In my 2017 post Nazis, Atlantis and Ancient Aliens, which discussed how Nazis, their German supporters and neo-Nazis have influenced modern beliefs about Atlantis and the ancient aliens theory, I mentioned Frank Joseph who was the author of The Destruction of Atlantis (1987), The Atlantis Encyclopedia (2005) and about six other books on Atlantis. He is arguably the most prolific author on Atlantis. He has written other books on the unexplained and ancient mysteries and was editor of The Ancient American magazine.
Frank Joseph is a pseudonym for Frank Collin who was born in Illinois in 1944. In the 1960s he joined the National Socialist White People’s Party. He broke away from the NSWPP after it came to light that he had Jewish ancestry (his grandfather was in Dachau) and formed the National Socialist Party of America which was later called the American Nazi Party.
The NSPA bought a building in Chicago which they named Rockwall Hall and would hold demonstrations in the nearby Marquette Park. After they were banned from the park they planned to march through the Chicago suburb of Skokie which had a large Jewish population. The Skokie council filed an injunction, the American Civil Liberties Union came to the defence of the NSPA’s right to free speech and in June 1977, the Supreme Court ruled that they could march, although they chose not to and marched through Chicago instead.
There is a 1981 movie Skokie about the incident in which George Dzunda plays Frank Collin. It’s on YouTube.
In 1979 Collin was sentenced to 7 years in prison for child molestation. He was expelled from the NSPA. Even Nazis have some standards. After 3 years he was released and reinvented himself as Frank Joseph, the ancient mysteries and esoteric writer.
It has just dawned on me that Frank Collin was an “Illinois Nazi”.
In the greatest movie ever made, The Blue Brothers (I liked Howard the Duck, what do I know?), Jake and Elwood find the bridge is blocked by the local Nazis who “won their court case so they’re marching today.” They run them off the bridge.
It turns out this scene was sending up the 1970s NSPA’s rallies led by Frank Collins in Marquette Park and the Skokie case. This scene was even filmed in Marquette Park where the rallies took place.
So there you have it. The half-Jewish neo-Nazi child molester who reinvented himself as the world’s most prolific author on Atlantis was the inspiration for the Illinois Nazis in The Blues Brothers.
Malcolm Nicholson 