Bund

A poster for the Bund rally at Madison Square Garden, arguably the height of its popularity.

This is both a common and a proper noun. Commonly, it’s literally German for “bunch,” but also extends to be “union” or “group.”

As a proper noun, it’s refer to several different historical groups, both for and against the Nazis. The most prominent of which (for Americans at least) was The German American Bund which was a pro-Nazi group operating in the Eastern United States around the time of World War II.

The group was cult-ish, with training camps, rallies, and hierarchical leadership. It eventually fell apart when its leader was caught embezzling money.

Why I Looked It Up

I was watching an episode the 1990s TV show Babylon 5. Several characters had joined an organization called The Nightwatch which was established to enforce conformity of thought about the Earth government. They were harassing a shopkeeper about “seditious material.”

As the conflict resolved, the shopkeeper said:

Aren’t you late for a Bund meeting somewhere?

What’s interesting is that the parallel isn’t quite right. The shopkeeper was being harassed by people loyal to the government he existed under (…I think). Whereas the actual Bund was trying to create support for a government in another country.

(Although, perhaps Babylon 5 was neutral territory, in which case the comment makes more sense, as the Earth government would have been separate.)