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Making
a Killing
April 5, 2002
By Christian Dewar
 Many
Americans are probably not aware of the great extent to which
U.S. corporations collaborated with the Nazi war machine during
WWII. After the first world war, many wealthy American industrialists,
bankers and financiers invested in Germany, in part, to avoid
onerous U.S. regulations and also to reap the tremendous profits
from the rebuilding of the nation.
Worried that there might be another war that would cause
them to lose their investments, the directors of many of these
companies plotted to protect their interests. Law firms like
Sullivan and Cromwell specialized in helping to arrange these
deals. When the second world war broke out, the Dulles brothers,
Allen (who was a partner in that firm) and John, helped these
companies hide their assets. As a result, many Nazi industrialist
and their American collaborators maintained their wealth after
the hostilites ceased.
Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg once stated that "The
Dulles brothers were traitors." Some historians believe that
Allen Dulles became head of the newly formed CIA in large
part to cover up his treasonous behavior and that of his clients.
Not confined to a few isolated companies, some of America's
most prominent families and their financial empires worked
with the Nazis well after the first bombs were dropped on
Pearl Harbor.
On March 4th, 1998, a woman from Belgium brought a suit against
the Ford Motor Company and it's German affiliate seeking compensation
for the work she performed as a slave laborer for the company.
Born in Russian, Elsa Iwanovwa claimed that she was abducted
and forced to work at Ford's plant at Cologne. As many as
10,000 men, women and children may have labored there, many
of them from the Buchenwald concentration camp.
The Ford plant in Germany played a major role in the Nazi
war effort. While their American factories produced weapons
for the allies, their German subsidiary manufactured troop
transports, tracked vehicles, Panzer tanks, anti-tank guns
and other crucial equipment for the Nazis. Providing weapons
for both contestants in a world war was extraordinarily lucrative.
It is alleged that high ranking American officials including
Edsel Ford oversaw the German plant's operations even during
the war. Unlike most American businesses doing business in
Germany during the war, Ford enjoyed significant independence
and was never seized by the Nazi government.
The reason for this was in large part due to the close friendship
that endured between Henry Ford and Adolf Hitler. Ford was
known for his virulent anti-semitic views and he made substantial
financial contributions to Hitler and the Nazi organization
in its early years which may have sustained the party at a
point where it might have otherwise collapsed.
Hitler's book, Mein Kampf borrowed heavily from Ford's
anti-semitic book, The International Jew, a Worldwide Problem
which was published in 1927. Hitler awarded Ford with Germany's
highest civilian honor, the Great Cross of the German Order
of the Eagle. Hitler's office had a large picture of Ford
on the wall and stacks of Ford's books to give away to associates.
Jim Mooney, GM's chief executive for overseas operations,
was also awarded the Order of the German Eagle.
Ford was only one of many American corporations that eagerly
helped the Germans. Some did so for ideological reasons and
others for the immense profits which could be realized.
General Motors which was owned by the du Pont family during
the 1930's manufactured thousands of bombers for the Luftwaffe
and troop transports for the Wermacht at the same time that
it's American plants were producing engines for the U.S. Air
Force. Their German plant built propulsion systems for Germany's
deadliest bomber, the Junker 88 and motors for their new,
innovative jet fighters. They also repaired Geman trucks and
converted them for alternative fuels at their facilites in
Switzerland.
According to Charles Higham who wrote about the collaboration
of American corporations with the Nazis in his book, Trading
with the Enemy, GM may have even plotted with the Nazis
against Roosevelt. Higham claims that high ranking officials
in the company met with Baron Manfred von Killinger, head
of a Nazi espionage rink and with Gestapo leader Baron von
Tippleskirsh to sign an agreement "showing total commitment
to the Nazi cause for the indefinite future" and that "in
view of Roosevelt's attitude toward Germany, every effort
must be made to remove him by defeat at the next election.
Jewish influence in the political, cultural and public life
in America must be stamped out. Press and radio must be subsidized
to smear the administration" and an American fascist put in
the White House.
Higham states that "Along with friends of the Morgan Bank
and General Motors...certain du Pont backers financed a coup
d'etat that would overthrow the president with the aid of
a $3 million funded army of terrorists." The weapons
were to be provided by Remington arms, a du Pont subsidiary.
Higham writes that Irenee du Pont was obsessed with Hitler
and once made a speech to the American Chemical Society in
1926 "advocating a race of supermen to be achieved by injecting
special drugs into them in boyhood to make their characters
to order. He insisted his men reach physical standards equivalent
to that of a marine and have blood as pure as that in the
veins of the Vikings." The du Ponts financed anti-semitic,
facist groups in the U.S. and along with some of America's
most prominent families, promoted sterilization programs to
assist in the effort to promote the white race over those
deemed to be defective.
Higham also states that the du Ponts used their tremendous
wealth "to finance the notorious Black Legions. This terrorist
organization had as it's purpose the prevention of automobile
workers from unionizing. The members wore hoods and black
ropes, with skull and crossbones. They fire-bombed union meetings,
murdered union organizers, often by beating them to death,
and dedicated their lives to destroying Jews and communists.
They were linked to the Ku Klux Klan."
The du Ponts formed an armed gang of men "modeled on the
Gestapo to sweep though the plants and beat up anyone who
proved rebellious. They hired the Pinkerton Agency to send
its swarms of detectives through the whole chemicals, munitions
and automobile empire to spy on left-wingers or other malcontents."
The du Ponts also formed and financed the American Liberty
League, "a Nazi organization whipping up hatred of blacks
and Jews, love of Hitler, and loathing of Roosevelts." This
group had chapters at 26 colleges and subsidiaries nationwide.
Standard Oil has also been implicated in providing crucial
support for the Nazi war machine. The helped the Germans develop
plants and gave them the necessary technology for the manufacture
of synthetic fuels and leaded gas. Standard also assisited
the Germans in stockpiling $20 million worth or petrolium
products in anticipation of the war. This deal was concluded
with the assistance of the Wall Street investment firm Brown
Brothers Harriman where the senior managing partner was George
H.W. Bush's father, Prescott Bush.
It also is alleged that Standard made a deal with the Germans
to thwart the development of synthetic rubber in the United
States and to withhold a method of producing synthetic ammonia.
The U.S. government eventually seized some of Standard's patents.
When the oil giant sued to retain the them, their case was
denied. A judge who reviewed the appeal stated that "Standard
Oil can be considered an enemy national in view of it's relationships
with I.G. Farben after the United States and Germany became
active enemies."
When threatened with sanctions, Standard essentially blackmailed
the U.S. government, threatening to cut off supplies to the
American military. Standard executives received a token fine
of a few thousand dollars divided among several defendants.
Roosevelt is said to have been reluctant to prosecute the
heads of the company for fear of sparking another depression.
ITT also collaborated with the Nazis extensively. They owned
significant shares of stock in several companies producing
weapons for the Nazi including Focke-Wolfe which built fighter
planes and bombers. Their subsidiaries, according to Higham,
produced vital supplies such as "switchboards, telephones,
alarm gongs, buoys, air raid warning devices, radar equipment
and 30,000 fuses per month for artillery shells used to kill
British and American troops" as well as "ingredients for the
rocket bombs that fell on London."
The Curtis-Wright Aviation Corporation was another U.S. company
doing business with the Nazis. Their planes were well suited
for dive bombing. Although the Nazi pilots used this technique
as an integral part of their blitzkrieg strategy of warfare,
it was developed by the US. It was so effective that air plane
manufacturers were forbidden to teach this to foreigners.
Curtis-Wright managed to manuever around this inconvenient
policy by not 'teaching' it, but rather demonstrating it at
air shows in order to boost sales to Hitler.
Adding insult to injury, several of these American corporations
who had collaborated had the audacity to sue the American
government for damage that had been inflicted on their German
plants by Allied bombers. GM managed to extract $33 million
for the destruction of their Folke-Wulf plant. ITT received
$27 million and Ford, a mere $1 million.
American banks have also been implicated in assistance to
Nazi Germany including J.P. Morgan, Guaranty Trust of New
York, Bank of the City of New York, Chase National Bank and
American Express which turned over Jewish accounts to the
Nazis. Higham reports that "the Nazi government through Chase
National Bank offered Nazi in America the opportunity to buy
German marks with dollars at a discount. The arrangement was
open to those who wished to return to Germany and would use
the marks in the interest of the Nazis."
The Chase Bank of Paris was involved in substantial financing
of the Nazi embassy's activities throughout the war with the
full knowledge of Chase's American headquarters. The Vichy
branch of Chase "were strenuous in enforcing restrictions
against Jewish property even going so far as to refuse to
release funds belonging to Jews because they anticipated a
Nazi decree with retroactive provisions prohibiting such a
release."
Other Nazi collaborators include William Hearst, the media
giant. After meeting with top Nazi officials and the payment
of substantial sums of money, Hearst agreed to a policy whereby
his newspaper would only report favorably on Nazi affairs.
Many Americans today might be surprised to discover that
President Bush's family fortune was in large part compiled
as a result of collaborating with the Nazis after the WWII
had commenced. Author John Loftus has written about this recently
and it is also covered extensively in the online book, The
Elkhorn Manifesto.
According to the online book, George Bush: The Unauthorized
Biography, written by Webster G. Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin,
accessible only on the internet, George Bush senior's family
"played a central role in financing and arming Adolf Hitler
for his takeover of Germany; in financing and managing the
buildup of Nazi war industries for the conquest of Europe
and war against the U.S.A.; and in the developent of Nazi
genocidal theories and racial propaganda".
The authors claim that "The president's family fortune was
largely a result of the Hitler project" and that Bush's banking
activities were "not just politically neutral money-making
ventures which happened to coincide with the aims of of German
Nazi" but rather that all of the firm's European business
during that time "was organized around anti-democratic political
forces." The book states that "Certain actions taken directly
by the Harriman-Bush shipping line in 1932 must be ranked
among the gravest acts of treason in this century."
One of the most influential players in financing Hitler's
war industries was Brown Brothers Harriman. Prescott Bush,
the current president's grandfather, was the managing director.
Bush was also director of the Union Banking Corporation. The
stock shares were owned by Bush, E. R.Harriman and three Nazi
Nazi executives including Fritz Thyssen, one of Hitler's primary
financiers. The U.S. government eventually confiscated the
Nazi banking operations of Union Banking Corporation in which
Bush was a director under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Another Bush business associate was Friedrick Flick who gave
considerable financial support for the SS. Flicks's steel
plants used about 48,000 slave laborers from Dachau, most
of whom died.
Bush and his business associates were also involved in the
operation of the Hamburg-Amerika Line. It was later shown
to be a cover for Nazi espionage, spy infiltration and propaganda
activities. The U.S. government also seized the Holland-American
Trading Corporation, Seamless Steel and the Silesian-American
Corporation in which Bush and his associates were involved.
Ultimately, the international corporations, the lawyers,
bankers and financiers who collaborated with the Nazis prevailed.
They exerted tremendous influence to thwart investigators
delving into their seditious activities after the war. Many
of the key players were elevated to senior postions in the
U.S. government. Many of them were able to maintain their
fortunes intact after the war. Officers from the Nazi intelligence
and scientific communities became U.S. allies in the Cold
War against the Soviets.
Americans at the highest levels of finance, industry and
government willingly cooperated with the Nazis for political,
ideological and financial reasons. They were heavily responsible
for the rise of Hitler. They sustained his war effort and
helped to shelter the perpetrators after the war. It would
have been a bitter death for the brave American soldiers fighting
in Europe if they had realized that comfortable American businessmen
back in the States were making fortunes financing the same
industrial cartels that manufactured the weapons that were
being used to kill them.
Now Prescott's son, former George H.W. Bush, is making another
fortune as a merchant of death, marketing weapons thorough
the secretive Carlyle group. His power and influence is so
pervasive that he can sell the Pentagon obsolete equipment
such as the 70-ton Crusader cannon which is poorly suited
to the realities of combatting terrorism and which the generals
don't even want. George Bush Senior helped to arm both sides,
Iran and Iraq, during their murderous war. This was a policy
promulgated by his friend Ted Shackley, the legendary CIA
spook, who advocated selling arms to both sides in a conflict
as a way of enhancing the bottom line.
Historians know that Bush Senior arranged for the U.S. to
sell millions of dollars of weapons to Hussein almost up to
the time that he decided to invade Iraq country during the
Gulf War. His administration sold weapons to the Iranians
at a time when they were declared a terrorist nation and held
American citizens hostage. As Yogi Berra once said, it's "Deja
vu all over again."
Now his son, this administration and their corporate cronies
who put them in office are poised to make obscene amounts
of money from the weapons industries and oil. This war against
a faceless foe and with no end game is costing our country
over a billion dollars a month and George Bush wants even
more money for defense. President Eisenhower warned us about
the military-industrial complex.
Like grandfather, like father, like son. Some things never
change. The Bushes know that there is a killing to be made
in killing.
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