NEW YORK (Sputnik) — A community that once housed a summer camp for Nazi sympathizers in Long Island, New York presently discriminates against non-Germans, attorney Andrew Wilson told Sputnik on Thursday.
"[The lawsuit] alleges that the bylaws for this neighborhood are violative of housing law because they express a preference for Germans and people of German ancestry," Wilson said.
Wilson filed the lawsuit on behalf of Philip and Patricia Kneer, a couple who lived in the hamlet of Yaphank, Long Island, from 1999 to 2015.
"Since its incorporations in 1937, the GASL has excluded non-whites from its membership, recreational programs and summer homes in favor of new residents with German ancestry," the lawsuit states.
GASL was at one point affiliated with the German-American Bund, an organization made up of Nazi sympathizers, according to the New York City Department of Records.
"When the GASL was formed, the original membership was for American citizens with Aryan blood," attorney Diane Houk told Sputnik.
Over the years, the bylaws have been reworded to state that only German ancestry is needed to live in the community, a clear violation of the law, according to the lawsuit.
"I think that the bylaws as they’re written are wrong and they should be changed," Wilson said.
The Hamlet of Yaphank is located roughly 65 miles east of New York City.
