Stumbled on this because of a student's questions. I'd forgotten about the ties Grondine exposed in his book, which are many and would take a book to properly explain. Sticking to just the editor "Frank Joseph," he has a bizarre past.
Some might remember the Nazis marching in Skokie Illinois. Frank Joseph, at the time Frank Collins, was the Nazi leader behind that. And before that he was Frank Cohen, son of Jewish Holocaust survicors. Today he's a Nuage/neo pagan witch.
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http://www.flavinscorner.com/collin.htmFrank Collin: From neo-Nazi to Hyper-Diffusionist and Witch* By R. D. Flavin
*A previous version of this article appeared in The Greenwich Village Gazette, Feb. 21, 1997, as "The Many Faces of Frank Collin."
....Frank Joseph Collin is most often associated in the public mind as the neo-Nazi who threatened in 1977 to march and rally in Skokie, a predominately Jewish suburb of Chicago.
In 1995, Collin showed up at the Princess Mound with a half-dozen women, all wearing long, white, one-hundred percent cotton robes. Collin, who refused without explanation to pay the customary two-dollar admission, wore a "Thor's necklace," and carried a wooden staff embedded with special crystals collected on his research travels over the past several years. The infamous Frank Joseph Collin (the half-Jewish, ex-neo-Nazi, and convicted pederast) is now also a witch.
The Illinois Corrections Department released Collin after three years, a "minimum time served," from his 1980 conviction of sexually molesting young boys. Since 1983 Collin has established himself as a published author, editor, and anti-science proponent. Collin now writes articles on sacred sites and Atlantis for such nationally distributed magazines as Fate and The Ancient American. His publishers know the true identity of Frank Joseph; his readers do not.
Collin has told many people he's "a changed man," and he's "not into that anymore..."....
Milwaukee historian, Nancy Oesteich Lurie, has remarked on the position of Collin ('Joseph') that: "The rantings against the scientific 'establishment' or 'proper' scholars are of a piece with the urge to assassinate, in this case character or reputation if not physical harm." Lurie is an authority on the Native American site of Aztalan and its Princess Mound and knows well the public misconceptions of the site, long before Collin became interested. She feels sorry for Ron and Carla Gay and their having to endure "witches and warlocks" visiting the Aztalan Museum and site. One woman, an admitted reader and admirer of 'Frank Joseph', wore a live snake wrapped around her
neck when she visited the site. Lurie sees a sad, subtle usurpation of Native American history in Collin's hyper-diffusionistclaims.
....The misconception of fantastic origins, or what's called "The Myth of The Moundbuilders," appeals to historical revisionists, New Age types, Mormons, and others.
Collin is currently editor of The Ancient American, owned and published by Wayne May, a Mormon from Colfax, Wisconsin. Though often overlooked, the avowed revisionist stance of the Mormons concerning American prehistory and their bizarre theory of race-origins for Native Americans are tolerated or ignored by most...
Frank Joseph Collin went to jail for hiring underage boys and violating them and Illinois law. For Collin's role in the Marquette Park rallies in Chicago, the pamphlet distribution in Skokie with its "Death To The Jews" message, the media-manipulation after winning a Supreme Court decision allowing Collin to wear a swastika in any neighborhood of his choosing, Collin was never accused of anything other than being a nuisance, nor has he publicly spoken of those years since. Collin was once quoted as saying, "I used it [the First Amendment] at Skokie. I planned the reaction of the Jews. They are hysterical."
...Frank Collin was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 3, 1944. His father, Max Simon Collin (formerly Cohn or Cohen), a Jew who is said to have spent time in the Dachau concentration camp, may have had a major impact on his life. On Chicago television, one Illinois psychiatrist interviewed Collin during his neo-Nazi period and found him to be consumed with a "hatred for his father," and thought Collin's proposed Skokie march was, in effect, "an anti-Collin demonstration." Today, Collin attends book-signings, radio interviews, writes about Goddess sites, and has a Christmas audio album in release.
Collin's historical revisionism and anti-establishment position can be traced directly to his involvement with the National Socialists White People's Party (formerly the American Nazi Party) and later, his own NSPA (National Socialists White People's Party of America), all of which espoused racist ideals. Recent Nazi promotion is still primarily concerned with spreading anti-Black and anti-Jewish positions, yet more and more of their books, newspapers, and newsletters reveal newly created "secret" history, usually involving lost continents, ancient superior civilizations, and, increasingly, some incredible extraterrestrial scenarios.
The current rhetoric of Frank Collin is familiar to any reader knowledgeable of his past, as when Collin writes of an "Aztec holocaust," or discusses "miscegenation" and "racial identity." Though no longer a card carrying Nazi, Collin may have attracted a Nazi audience through the use of a pseudonym, having been abandoned by his former followers for his Jewishness as well as his pederasty. Frank Collin is still opinionated, confrontational, and arrogant, though now he uses a computer instead of a heavy club....
In 1987, when Collin heavily marketed his first book, The Destruction of Atlantis, at least three Chicago bookstore-owners recognized 'Frank Joseph' as Collin, the ex-neo-Nazi. All three agreed to sell his first book and one occult bookstore, Arum Solis in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago, continues to sell his recent releases. The bookstore's owner, Jack Armstrong, admits to selling "books by all types of people." Collin still stops by on occasion, according to Armstrong. Armstrong recognized 'Frank Joseph' as Collin in 1987 and thought nothing of it and still doesn't. Coincidentally, Armstrong is not particularly liked in Chicago's neo-pagan community.
Russell Thorne, owner of Chicago's The Occult Bookstore, does not recall meeting Collin during the marketing campaign of 1987 and 1988. On subsequent campaigns, Collin did visit Thorne's bookstore and made follow-up telephone calls. During one recent conversation, Thorne addressed "the Nazi-thing" and Collin answered, "I'm a good boy, now." Thorne wants to put together a coalition of local neo-pagans against Collin and his ideas.
One vocal critic of Collin is Native American author and poet, Jim Stevens of Madison, WI. Stevens has concerned himself with Collin's antics as they directly effect the local Native Americans, primarily the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago tribe). At one point Stevens retraced much of Collin's southern Wisconsin wanderings and provided concerned individuals a photocopied news-article about Frank Joseph's true identity.
Stevens regrets how Collin ingratiated himself into the Native American community. An associate of Collin, since after his release from prison, is engineering professor (now emeritus), Dr. Jim Shertz, of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the founder of the Ancient Earthworks Society. This amateur group sees fascinating geometrical and astronomical layouts in many Native American sites and mounds, but interpret the technology as resulting from "smarter" and "more advanced" non-Native American visitors in ancient times. Stevens asserts that Shertz's allegations of a highly respected Native American "Old Man" giving Shertz permission to discuss and disclose mystical "secrets" are false, and that Shertz's claims of having "Indian blood" are illegitimate....
Frank Joseph Collin has once more found a controversial niche to explore. Gone is the brown-shirt, now replaced with a long, white robe. Whatever costume Collin chooses to wear, which of his many faces he allows the public to see, or what name he uses, he stands as a primary reminder of the liberties generated by a free-society -- it's not against the law to be aberrant.
When Ron and Carla Gay first took over the information-center at Aztalan and the Princess Mound, The Lake Mills Leader ran a story on the young couple and their commitment to Native American history. After the 1995 incident with Collin as his followers, the Gays considered putting up a broadside, but state and federal laws wouldn't permit it. And, perhaps, that's for the best. Collin may be steering towards legal confrontation with Wisconsin and federal authorities on his First Amendment rights. Nazis, swastikas, and Jews have given way to witches, robes, and Native Americans in this sequel to Skokie.
....Working with psychics, Collin believes the burial site is of "Katalani," the granddaughter of the marriage between an Old World visitor and a Native American from the Yucatan. Such manufactured history may sell books, but stands as much of a chance at being accepted by historians, as Collin has of being elected mayor of Skokie.
Ron and Carla Gay, along with their children, may have quite a time in store for them. As public volunteers, they provide assistance to tourists and other interested parties at the Native American site of Aztalan. Ron Gay suspects Collin of worshipping Satan, and holds that the sign of the swastika represents a "cutting through of Heaven." It will be interesting to the Gay family, legal students, and cultural historians to see which of his many faces Frank Joseph Collin wears next.
Updates:
....8-29-03
I received an e-mail recently suggesting Collin has been using “A. V. Shaerffenberg” as a pseudonym (a book review in Ancient American #4; Jan/Feb 1994, pp. 28-29 has this byline). AA #4 was the first to achieve a wide distribution and it’s safe to presume all published submissions were the result of prior direct mailings and not the product of unsolicited happenstance. The editorial office listed (bottom of p. 29) was Collin’s parent’s address. Shortly after my confirmation that the editor and writer 'Frank Joseph' was indeed Collin, I noted the various bylines in the magazine and attempted to contact both content authors and those whose letters to the editor had been published. The name “A. V. Schaerffenberg” interested me, however I was unable to locate the author at the time and the matter retired to my files. Now, almost a decade later and with the advent of Internet search-engines, finding material under this byline is easy. The author writing as “A. V. Schaerffenberg” is racist scum and I’m particularly offended by an attempt to portray Walt Disney as a Nazi sympathizer. In my opinion “A. V. Schaerffenberg” is not another pseudonym used by Collin, as the writing styles are different in compositional subtleties and adjectival usage. The hate-filled author using the byline of “A. V. Schaerffenberg” is actually a better writer than Collin. However, that this author published in an early issue of AA connects the editor 'Frank Joseph' with the infamy of Collin, despite claims in 1994 and later that he’s “not into that anymore...” Collin’s efforts are the stuff of psychology and legal decisions. Those associates of his? Fellow hawkers at a carnival of deceit. Caveat emptor.
