Who Financed Hitler

551 Pages·2010·9.6 MB·English

JamesPool&
Suzanne Pool
TheSecretFundingofHitler's
RisetoPower1919-1933
A RAVEN BOOK
MACDONALD ANDJANE'S . LONDON
COfrYright©1978byJamesE.PoolIIIandSuzannePool
A Raven Book
Thisisajointprojectof
Macdonaldand[one's PublishersLimited
andFuturaPublicationsLimited
First published in GreatBritain in 1979by
Macdonaldandjane'sPublishersLimited
Paulton House
8Shepherdess Walk
London NI 7LW
ISBN 035404395 1
Reproducedfromcamera-readycopy supplud
PrintedandboundinGreat Britain by
RichardClay (The Chaucer Press) Limited
Bungay, Suffolk
To our parents
Manyofthose whohave contributedvaluableinfonna
tion wish toremain anonymousforreasons which are
easily understood. Although we can not mention
everyone individually. we would like to express our
sincere gratitude to all of those who have assisted in
making this bookpossible.
Contents
Preface 1
1 A Mysterious Beginning 4
2 Billions 40
3 Ford and Hitler 85
4 Kirdorfand Thyssen 131
5 What Did Big Business Want? 175
6 Depression 229
7 Hitler's Foreign Financiers 290
8 Big Business Attempts to Stop Hitler 336
9 Bribes and Blackmail 415
Appendix 493
Footnotes 496
Selected Bibliography 521
Articles 527
Index 529
Ifmoney gobefore,
allways do lie open.
-Shakespeare
Preface
AdolfHitler did not come topowereasily. He began his political
career in 1919and did not become Chancellor until fourteen
yearslaterin1933.During this timeit tooka tremendous sumof
money to support the Nazi Party. Where it came from, who
providedit, and why, are the topicsofthis book.
There have been many bookswritten on the Nazi period, but
this most important aspect of Hitler's activity-one of the very
keys to his success-has never been dealt with. One reason is
that much of the information about financial contributions has
onlyrecently come tolight, but the primary reason is an under
standable reluctance toacknowledgethe ease with which money
can subvert the democratic process.
Historyisreplete with unsavory talesofpoliticalfinancing, and
there is a serious question whether democratic principles can
everultimately be upheld in an atmosphereofunsupervised and
unpublicized political fund raising. Perhaps the newly created
Gennan democracy was more vulnerable than most free
societies,yet the story ofhowHitler found the necessary money
toundermine the WeimarRepublic has universal implications.
InGennanyfrom1919to1933,politicalpartieswerelittlemore
than toolsforpowerfulinterestgroups. Hitlerwasquick torecog
nizethisand turnhisformidableand nefarioustalentstothe task
of fund raising. His methods were unscrupulous. At first he
courted the powerful;thenashispartygrewinsizeand strength,
he wasperfectly willingtouse blackmail and bribery togain his
ends. Butit must beadmitted that he knew the valueofmoney:
2 WHO FINANCEDHITLER
that it could purchase almost all the necessary resources of
politics, such as propaganda campaigns, newspaper coverage,
full-timestaff,etc. In short,Hitlerknew thatmoney meantpower.
Itiseven partlytruethatHitlerwas able tosellan evilidealike
anti-Semitism simply because he had the support of wealthy
contributors. By continuous propaganda even the greatest un
truth will be believed by some people. There were many anti
SemitesinGennanylongbeforeHitler,butthey belonged tosmall
splinter parties that were ineffective because of their endless
squabbling. Large donations provided Hitler with the needed
tools to organize these fringe elements and turn them into a
major political force.
Discoveringtheexactsumsofcontributionsandtheidentityof
contributors is not an easy task. Moneymovessilently as wellas
easily.Cash leaves no tracks. Checkscan belaundered- passed
through intennediaries and false corporations-to obscure the
original sourceoffunds. But,despitethedifficulties, thesearchis
worthwhile. Moneyis the tracerelementin thestudyofpolitical
power. Light thrown upon transactions involving financing il
luminates the flow of both influence and power.
Hitler was launched on his political career by a wealthy and
powerful secret society,none of whose members were big busi
nessmen. Otherfunds camefrom themost unexpected sources.
Gennany's mostimportantJewish industrialist even gave to the
Nazis-tomake themdependenton his money in hopesofeven
tually disrupting them. Hitler got some of his biggest "con
tributions" by first discovering the corrupt dealings between
certain big industrialists and prominent liberal politicians, and
then blackmailing the industrialists with threats ofexposure.
Hitler's fund raising gave birth to many of the techniques of
covert funding and dirty tricks that later became the stoek-in
tradeofmostmajorgovernments. Thedouble subsidiarycorpora
tions through whichCaptainErnstRohrnchanneledannyfunds
to Hitler were so secret in their operations that, even after the
government became aware of the missing money, the corpora
tions were able to continue functioning undetected for about a
year.
One ofthe mostimportant and unexpected discoveries ofthis
studyis theimportanceofforeign financing in bringing Hitler to
power. Hitler received money from Austria, Britain, Czecho-
PREFACE 3
slovakia, Finland, France, Italy, Holland, Hungary, Switzerland,
Sweden, and the United States. Itis true that some money came
fromGermanslivingin thesecountries, butmost ofitcamefrom
prominent foreign citizens. Their motives varied: Henry Ford
wanted tospread his antj-Semitic philosophy,Mussolinihoped to
encourage German fascism, Grand Duchess Victoria of Russia
wanted tosupport anti-Communism, Sir HenriDeterdingaimed
toget back his oilinterests confiscated by the Communists, etc.
Those who financed Hitler, both Germans and the foreigners,
arejustasresponsibleforhis coming topowerastheactiveNazis
whospread anti-Semitic propagandaorfought in thestreets. Yet,
because of theirinfluence and the powerofmoney,few of them
were prosecuted at Nuremberg. Many are nowexposed here for
the first time. .