Order of the Knights of the Fiery Cross

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The Order of the Knights of the Fiery Cross was a small, far-right, secret group active in Germany during the mid-1920s. It borrowed ideas and symbols from the Ku Klux Klan and tried to imitate its structure, but it was a German organization with only a brief and limited impact.

Founding and goals
The group was founded on February 21, 1925, in Berlin by Otto Strohschein, his son Gotthard Strohschein, and Donald B. Gray. It aimed to unite German men of "Germanic origin" and to pursue German unity, with an emphasis on action and antisemitic views. The organization used Klan-like language and titles renamed for German myth and legend.

Symbols and structure
Members adopted a burning cross and wore white apparel. Leadership and offices used mythic German names, such as Wodan for Grand Wizard and Asgard for the ruling body, with other roles like Heimdall. The group had small regional cells, including a lodge in Breslau, and was said to imitate Klan rituals and meetings.

Membership
Police work in 1925 recovered a membership list of about 350 names, though exact figures varied in reports. The organization recruited from existing right-wing groups.

Police investigation and dissolution
In June 1925, Strohschein, his son, and Gray were expelled from the group. In September 1925, Berlin police arrested nineteen suspected members and seized materials, including Klan paraphernalia. They faced charges under secret-organization laws, but the prosecutions ended in 1926 when President Paul von Hindenburg granted a general amnesty. Gotthard Strohschein was expelled from Germany, and Gray returned to the United States. The group apparently continued underground for a few years and was dissolved around 1930.

Public perception and legacy
The press in Germany and the United States described the Knights as a German Klan or a branch of the American Klan, noting their symbols and alleged plans for violence. Some reports suggested possible links to earlier political violence, but there was no solid evidence of a formal connection to the Nazi movement. Historians view the Knights as a small, short-lived phenomenon that reflected transatlantic radical-right influences rather than a major force in Germany.