The Duplicity of Wall Street
"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."1
The information depicted in this article, retrieved from Antony C. Sutton's book, Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler and other reliable sources, will demonstrate to our readers some little known facts that have certainly never made it into history books. Perhaps the sole exception would be Carroll Quigley's work Tragedy and Hope. These books illustrate the extent that certain sectors of Wall Street were implicated in the organization and operation of Hitler's dictatorship during World War II.
Author James Stewart Martin stated in his book, All Honorable Men that both American and British businessmen were given key roles during the investigations leading to the Nuremberg trials, in order to keep the involvement of certain Wall Street moguls from coming to light. Martin was Chief of the Economic Warfare Section of the Department of Justice in the United States, at the time of the investigation. Sutton's research demonstrates that there is clear documented evidence to support the fact that Wall Street was indeed implicated in Hitler's rise to power.
Report to President Roosevelt
Franklin Theodore Roosevelt received this report from Berlin on October 19, 1936 from the U.S. Ambassador in Germany, William Dodd. This was three years after Hitler came to power. Dodd reported:
"Much as I believe in peace as our best policy, I cannot avoid the fears that 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 with 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 public opinion. Standard Oil Company (New York sub-company) sent $2,000,000 here in December in 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 a secret arrangement with Krupps, General Motor Company and Ford do enormous business [sic] here through their subsidiaries and take no profits out. I mention these facts because they complicate things and add to war dangers."2
The diary of U.S. Ambassador Dodd contained a notation from January 23rd: "Our Commercial Attaché 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."3
This alliance between Nazi political power and American "Big Business" looked foolish to Dodd but in reality, it was anything but that. Wall Street involvement with Hitler highlights two (among many others) Germans with Wall Street connections – Hjalmar Schacht and "Putzi" Hanfstaengl. The latter was a friend of both Hitler and Roosevelt; he was closely involved in the Reichstag fire of 1933, an event which was crucial in bringing Hitler to power. Hjalmar Schacht was a member of the financial sector of the "elite," that nefarious apparatus that crushes nations with its thirst for power. He was a key link between the elite of Wall Street and Hitler's inner circle.
The success of Hitler's war was largely due to the financial backing generously given by U.S. Wall Street financiers. In fact, without this support, German's military capabilities would never have reached the strength necessary for a war. For example, in 1934, Germany produced only 300,000 tons of natural petroleum products and less than 300,000 tons of synthetic gasoline; the remainder was imported from other countries. Contrary to this, during World War II, after the transfer of equipment and technology by I.G. Farben, Germany produced 6 ½ million tons of oil – of which 85% was synthetic oil introduced by Farben's subsidiary company, Standard Oil of New Jersey.
Gabriel Kolko, a writer of the period, analyses the situation: "The business press [in the United States] was aware, from 1935 on, that German prosperity was based on war preparations. More important, it was conscious of the fact that German industry was under the control of the Nazis and was being directed to serve Germany's rearmament, and the firm mentioned more frequently in this context was the giant chemical empire, I.G. Farben."4
Facts published in Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler demonstrates very clearly that certain prominent American businessmen were fully aware of the implications of their actions in aiding Nazism for their own profit; they knew that their efforts would bring about a war encompassing both Europe and the United States.
The Dawes Plan
In 1924, the Allies proposed that a group of bankers (with American banker Charles G. Dawes at their head), to develop what was after called the "Dawes Plan." This plan was what Georgetown University Professor of International Relations Carroll Quigley called, "largely a J.P. Morgan production."5
The Dawes Plan was formulated in order to facilitate the expedition of substantial loans to Germany to create and consolidate the huge chemical and steel combinations of I.G. Farben and Germany's Vereinigte Stahlwerke (United Steelworks). These companies produced the majority of key German war materials utilized during World War II. Carroll Quigley writes, "It is worthy of note that this system was set up by the international bankers and that the subsequent lending of other people's money to Germany was very profitable to these bankers."6
The Young Plan, which succeeded the Dawes Plan, was started by J.P. Morgan agent Owen D. Young in order to further assist Hitler's rise to power. The three predominant German financial cartels, (Allgemeine Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft (German General Electric), Vereinigte Stahlwerke (United Steelworks), and American I.G. Chemical (I.G. Farben), were directly represented by American financiers.
In a U.S. Intelligence report recounting the interrogation of Dr. Fritz Thyssen in September, 1955, it states: "The acceptance of the Young Plan and its financial principles increased unemployment more and more, until about one million were unemployed. People were desperate. Hitler said he would do away with unemployment. The government in power at that time was very bad, and the situation of the people was getting worse. That really was the reason for the enormous success Hitler had in the election. When the last election came, he got about 40%."7
Two of the above-mentioned cartels, I.G. Farben and Vereinigte Stahlwerke, produced 95% of German explosives in 1937-8 on the eve of World War II. This production was from capacity built by American loans and to some extent by American technology. American assistance to Nazi war efforts extended to other areas as well.
The two largest tank producers for Hitler in Germany were Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors (controlled by J.P. Morgan), and the Ford A.G. subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company of Detroit. The Nazis granted tax exempt status to Opel, thus ensuring the continued supply of machinery.
Sutton states, "In brief, American companies associated with the Morgan-Rockefeller international investment bankers – not, it should be noted, the vast bulk of independent American industrialists – were intimately related to the growth of Nazi industry. It is important to note that General Motors, Ford, General Electric, DuPont and the handful of U.S. companies intimately involved with the development of Nazi Germany were – except for Ford Motor Company – controlled by the Wall Street elite – the J.P. Morgan firm, the Rockefeller Chase Bank and to a lesser extent the Warburg Manhattan bank. … This book is not an indictment of all American industry and finance."
I.G. Farben and American companies
Six German chemical companies were merged together in 1925, to form the cartel of Internationale Gesellschaft Farbenindustrie A.G. – or I.G. Farben for short. Directors of I.G. Farben included not only German but also American financiers. Without the capital provided by Wall Street, there would have been no I.G. Farben and thus, World War II and Hitler's rise to power would have never taken place.
There were over 2,000 cartel agreements between I.G. Farben and foreign firms – including Standard Oil of New Jersey, DuPont, Alcoa, Dow Chemical, and others in the United States. There was also an American branch of I.G. Farben located in the United States.
A post-war investigation by the U.S. War Department stated that: "Without I.G.'s immense productive facilities, its intense research, and vast international affiliations, Germany's prosecution of the war would have been unthinkable and impossible; Farben not only directed its energies towards arming Germany, but concentrated on weakening her intended victims, and this double-barreled attempt to expand the German industrial potential for war and to restrict that of the rest of the world was not conceived and executed'in the normal course of business.'The proof is overwhelming that I.G. Farben officials had full prior knowledge of Germany's plan for world conquest and of each specific aggressive act later undertaken…"8
Hitler's link to General Electric
Firstly, it must be noted that Franklin D. Roosevelt's family was "one the largest stockholders in the General Electric Company.9" Other people, such as Owen D. Young and Gerard Swope of General Electric were also intimately involved with the eradication of German democracy and the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. In 1936, Senator James A. Reed of Missouri, became aware of Roosevelt's liberal agenda and denounced the famous "New Deal" as being a manipulation of the words, "social justice." Senator Reed further charged on the floor of the Senate that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a "hired man for the economic royalists" in Wall Street.10
The tap root of modern corporate socialism ran deep into the management of two affiliated multi-national corporations: General Electric Company in the United States and its foreign associates, including German General Electric (A.E.G.), and Osram in Germany. Gerard Swope, second president and chairman of General Electric, and Walter Rathanau of A.E.G. promoted radical ideas for control of the State by private business interests. A bank transfer slip dated March 2, 1933 from A.E.G. to Delbruck Schickler & Co. in Berlin requests that 60,000 Reichsmark be deposited in the "Nationale Treuhand" (National Trusteeship) account for Hitler's use.11
I.G. Farben was the biggest financial backer of Hitler and they controlled A.E.G., several corporate directors served in both companies simultaneously. I.G. Farben contributed 30 percent of the 1933 Hitler National Trusteeship (or takeover) fund. In other words, almost all of the German directors of the German branch of General Electric were financially supporting Hitler and associated with A.E.G.
Another fact interesting to note, is that throughout the war, according to U.S. Strategic Bombing reports, "… the war effort in Germany was never hindered in any important manner by any shortage of electrical equipment." Wall Street financial and corporate interests in Germany were purposely conserved even during bombing raids in different cities throughout the war.12
Companies who financed Hitler's war
Of the Standard Oil group of companies, in which the Rockefeller family owned one quarter interest, 13 were of critical assistance in helping Nazi Germany prepare for World War II. Evidence presented to the Truman, Bone, and Kilgore Committees after World War II confirmed that Standard Oil had at the same time "seriously imperiled the war preparations of the United States.13" Standard Oil was at the same time, closely linked to I.G. Farben.
In 1935, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. owned stock valued at $245 million in Standard Oil of New Jersey, Standard Oil of California, and Socony-Vacuum Company according to the New York Times article published on January 10, 1935. Accordingly [concluded the Kilgore Committee] Standard fully accomplished I.G.'s purpose of preventing United States production by dissuading American rubber companies from undertaking independent research in developing synthetic rubber processes.14
I.T.T. and J.P. Morgan partnership
The International Telephone and Telegraph (I.T.T.) was founded by Sosthenes Behn in 1920. In 1924, I.T.T. became affiliated with J.P. Morgan, and thus was able to buy what became the International Standard Electric group. Numerous payments were made to support Hitler's war agenda. The first meeting occurred in August of 1933; Sosthenes Behn and I.T.T. representative Henry Manne met with Hitler in Berchesgaden.15
I.T.T. money was donated to fund Heinrich Himmler's S.S. organization in 1944, while World War II was in progress. Through Kurt Schroder, Behn and his I.T.T. gained access to the profitable German armaments industry and bought substantial interest in German armaments firms, including Focke-Wolfe aircraft. Schroder was from an old German banking family with connections to the Rockefellers, in fact, Schroder was linked to them through an investment banking firm called, Schroder, Rockefeller & Company. Because of Schroder's excellent connections with Hitler, Behn put him on the boards of all the German I.T.T. companies.
Henry Ford
On December 20, 1922, the New York Times reported that automobile manufacturer Henry Ford was financing Adolf Hitler's movements in Munich. Hitler had such a high regard for Ford, that he kept a portrait of him (Ford) in his office. Ford received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, a Nazi decoration for distinguished foreigners. The New York Times reported it was the first time the Grand Cross had been awarded in the United States.16
Ford managed to secure his financial interests by stating that he was strictly "impartial" in matters of violence and war, thus keeping what he termed a "neutral" position. This enabled him to make an enormous profit by playing both sides of the war, through the Ford facilities Europe. In July of 1942, the word got out from Ford in France that his companies were working on behalf of the German war effort. However, all incriminating documentation was quickly buried and until the present time, very little information can be traced to Washington.
Who financed Hitler?
Thanks to the well-documented research done by Antony C. Sutton and others, we now know who contributed to Hitler's rise to power, how much was donated, and through what channels it was sent. It is striking that those who were the largest contributors, i.e. – I.G. Farben, German General Electric (and its sister company Osram) – were affiliated with Wall Street financiers. These Wall Street financiers were both at the heart of the financial elite and prominently represented in contemporary American politics. Gerard Swope of General Electric was author of Roosevelt's New Deal, Paul Warburg and his associates at American I.G. Farben were Roosevelt advisers. American I.G. Farben, International General Electric, Standard Oil of New Jersey, and many others were administered by both American and German financiers. These corporations were deeply involved in both the promotion of Roosevelt's New Deal and the construction of the military power of Nazi Germany.
Hjalmar Schacht made statements to the effect that the New Deal put forth by Roosevelt, was the same as Hitler's "New Order" program. It is perhaps not an extraordinary coincidence that Roosevelt's New Deal so closely resembled Hitler's program for Germany, and that both Hitler and Roosevelt took power in the same month of the same year – March 1933. The New Deal or the "new economic order" was not a creature of classical liberalism. It was a creature of corporate socialism. Big business as reflected in Wall Street strived for a state order in which they could control industry and eliminate competition, and this ideology was at the heart of FDR's New Deal.
Conclusion
To conclude this examination of some important historical realities, some of which will have shocked and dismayed our readers profoundly, it is good to remember that many facets of history contain elements that were kept hidden for a specific purpose.
The power of the Wall Street moguls is not to be underestimated but it very much depends on our credulity. If we can look at facts and events objectively, without trying to mask or hide from the reality that is facing us, we will come to a point in time where we can positively affect the future of our countries and the world. Much depends on our willingness to make an effort to work for the common good of each human being and to bring a solution to the problems facing our world today.
Marie Anne Jacques
1.) Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler, p. 14.
2.) Edgar B. Nixon, ed., Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs, Volume III: September 1935-January 1937, (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1969), p. 456.
3.) Edited by William E. Dodd, Jr. and Martha Dodd, Ambassador Dodd’s Diary, 1933-1938, (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1941), p. 303.
4.) Gabriel Kolko, “American Business and Germany, 1930-1941,” The Western Business Political Quarterly, Volume XV, 1962.
5.) None 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).
6.) Ibid, p. 308.
7.) U.S. Group Control Council (Germany), Office of the Director of Intelligence, Intelligence Report No. Ef/ME/1, 4 September 1945. Also see Hjalmar Schacht, Confessions of an “Old Wizard,” (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1956).
8.) United States Congress. Senate. Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs. Elimination of German Resources for War, p. 943. Report pursuant to S. Res. 107 and 146, July 2, 1945, Part 7, (78th Congress and 79th Congress), Washington: Government Printing Office, 1945), hereafter cited as Elimination of German Resources.
9.) New York Times, October 6, 1936
10.) New York Times, October 6, 1936.
11.) Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler, by Antony C. Sutton.
12.) The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Plant Report of A.E.G. (Allgemeine Elektrizitats Gesellschaft), Nuremburg, Germany: June 1945), p. 6.
13.) Elimination of German Resources, op cit., p. 1085.
14.) Ibid.
15.) New York Times, July 20, 1936.
16.) New York Times, August 1, 1938.
