Biography
Fred Werrmann was a German immigrant who legally entered the United States in 1926 and became a leader of Chicago's unemployed workers. The Chicago Red Squad arrested him on September 27, 1934, during an anti-fascist demonstration. Immigration authorities accused him of Communist Party membership and sought to deport him to Germany. He arrived at Ellis Island on December 21, 1935. The American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born campaigned against his removal to Nazi Germany, and he obtained stays of deportation. He was released on $1,000 bail on June 1, 1936, after Mexico offered him asylum. He was detained again at the Ellis Island Marine Hospital later that year. In September his defenders obtained another stay while arranging for him to go to France.
The Daily Worker of February 19, 1936 records that writers visiting Ellis Island on Lincoln's Birthday met Werrmann among five political detainees.
The Daily Worker of September12,1936 describes Werrmann, then39, as detained at the Ellis Island Marine Hospital while supporters sought $250 to send him to France; the report states that arrangements for departure had been made, but does not establish an actual release or departure day.
The December 8, 1936 Daily Worker prints an American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born appeal for $150 to finance passage to another country and avert return to Nazi Germany. It identifies him as thirty-nine, a lawful 1926 entrant arrested in Chicago in September 1934 and held for deportation on allegations of Communist Party membership. This is a continuing defense appeal, not evidence of an accomplished departure, deportation or new physical release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n294-XX-dec-08-1936-DW-Q.pdf#page=5
Page 1's December 19 Chicago dispatch prints Frederick Werman and says he was ordered to board a deportation train on Saturday. It calls for supporters to assemble at the Dearborn and Harrison Street station annex at 2 p.m. and warns of danger if he were sent to Germany. The Chicago anti-fascist context supports this cross-reference to Werrmann. The proposed departure is not proof of an actual train journey or completed deportation, and no other similarly named record is merged. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n306-NY-dec-20-DW-Q.pdf
Abner Green describes immigration officials arresting Werrmann without a warrant on Chicago streets in 1934 soon after he led an unemployed relief demonstration. The retrospective supplies no exact day or custody break and is retained as context for his existing 1934 immigration arrest, rather than another assumed detention. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1936/v12-%5B10%5Dn10-oct-1936-orig-LD.pdf#page=17
The refuge notice reports that anti-fascist Fred Werrmann had left the United States for Mexico after being ordered deported to Germany, with permission to remain in Mexico while self-supporting. This is an actual-departure claim in this issue, but no exact departure day is supplied. Its March reporting date conflicts with this profile’s later independently sourced June and September immigration-custody accounts; the discrepancy remains unresolved and no custody endpoint is overwritten. A separate Fred Wermann record also remains an unresolved identity lead.
Page 4 individually reports actual release from Ellis Island on June 1 on $1,000 bail after Mexico offered asylum, with a three-month legal stay to obtain entry papers. It repeats the September 27, 1934 arrest, January 1935 deportation order and December 21, 1935 Ellis Island arrival. These confirm the existing chronology; a stay is not three months served, and Mexico’s offer is not an actual departure. The conflicting March 26 departure claim remains unresolved.
Daily Worker, December 20, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The anti-Nazi refugee defense call names this worker among people threatened with deportation to Germany. It specifically describes Alfred Miller as a Montana farm-paper editor and Becker’s two brothers as concentration-camp prisoners; Richter was ordered to surrender May 15 and leave his American-born wife. Inclusion in the appeal alone is not proof that every listed person was then jailed or deported; independently recorded bail and later outcomes are retained.
