Samoan branch of the Nazi Party

A 1935 Western Samoa police report on the possibility of white German women's membership of the party. It also lists eight party officials in addition to Matthes whose post was subject to interception and inspection.

A branch of the Nazi Party operated in the Territory of Western Samoa, a League of Nations mandate administered by New Zealand, from 1934 until 1939. It was founded by German settler Alfred Matthes following a visit by Reichsmarine cruiser Karlsruhe to the territory, which led a surge in German nationalism among Germans in Western Samoa, who had settled there when it was a colony of Germany. Support for the Nazi Party was strongest among mixed-race settlers of German descent in the territory. The branch came into conflict with the Concordia Club, which was favoured by white German settlers and supported closer relations with the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Nordic states.

The branch was criticised by the German consul to New Zealand, Walter Hellenthal [de], over its poor organisation and the racial make-up of its members. Hellenthal recommended that the Nazi Party take steps to improve the organisation, and a party representative from Germany was sent to the territory. Matthes responded to the snub by increasing his political activity, establishing a sister organisation among Samoans in the territory and preparing to seize control of the territory's administration in the case of war.

The New Zealand Police monitored Matthes and considered him a harmless fool. When Matthes' prediction that Germany would annex the territory came to nothing, support for the branch dwindled. After Matthes' actions embarrassed the new consul, Ernest Ramm, during a December 1938 visit to the territory, Ramm recommended the branch be closed down. It was disbanded in April 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II.