Leading up to World War II, the paper had an evolving view of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. In 1934, the "Staats-Zeitung" opposed the "mock trial" of Hitler to be held at Madison Square Garden, calling Nazi Germany a "friendly nation" and asking the U.S. to respect "the laws and deeds of the statutory regime of the German Reich; the laws and deeds of the lawful administration of government of a friendly power". A year earlier, however, the paper published an editorial, entitled "Blind Fanaticism" and signed by its then editor, Benjamin F. Ridder, denouncing the Nazi persecution of Jews. Later, the paper revealed a strongly anti-Nazi position, publishing many anti-Nazi editorials and articles, despite Friends of New Germany leader Heinz Spanknöbel’s attempt to storm the paper's office and force the editors to write Nazi-sympathetic articles.