[1] The group was set up in 1942 by Erich Arendt and Otto Weiland as a united front initiative.
[5][2] Leading figures in Bogota were the communist Arendt and the social democratic trade unionist Otto Priller.
[6] Walter Rosenthal was the leader of ANFB in Barranquilla on the northern coast.
[8] ANFB was banned in January 1943, with Colombian authorities charging its members with disloyalty to their host country.
[9][4] In November 1943 the Democratic Committee for a Free Germany was founded as a continuation of the ANFB.