Speech #810293519

France. with suspicious German nationals. both Nazi and Communist. In June 1941. Eisler. together with other outstanding Communist leaders in Europe. obtained Mexican visas as antiFascist refugees. These immigrants also obtained United States transit visas permitting their travel from the port of entry in New York through the United States into Mexico. However. permission for Eisler to travel through the United States was denied by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in light of his longCommunist background. Gerhart took an apartment in Queens. N. Y.. and posed as an antiNazi refugee trying to organize German emigres into antiHitler groups. He even served as an airraid warden during World War II. Following the exposure of Eisler by the Committee on UnAmerican Activities. the man was arrested and convicted in court of both passport fraud and contempt of Congress. the arrest and conviction of Eisler occurred in 1947 but the slow legal machinery in appeal cases allowed Eisler to remain free on bail for the next 2 years.