How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power

[JoFerret]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html

Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president

Ben Aris in Berlin and Duncan Campbell in Washington
Saturday September 25, 2004
The Guardian

George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.
The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.

The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

<more>
Take the time to read the whole article. here's the last paragraph:

More than 60 years after Prescott Bush came briefly under scrutiny at the time of a faraway war, his grandson is facing a different kind of scrutiny but one underpinned by the same perception that, for some people, war can be a profitable business.

[Lefta Dissenter]

1. I'm sure that

the files are forgeries, and Dan Rather should be fired!

[BeHereNow]

2. Oh YES...

This is too good to be true.
The Guardian, no less.
BHN

[PurityOfEssence]

3. Hmm, these guys sound like "premature anti-fascists" to me; call HUAC

The powers that run this country hate communism to such a degree that many Nazi sympathizers were welcomed with open arms. Part of why G.H.W. Bush was sent to war at such a tender age was to dispel Daddy's Nazi ties, and it's no coincidence that he didn't go to the European Theatre, either.

One of McCarthy's first cause celebres was defending the Malmedy massacrers, lest we forget, and many Nazis were kept for intelligence purposes despite being virtually awash in blood.

Prescott, with Harriman and through Thyssen, helped the Nazis to power, financed their expansion and literally helped build Auschwitz. Just google the "upper silesian coal and iron" works and see what pops up.

They wanted a right-wing government in Germany after WW1 that would keep workers in line and allow business to bloom; they got what they wanted.

[Sydnie]

4. Great article! n/t

[Raster]

5. What a surpise...

On Edit: I have to highlight my favorite parts. Bold emphasis mine.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html

<snip>

"The Union Banking Corporation was a holding company for the Nazis, for Fritz Thyssen," said Loftus. "At various times, the Bush family has tried to spin it, saying they were owned by a Dutch bank and it wasn't until the Nazis took over Holland that they realised that now the Nazis controlled the apparent company and that is why the Bush supporters claim when the war was over they got their money back. Both the American treasury investigations and the intelligence investigations in Europe completely bely that, it's absolute horseshit. They always knew who the ultimate beneficiaries were."

"There is no one left alive who could be prosecuted but they did get away with it," said Loftus. "As a former federal prosecutor, I would make a case for Prescott Bush, his father-in-law (George Walker) and Averill Harriman for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. They remained on the boards of these companies knowing that they were of financial benefit to the nation of Germany."

Loftus said Prescott Bush must have been aware of what was happening in Germany at the time. "My take on him was that he was a not terribly successful in-law who did what Herbert Walker told him to. Walker and Harriman were the two evil geniuses, they didn't care about the Nazis any more than they cared about their investments with the Bolsheviks."

What is also at issue is how much money Bush made from his involvement. His supporters suggest that he had one token share. Loftus disputes this, citing sources in "the banking and intelligence communities" and suggesting that the Bush family, through George Herbert Walker and Prescott, got $1.5m out of the involvement. There is, however, no paper trail to this sum.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html

"...no paper trail to this sum." (And probably no living witnesses shortly thereafter either)

[gordianot]

6. For real more than rumors

This is not fake it happened and has been well known for years. There is actually a lot of documentation (Government)regarding business activities of well placed families. A certain well known family had funds seized during WWII. The news media could discuss this very easily considering the wealth of documentation available.


Make no mistake Bundt sympathizers were / are real. Some never wore brown shirts, nor do they engage in stupid racial bigotry unless it suits their purpose. They have been around for a long time and are still here.

[the Kelly Gang]

7. blood money..I have a personal but slight connection to add here

I remember being in New York in "89 on an assignment for a publication and I approached a granddaughter of Baron Thyseen for an interview..she promptly told me to 'f*** off' and how disgusting the press were.
Later teling a well known Jewish correspondent on the Village Voice my story..he told me about the Bush/Thyseen invlovementand that their name was mud in New York because of the sveral family members who lived comfortably there off the proceeds of granddaddys' slave camps..'wear it as a badge of honor' ..he said !

[librechik]

8. big deal. will we see it on CNN?

not as long as we are still enslaved by the Nazis.

[veggiemama]

9. No, you won't see it on CNN, but it's front page, above the fold in

today's "Guardian". I just returned from my local, and I saw it with me own eyes (I live in Eire, FYI). This story is also running in "The Globe and Mail" in Canada and South Africa. No, it's not in the US press, but it is "out there"!

[JoFerret]

10. It will spread and begin to get picked up

What the impact will be is anyone's guess. Not a lot I would think. But it is great to see it there at all in a mainstream paper.

[librechik]

11. the foreign press is so much better than here

I'll be surprised if this is picked up by any important mainstream source in the US. Sadly.

"Out There" is where it will stay I have little doubt--makes me want to expatriate--I'd love to live near Galway! How easy is it to get an artist's visa? I have an MFA...

[veggiemama]

13. I don't know about artist's visas, although if you make your living as an

artist in Ireland, you don't have to pay taxes. The easiest way to get in is if you have an Irish-born parent or grandparent, which makes you immediately eligible for Irish citizenship. I lucked out and married an Irishman!

If I find any info about artist's visa, I'll let you know!

Slan!

[Maeve]

14. If you find out anything, let me know, too

Hubby and I fell in love with Ireland last year and hope to move there when the kids are grown.

[Moderator]

12. Kick

:kick: