders where alcohol often loosen tongues.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: You know how that is.
I like to sing. I like to sing when I'm drunk.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: I'm like, yeah, you think you're so good.
One of these days I'm going to record Drunk Jill singing, and you're gonna see exactly what that's like. Experience. Because it's not fun. Jill, can I just tell you one thing?
[00:34:09] Speaker A: I thought in junior year in high school that we had the best chorus. Like, I, I really.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: But you were all just drunk. Is that your point?
[00:34:20] Speaker A: No. When I brought it up to my friend Lisa, who was in chorus with me, she was like, are you insane? She's like, do you know how much we sucked so bad?
[00:34:30] Speaker B: She's like, it was funny.
So your judgment's off?
[00:34:35] Speaker A: Yeah. When it comes to my singing?
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Yeah. This is crazy. And the Schmidt's, together, they wrote these reports that helped reveal plans to recruit veterans, infiltrate the National Guard, acquire armory blueprints, secure weapons, and prepare for an uprising.
[00:34:55] Speaker A: So shit's getting real for the Schmidt's.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: They are a power couple. They're Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Oh, my gosh.
Isn't. Doesn't Schmidt mean Smith?
[00:35:07] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:35:08] Speaker B: I think they're the real Mr. And Mrs. Schmidt.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: But the Mrs. And Mrs. Schmidt in the movie, they don't. They're against one another.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: Oh, okay. That's not that.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's not that.
[00:35:17] Speaker B: These Schmidt's work together.
[00:35:19] Speaker A: Yes, these were good Schmidt's.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: These are great Schmidt's.
So with all this going on, I just. They getting real is getting real for the.
This entire outline is a long tongue twister.
[00:35:37] Speaker A: It's the German.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: Oh, no. I'm starting to get nervous.
Okay, so.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: A fellow investigator warned Schmidt that if the Nazis discovered his deception, they would massacre him beyond recognition.
In late 1933, Schmidt's cover was deliberately exposed.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: No.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: So he could assist in an anti Nazi faction in a civil. In a civil lawsuit.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Isn't that some bullshit?
[00:36:15] Speaker B: That brought the organization's activities into open court. Oh, so he deliberately blew his cover so she. So he could support this case?
[00:36:24] Speaker A: I don't think it was his choice, but the government all of a sudden got on the same page as Leon Lewis and was like, we gotta do something about these Nazis. Like, yeah, no kidding. And so they were like, you know, who, who can testify? Who has information? And they brought. They. So they uncovered him.
[00:36:47] Speaker B: Okay, so you know what happened after that?
[00:36:49] Speaker A: I do.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: He was being targeted Intimidation followed him, actually, into the courtroom. And In January of 1934, a man sat beside him and pretty much whispered a threat that he was going to kill him.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Schmidt cried out that his life had been threatened, and the man fled.
Still like that. That'll stay with you.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Yeah, because you know what? I don't think he was kidding.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: No, it wasn't like, I'll kill you.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: It was like, I'll go kill you.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: Leon Lewis chased and detained the man in the courthouse lobby until officers arrived.
And Schmidt ended up asking the court for protection as Nazi sympathizers just laughed.
[00:37:41] Speaker A: And that's some crap.
[00:37:43] Speaker B: That must have been a scene. Oh, I hate it. I hate that he's so vulnerable.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: Can you describe the picture that I have up?
[00:37:52] Speaker B: I'm seeing a sheriff with a shiny star and a hat with a badge. Is. It looks like he's. Like he's standing right next to Schmidt, as if he's protecting Schmidt.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: Oh, so someone.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: He's in a courtroom. Yeah, he's standing in a courtroom. Oh, my goodness.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: I mean, anyone with a gun could have just shot him right there.
[00:38:12] Speaker B: I have a. I have a bad feeling about this.
Oh, what is this that we're looking at?
[00:38:18] Speaker A: A gallery of hostile onlookers.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: They do look like hostile onlookers.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: Oh, these are pro Nazi people that are, like, in the courtroom looking at Schmidt testifying against, like, you know what I mean?
[00:38:31] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes. And this. This is where the intimidation and the threats are coming from. Oh, no.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: Why would they let these guys in? Like, friendly.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: They should have done, like, a private.
Isn't that a thing?
[00:38:45] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:38:46] Speaker B: A private court case?
Well, Schmidt and the other veterans gathered real evidence that the Friends of New Germany wasn't simply a social club.
They weren't just promoting German culture or opposing Communism. Okay. They were cultivating militant political movement that was hostile to Jews and Catholics and the Democratic government.
And that's what Schmidt and his accomplices really did in a big way.
So Nazis are angry, but they did some good. Their intelligence contributed to the arrest of two Marines who were selling arms and ammunition to Nazi Stormtroopers.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: Oh, good. So their life being at risk really did bring about some.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Some good things. Okay, good, good. Yes. Also, it led to the breakup of the group's armed wing. So the part of the group that was packed and loaded and carrying, that was all broken up.
The court strategy forced damaging testimony into public view. And the reports also helped convince Hollywood leaders to finance a longer Running intelligence operation to keep on top of this Nazism.
Now, when the United States finally entered World War II after Pearl Harbor, Leon Lewis's files helped the federal officials identify Nazi and fascist activities in California.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: You're welcome. Yes, you're welcome, United States.
[00:40:22] Speaker B: Yet. You're welcome, Schmidt, the first man through the door, had largely disappeared from the public story.
Unfortunately, his health continued to decline and his undercover usefulness ended. Once his identity was exposed, of course, as it would.
And by the way, he continued struggling to recover his veterans benefits. Are you kidding me right now?
Are you kidding me right now?
[00:40:52] Speaker A: I'm not the United States government. He should have got a medal of Honor or something. At very least his benefits.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: Like they know he's sick. They should have given him like the best pension, the best government pension they could for his service to the United States government.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: You know what?
[00:41:10] Speaker B: That's not okay.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: All this is leading up to the incident.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: Are we at the incident?
[00:41:17] Speaker A: We are at the incident.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: I don't like this incident.
[00:41:21] Speaker A: I never like the. I never like the incidents.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: In 1944, the federal government was preparing a major sedition prosecution against prominent American fascists and propaganda ists, and Schmidt was subpoenaed by the US Attorney General to testify in Washington. Have they not jeopardized this man enough?
[00:41:46] Speaker A: Sorry.
No, really.
[00:41:47] Speaker B: The U.S. attorney General called in. Schmidt, subpoenaed him to testify in Washington in the case commonly associated with defendant and journalist Carrie McWilliams.
Not the California author of the same name.
For any of you who are getting confused between Carrie Williams, the defendant and journalist, and the California Authority.
[00:42:14] Speaker A: I know I was. I. That's right where my mind went.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: I was like, so glad you added that to this.
To this outline that clarifies everything.
Okay. Schmidt's testimony could have connected the courtroom to the earliest years of organized Nazi activity in Los Angeles. This was big.
[00:42:35] Speaker A: Yeah. This is.
[00:42:36] Speaker B: He had personally entered the headquarters. He had personally met the leaders, heard their plans, filed the reports, received the threats, and survived the exposure of his identity.
But.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: But.
[00:42:53] Speaker B: Approximately 10 days. 10 days before he was expected to leave for Washington to answer the subpoena for the U.S. attorney General.
Approximately 10 days before that, Schmidt went to dinner with Alice at a Los Angeles restaurant.
During or after the meal, he suddenly became ill and died.
Contemporary newspaper coverage dated April 4, 1944, reported that authorities were investigating his death and that Alice feared he had been poisoned to silence him.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: It was in the paper that she. She thought that
[00:43:40] Speaker B: I. I think that too, Alice. She and I are of one mind.
This was a man who had been threatened repeatedly, including inside a courtroom, and who was about to testify in a nationally significant sedition case. To Alice, poisoning was not her paranoia pulled from nowhere. It was.
It was fit. It was a fit danger that had surrounded their lives for more than a decade. So she was not overreacting here?
[00:44:07] Speaker A: No, not at all. It wasn't just like a grieving wife.
[00:44:10] Speaker B: Right. So there was an autopsy?
[00:44:13] Speaker A: Yes.
What did the autopsy find?
[00:44:17] Speaker B: The Los Angeles Times reported on April 5 that the autopsy was dun, dun, dun. Inconclusive.
Really?
Really.
[00:44:28] Speaker A: You have one job. Really?
[00:44:30] Speaker B: Was a Nazi doing the autopsy?
Was he an angry autopsy doctor?
That was his title. Angry autopsy guy. What is it? Medical examiner.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: Now, later historical scholarship found no subsequent press report establishing poisoning or another form of foul play. Come on, really?
[00:44:56] Speaker A: I mean, honestly, if it's this. If it walks like a duck.
[00:45:01] Speaker B: This was a hell of a coincidence. Is that what everybody was thinking? Oh, well, that's a hell of a coincidence.
[00:45:05] Speaker A: You have like. Oh, darn. Our key witness for the Nazis is just gone.
[00:45:09] Speaker B: Wow. Against the Nazis. Wow, wow, wow. I cannot believe this. Officially, Schmidt's death wasn't classified as a murder.
So that leaves three separate truths that we shouldn't collapse into one. But here they are. One, Schmidt unquestionably faced documented threats because of his anti Nazi work. Correct?
[00:45:34] Speaker A: True.
[00:45:35] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:45:35] Speaker A: True.
[00:45:36] Speaker B: He unquestionably died suddenly shortly before he was due to testify.
[00:45:41] Speaker A: True.
[00:45:42] Speaker B: Yes. And the surviving evidence located by historians does not prove that he was poisoned or murdered.
True.
[00:45:50] Speaker A: That technically is true.
[00:45:52] Speaker B: True.
[00:45:52] Speaker A: But,
[00:45:55] Speaker B: girl, come on.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: You know damn well.
Yeah, yeah. For sure the man was murdered for sure.
[00:46:04] Speaker B: For sure. Undetected poisoning.
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. We don't know. We don't know. We suspect. I think that that's responsible thing to say.
[00:46:13] Speaker A: Was his death the final cruelty of years of illness and wartime stress?
Was it an undetected poisoning?
Or did a coincidence created a suspicion that could never be resolved?
[00:46:27] Speaker B: The responsible answer is we don't know.
[00:46:30] Speaker A: We don't know.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: But we know. But we know. But.
[00:46:32] Speaker A: But we're not responsible. And we know damn well.
[00:46:34] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: You know we know he's poisoned. Yes.
[00:46:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So about that trial that he never got to, the 1944 Great Sedition Trial became chaotic and controversial.
More than two dozen defendants were accused of conspiring to undermine the armed forces and aid the Axis cause. The Axis cause meaning the enemy in World War II? Right.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:47:00] Speaker B: The. I guess it would be.
Italy. Yeah. Italy, Germany, And Japan.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: Yes. The Axis of evil in the. Didn't they call it that?
[00:47:08] Speaker B: Some. Some do. I. I bet they wouldn't, but, yeah, some do.
[00:47:13] Speaker A: That's. Yeah.
[00:47:14] Speaker B: The proceedings ended without verdicts, and the Judge died in November 1944. Shut up. Shut up. Everybody's dying.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: Everybody died.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: A mistrial was declared, and the government never secured the sweeping convictions that it was seeking.
Because, in part, Schmidt's testimony was never heard.
[00:47:35] Speaker A: Nope.
[00:47:36] Speaker B: So, Jill, why my captain, John Schmidt, be coming through? Is he the voiceless?
[00:47:42] Speaker A: He's definitely the voiceless. Like, this poor man has been through so much, like, just so much World War I, his post traumatic stress, his failing health. And even with all that, he volunteered his life for America, risked his wife for America, and his death was eclipsed by his work.
[00:48:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah, I love that. He was an immigrant who chose his country by principle. And even when his country, his adopted country, was screwing him up the butt again and again, he's still like, nope.
He's still like, nope, nope. I'm standing by this butt.
[00:48:27] Speaker A: This ass rapist country was jamming it in hard to this man.
[00:48:35] Speaker B: What. What are people listening to?
[00:48:39] Speaker A: To this wounded man who chose to serve America even though he was getting banged
[00:48:49] Speaker B: like, dude, I'm so sorry.
Do you think we need to have some sort of trigger warning for your language?
Brian?
[00:48:57] Speaker A: We should probably have some language.
[00:49:00] Speaker B: But it wasn't just. It wasn't just Schmidt. It was his wife, too. I think Alice totally deserves a voice in this matter.
[00:49:08] Speaker A: Can you even imagine being Alice?
[00:49:10] Speaker B: No.
No.
Although he's kind of a dick for telling her. Because once you know, then, yeah, now you're in it. Right. Like, don't say anything that she could
[00:49:21] Speaker A: have been like, no, absolutely not. If Chad came home, was like, I'm going to be an undercover agent and I'm going to spy against the Nazis, I would be like, what a. No, no, you're not. You are not doing that.
[00:49:33] Speaker B: It's dangerous. Right. Not because you support.
Not because you support the Nazis. No.
[00:49:38] Speaker A: But just because that's dangerous.
[00:49:40] Speaker B: Right, Right. Wow. Wow.
[00:49:42] Speaker A: So, okay, Jill.
[00:49:44] Speaker B: Yes, Jennifer?
[00:49:45] Speaker A: I was going to ask you. Let me ask.
[00:49:46] Speaker B: No, let me ask you. Let me ask you. You know, because you're going to ask me a political question and I hate. I hate talking about politics. Okay, Jill, why does this story matter today?
[00:49:57] Speaker A: Because extremist movements often are disguised in harmless clubs and like, patriotic. Yeah.
[00:50:08] Speaker B: Oh, religious and.
[00:50:09] Speaker A: Yes. And anti corruption organizations. That's where they hide.
That's where they hide that recruit. That's why they Create political plans and economics, advantageous money things. That's where they get it from.
[00:50:27] Speaker B: That's where they do things.
[00:50:28] Speaker A: That's where they get money from things.
[00:50:30] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I'm not trying to say all patriotic organizations, all religious, etc, are extremist movements, but we're not saying that. We're not saying that. But you can see how using the cloak of a patriotic group can be effective.
[00:50:47] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:50:47] Speaker B: At hiding their real.
[00:50:49] Speaker A: I also want to say some people that may join such groups unknowingly may really believe in the patriotism, may really believe in the cause of what the front of that organization is just like. Like real people believe in. Like the Mormons, you know what I mean? Like, they really believe. And then you find out, like, oh, that Mormon sex is a little off. You know, it's like they really believe in the teachings of that group.
[00:51:15] Speaker B: True, I can see that.
Yeah. Yep, yep, yep.
And we see a lot of that today, too.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: Yes. Institutions can fail to act even when ordinary people recognize the danger. Like, how many people walked away from a specific religion that a lot of people in Hollywood fall into and.
And still they're not, like, looked at because they're protected, because they're a religion.
That's all I'm going to say about that.
[00:51:48] Speaker B: Resistance doesn't always look like heroic in the moment, Right?
[00:51:53] Speaker A: No.
[00:51:53] Speaker B: Resistance can look like note taking, listening, documenting. It's the boring stuff.
[00:51:59] Speaker A: And Schmidt did the boring stuff.
[00:52:01] Speaker B: Schmidt did the boring stuff. And his story challenges the belief that fascism never took root in the United States.
[00:52:06] Speaker A: States. It did.
[00:52:08] Speaker B: It did. And there are people who were fighting it. So if you ignore the fact that fascism took place in the United States, and you're also ignoring the heroes like Schmidt and his wife Alice, who were actively working against it, against this evil, against this evil ideology to their own detriment.
To their own detriment.
[00:52:28] Speaker A: Just the fact that this story is not widely known, not just Schmidt's story, but the story of Nazis actually infiltrating Hollywood is a indicator that we are not ready to look at the possibility of these types of vulnerabilities in American society.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: Think about that, Jill getting political again.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:57] Speaker B: Okay, so let's go through our psychic hits because this is crazy.
[00:53:00] Speaker A: I really, really want you to take away the spiritual takeaway from this. This is my suggested spiritual takeaway because it gives me goosebumps every time.
[00:53:11] Speaker B: Okay. Are you ready?
[00:53:12] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:53:13] Speaker B: Captain Schmidt's life asks what we do with our wounds.
Do we allow pain to make us vulnerable to hatred? Or do we turn it into Protection for someone else.
His answer was quiet, costly and brave.
Wow.
[00:53:34] Speaker A: Damn mike drop.
Okay.
[00:53:37] Speaker B: So many people when they are hurt, like you said, so many people who are hurt and wounded and bitter, they take that and they turn to hatred of somebody else. Of somebody else? Yeah. Wow.
[00:53:49] Speaker A: I'm recently in a situation that someone marginalized in this hillbilly white of a society that I live in is marginalizing another part. So it's like the victim of it is victimizing someone else and that. And it just happens. They don't even realize that they're doing it. It's. It's human nature. You have to be really reflective.
[00:54:11] Speaker B: Okay, ready? Psychic hits.
[00:54:13] Speaker A: Psychic.
[00:54:13] Speaker B: Kids, our little Emily was picking up on Nazi camp in the hills. What? What is that? Is that a real thing?
[00:54:21] Speaker A: That's a real thing. There was a real thing called. Swear to God. It's abandoned now, but it's called Murphy's Ranch. Murphy's Ranch was semi mythologized in the 1930s. The property was tucked in the Rustic Canyon within the Santa Monica Mountains. That's where we were.
[00:54:38] Speaker B: Are you kidding me?
[00:54:39] Speaker A: Near the Pacific Palisades, which we were driving through.
Wow.
[00:54:45] Speaker B: Yes, we were.
It was burnt.
[00:54:48] Speaker A: It was really. It's really sad. Jennifer.
[00:54:50] Speaker B: Yeah. The letter H. What's that about?
[00:54:55] Speaker A: You read on.
[00:54:56] Speaker B: No.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:54:58] Speaker B: Captain John Schmidt was actually Captain John H. Smith. And that's how it was referred to in the papers on court documents.
[00:55:07] Speaker A: Yep. We pulled into the military compound. That's a no brainer.
[00:55:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:55:13] Speaker A: Picking up male energy, proud and service. That's a no brainer. You zoning in on World War II. Where did you come from?
[00:55:19] Speaker B: I mean, that's accurate. What about the freedom?
[00:55:23] Speaker A: Freedom.
I mean. I mean, remember I was singing that for like three days?
[00:55:30] Speaker B: I do remember that.
I mean, I think that was John Schmidt. That was the energy.
[00:55:36] Speaker A: He.
[00:55:36] Speaker B: It was.
[00:55:37] Speaker A: He acknowledged that he was really fighting for the freedom.
[00:55:41] Speaker B: The freedom that was here in the United States.
The idea of freedom.
Because I'm not saying the United States, like everybody isn't free in the United States. I get that.
[00:55:54] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:55:55] Speaker B: But the idea of freedom is still held and prized. And
[00:56:00] Speaker A: I mean, we just. We just celebrated 250 years. And every banner. It's 250 years of freedom.
The idol, the ideology around freedom.
[00:56:09] Speaker B: The ideology.
[00:56:11] Speaker A: The ideology.
[00:56:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Ideology. Maybe. Maybe you do say it like that. I stand corrected. I think both are. Both are accepted.
[00:56:19] Speaker A: Tomato.
[00:56:19] Speaker B: Tomatoes.
[00:56:20] Speaker A: Are you gonna.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: Are you gonna read this closing or shall I?
[00:56:22] Speaker A: No, I'm gonna cry if I read it.
[00:56:24] Speaker B: Oh, Lord. Okay. Here's the closing.
Captain John H. Schmidt's final moments remain unresolved. We know this.
History can't tell us whether his enemies reached him at that restaurant or whether a wounded body simply gave out at the most haunting possible moment.
But history can tell us what he did before that night.
He walked willingly into rooms filled with hate.
He let dangerous men mistake him for an ally. He listened. He documented, and he warned others. While his wife worked beside him.
And at a time when powerful institutions Looked away, Agent 11 refused to do the same.
Captain Schmidt may not have made it to Washington to give his testimony, but nearly a century later, his story still bears witness. I got goosebumps.
[00:57:21] Speaker A: I know. Every time. I can't. I cannot even read it.
[00:57:25] Speaker B: All right. Wow. What a great story. I'm so glad we got to talk about Captain John H. Schmidt and his wife Alice, I think you were gonna
[00:57:36] Speaker A: say, too, which I think that we are calling his energy to us. So I do feel like we. We. He hears us and has the ability to know that we're so proud and God and grateful.
[00:57:51] Speaker B: Yes. Thank you. Ordinary.
[00:57:54] Speaker A: Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And it's gone on unnoticed for like a. Or a century.
[00:58:02] Speaker B: But not only that. How many people do you know who have had a rough life, who've gone through rough things and turned to hate as opposed to turn to love? It's so much harder to turn to love when you're beaten down.
It's so hard. But you have to. It's the only way.
It's the only way.
[00:58:23] Speaker A: Great man.
[00:58:24] Speaker B: Oh, I love it.
[00:58:25] Speaker A: Great man.
[00:58:26] Speaker B: Well, I am inspired to learn more about him, so thank you for that. And I know that other people listening are also inspired, so thank you.
[00:58:34] Speaker A: It would be a great movie.
Right?
[00:58:37] Speaker B: Hollywood. Call us the Mystics.
[00:58:42] Speaker A: We did it first.
[00:58:44] Speaker B: All right.
[00:58:45] Speaker A: Anything else? Yes, community announcements.
[00:58:47] Speaker B: Oh, and they are. What?
[00:58:50] Speaker A: I added a merch button to our website, commonmystics.net I think it's working. Although I haven't gotten my mug yet, so I will re examine to make sure that you can order your Common Mystics merch asap. Great holiday gifts right around the corner to your friends and family. Enough. Another great gift would be to support us on Patreon. It'd be a gift to us. Or it can be a generous gift that you give to a friend that wants to be a part of our mystical mentorship circle and to join us every month. That would be great. Don't forget my lovely sister, although annoying sometimes, does do mentorships training, and she works with you to discover your secret special psychic strength and works to develop it with you. And then I'm still doing all the readings because I like to do it and I love interacting with you guys. We have the best community. There's not one person I know.
[00:59:46] Speaker B: We really do best community. I love our listeners and I love our community and our little group that meets every last Sunday of the month. Amazing individuals. I don't know how we lucked out how. How we happen to just be in this group of wonderful, wonderful people all coming together, and there's no, like, what's there. There's no sort of competition. Do you know what I mean? How you get a bunch of, like, spiritual psychic people.
[01:00:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:00:15] Speaker B: We have wonderful people. So come join us. It's a lot of fun. And thank you so much for listening.
[01:00:21] Speaker A: We don't have another review.
[01:00:23] Speaker B: We don't.
So review if you haven't and give us the review. If you like us. If you don't like us or you're on the fence, that's okay. You can keep it to yourself.
[01:00:33] Speaker A: Yeah, we're very sensitive psychics.
[01:00:35] Speaker B: We don't need to hear that. We don't need to cry.
[01:00:38] Speaker A: If you want to email us on the DL and just be like, you can do this better, that's fine. Comm.
That's fine.
[01:00:45] Speaker B: We.
[01:00:46] Speaker A: We'll take it and cry, but it won't be public.
[01:00:49] Speaker B: All right, love you.
[01:00:52] Speaker A: Love you guys. Bye.
This has been a common Mystics Media Production editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
