CHAPTER NINE
Wall Street and the Nazi Inner
Circle
During the entire period of our business contacts we. had no inkling of
Farben's conniving part in Hitler's brutal policies. We offer any help we
can give to see that complete truth is brought to light and that rigid
justice is done. (F. W. Abrams,
Chairman of the Board, Standard Oil of New Jersey, 1946.)
Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering, Josef Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler, the inner
group of Naziism, were at the same time heads of minor fiefdoms within the
Nazi State. Power groups or political cliques were centered around these Nazi
leaders, more importantly after the late 1930s around Adolf Hitler and
Heinrich Himmler, Reich-Leader of the S.S. (the dreaded Schutzstaffel). The
most important of these Nazi inner circles was created by order of the
Fuehrer; it was known first as the Keppler Circle and later as Himmler's
Circle of Friends.
The Keppler Circle originated
as a group of German businessmen supporting Hitler's rise to power before and
during 1933. In the mid-1930s the Keppler Circle came under the influence and
protection of S.S. chief Himmler and the organizational control of Cologne
banker and prominent Nazi businessman Kurt von Schroder. Schroder, it will be
recalled, was head of the J.H. Stein Bank in Germany and affiliated with the
L. Henry Schroder Banking Corporation of New York. It is within this innermost
of the inner circles, the very core of Naziism, that we find Wall Street,
including Standard Oil of New Jersey and I.T.T., represented from 1933 to as
late as 1944.
Wilhelm Keppler, founder of
the original Circle of Friends, typifies the well-known phenomenon of a
politicized businessman — i.e., a businessman who cultivates the
political arena rather than the impartial market place for his profits. Such
businessmen have been interested In promoting socialist causes, because a
planned socialist society provides a most lucrative opportunity for contracts
through political influence.
Scenting such profitable
opportunities, Keppler joined the national socialists and was close to Hitler
before 1933. The Circle of Friends grew out of a meeting between Adolf Hitler
and Wilhelm Keppler in December 1931. During the course of their conversation —
this was several years before Hitler became dictator — the future Fuehrer
expressed a wish to have reliable German businessmen available for economic
advice when the Nazis took power. "Try to get a few economic
leaders — they need not be Party members — who will be at our disposal when
we come into power.1 This Keppler undertook to do.
In March 1933 Keppler was
elected to the Reichstag and became Hitler's financial expert. This lasted
only briefly. Keppler was replaced by the infinitely more capable Hjalmar
Schacht, and sent to Austria where in 1938 he became Reichs Commissioner, but
still able to use his position to acquire considerable power in the Nazi
State. Within a few years he captured a string of lucrative directorships in
German firms, including chairman of the board of two I.G. Farben subsidiaries:
Braunkohle-Benzin A.G. and Kontinental Oil A.G. Braunkohle-Benzin was the
German exploiter of the Standard Oil of New Jersey technology for production
of gasoline from coal. (See Chapter Four.)
In brief, Keppler war the
chairman of the very firm that utilized American technology for the
indispensible synthetic gasoline which enabled the Wehrmacht to go to war in
1939. This is significant because, when linked with other evidence presented
in this chapter, it suggests that the profits and control of these
fundamentally important technologies for German military ends were retained by
a small group of international firms and businessmen operating across national
borders.
Keppler's nephew, Fritz
Kranefuss, under his uncle's protection, also gained prominence both as
Adjutant to S.S. Chief Heinrich Himmler and as a businessman and political
operator. It was Kranefuss' link with Himmler which led to the Keppler circle
gradually drawing away from Hitler in the 1930s to come within Himmler's
orbit, where in exchange for annual donations to Himmler's pet S.S. projects
Circle members received political favors and not inconsiderable protection
from the S.S.
Baron Kurt von Schroder was,
as we have noted, the I.T.T. representative in Nazi Germany and an early
member of the Keppler Circle. The original Keppler Circle consisted of:
THE ORIGINAL (PRE-1932) MEMBERS OF THE KEPPLER CIRCLE |
Circle Member
|
Main
Associations
|
Wilhelm KEPPLER |
Chairman of I.G. Farben subsidiary Braunkohle-Benzin A.G. (exploited Standard Oil of N.J.
oil from coal technology) |
Fritz KRANEFUSS |
Keppler's
nephew and Adjutant to Heinrich Himmler. On Vorstand of BRABAG |
Kurt von SCHRODER |
On board of
all International Telephone & Telegraph subsidiaries in Germany |
Karl Vincenz KROGMANN |
Lord Mayor of
Hamburg |
August ROSTERG |
General Director of WINTERSHALL |
Emil MEYER |
On the board of
I.T.T. subsidiaries
and German General Electric. |
Otto STEINBRINCK |
Vice president of VEREINIGTE
STAHLWERKE (steel cartel founded with Wall Street loans in 1926) |
Hjalmar SCHACHT |
President of the REICHSBANK |
Emil HELFFRICH |
Board chairman of
GERMAN-AMERICAN PETROLEUM CO. (94-percent owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey)
(See above under Wilhelm Keppler) |
Friedrich REINHARDT |
Board chairman COMMERZBANK |
Ewald HECKER |
Board chairman of ILSEDER HUTTE |
Graf von BISMARCK |
Government president of
STETTIN |
The S.S. Circle of Friends
The original Circle of Friends met with Hitler
in May 1932 and heard a statement of Nazi objectives. Heinrich Himmler then
became a frequent participant in the meetings, and through Himmler, various
S.S. officers as well as other businessmen joined the group. This expanded
group in time became Himmler's Circle of Friends, with Himmler acting as
protector and expeditor for its members.
Consequently, banking and Industrial interest
— were heavily represented in the inner circle of Naziism, and their
pre-1933 financial contributions to Hitlerism which we have earlier enumerated
were amply repaid. Of the "Big Five" German banks, the Dresdner Bank
had the closest connections with the Nazi Party: at least a dozen members of
Dresdner Bank's board of directors had high Nazi rank and no fewer than seven
Dresdner Bank directors were among Keppler's expanded Circle of Friends, which
never exceeded 40.
When we examine the names
comprising both the original pre-1933 Keppler Circle and the post-1933
expanded Keppler and Himmler's Circle, we find the Wall Street multi-nationals
heavily represented — more so than any other institutional group. Let us take
each Wall Street multinational or its German associate in turn — those
identified in Chapter Seven as linked to financing Hitler — and examine their
links to Keppler and Heinrich Himmler.
I.G. Farben and the Keppler Circle
I.G. Farben was heavily
represented within the Keppler Circle: no fewer than eight out of the peak
circle membership of 40 were directors of I.G. Farben or a Farben subsidiary.
These eight members included the previously described Wilhelm Keppler and his
nephew Kranefuss, in addition to Baron Kurt von Schroder. The Farben presence
was emphasized by member Hermann Schmitz, chairman of I.G. Farben and a
director of Vereinigte Stahlwerke, both cartels built and consolidated by the
Wall Street loans of the 1920s. A U.S. Congressional report described Hermann
Schmitz as follows:
Hermann Schmitz, one of the
most important persons in Germany, has achieved outstanding success
simultaneously in the three separate fields, industry, finance, and
government, and has served with zeal and devotion every government in power.
He symbolizes the German citizen who out of the devastation of the First
World War made possible the Second.
Ironically, his may be said
to be the greater guilt in that in 1919 he was a member of the Reich's peace
delegation, and in the 1930's was in a position to teach the Nazis much that
theft had to know concerning economic penetration, cartel uses, synthetic
materials for war.2
Another Keppler Circle member
on the I.G. Farben board was Friedrich Flick, creator of the steel cartel
Vereinigte Stahlwerke and a director of Allianz Versicherungs A.G. and German
General Electric (A.E.G.).
Heinrich Schmidt, a director
of Dresdner Bank and chairman of the board of I.G. Farben subsidiary
Braunkohle-Benzin A.G., was in the circle; so was Karl Rasehe, another
director of the Dresdner Bank and a director of Metallgesellschaft (parent of
the Delbruck Schickler Bank) and Accumulatoren-Fabriken A.G. Heinrich
Buetefisch was also a director of I.G. Farben and a member of the Keppler
Circle. In brief, the I.G. Farben contribution to Rudolf Hess' Nationale
Treuhand — the political slush fund — was confirmed after the 1933 takeover
by heavy representation in the Nazi inner circle.
How many of these Keppler
Circle members in the I.G. Farben complex were affiliated with Wall Street?
MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL KEPPLER
CIRCLE
ASSOCIATED WITH U.S.
MULTI-NATIONALS
|
Member of
Keppler Circle |
I.G. Farben |
I.T.T. |
Standard Oil
of New Jersey |
General
Electric |
Wilhelm KEPPLER |
Chairman of Farben
subsidiary BRABAG |
|
—
|
|
Fritz KRANEFUSS |
On Aufsichrat of
BRABAG |
|
—
|
|
Emil Heinrich
MEYER |
|
On board of all
I.T.T. German subsidiaries:
Standard/Mix & Genest/Lorenz |
—
|
Board of A.E.G. |
Emil HELFFRICH |
|
|
Chairman of DAPAG
(94-percent owned
by Standard of New
Jersey |
|
Friedrich FLICK |
I.G. Farben |
—
|
—
|
Board of A.E.G. |
Kurt von
SCHRODER |
On board of all I.T.T.
subsidiaries in
Germany |
|
|
|
Similarly, we can identify
other Wall Street institutions represented in the early Keppler's Circle of
Friends, confirming their monetary contributions to the National Trusteeship
Fund operated by Rudolf Hess on behalf of Adolf Hitler. These representatives
were Emil Heinrich Meyer and banker Kurt von Schroder on the boards of all the
I.T.T. subsidiaries in Germany, and Emil Helffrich, the board chairman of
DAPAG, 94-percent owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey.
Wall Street in the S.S. Circle
Major U.S. multi-nationals
were also very well represented in the later Heinrich Himmler Circle and made
cash contributions to the S.S. (the Sonder Konto S) up to 1944 — while World
War II was in progress.
Almost a quarter of the 1944
Sonder Konto S contributions came from subsidiaries of International Telephone
and Telegraph, represented by Kurt von Schröder. The 1943 payments from I.T.T.
subsidiaries to the Special Account were as follows:
Mix & Genest A.G. |
5,000 RM |
C. Lorenz AG |
20,000 RM |
Felten & Guilleaume |
25,000 RM |
Kurt von Schroder |
16,000 RM |
|
|
And the 1944 payments were:
Mix & Genest A.G. |
5,000 RM |
C. Lorenz AG |
20,000 RM |
Felten & Guilleaume |
20,000 RM |
Kurt von Schroder |
16,000 RM |
Sosthenes Behn of
International Telephone and Telegraph transferred wartime control of Mix &
Genest, C. Lorenz, and the other Standard Telephone interests in Germany to
Kurt von Schroder — who was a founding member of the Keppler Circle and
organizer and treasurer of Himmler's Circle of Friends. Emil H. Meyer, S.S.
Untersturmfuehrer, member of the Vorstand of the Dresdner Bank, A.E.G., and a
director of all the I.T.T. subsidiaries in Germany, was also a member of the
Himmler Circle of Friends — giving I.T.T. two powerful representatives at the
heart of the S.S.
A letter to fellow member Emil
Meyer from Baron von Schroder dated February 25, 1936 describes the purposes
and requirements of the Himmler Circle and the long-standing nature of the
Special Account 'S' with funds at Schroder's own bank — the J,H.
Stein Bank of Cologne:
Berlin, 25 February 1936
(Illegible handwriting)
To Prof. Dr. Emil H. Meyer
S.S. (Untersturmfuchrer) (second lieutenant)
Member of the Managing Board (Vorstand) of the Dresdner Bank
Berlin W. 56,
Behrenstr. 38
Personal!
To the Circle of Friends of the Reich
Leader SS
At the end of the 2 day's
inspection tour of Munich to which the Reich Leader SS had invited us last
January, the Circle of Friends agreed to put — each one according to his
means — at the Reich Leader's disposal into "Special Account S"
(Sonder Konto
S), to be established at the banking firm J.H. Stein in Cologne, funds which
are to be used for certain tasks outside of the budget. This should enable
the Reich Leader to rely on all his friends. In Munich it was decided that
the undersigned would make themselves available for setting up and handling
this account. In the meantime the account was set up and we want every
participant to know that in case he wants to make contributions to the Reich
Leader for the aforementioned tasks — either on behalf of his firm or the
Circle of Friends — payments may be made to the banking firm J.H. Stein,
Cologne (Clearing Account of the Reich Bank, Postal Checking Acount No.
1392) to the Special Account S.
: Heil Hitler!
(Signed) Kurt Baron von Sehroder (Signed) Steinbrinck3
This letter also explains why
U.S. Army Colonel Bogdan, formerly of the Schroder Banking Corporation in New
York, was anxious to divert the attention of post-war U.S. Army investigators
away from the J. H. Stein Bank in Cologne to the "bigger banks"
of Nazi Germany. It was the Stein Bank that held the secrets of the
associations of American subsidiaries with Nazi authorities while World War II
was in progress. The New York financial interests could not know the precise
nature of these transactions (and particularly the nature of any records that
may have been kept by their German associates), but they knew that some record
could well exist of their war-time dealings — enough to embarrass them with
the American public. It was this possibility that Colonel Bogdan tried
unsuccessfully to head off.
German General Electric profited greatly from its
association with Himmler and other leading Nazis. Several members of the
Schroder clique were directors of A.E.G., the most prominent being Robert
Pferdmenges, who was not only a member of the Keppler or Himmler Circles but
was a partner in the aryanized banking house Pferdmenges & Company, the
successor to the former Jewish banking house Sal Oppenheim of Cologne.
Waldemar von Oppenheim achieved the dubious distinction (for a German Jew) of "honorary
Aryan" and was able to continue his old established banking house
under Hitler in partnership with Pferdmenges.
MEMBERS OF THE HIMMLER CIRCLE
OF FRIENDS WHO WERE ALSO DIRECTORS OF AMERICAN-AFFILIATED FIRMS: |
|
I.G.
Farben
|
I.T.T.
|
A.E.G.
|
Standard Oil of New Jersey
|
KRANEFUSS, Fritz |
x |
|
|
|
KEPPLER, Wilhelm |
x |
|
|
|
SCHRODER, Kurt Von |
x |
x |
|
|
BUETEFISCH, Heinrich |
x |
|
|
|
RASCHE, Dr. Karl |
x |
|
|
|
FLICK, Friedrich |
x |
|
x |
|
LINDEMANN, Karl |
|
|
|
x |
SCHMIDT, Heinrich |
x |
|
|
|
ROEHNERT, Kellmuth |
|
|
x |
|
SCHMIDT, Kurt |
|
|
x |
|
MEYER, Dr. Emil |
|
x |
|
|
SCHMITZ, Hermann |
x |
|
|
|
Pferdmenges was also a
director of A.E.G. and used his Nazi influence to good advantage.4
Two other directors of German
General Electric were members of Himmler's Circle of Friends and made 1943 and
1944 monetary contributions to the Sonder Konto S. These were:
Friedrich Flick |
100,000 RM |
Otto Steinbrinck
(a
Flick associate) |
100,000 RM |
Kurt Schmitt was chairman of
the board of directors of A.E.G. and a member of the Himmler Circle of
Friends, but Schmitt's name is not recorded in the list of payments for 1943
or 1944.
Standard Oil of New Jersey
also made a significant contribution to Himmler's Special Account through its
wholly owned (94 percent) German subsidiary, Deutsche-Amerikanische
Gesellschaft (DAG). In 1943 and 1944 DAG contributed as follows:
Staatsrat Helfferich of Deutsch-
Amerikanische Petroleum A.G. |
10,000 RM |
Staatsrat Lindemann of Deutsch-
Amerikanische Petroleum A.G.
and personally |
10,000 RM
4,000 RM |
It is important to note that
Staatsrat Lindemann contributed 4,000 RM personally, thus making a
clear distinction between the corporate contribution of 10,000 RM from
Standard Oil of New Jersey's wholly owned subsidiary and the personal
contribution from director Linde-mann. In the case of Staatsrat Hellfrich, the
only contribution was the Standard Oil contribution of 10,000 RM; there is no
recorded personal donation.
I.G. Farben, parent company of
American I.G. (see Chapter Two), was another significant contributor to
Heinrich Himmler's Sonder Konto S. There were four I.G. Farben directors
within the inner circle: Karl Rasehe, Fritz Kranefuss, Heinrich Schmidt, and
Heinrich Buetefisch. Karl Rasche was a member of the management committee of
the Dresdner Bank and a specialist in international law and banking. Under
Hitler Karl Rasche became a prominent director of many German corporations,
including Accumulatoren-Fabrik A.G. in Berlin, which financed Hitler; the
Metallgesellschaft; and Felten & Guilleame, an I.T.T. company. Fritz
Kranefuss was a member of the board of directors of Dresdner Bank and a
director of several corporations besides I.G. Farben. Kranefuss, nephew of
Wilhelm Keppler, was a lawyer and prominent in many Nazi public organizations.
Heinrich Schmidt, a director of I.G. Farben and several other German
companies, was also a director of the Dresdner Bank.
It is important to note that
all three of the above — Rasche, Kranefuss, and Schmidt — were directors of
an I.G. Farben subsidiary, Braunkohle-Benzin A.G. — the manufacturer of
German synthetic gasoline using Standard Oil technology, a result of the I.G.
Farben-Standard Oil agreements of the early 1930s.
In brief, the Wall Street
financial elite was well represented in both the early Keppler Circle and the
later Himmler Circle.5
Footnotes:
1From the affidavit of
Wilhem Keppler, NMT, Volume VI, p. 285.
2Elimination of
German Resources, p. 869.
3NMT,
Volume
VII, p. 238. "Translation of Document N1-10103, Prosecution Exhibit
788." Letter from von Schroder and Defendant Steinbrinck to Dr. Meyer,
Dresdner Bank official, 25 February 1936, noting that the Circle of Friends
would put funds at Himmler's disposal "For Certain Tasks outside of the
Budget" and had established a "Special Account for this purpose."
4Elimination of
German Resources, p. 857.
5The significant
nature of this representation is reflected in Chart 8-1, "Wall Street
representation in the Keppler and Himmler Circles, 1933 and 1944."
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