These silent home movies date to 1947 or so, and were shot by a member of a German American club at an annual “German Day” ceremony held every September in Hindenburg Park in La Crescenta, California. Apparently at the time the get-together was part of the post-WWII relief effort, in which these immigrant groups attempted to raise money for war-torn Germany.

“Hindenburg Park” has a controversial history. Prior to WWII, the western side of Crescenta Valley Park (then known as Hindenburg Park) gained notoriety because the Bund, a political group styling itself after the Nazis, staged several rallies there, complete with Swastikas and German military uniforms. The coming of WWII of course meant the disbandment of the Bund and similar fascist groups.

As you can see the post-WWII rallies had much more to do with patriotic American and traditional cultural displays such as dancing, music, marching and so on.

“German Day” continues in Los Angeles in the present day, via https://germanamcharities.org/

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