INTRODUCTION
Unexplored Facets of Nazism
Since the early 1920s
unsubstantiated reports have circulated to the effect that not only
German industrialists, but also Wall Street financiers, had some role
— possibly a substantial role — in the rise of Hitler and Nazism. This
book presents previously unpublished evidence, a great deal from files
of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, to support this hypothesis. However,
the full impact and suggestiveness of the evidence cannot be found from
reading this volume alone. Two previous books in this series, Wall
Street and the Bolshevik Revolution1
and Wall Street and FDR,2 described
the roles of the same firms, and often the same individuals and their
fellow directors, hard at work manipulating and assisting the Bolshevik
revolution in Russia in 1917, backing Franklin D. Roosevelt for President
in the United States in 1933, as well as aiding the rise of Hitler in
pre-war Germany. In brief, this book is part of a more extensive study
of the rise of modern socialism and the corporate socialists.
This politically
active Wall Street group is more or less the same elitist circle known
generally among Conservatives as the "Liberal Establishment,"
by liberals (for instance G. William Domhoff) as "the ruling class,"3
and by conspiratorial theorists Gary Allen4
and Dan Smoot5 as the "Insiders."
But whatever we call this self-perpetuating elitist group, it is apparently
fundamentally significant in the determination of world affairs, at
a level far behind and above that of the elected politicians.
The
influence and work of this same group in the rise of Hitler and Nazi
Germany is the topic of this book. This is an area of historical research
almost totally unexplored by the academic world. It is an historical
minefield for the unwary and the careless not aware of the intricacies
of research procedures. The Soviets have long accused Wall Street bankers
of backing international fascism, but their own record of historical
accuracy hardly lends their accusations much credence in the West, and
they do not of course criticize support of their own brand of fascism.
This author falls
into a different camp. Previously accused of being overly critical of
Sovietism and domestic socialism, while ignoring Wall Street and the
rise of Hitler, this book hopefully will redress an assumed and quite
inaccurate philosophical imbalance and emphasize the real point at issue:
Whatever you call the collectivist system — Soviet socialism, New Deal
socialism, corporate socialism, or National socialism — it is the average
citizen, the guy in the street, that ultimately loses out to the boys
running the operation at the top. Each system in its own way is a system
of plunder, an organizational device to get everyone living (or attempting
to live) at the expense of everyone else, while the elitist leaders,
the rulers and the politicians, scalp the cream off the top.
The
role of this American power elite in the rise of Hitler should also
be viewed in conjunction with a little-known aspect of Hitlerism only
now being explored: the mystical origins of Nazism, and its relations
with the Thule Society and with other conspiratorial groups. This author
is no expert on occultism or conspiracy, but it is obvious that the
mystical origins, the neo-pagan historical roots of Nazism, the Bavarian
Illuminati and the Thule Society, are relatively unknown areas yet to
be explored by technically competent researchers. Some research is already
recorded in French; probably the best introduction in English is a translation
of Hitler et la Tradition Cathare by Jean Michel Angebert.6
Angebert
reveals the 1933 crusade of Schutzstaffel member Otto Rahn in
search of the Holy Grail, which was supposedly located in the Cathar
stronghold in Southern France. The early Nazi hierarchy (Hitler and
Himmler, as well as Rudolph Hess and Rosenberg) was steeped in a neo-pagan
theology, in part associated with the Thule Society, whose ideals were
close to those of the Bavarian Illuminati. This was a submerged driving
force behind Nazism, with a powerful mystical hold over the hard-core
S.S. faithful. Our contemporary establishment historians barely mention,
let alone explore, these occult origins; consequently, they miss an
element equally as important as the financial origins of National Socialism.
In
1950 James Stewart Martin published a very readable book, All Honorable
Men7 describing his experiences as Chief
of the Economic Warfare Section of the Department of Justice investigating
the structure of Nazi industry. Martin asserts that American and British
businessmen got themselves appointed to key positions in this post-war
investigation to divert, stifle and muffle investigation of Nazi industrialists
and so keep hidden their own involvement. One British officer was sentenced
by court martial to two years in jail for protecting a Nazi, and several
American officials were removed from their positions. Why would American
and British businessmen want to protect Nazi businessmen? In public
they argued that these were merely German businessmen who had nothing
to do with the Nazi regime and were innocent of complicity in Nazi conspiracies.
Martin does not explore this explanation in depth, but he is obviously
unhappy and skeptical about it. The evidence suggests there was a concerted
effort not only to protect Nazi businessmen, but also to protect the
collaborating elements from American and British business.
The
German businessmen could have disclosed a lot of uncomfortable facts:
In return for protection, they told very little. It is undoubtedly not
coincidental that the Hitler industrialists on trial at Nuremburg
received less than a slap on the wrist. We raise the question of whether
the Nuremberg trials should not have been held in Washington — with
a few prominent U.S. businessmen as well as Nazi businessmen in the
dock!
Two
extracts from contemporary sources will introduce and suggest the theme
to be expanded. The first extract is from Roosevelt's own files. The
U.S. Ambassador in Germany, William Dodd, wrote FDR from Berlin on October
19, 1936 (three years after Hitler came to power), concerning American
industrialists and their aid to the Nazis:
Much
as I believe in peace as our best policy, I cannot avoid the fears
which Wilson emphasized more than once in conversations with me, August
15, 1915 and later: the breakdown of democracy in all Europe will
be a disaster to the people. But what can you do? At the present moment
more than a hundred American corporations have subsidiaries here or
cooperative understandings. The DuPonts have three allies in Germany
that are aiding in the armament business. Their chief ally is the
I. G. Farben Company, a part of the Government which gives 200,000
marks a year to one propaganda organization operating on American
opinion. Standard Oil Company (New York sub-company) sent $2,000,000
here in December 1933 and has made $500,000 a year helping Germans
make Ersatz gas for war purposes; but Standard Oil cannot take any
of its earnings out of the country except in goods. They do little
of this, report their earnings at home, but do not explain the facts.
The International Harvester Company president told me their business
here rose 33% a year (arms manufacture, I believe), but they could
take nothing out. Even our airplanes people have secret arrangement
with Krupps. General Motor Company and Ford do enormous businesses/sic]
here through their subsidiaries and take no profits out. I mention
these facts because they complicate things and add to war dangers.8
Second,
a quote from the diary of the same U.S. Ambassador in Germany. The reader
should bear in mind that a representative of the cited Vacuum Oil Company
— as well as representatives of other Nazi, supporting American firms
— was appointed to the post-war Control Commission to de-Nazify the
Nazis:
January
25. Thursday. Our Commercial Attache brought Dr. Engelbrecht, chairman
of the Vacuum Oil Company in Hamburg, to see me. Engelbrecht repeated
what he had said a year ago: "The Standard Oil Company of New
York, the parent company of the Vacuum, has spent 10,000,000 marks
in Germany trying to find oil resources and building a great refinery
near the Hamburg harbor." Engelbrecht is still boring wells and
finding a good deal of crude oil in the Hanover region, but he had
no hope of great deposits. He hopes Dr. Schacht will subsidize his
company as he does some German companies that have found no crude
oil. The Vacuum spends all its earnings here, employs 1,000 men and
never sends any of its money home. I could give him no encouragement.9
And further:
These
men were hardly out of the building before the lawyer came in again
to report his difficulties. I could not do anything. I asked him,
however: Why did the Standard Oil Company of New York send $1,000,000
over here in December, 1933, to aid the Germans in making gasoline
from soft coal for war emergencies? Why do the International Harvester
people continue to manufacture in Germany when their company gets
nothing out of the country and when it has failed to collect its war
losses? He saw my point and agreed that it looked foolish and that
it only means greater losses if another war breaks loose.10
The
alliance between Nazi political power and American "Big Business"
may well have looked foolish to Ambassador Dodd and the American attorney
he questioned. In practice, of course, "Big Business" is anything
but foolish when it comes to promoting its own self-interest. Investment
in Nazi Germany (along with similar investments in the Soviet Union)
was a reflection of higher policies, with much more than immediate profit
at stake, even though profits could not be repatriated. To trace these
"higher policies" one has to penetrate the financial control
of multinational corporations, because those who control the flow of
finance ultimately control the day-to-day policies.
Carroll
Quigley11 has shown that the apex of this
international financial control system before World War II was the Bank
for International Settlements, with representatives from the international
banking firms of Europe and the United States, in an arrangement that
continued throughout World War II. During the Nazi period, Germany's
representative at the Bank for International Settlements was Hitler's
financial genius and president of the Reichsbank, Hjalmar Horace Greeley
Schacht.
Hjalmar
Horace Greeley Schacht
Wall
Street involvement with Hitler's Germany highlights two Germans with
Wall Street connections — Hjalmar Schacht and "Putzi" Hanfstaengl.
The latter was a friend of Hitler and Roosevelt who played a suspiciously
prominent role in the incident that brought Hitler to the peak of dictatorial
power — the Reichstag fire of 1933.12
The
early history of Hjalmar Schacht, and in particular his role in the
Soviet Union after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, was described in
my earlier book, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution. The
elder Schacht had worked at the Berlin office of the Equitable Trust
Company of New York in the early twentieth century. Hjalmar was born
in Germany rather than New York only by the accident of his mother's
illness, which required the family to return to Germany. Brother William
Schacht was an American-born citizen. To record his American origins,
Hjalmar's middle names were designated "Horace Greeley" after
the well-know Democrat politician. Consequently, Hjalmar spoke fluent
English and the post-war interrogation of Schacht in Project Dustbin
was conducted in both German and English. The point to be made is that
the Schacht family had its origins in New York, worked for the prominent
Wall Street financial house of Equitable Trust (which was controlled
by the Morgan firm), and throughout his life Hjalmar retained these
Wall Street connections.13 Newspapers and
contemporary sources record repeated visits with Owen Young of General
Electric; Farish, chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey; and their
banking counterparts. In brief, Schacht was a member of the international
financial elite that wields its power behind the scenes through the
political apparatus of a nation. He is a key link between the Wall Street
elite and Hitler's inner circle.
This
book is divided into two major parts. Part One records the buildup of
German cartels through the Dawes and Young Plans in the 1920s. These
cartels were the major supporters of Hitler and Nazism and were directly
responsible for bringing the Nazis to power in 1933. The roles of American
I. G. Farben, General Electric, Standard Oil of New Jersey, Ford, and
other U.S. firms is outlined. Part Two presents the known documentary
evidence on the financing of Hitler, complete with photographic reproduction
of the bank transfer slips used to transfer funds from Farben, General
Electric, and other firms to Hitler, through Hjalmar Horace Greeley
Schacht.
Footnotes:
1(New
York: Arlington House Publishers, 1974)
2(New
York: Arlington House Publishers, 1975)
3The
Higher Circles: The Governing Class in America, (New York: Vintage,
1970)
4None
Dare Call It Conspiracy, (Rossmoor: Concord Press, 1971). For another
view based on "inside" documents, see Carroll Quigley,
Tragedy and Hope, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966)
5The
Invisible Government, (Boston: Western Islands, 1962)
6Published
in English as The Occult and the Third Reich, (The mystical origins
of Nazism and the search for the Holy Grail), (New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1974). See also Reginald H. Phelps, " 'Before Hitler Came:'
Thule Society and Germanen Orden" in the Journal of Modern History,
September 1968, No. 3.
7(Boston:
Little Brown and Company, 1950)
8Edgar
B. Nixon, ed., Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs, Volume
III: September 1935-January 1937, (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1969),
p. 456.
9Edited
by William E. Dodd Jr. and Martha Dodd, Ambassador Dodd's Diary,
1933-1938, (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1941), p. 303.
12For
more information about "Putzi" Hanfstaengl, see Chapter Nine.
13See
Sutton, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, op. cit., for
Sehacht's relations with Soviets and Wall Street, and his directorship
of a Soviet bank.
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