Country home of Sir Henri Deterding in Dobbin, north of Berlin: Dobbin Estate

German map showing Dobbin, Mecklenburg, north of Berlin

SOURCE

Castle Dobbin Estate: German country manor home of Sir Henri Deterding, founder and leader of Royal Dutch Shell. Dobbin, Mecklenburg.

Castle Dobbin was located in an area now known as Dobbin-Linstow, district Rostock. (Glave is a municipality of Dobbin-Linstow in the district of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

DONOR TO THE NAZI WINTER HELP CHARITY

Bruce Deterding article above

By John Donovan

In a matter of days, I will be publishing an e-book entitled “Sir Henri Deterding and the Nazi History of Royal Dutch Shell.”

Publication is timed to coincide with another momentous episode in the history of Royal Dutch Shell –  the vote on the Shell BG Group merger.

SUMMARY OF MAIN CONTENT

In the years leading up to WW2, the Dutch founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, Sir Henri Deterding became an ardent Nazi. He financially backed the Third Reich and met directly with Hitler on behalf of Royal Dutch Shell.

As a major financial contributor to Nazi Germany in pre-WW2 years, the Royal Dutch Shell Group, under Dutch leadership, arguably had some indirect responsibility for the death toll in the subsequent war, in which over 50 million people perished.

Shell publicly boasted at the time about the importance of its financial contribution to the German economy. The claims were made by Shell in Germany while the country was under Nazi control.

In years leading up to WW2, Shell conspired with partners, Standard Oil, and German chemical giant I.G. Farben, to covertly import oil products, including airplane fuel, from the US into Nazi Germany. The US government was kept in the dark.

I.G. Farben supplied the Zyklon-B gas used in the Holocaust to kill millions of people.

The portrayal in 2007 by Shell’s paid historians of a distant relationship between Deterding and Hitler, in which all attempts by Deterding to meet with Hitler were rebuffed is simply untrue.

In fact, their meetings included a four-day one-on-one summit held at Hitler’s mountain retreat, as reported by Reuters in 1934.

Deterding has been described by independent authors as “a hardline Nazi revered and ultimately mourned by Hitler.” That description is confirmed by the evidence within this book and evidence accessible via links.

There are credible allegations that the Royal Dutch Shell Group, under the control of Dutch directors, used forced labor at its German subsidiary, Rhenania-Ossag. Many of its directors and staff were fanatical Nazis.

Royal Dutch Shell collaborated in the annexation and occupation of sovereign countries by the Nazis – Austria and Czechoslovakia – before the outbreak of WW2.

The donations and financial contributions to the Third Reich were all carried out under the control of Dutch directors of companies within the Royal Dutch Shell Group.

In 1936, while still a director of multiple Royal Dutch Shell group companies, Sir Henri purchased the Castle Dobbin estate North of Berlin for 1,050,000 Reich marks from Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

Deterding moved into Castle Dobbin with his young German wife, Charlotte-Minna Knaack, his secretary, a fanatical Nazi said by one source to be a former private secretary of Hitler’s.

Sir Henri’s friend Hermann Göring, the founder of the Gestapo, regularly visited Castle Dobbin to go hunting with him. Deterding generously gave Göring the Rominten Hunting Lodge in East Prussia as a spectacular gift. Kaiser Wilhelm II once owned it.

In 1936 and 1937, Sir Henri – while still a director of multiple companies within the Royal Dutch Shell Group, in which he held a controlling interest – made huge donations of food (“millions of tonnes”) to Nazi Germany as part of the “Winter Help” scheme.

“Seven thousand railway wagons were used in the first immense delivery.” This enabled significant funds to be diverted at a time when the Nazi regime was engaged in urgent rearmament of its military might.

Deterding died just before the outbreak of WW2. He was honored by a Nazi ceremonial funeral at Castle Dobbin in February 1939. It was attended by a full contingent of Royal Dutch Shell Group directors mingling with Nazi military officers.

A glowing tribute to Sir Henri on behalf of the German nation was inscribed on a wreath sent by Adolf Hitler.

The Bishop who conducted the funeral service was a  supporter of Hitler and a rabid anti-Semite.

Film footage of the Nazi funeral spectacular exists.

Fears that the Nazis intended to exploit the death of Sir Henri, just before the start of WW2, to seize control of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, were well founded.  The UK National Archives has kindly given permission for related documents and correspondence to be featured within the book.

Dutch directors of the Royal Dutch Shell Group engaged in anti-Semitic policies against Shell employees and were also guilty of collaboration and appeasement.

Royal Dutch Shell employees in the Netherlands were instructed to complete a form that for some amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Many did not survive the war.

The Nazis did succeed in gaining control over Dobbin Castle.

In the latter part of WW2, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, SS leader Heinrich Himmler and General Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command, were all stationed at Dobbin Castle.

Hitler’s final despairing message from his Berlin bunker, a day before his committed suicide, was sent to Field Marshal Keitel at Dobbin Castle, whilst it was still owned by the Deterding family. Strangely, that somehow seems appropriate.

Evidence was on display at Castle Dobbin, signed by Hitler, confirming Deterding’s financial support for the Nazis. Also a personal testimony by Herman Göring acknowledging the generosity of his friend and benefactor, Sir Henri Deterding.

Links are provided to thousands of pages of supporting evidence on subjects covered within the book, some of it stretching back several decades.

The extensive information includes news reports, documents and correspondence gathered during six years of research by the author.

There is a picture gallery at the end of most chapters featuring screenshots related to the content of the chapter.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR, JOHN DONOVAN

Extract from the Kindle Edition of my ebook: Sir Henri Deterding and the Nazi History of Royal Dutch Shell

Now available to purchase on Amazon.com; Amazon.co.uk; Amazon.de;

And around the world including: Amazon.nl: Amazon.fr; Amazon.es; Amazon.it; Amazon.ca; Amazon.com.au;

As stated in the ebook, in July 2015, an investigator visited me seeking advice and information in connection with the OPL 245 scandal. I was pleased to assist.

FROM PAGES 165 & 166 under the heading: Shell Corruption, Spying, and Pollution in Nigeria

In the 1990’s Shell had a close relationship with the corrupt Nigerian dictator, General Sani Abacha, during Shell’s plunder and pollution of the Niger Delta. The corruption continued in more recent times. In November 2010, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced settlements with freight forwarding company Panalpina, Inc. and six other companies in the oil services industry that violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Royal Dutch Shell was one of the companies. Shell agreed to a cease-and-desist order to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of over $18 million plus a criminal fine of $30 million.

In 2004, Shell admitted fuelling conflict, poverty and corruption in Nigeria. The admission came after I published a leaked Shell report commissioned by Shell.

In June 2004, Shell offered to pay $51 million to settle a Nigerian oil spills claim.

In 2005, Shell admitted that it had once again missed a target date to end gas flaring in Nigeria – “the harmful practice of burning unwanted gas.”

In June 2009, Shell paid out $15.5 million to a group of Ogoni plaintiffs to settle a case against Shell for human rights abuse in Nigeria.

On 4 November 2010, the Telegraph reported in a related article that Royal Dutch Shell: admitted they “approved of or condoned the payment of bribes on their behalf in Nigeria and falsely recorded the bribe payments made on their behalf as legitimate business expenses in their corporate books, records and accounts”.

Extract from a related article in The Wall Street Journal:

Royal Dutch Shell PLC agreed to pay a disgorgement of $18.15 million and a $30 million criminal fine after being charged by the SEC with conspiring to violate the anti-bribery and books provisions of the FCPA for using a customs broker to pay officials to get preferential treatment related to a project in Nigeria. It entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department.

The Daily Express also covered the story: “Shell in bribery fine.”

In December 2010, leaked US Embassy cables revealed that a senior Shell executive, Ann Pickard, boasted that Shell had embedded spies throughout the Nigerian government.

In October 2011, the Guardian newspaper accused Shell of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to feuding militant groups in Nigeria attacking Shell pipelines.

In November 2014, Friends of the Earth accused Shell of lying to the Dutch Courts about oil spills in Nigeria.

In Jan 2015, multiple news sources announced that Shell had settled litigation brought by 15,600 Nigerian fishermen for Shell oil spills in Nigeria. Shell agreed to pay $83.5 million. 

Also in January 2015, multiple Dutch news sources reported that Shell knew of fraud and money-laundering activities of an individual involved in Shell’s purchase for more than a billion US dollars of a Nigerian offshore oilfield known as OPL 245.

A news magazine pointed out: “it is laid down in Shell’s Statement of General Business Principles that the company will not do business with probable criminals.”

In March 2016, multiple news sources reported that Nigerian communities have been given the go-ahead to sue Shell in UK courts over oil spills in Nigeria.  I was pleased to provide extensive assistance on a confidential basis to Leigh Day, the London law firm acting for the relevant Nigerian plaintiffs. 

Extracts from a Reuters article: “UK police probing Shell, ENI Nigerian oil block deal”:

British police are investigating a money-laundering allegation related to a big oil field bought by Shell and ENI from Nigeria for $1.3 billion (846.46 million pounds), after most of the cash they paid ended up in a company linked to a former Nigerian oil minister.

The probe concerns offshore block OPL 245…

“The proceeds of crime unit is investigating a money-laundering allegation in the UK in connection with OPL 245. The investigation is at an early stage,” a UK spokesman said.

Transparency campaigners, who asked the UK to look into the matter, assert that Shell and ENI used the Nigerian government as a go-between to obscure the fact that they were dealing with former oil minister Dan Etete, who also has a 2007 money-laundering conviction in France related to bribes he was alleged to have taken when in government.

In his capacity as oil minister, Etete awarded block OPL 245 in 1998 for a payment of just $2 million to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which he played a prominent role.

In July 2015, an investigator visited me seeking advice and information in connection with the case.

By John Donovan

Today came news that Shell is slashing its panel of international law firms by 97%.

It therefore seems appropriate to reflect on the views about lawyers expressed by the extraordinary Dutchman most responsible for building Royal Dutch Shell into a global business: Sir Henri Deterding.

For some reason, although he was the undisputed head of the Royal Dutch Shell Group for almost 40 years, and said to be The Most Powerful Man in the World, his name now seems verboten at Shell. 

Printed below is a revealing letter he sent almost one hundred years ago.

13th September 1916

Dear Mr. Luykx.

I duly received yours of the 22nd ult. regarding Messrs, Rice & Lyons remuneration.

You gave me rather a start with your letter, because I gather from it that you employ solicitors much oftener than we would ever dream of doing.

Although we have an enormous business here, we very rarely consult lawyers. We only do so when there is really a legal difference or legal difficulty, whilst it seems to me that you employ them practically in every instance.

Lawyers are not business people, however large a lawyer’s experience may be, in the conduct of business he is absolutely useless. A lawyer placed at the head of a concern would soon bring the business to rack and ruin. He is not a creative genius, he is able to give his opinion, if a case is laid before him, but to ask a lawyer to draw up a contract for you is a most foolish thing to do, as this is bound to lead to trouble. Our custom here is to draw up a contract before having seen the lawyer and then to ask him to put it in a more legal shape. Such a contract is more likely to embody the spirit of what has legal shape. been agreed upon than one drawn up by the lawyer; to ask his opinion as to what you should do or not do is the worst possible way of conducting business which should be kept as far as possible from the lawyers.

It seems to me from your letter as if the lawyers are a kind of department to your business. Their idea that we should be inclined to give them a fixed fee is absurd, but what astonishes me most is their proposal that you should make an arrangement by which one member of their firm should give practically his entire time to the conduct of our affairs. We would never think of such an arrangement. We do not wish a lawyer to give his entire time to our business. We have not got daily disputes, neither do we want to create them. A lawyer absolutely unfit as a business man, he is to give us advice if trouble arises and if you employ him say 6 times a year this can be considered the average maximum. I do not think that we employ a lawyer many more times and our total lawyers bill is considerably less than yours. Messrs. Rice & Lyons’ statement that at the present time the daily routine business of our Company consumes the time and efforts of one member of their firm, is a revelation to me. How can you conduct business in such a way! I hate to see a lawyer in our office, if I want him I go to his office and limit the conversation to the shortest possible period. Allowing a lawyer to be practically in daily touch with me would certainly take 90% of my time which ought to be devoted to money making and not to discussing legal squabbles or legal phraseologies.

Yours sincerely,

/S/H. W. A. Deterding

LINK TO ARTICLE

JOHN DONOVAN SAR APPLICATION LETTER TO SHELL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998

19 July 2016

Mr. Gary Thomson SI-LSC/K
Shell International Limited
40 Bank Street
London E14 5NR

Dear Mr Thomson

Data Protection Act 1998 – Subject Access Request (SAR)

Thank you for your email dated 19 July 2016.

Please find enclosed completed application forms together with a postal order for £10 made out to Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

I obtained it before finding out that the fee can now instead be paid to a charity.

As you are aware, I operate royaldutchshellplc.com – a website focussed on the activities of Shell.

I last made a SAR application in June 2013.

It may assist in your search to remind you of some of the activity that has occurred subsequently which may have resulted in the generation of relevant personal data by Royal Dutch Shell Plc., and/or other companies within the Shell Group of companies.

This should include Shell Corporate Affairs Security (CAS), Shell Global Security or any successor Shell internal/external security organisation. Both of the above have been involved in past cloak and dagger activity directed towards me.

I am particularly interested in any relevant personal data held by Shell in the UK, the USA, Ireland and the Netherlands. With regards to the latter, I have been advised previously by Shell that there is no need to make a separate application covering Shell in the Netherlands as such information would automatically be included. I trust the same applies to other Shell companies.

Please be aware that for several years due to its obsession with my activities, Shell generated regular “Focal Point” reports about me updated every few months. I do not know if this is still the case.

Please also be aware that Shell has been approached many times by media sources such as Reuters requesting comment about Shell related matters involving me and/or my website.

There may, for example, be information held by Shell in regards to my coverage of the Shell Corrib Gas project corruption scandal and cover-up involving Shell senior management, the Irish Police (the Garda) and the owners of a Shell contractor company, OSSL, namely Mr Desmond Kane and Mr Neil Rooney.

Both gentlemen have admitted in open Court under oath (and therefore potential penalty of perjury), that they distributed at least €30,000 worth of alcohol to the Irish police at the express instruction of Shell EP Ireland and committed other criminal acts at the behest of Shell. I can say with certain knowledge that both individuals have spoken directly with Ben van Beurden about the relevant facts on more than one occasion. I facilitated the direct discussions. Recordings of the discussions are in existence.

Please note that there is currently no litigation in progress between Shell and me. That has been the case since 1999.

In the interests of transparency and the provision of working hyperlinks, I have posted this main part of this letter online. The links provide a sampling of the most notable Shell related subjects likely to have generated relevant person data. Starting with my father’s death and moving on to subjects such as the Corrib Gas corruption scandal, the Prelude project, etc.

Yours sincerely

John Donovan

(SEE CORRECTION BELOW)

RELATED LINKS

ALFRED DONOVAN AND ROYAL DUTCH SHELL: 2 August 2013

SHAMBLES AT MOTIVA PORT ARTHUR REFINERY: 23 August 2013

Brent Bravo Deaths: Information supplied today to Shell and the Police: 9 September 2013

Shell screwing dealers in Northeast USA?: 17 September 2013

Evidence of false and misleading information in Shell Brent Bravo maintenance records: 1 October 2013

Confirmation Shell handed out free booze in Ireland as festive gifts: 13 November 2013

Royal Dutch Shell Prelude to disaster?: 10 Jan 2014

Sudden departure of Shell global legal boss Peter Rees QC: 10 Jan 2014

Shell Prelude FLNG: loss of containment of hydrocarbons almost inevitable: 21 Feb 2014

Little known key role of Michiel Brandjes in Shell reserves scandal: 10 March 2014

Peter Rees reappears but mystery remains over his exit from Shell: 25 March 2014

Shell risked offshore workers lives to dodge Alaskan tax bill: 9 April 2014

BG Group Bid Speculation: Chris Finlayson, Shell’s secret weapon?: 29 April 2014

Ben van Beurden and Jorma Ollila agree OSSL meeting to achieve ‘a happy conclusion’: 20 May 2014

Esther Kiobel castigates UK and Dutch joint intervention in U.S. Supreme Court Case: 3 June 2014

Film of Royal Dutch Shell founder Sir Henri Deterding giving a Nazi salute: 23 June 2014

Prelude FLNG: A case of all your eggs in the one basket: 10 July 2014

Shell secretly recorded telephone calls to 888-GO-SHELL: 24 July 2014

Twister B.V. by name, Twister by nature?: 9 August 2014

Royal Dutch Shell Implicated in Nigerian OPL245 Corruption Scandal: 11 Sept 2014

VICTIMIZATION OF EMPLOYEES RAMPANT AT SHELL-MOTIVA NORCO SITE: 19 Sept 2014

Royal Dutch Shell Prelude Project ‘A Step Too Far’: 25 Sept 2014

Shell’s Simon Henry says its not difficult to drill in the Arctic Seas: 31 October 2014

Shell gave Irish Cops enough alcohol to stock a pub: 10 November 2014

Prelude a giant production and processing barge masquerading as a ship: 11 November 2014

Key role of Shell lawyers in pioneering Shell Prelude FLNG: 5 Dec 2014

U.S. Justice Department Chilling Verdict on Shell Arctic Drilling Company: 9 Dec 2014

Evil repercussions of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum U.S. Supreme Court Decision: 13 Dec 2014

Petition over Allseas Nazi named ship, the Peter Schelte: 22 Dec 2014

CEO Ben van Beurden finally endorses Shell Business Principles:31 Dec 2014

Observer Newspaper: World’s biggest ship, the Pieter Schelte, sparks Nazi outrage on arrival in Rotterdam: 25 Jan 2015

Allseas backs down on Nazi ship name: 6 Feb 2015

Man’s fight to change ship’s Nazi-linked name succeeds: 12 Feb 2015

SHELL AGM 2015: IRISH POLICE ALCOHOL BILL ON THE AGENDA: 7 March 2015

WORLDS BIGGEST LEAK OF STAFF DATA AFFECTED OVER 176,000 SHELL EMPLOYEES AND CONTRACTORS: 21 March 2015

SHELL CORRUPTION OF IRISH POLICE, AS ADMITTED BY ITS AGENT/CONTRACTOR: OSSL: 6 April 2015

Shell’s Shocking Share of the Groningen Earthquake Costs: 29 April 2015

Irish Company Freely Admits Distributing Bribes On Behalf of Shell: 30 June 2015

OSSL Whistleblower Email Sent to Irish Police, Irish Times and Shell on 28 August 2015: 28 Aug 2015

HERE FIRST TEN DAYS AGO: Lorraine Mitchelmore Fired: 17 November 2015

BG GROUP BEING TAKEN OVER BY A COMPANY WITH A TOXIC NAZI HISTORY: SHELL: 23 JAN 2016

Royal Dutch Shell Connections with Utrecht University: 4 FEB 2016

Marvin FINALLY got called out for his incompetence: 1 March 2016

Sir Henri Deterding and the Nazi History of Royal Dutch Shell: Evil Conduct in Nigeria: 1 April 2016

Nepotism at Shell Deer Park Refinery?: 6 May 2016

John Donovan, Shell’s nightmare: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL: 14 April 2016

Greedy Shell Takes Redundant Employees Tax Breaks: 7 July 2016

CORRECTION

It was Desmond Kane who spoke directly with Ben van Beurden in the presence of Neil Rooney and many others in attendance including the most senior people at Shell. 

EMAIL FROM JOHN DONOVAN TO SHELL: 15 SEPT 2016

From: John Donovan <john@shellnews.net>

Subject: STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL?

Date: 15 September 2016 at 12:51:41 BST

To: gary.thomson@shell.com

Cc: Michiel Brandjes <michiel.brandjes@shell.com>

To Mr. Gary P. Thomson SI-LSC/KCompany Secretarial Advisor 

Corporate Secretariat 

London 

Dear Mr. Thomson

Thank you for your email dated 26 July 2016 and your subsequent letter dated 30 August 2016, the content of both stated by you to be “Strictly private and confidential”.

An attachment was marked as being “Confidential”.

Is this is an attempt by Shell to retrospectively try to attach confidentially to related earlier correspondence on various sensitive subjects, none of which was carried out on a confidential basis? 

For example my email to Mr. Michiel Brandjes, your Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate, regarding serious allegations against Shell Motiva management made by Mr. Donald Lane, a former US Secret Service Agent and more recently Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. Perhaps the allegations from such an impeccable source had an influence on the subsequent divorce from Saudi Aramco? I have the permission of Mr. Lane to publicly identify him. 

A second example is another email involving Mr. Brandjes (and other senior people at Shell). It contained a summary of the main content of my ebook “Sir Henri Deterding and the Nazi History of Royal Dutch Shell”.  

At an early date, Mr. Brandjes had threatened that Shell would take legal action against me if I published the book. As seven months have passed since publication it seems fair to conclude that it was yet another empty threat. One thing for sure is that Shell cannot now pretend that it was unaware of the publication.

Although far removed from being a literary masterpiece, the ebook does contain a goldmine of verifiable facts from newspaper archives and many other sources potentially devastating to Shell’s reputation. 

In this connection, I have a long-standing working relationship with an award-winning documentary filmmaker who I have asked  to consider making a documentary using source material from the ebook.

In November I will be sending a related email to every Member of the House of Commons and the House of Lords providing a summary of the ebook and the Amazon link so that they are aware of the extraordinary Nazi chapter in the dark corporate history of Royal Dutch Shell. 

I am pleased to say that extensive information from my website and articles authored by me have been cited as evidence in UK parliamentary publications and the website featured at length in a newsletter published by The One World Trust, a body closely connected with the UK parliament. 

It is gratifying that royaldutchshelplc.com is cited alongside esteemed sources such as BBC News, The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Times. Shell may not entirely share my pleasure at this achievement. 

Regards

John Donovan

RoyalDutchShellPlc.com

EBOOK BY JOHN DONOVAN: SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Chapter 13: Royal Dutch Shell and Nazi slave labor

The photograph shows military uniforms worn by marching employees of the Shell German subsidiary, Rhenania-Ossag. A photograph on the next page shows swastika flags on display during a staff meeting. Rhenania-Ossag was part and parcel of the Nazi movement when the Shell Group was in undisputed full control of the company.  A senior director was involved in Nazi military planning.

In 1935, Rhenania-Ossag (owned by Royal Dutch Shell) was Germany’s second-largest gas station company, with 16,363 petrol pumps and several refineries. There were active Nazi members in the workforce and management. It’s DG, Dr. Erich Boeder, was involved in Nazi military planning (oil production) on behalf of the company.

Shell’s paid historians had this to say about Rhenania-Ossag on page 493 of RSDH V1:

Nor did the Group’s principles, so evident in the cases of communism or state monopolies, enable managers to perceive the diabolical nature of the Nazi regime. In line with the general development of German business, Rhenania-Ossag quickly adapted to the New Order and grew luxuriantly until it was too late for a fundamental stand. When push came to shove, general considerations such as market position, coupled with a technocratic conception of the business as providing fungible services to governments, clearly won the day.

Google Translation article about Robert Finn from a German blogger.de webpage posting on Sunday, 8 October 2006:

The above link is to a German blog site article about a controversial individual, Robert Finn.  He worked for Shell before WW2, became head of the German supply of lubricating oil during the war, and returned to Shell as a director after the war.

The article contains photographs from Shell staff meetings in 1935 at the Shell oil factory in Hamburg Curio-Haus, in halls decked with swastika flags. There is also a photograph of a march of Rhenania-Ossag (Shell) employees on 1 May 1938 with some employees in military uniform. The text on an accompanying sign displayed during the march said: “Operating-cell Rhenania Ossag.”

The company is now called Shell Oil Germany GmbH.

There is credible evidence that Rhenania-Ossag was already using Jewish forced labor in June 1939 before the outbreak of WW2. It happened while under undisputed Shell control prior to a Verwalter (administrator) being appointed by the Nazis regime to oversee the company in January 1940. (Page 78 RDSH V2)

Forced labor had been used by the Nazis regime from 1937.

Extract from United Stated Holocaust Memorial Museum website:

Even before the war began, the Nazis imposed forced labor on Jewish civilians, both inside and outside concentration camps. As early as 1937, the Nazis increasingly exploited the forced labor of so-called “enemies of the state” for economic gain and to meet desperate labor shortages.

The evidence about Rhenania-Ossag comes in part from the chilling testimony of Fritz Sarne, a Holocaust survivor, in the form of Internet articles in German. I have provided Google translations into English (1)(2).

Extract from (1)

Forced labor: As of 6 June 1939 I was hired by Hamburg employment office for work, the Jews used as forced labor. Funnily enough, I am back to Harburg, for Rhenania/Ossag where I have a “Jew Column,” consisting of 50 people who have never done earth works, made levelling work for new tank systems on the grounds of Rhenania /Ossag.

According to his moving testimony, Fritz Sarne, who died in his mid-nineties in the USA, was subsequently a slave laborer at IG Farben. He survived and gave testimony at the IG Farben War Crimes Trial at Nuremberg.

His grandson contacted me in April 2013.

There is further evidence that Royal Dutch Shell used slave labor supplied by the Nazis.

It comes from news reports based on declassified U.S. intelligence records.

The Los Angeles Times published on 22 September 2000 an article under the headline: The Secret (Insurance) Agent Men:

Extract

A WWII unit gathered underwriters’ data, such as bomb plant blueprints, from warring nations, declassified U.S. files show. The documents also said that two New York insurance executives, Cecil Stewart and Stewart Hopps, also came under scrutiny for selling war insurance to strategic U.S. industries and reselling some of the risk to Latin American affiliates linked to Nazi insurers. The men also ran a steamship company that chartered tankers for Royal Dutch Shell, a Nazi collaborator that used Hitler’s slave laborers.

Further confirmation in a Boston Globe article “Cloaked Business” published over a year later, on 19 November 2001:

Extract

Newly declassified United States intelligence records reveal in unprecedented detail how US and Allied firms systematically used backwater countries to conduct backroom business with Axis enterprises. The files peel away a whole new layer of collaboration, describing scores of so-called “shadow agreements” in which corporations disguised their ties with the enemy through the cover of other companies in neutral countries, from Spain to Sweden to much of Latin America. The report said the two men also ran a steamship company that chartered tankers for Royal Dutch Shell, a Nazi collaborator that used Hitler’s slave laborers.

SLAVE LABOUR AT SHELL’S GERMAN & AUSTRIAN SUBSIDIARIES

Class Action Statement (with graphics) by U.S. law Firm COHEN, MILSTEIN, HAUSFIELD & TOLL P.L.L.C:

Approximately 1,385 forced laborers worked at oil refineries and petrochemical plants owned and operated by the Royal/Dutch Shell Group during the Second World War. These workers, largely civilians from Eastern Europe and the Low Countries of Western Europe, were compelled to work on the grounds of Shell’s German and Austrian subsidiaries, Rhenania GmbH and Shell Austria AG, respectively. At these locations, the forced laborers toiled long hours under the watchful (and often brutal) guard of Hitler’s S.S. men. Deported from their home countries by force, these workers were housed in filthy barracks, and were denied freedom of movement and proper nutrition. For their work, which was contracted from the S.S., the laborers received no pay from Shell or the German Government.

Shell’s ties with the Third Reich, however, were not limited to the use of forced labor. It was also a founding partner in Deutsche Gasoline (25%), the national German petroleum company explicitly crafted to give the Reich greater control over domestic gasoline production – for both military and civilian purposes. Shell additionally held the dubious distinction not only of having collaborated with the Nazi Regime to bring Deutsche Gasoline into fruition, but also of sharing control over the company with I.G. Farben Industrie – the infamous producer of Zyklon B poison gas.

Despite its enormous wealth – as quantified by annual sales in excess of $93 billion – Shell has failed to compensate any of the men and women who worked on its grounds between 1943 and 1945.

Detailed information follows on the history of Shell’s German and Austrian subsidiaries, which aided the Nazi effort during WWII, and of the forced labor that was utilized in their operations.:

Benzinwerke Rhenania, G.m.b.H

Company information:

In 1902, the Royal Dutch Oil Company established the Benzinwerke Rhenania, G.m.b.H (Rhenania), as its “daughter company.” Rhenania, which operated oil refineries in and around Hamburg, produced gasoline for consumption in Germany and the Netherlands. In 1924, it entered the gas station business and by 1929 it operated 149 such stations. During WWII, Rhenania produced fuel for the German army, for the air force, and for civilian consumption – until much of its production capacity was destroyed by Allied bombing. Following WWII, the firm’s name was changed to Deutsche-Shell, which is now one of Germany’s largest oil refining corporations (in addition to its interests in chemical synthesis).

Slave Labor Information:

Approximately 1135 men and women labored on the grounds of Rhenania’s oil refineries and petrochemical factories in northwestern Germany. 150 forced laborers worked at the Hamburg refinery between 1944 and 1945. They were housed at the nearby Concentration Camp Hamburg-Hafen and worked under S.S. guard cleaning debris from air raids, shoveling snow, felling trees, and performing maintenance work. Ms. Zach, a claimant in our registry, was one of the forced laborers who worked for Rhenania in Hamburg. She has attested to the long hours, poor diet, and physical strain she endured during her time with Rhenania.

Additional locations which housed Rhenania forced laborers: Civilian Work Camp, Homberg, 420 persons; Civilian Work Camp, Hamburg, 175 persons; Concentration Camp, Schwelm, 380 persons.

Sources:

Das Nationalsozialistische Lagersystem, pp. 78-9, 410, 434, 482.

Shell Austria, AG

Company Information:

Shell Austria has been a full subsidiary of the Royal Dutch/Shell group since its inception in 1923. Its business has consisted chiefly of refining crude oil to produce gasoline, petrochemical products and fuel oil. It also runs a chain of retail gasoline stations.

Slave Labor Information:

Between June 1944 and April 1945 approximately 250 forced laborers worked at the Shell oil refinery in Vienna, Austria. The nature of work performed was maintenance and construction. The laborers, exclusively civilians of East European extraction, were interned at the Civilian Work Camp Florisdorf, which was run by Hitler’s Reichsfuehrer-S.S.

Sources:

Verzeichnis der Haftstatten unter dem Reichsfuhrer-S.S., p. 374.

Shell Austria’s website: http://www.shell.at

Aggregate Shell Statistics:

If you have any information which would be helpful to the prosecution of this case, please Alert Us

EXTRACT FROM CLASS ACTION STATEMENT ENDS

The litigation apparently did not progress beyond the statement on the law firms website, possibly because of a lack of witnesses. Most of the poor souls forced to work for Rhenania-Ossag would not have survived the Holocaust. Any of those that did would be most unlikely to be alive in 2004. There would likely have been issues over who was legally responsible – Royal Dutch Shell or an administrator appointed by the Nazi government.

WOMEN USED AS SLAVE LABOUR

There is unassailable evidence confirming “women labored on the grounds of Rhenania’s oil refineries and petrochemical factories”.

Extract from the official memorial website for the Neuengamme concentration camp based in Hamburg, the largest concentration camp in Northwest Germany:

In mid-July 1944, the first women’s satellite camp of Neuengamme concentration camp was established in a warehouse in Veddel on Dessauer Ufer in the free port of Hamburg. The first 1,000 prisoners – Jewish women from Hungary and Czechoslovakia – had been selected at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in early July 1944 to work in Hamburg. They probably reached Hamburg on 16 or 17 July 1944. Around one month later, another 500 Jewish women from the Lodz ghetto in Poland were sent to Dessauer Ufer via Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Working under the so-called Geilenberg programme – a programme of immediate measures for rescuing Germany’s destroyed petroleum industry – the women were forced to carry out clearance work for large Hamburg refineries such as Rhenania Ossag (Shell), Ebano-Oehler (Esso), J. Schindler and Jung-Öl.

On 13 September 1944, the SS divided the women into three groups and transferred them to the Hamburg-Sasel, Wedel and Hamburg-Neugraben camps.

Period: Mid-July 1944 to 13 September 1944

Number of prisoners: 1,500 women

Kind of work: Clearance work

Slave labour on behalf of: Ebano-Oehler (Esso), J. Schindler, Rhenania Ossag (Shell), Jung-Öl and others

According to the website: “At least 42,900 people died in Neuengamme, its satellite camps and during the camp evacuations at the end of the war.”

FORCED LABOUR AT HYDRIERWERKE POLITZ

I have already provided some information about Shell’s involvement in the Hydrierwerke Politz project, with its partners Standard Oil of New Jersey and IG Farben.

During the war, Politz came to rely on large numbers of forced laborers housed in nine camps, which included a separate barracks from the Stutthof concentration camp. The Pommernlager forced labor camp for Poles and prisoners of war existed on the Politz premises from 1940.

30,000 slaves worked at Politz. 13,000 died of starvation, hard labor, disease, lack of medical care or were killed.

The above information comes from a Wikipedia article about Politz.

Shell’s historians cite the same death toll.

(Extract from page 474, RDSH V1) 

During the war, Politz came to rely on large numbers of forced labourers housed in nine camps, which included a separate barracks from the Stutthof concentration camp. Thirteen thousand prisoners are said to have died there. However, by that time the Group had lost all control over Rhenania-Ossag and the Politz works…

So there is no dispute over the fact slave labor was used at companies wholly or partly owned by Royal Dutch Shell.

Shell’s historians argue however that by the time it happened the Group had “lost all control”.

The control issue is considered in more detail in the next chapter.

Shell cannot evade responsibility for the use of forced labor at Rhenania-Ossag, before the appointment of a Verwalter.

Shell has also been accused of getting involved in slave labor in South Africa and Brazil: See “Royal Dutch Shell and slave labor.”

PICTURE GALLERY

SAMPLE CHAPTER ENDS

John Donovan, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.com

The ebook by John Donovan (right) can be purchased via Amazon websites around the world. Chapter headings are listed below. The introduction and some sample Chapters are accessible via the hyperlinks provided.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTERS

1. The best historians Shell could buy
2. News story February 2015: Shell ship named after a Nazi SS Officer
3. Royal Dutch Shell and the Nazis
4. Media coverage of Sir Henri Deterding’s Death
5. The Nazi Funeral of Royal Dutch Shell leader Sir Henri Deterding
6. Great friend of the Germans
7. You Can Be Sure of Shell
8. Royal Dutch Shell Anti-Semitism
9. Deterding’s support for Nazi Stormtroopers
10. Shell support for the Nazis continued after the retirement of Sir Henri as leader
11. Shell collaborated in the Nazi annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia
12. Shell’s notorious business partner: IG Farben
13. Royal Dutch Shell and Nazi slave labor (above chapter)
14. Control of Royal Dutch Shell companies in Nazi-occupied Europe
15. Nazi connections relating to Shell
16. Shell historians attempt to distance Deterding from Hitler
17. Why does it still matter?
18. Time for a rare public apology from Shell?
19. Key Dates
20. Shell cloak and dagger activities
21. Wikipedia: The sanitization of Shell’s history
22. Authors unique connection with Shell

Index of Shell leadership financial support for the Nazis

EBOOK BY JOHN DONOVAN: SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Chapter 11: Shell collaborated in the Nazi annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia

German forces entered Vienna on 17 March 1938 (above). The Nazis annexed Austria in what became known as the Anschluss and occupied Czechoslovakia a year later. Royal Dutch Shell authorized its German subsidiary Rhenania-Ossag, to take over Shell operating companies in both countries.

Being one of the two biggest German oil concerns and the main lube oil manufacturer, Shell subsidiary Rhenania-Ossag was an industry leader in Nazi Germany. Many of its directors and staff were Nazis.

Following Hitler’s annexation of Austria on 12 March 1938 (photo) and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Dutch directors of Royal Dutch gave approval to Rhenania-Ossag taking over the Shell operating companies in those countries.

As a result, a Shell subsidiary company dominated by the Nazis gained control over Shell subsidiaries in Austria and Czechoslovakia.

The move fitted in with Nazis plans or otherwise it would not have been allowed. These developments took place before the outbreak of WW2.

The annexation of Austria occurred while Deterding was still an active Shell supervisory director. The Nazi regime did not appoint an administrator for Rhenania-Ossag until January 1940.

Part of the information is sourced directly from page 78 of RDSH V2 (and the remainder from the Rhenania-Ossag Wikipedia article).

The following is an extract from page 78

Following Hitler’s annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, Group managing directors sanctioned Rhenania-Ossag taking over the Shell companies in those countries.

Baron van Eck was one of the relevant Group directors. He and his colleague N. van Wijk participated in related correspondence involving Rhenania-Ossag. See item 142 on page 456 of RDSH V2 notes.

Van Wijk was company secretary of Royal Dutch.  The Verwalter, Hauptmann Eichardt von Klass, later appointed him as a director of Royal Dutch.

See Page 32 RDSH V2.

It provides proof from Shell’s own archives that Royal Dutch Shell collaborated in the annexation and occupation of these sovereign countries by the Nazis.

Information on pages 1080/81 of a 1,616-page Nuremberg War Crimes court document confirms that in March 1938, Dr. Boeder of Rhenania-Ossag, and Dr. Brunck of Deutsche Gasolin were involved in Nazi military planning.

The planning was in regard to the production of petroleum.

There is evidence on page 1538 of the same document relevant to the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia.

In March 1938, as part of a German army plan, Deutsche Gasolin A.G. refueled gas stations in southern Germany located on roads heading towards the Czech border. 

This crucial aspect of the plan facilitated the Nazi military move into Czechoslovakia days later.

Shell was a partner in Deutsche Gasolin A.G. with IG Farben and Standard Oil of New Jersey.

Himmler in Vienna on the day after the annexation of Austria

Hitler with Heydrich and Himmler in Vienna, March 1938

Cheering crowds greet the Nazis in Vienna

SAMPLE CHAPTER ENDS

John Donovan, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.com

The ebook by John Donovan (right) can be purchased via Amazon websites around the world. Chapter headings are listed below. The introduction and some sample Chapters are accessible via the hyperlinks provided.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTERS

1. The best historians Shell could buy
2. News story February 2015: Shell ship named after a Nazi SS Officer
3. Royal Dutch Shell and the Nazis
4. Media coverage of Sir Henri Deterding’s Death
5. The Nazi Funeral of Royal Dutch Shell leader Sir Henri Deterding
6. Great friend of the Germans
7. You Can Be Sure of Shell
8. Royal Dutch Shell Anti-Semitism
9. Deterding’s support for Nazi Stormtroopers
10. Shell support for the Nazis continued after the retirement of Sir Henri as leader
11. Shell collaborated in the Nazi annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia (above chapter)
12. Shell’s notorious business partner: IG Farben
13. Royal Dutch Shell and Nazi slave labor
14. Control of Royal Dutch Shell companies in Nazi-occupied Europe
15. Nazi connections relating to Shell
16. Shell historians attempt to distance Deterding from Hitler
17. Why does it still matter?
18. Time for a rare public apology from Shell?
19. Key Dates
20. Shell cloak and dagger activities
21. Wikipedia: The sanitization of Shell’s history
22. Authors unique connection with Shell

Index of Shell leadership financial support for the Nazis

EBOOK BY JOHN DONOVAN: SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Chapter 14: Control of Royal Dutch Shell companies in Nazi-occupied Europe

Hauptmann Eckhardt von Klass

Hauptmann Eckhardt von Klass (seated)

The Nazis presented considerable challenges to Royal Dutch Shell over control of its subsidiaries in occupied countries. The above caricature (and seated Nazi officer) is a former Shell director, Hauptmann Eckhardt von Klass, the Verwalter (administrator) appointed by the Nazis to “exercise supervision over Group companies in occupied Europe.” See pages 80 and 81 from RDSH V2.

Before, during, and after World War 2, Royal Dutch Shell was the owner of companies located in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe, including Rhenania-Ossag.

With the aid of Rhenania-Ossag in a small but vital capacity, preparations for war had proceeded at a feverish pace leading up to the German invasion of Poland in September 1939.  Germany used forced slave labor in that period.

There is evidence confirming that Royal Dutch Shell companies in Germany used slave labor before and during World War 2.

The Group was certainly responsible for forced labor at German subsidiaries prior to the appointment of a Nazi Verwalter.

The question is whether Shell retained any control (and legal responsibility) over the relevant Royal Dutch Shell Group companies after the Nazis appointed a Verwalter.

Following the Nazi invasion of Holland, a Nazi officer, Hauptmann Eckhardt von Klass, was named in January 1940 as Verwalter to oversee Royal Dutch and the aforementioned Bataafsche (another company within the Shell Group).

He was a former research director of Rhenania-Ossag, and, therefore, a former Shell director.

That fact suggests that although the Nazis were now overseeing the company, the change was made in an accommodating way with a Rhenania-Ossag insider being appointed to the position.

Articles in American newspapers published the month after the appointment, on 13 & 15 February 1940 said that Shell had continued to make deliveries of oil products to Germany until December 1939.

Extract from a section that appeared in both articles:

This operation caused no stir among insiders who know the background of the story. It all dates back to the operations of Sir Henri Deterding the born Hollander with a French first name, knighted by His Britannic Majesty and buried on his beloved estate in Northern Germany. Deterding sewed up the German market by substantial cash payments to the rising Nationalist party before and after they came to power.

The headquarter offices of Royal Dutch, Bataafsche, and other Shell Group companies officially moved on 10 May 1940 from The Hague to the Dutch West Indies colony of Curacao. (See official announcement by Royal Dutch Petroleum Company displayed center page – from page 30 RDSH V2).

According to Shell’s paid historians, the Verwalter, Eckhardt von Klass, had full powers to act of behalf of the concern (Group) in occupied Europe. See page 32 RDSH V2.

The unambiguous claim of “full powers” is however undermined by the wording of this extract from page 78 of RDSH V2”:

“Meanwhile the relationship between parent company and subsidiary had to some extent been reversed by the appointment of Rhenania-Ossag’s research director as Verwalter over Bataafsche’s Amsterdam laboratory, to ensure that it would contribute to the German war effort.”

I draw attention to the phrase: “to some extent.”

It is unclear precisely what this means, but it seems that Shell did not in practice suffer a 100% loss of influence/control. Shell’s paid historians offers no information about any evidence found in the archive that led to the inclusion of this possibly highly significant phrase.

Further confirmation of a continuing special relationship between the Royal Dutch Shell Group and the Nazi regime comes from a report prepared by the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee entitled:

“RHENANIA OSSAG A.G. HAMBURG-GERMANY. FUELS AND LUBRICANTS”.

A team of four people from the U.S. Petroleum Administration for War and the British Ministry of Fuel and Power prepared the report.

The information it contains was gathered during a visit of the combined British/American team to the Hamburg area in October 1945.

Senior employees, including Prof. Dr. Zerbe were interviewed at Rhenania-Ossag.

One of the objectives of the investigation was to ascertain the war-time activities of Rhenania-Ossag A.G.

Shell and IG Farben are mentioned many times in the report.

The following is an extract from page 66 of the report:

In reply to a question as to why Rhenania-Ossag had not participated fully in the German development of petroleum products, it was stated that because this company was regarded as of “foreign ownership”, it was not taken into the confidence of the German Government.  Most of this development work was done either at the laboratories of the Ministries concerned or by the I.G. Farbenind. A.G. This left the laboratories of the Rhenania-Ossag free to work on problems allied to their own production.

So, although the Verwalter was said by Shell’s historians to have full control, this is further evidence that it does not appear to have been exercised in practice.

Quite clearly the Nazi regime did not consider Rhenania-Ossag to be under its absolute control, but a separate foreign owned and run entity “free to work on problems allied to their own production.”

The fact that it was not considered safe to entrust the foreign owned company with petroleum product development plans of the German government reinforces this conclusion.

It indicates an element of autonomy at variance with the infamous dictatorial Nazi control over annexed and invaded countries.

The Nazis apparently had respect for Shell’s ownership and to some degree the independence of the Rhenania-Ossag management, which enjoyed continuity before and after WW2.

This is understandable bearing in mind that Shell, through its Nazi leadership, had saved the Nazi party when it was in a state of financial collapse and had funded it to a considerable extent in subsequent years.

After the end of World War 2, Shell rehired former management of Rhenania-Ossag involved in the forced labor programs.

I have already mentioned Robert Finn, who joined Rhenania-Ossag in 1929 and became a Nazi supporter. He was far from alone. Many employees of Royal Dutch Shell companies in Germany and the Netherlands became active Nazis. All Jewish shareholders, supervisors and employees of Rhenania-Ossag had been dismissed (in 1933).

During the war, Finn was appointed the head of the “Association for the lubricating oil supply” (ASV), helping to fuel the Nazi war machine.

The Hamburg Morning Post article published in February 2007 an informative article about Robert Finn described as “an important manager of Deutsche Shell.” According to the article, the “ASV” had to keep the wheels rolling for the “final victory” by coordinating the supply of lubricants to the Nazi forces and using “thousands of forced laborers.”

Despite this horrendous track record, Finn was allowed to re-join Shell after the war as a director of Deutsche Shell Chemie (German Shell Chemical company).

Shell was self-evidently not put off by his role as a Nazi “Big Shot.”

The controversial rededication of a sports hall first named in his honor in 1976 as “Robert Finn Hall of Eimsbütteler gymnastics federation” attracted protests and negative coverage by German news media. The coverage focused on his Nazis past, including his close association with Shell/Rhenania-Ossag.

According to a news report in March 2010, there was also concern about swastika-like symbols called “Turner crosses” on display at the sports hall.

The question of whether Shell is legally responsible for what happened at its German subsidiaries several decades ago, while the Verwalter was supposedly administering the companies on behalf of Royal Dutch Shell, is not easy to answer.

It might be impossible to arrive at any conclusion because of lack of available evidence and witnesses.

However, Shell surely has a moral obligation for the evil which took place in its name, such as the use of slave labor, bearing in mind that the leadership of Rhenania-Ossag apparently still considered that they were working for Shell and operated on that basis.

It was not done just in the name of Shell, but also using the iconic corporate logo that is as well known as the swastika.
In 1904, the scallop shell (or pecten) replaced Shell Transport’s first marketing logo. In various forms, it has remained in use ever since.

The examples of Shell logo’s used by Rhenania-Ossag from 1926 and 1935, shown center page, are both from the Wikipedia article “Rhenania-Ossag.”

Some information about the pecten is taken from shell.com.

There is further information within a downloadable document – “The History of the Shell emblem” – in which this valid claim appears:

“The Shell emblem – or Pecten – remains one of the greatest brand symbols of the 20th Century”

The authors of this judiciously selected online history neglected to mention the Nazi association with the pecten.

The Nazis continued to use the Shell logo in Germany after the appointment of a Verwalter for Rhenania-Ossag in January 1940.

It was used by Rhenania-Ossag in the years before, during and after WW2. Including the entire period when Shell was in partnership with IG Farben.

A number of Rhenania-Ossag products are shown, all displaying Shell branding.

Likewise a Rhenania-Ossag petrol station and an advertisement from the March/April 1941 issue of Der Ring, the house magazine of Rhenania-Ossag.

According to the red text, beneath the advert, Rhenania-Ossag still used the pecten logo after January 1940, “under German control.”

Shell has never apologized for the acts of appeasement and use of forced labor that took place in Nazi Germany under Shell’s name and logo at Shell premises, which always remained the property of Shell.

Royal Dutch Shell is legally and morally responsible for alleged forced labor at Rhenania-Ossag before the appointment of a Verwalter.  Unfortunately most, if not all victims are probably deceased.

Some might argue that Shell is morally responsible for what took place on Shell premises under the Shell brand by Shell’s Nazi managers, some of whom were rehired by Shell after WW2 e.g. Robert Finn.

SAMPLE CHAPTER ENDS

John Donovan, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.com

The ebook by John Donovan (right) can be purchased via Amazon websites around the world. Chapter headings are listed below. The introduction and some sample Chapters are accessible via the hyperlinks provided.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTERS

1. The best historians Shell could buy
2. News story February 2015: Shell ship named after a Nazi SS Officer
3. Royal Dutch Shell and the Nazis
4. Media coverage of Sir Henri Deterding’s Death
5. The Nazi Funeral of Royal Dutch Shell leader Sir Henri Deterding
6. Great friend of the Germans
7. You Can Be Sure of Shell
8. Royal Dutch Shell Anti-Semitism
9. Deterding’s support for Nazi Stormtroopers
10. Shell support for the Nazis continued after the retirement of Sir Henri as leader
11. Shell collaborated in the Nazi annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia
12. Shell’s notorious business partner: IG Farben
13. Royal Dutch Shell and Nazi slave labor
14. Control of Royal Dutch Shell companies in Nazi-occupied Europe
15. Nazi connections relating to Shell
16. Shell historians attempt to distance Deterding from Hitler
17. Why does it still matter?
18. Time for a rare public apology from Shell?
19. Key Dates
20. Shell cloak and dagger activities
21. Wikipedia: The sanitization of Shell’s history
22. Authors unique connection with Shell

Index of Shell leadership financial support for the Nazis

EBOOK BY JOHN DONOVAN: SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Chapter 16: Shell historians attempt to distance Deterding from Hitler

Shell’s historians downplayed the relationship between Hitler and Deterding. As far they are concerned, the two never met. They said that a request by Sir Henri for a meeting with Hitler in March 1933 was rebuffed and disregarded Deterding’s claim that he met with Hitler in November 1933.  Not only were there meetings. Deterding “was revered and ultimately mourned by Hitler.”

Shell’s historians portrayed the relationship between Deterding and Hitler as standoffish on the part of Hitler, with all of Deterding’s attempts to meet with him being rebuffed. See pages 481 to 485 of RDSH V1.

On page 483 they say that in March 1933 “Deterding was turned down without further ado” when he requested a meeting with Hitler. 

A statement attributed to Deterding on page 477 that he met with Hitler in November 1933 was dismissed as being a mere “claim.” It is the same as saying that Sir Henri was a liar.

I can only surmise that their research did not discover a syndicated newspaper article, as I was able to do, from October 1934, reporting that Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four-day meeting in Germany.

Based on what Deterding said and also taking into account the newspaper reports a year later, far from being rebuffed, Deterding met with Hitler on a number of occasions and was held in high esteem.

Information from a New York Times article, published on 26 October 1934 under the headline:

“REICH OIL MONOPOLY SOUGHT BY DETERDING”:

The article (right) with the sub-headline: “Hitler’s Terms for Control of Distribution Unsatisfactory to Royal Dutch and Shell” reported the content and outcome of the four day summit meeting between Hitler and his guest, Sir “Henry” Deterding, held at Berchtesgaden, – Hitler’s mountain top retreat known as the “The Berghof.”

CONTENT OF THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE:

LONDON, Oct. 25.-It is reported confidentially from Berlin that the object of Sir Henry Deterding’s recent visit to Chancellor Hitler at Berchtesgaden, where he stayed for four days, was to discuss the conditions for granting a monopoly to the Royal Dutch and Shell Companies of petrol distribution in Germany for a long period of years. Chancellor Hitler’s terms were unsatisfactory and the negotiations have broken down temporarily. Three conditions advanced by the Germans were:

First-The companies were to supply oil on credit for the first year.

Second-The companies were to build a network of distributing stations along strategic motor roads, these buildings to be protected against air attacks.

Third-The companies were to invest their money, frozen in Germany, locally.

Deterding attended the meeting on behalf of the Royal Dutch Shell Group with the objective of securing a long-term monopoly position for Shell in German petrol distribution and retailing.

Shell subsequently offered to supply oil to Nazi Germany on long-term credit and did invest substantial funds in its German subsidiary projects. Perhaps part of its important contribution to the German economy that Shell boasted about on Nazi German road maps.

(Photo from Wikipedia Commons: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun with their dogs at the Berghof.)

The Montreal Gazette and The Daily Gleaner also reported the same news story. There was no subsequent retraction or correction by any of these newspapers.

There was a lot to discuss at the meeting. Hitler and Deterding shared an intense common interest in Russia, including the Russian oil fields. Both hated communism. The New York Times had reported just a few months earlier that Deterding wanted to destroy communism in Russia. The same article also reported on the parlous state of the German economy.

Deterding’s objective of securing oil contracts by currying favor with Hitler was mentioned in an article published by Time magazine over a year earlier, in May 1933.

That same month, Dr Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s envoy, had stayed as a guest at the Buckhurst Park home of Deterding in England.

On 13 September 1935, a U.S. newspaper, the Meriden Record, published an article from which this telling extract is taken:

“Deterding now enjoys a monopoly in the Nazi state.”

“Europe’s Oil Napoleon” as they aptly described him, had apparently achieved his objective.

The Deterding/Hitler summit, in combination with the personal message sent by Hitler to the funeral of Sir Henri, confirms a very special relationship between Hitler and Deterding. Hitler expressed genuine appreciation of the support he and Nazi Germany had received.

The fact that Dr. Georg Bell had already acted as a joint agent for Hitler and Deterding, is further evidence of a close trusting relationship. Bell was murdered after making indiscreet revelations about Deterding and Hitler.

Thus the true history of the relationship between Deterding and Hitler is very much at variance with the picture painted in “A History of Royal Dutch Shell.”

Deterding was not kept at arms length. The conclusion by Shell’s historians on the subject was based on a false premise.

Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four-day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.

In contrast, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s face-to-face meeting on 16 September 1938 with Hitler at Berchtesgaden, in an attempt to avoid war, lasted for just three hours.

CASTLE DOBBIN HQ OF SENIOR NAZIS

Further evidence of the high regard Adolf Hitler had for Sir Henri Deterding comes from a former senior Nazi officer who held the top post in German bomber command.

It provides independent evidence of a million Reich marks donation given to the Nazi by Sir Henri.

On 28 April 1945, Lieutenant-Colonel Werner Baumbach,“General of the Bomber”(photo shown right), arrived at a country house located near Krakow in Mecklenburg, north of Berlin. He had a meeting with Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the SS, the overseer of the concentration camps and extermination camps.

It soon became apparent to Baumbach, after two portraits in silver frames were drawn to his attention, that the country house in which the SS was located was once the home of Sir Henri Deterding.

The first portrait, signed by Hitler, contained the following inscription:

Sir Henry Deterding – in the name of the German people, for your noble donation of a million reichs-marks.

Adolf Hitler

The second portrait was of Reichsmarschall Herman Göring, Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe.

The inscription said:

To my dear Deterding, in gratitude for your noble gift of Rominten Hunting Lodge.

Your Hermann Göring

Göring’s hunting lodge at Rominten, in East Prussia, was known as “The Reichsjägerhof.”

Göring frequently visited the vast Castle Dobbin estate to go hunting with Deterding.

In an extraordinary act of friendship (or for less noble purposes) Deterding had given Göring the Rominten Hunting Lodge (in the Romincka Forest of East Prussia) as a gift. Kaiser Wilhelm II once owned it. As previously mentioned, Göring sent a wreath to the Nazi funeral of Sir Henri, his generous benefactor.

The information about Werner Baumbach comes from pages 235 and 236 of his book: “The Life and Death of the Luftwaffe”, first published in 1949 and translated into English in 1960.

It is a passing reference consisting of a few paragraphs from a book devoted to telling “the story of an officer who served his country with distinction and risked reprisals to speak his mind.“

It does, however, provide historically important impartial evidence confirming Deterding’s financial support for the Nazis.

According to the book, Baumbach “spent nearly six months in an English interrogation camp. He was told that he would be charged as a war criminal on the ground that he had fired on shipwrecked people. After unending cross-examination and investigation Baumbach was able to prove conclusively that throughout the war neither he nor any unit under his command had committed any violations of the Hague Convention.”

In 1936, Deterding purchased from Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands the estate on which the palatial country house known as Castle Dobbin in Mecklenburg was located. At the time, Sir Henri was a director of multiple Royal Dutch Shell group companies and held a controlling shareholding in the Group.

The property remained in the hands of the Deterding family until 1945.  As can be seen on the featured map from1945, Dobbin was located North of Berlin. The area is now known as Dobbin-Linstow, a district of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Deterding paid 1,050,000 Reich mark for the vast estate, which included Castle Dobbin.

Sir Henri moved in to Castle Dobbin with his young German wife, Charlotte-Minna Knaack, his own former secretary and fanatical Nazi, said by one source to also be a former private secretary of Hitler.

Heinrich Himmler, General Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command, and Field Marshal Keitel, were all stationed at Dobbin Castle in the latter stage of WW2.

On 29 April 1945, Hitler sent a final message from his Berlin bunker. It was dispatched to Field Marshal Keitel based in the same country house, still owned by the Deterding family.

Deterding was buried at the Dobbin Estate with the elaborate official Nazi ceremony already highlighted. His widow had his body exhumed from Germany in the 1960’s and moved to Vaduz, the capital of  Liechtenstein.

Hjalmar Schacht (“Hitler’s Banker”

Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, the imposing gentleman, seen walking to the right of Hitler, served in Hitler’s government as President of the Reichsbank, Minister of Economics and Plenipotentiary General for War Economy.

Schacht was a central figure in Germany’s rearmament program and the steps which he took, particularly in the early days of the Nazi regime, were responsible for Nazi Germany’s rapid rise as a military power.

The above information comes partly from an illuminating Wikipedia article about him and from Volume VII of Trials of War Criminals Before The Nuernberg Military Tribunals  – “The I.G. Farben Case. (1,616-page document so takes a while to download. Above extract in italics is from page 235).

Hjalmar Schacht was not one of Hitler’s blindly devoted henchmen. He eventually became disillusioned with the Hitler regime.

There is also significant reference to Hjalmar Schacht in a book authored by Eugene Davidson in 1966 under the title: “The Trial of the Germans: Account of the Twenty-two Defendants Before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.”

The book is described as the definitive one-volume study of the Nuremberg trials.

One of the footnotes on page 229 is about businessmen being solicited for financial support of the Nazis:

“Some support of Hitler came from foreign countries. The Dutch oil magnate Henri Deterding, who had an estate in Mecklenburg, made sizable contributions.”

According to chapter footnote, 19 on page 257, Hjalmar Schacht gave this information during an interrogation on 31 July 1947 in his trial before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Charged with “crimes against peace” he was later acquitted.

It provides evidence directly from “Hitler’s Banker” that Deterding made substantial contributions to the Nazi coffers. 

I found some related information in a book by Sol Bloomenkranz  published in July 2012 under the title “Charles Bedaux – Deciphering An Enigma.”   (Charles Bedaux, a French millionaire, was an adventurer and former economic advisor to the Third Reich.)

From page 49

Sir Montagu Normal, a Governor of the Bank of England, was a close friend of Hjalmar Schacht. Montagu and Sir Henri Deterding were both business leaders supportive of Nazi Germany.

From footnote 75 in the book:

“Sir Henri Deterding (1866-1939) donated millions in fuel to the Third Reich.”

Related information is sourced from pages 33 and 34 of a book by Curt Riess published in 1944 under the title: “THE NAZI GO UNDERGROUND”:

Montagu Norman, the pro-Nazi former governor of the Bank of England, was the closest lifetime friend of Hjalmar Schacht.

In 1932, there was a meeting between Montagu Norman and Sir Henry Deterding in the USA when they “discussed subsidies for the Führer and possible ways of aiding him if he came to power.”

A related brief comment attributed to Adolf Hitler is printed below, together with a translation. 

It comes from Monologues Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944 (aka Hitler’s Table Talk) by German historian Werner Jochmann. 

Hitler’s Table Talk is the title given to a series of World War II conversations and monologues delivered by Adolf Hitler, transcribed from 1941 to 1944. (Information from relevant Wikipedia article says that the work is considered to be authentic although contentious issues remain.)

Hitler made the brief comment in January 1942 in “the Wolf’s Lair” when talking about gasoline and Goering’s Four Year Plan that Hjalmar Schacht is said to have opposed after he had begun to lose favor with Hitler:

HITLER’S BRIEF COMMENT

Hinter Schacht stand Deterding, ich möchte wissen, wer da nicht bestochen war!

Translation

Behind Schacht was Deterding, I want to know who it was not bribed!

It is unclear what the latter part of Hitler’s claimed comment meant, but the first words imply that Sir Henry Deterding was supporting “Hitler’s Banker.”

There is evidence of further direct contact between Deterding and Schacht. On page 477 of RDSH V1, it states in reference to Sir Henri Deterding:

In May 1933 he discussed synthetic gasoline and monetary policy with Reichsbank President Hjalmar Schacht.

It was clearly thought at the time that the support was financial. Shell’s retained historians said on pages 481 and 483 of RDSH V1:

“a great deal of public speculation went on about Deterding giving loans or donations, for amounts ranging from four million guilders to a fantastical £55 million, to the Nazi movement. In return, he was rumoured to have obtained promises of special advantages for the Group or even an oil monopoly under a Nazi regime. Such rumours circulated as early as 1931. They regularly resurface even today, but remain unsubstantiated.”

Spin is evident from the inclusion of the description “fantastical.”

They dismissed as “rumours” and “public speculation” Deterding’s “loans or donations” to “the Nazi movement.” (See comments on pages 481/483 RDSH V1)

Shell’s historians completely undermined their verdict on the issue by stating in the opening sentence of page 485 of RDSH V1:

Deterding’s financial support for the Nazis appears to have begun during his retirement in Mecklenburg, where he developed close ties with the local party organization and contributed to its charities.

The highlighted words constitute a significant admission that Deterding did give financial support to the Nazis. His financial support started before his retirement as DG, which was voluntary.  (Shell’s historians admit that there is no evidence that Deterding was forced to retire as DG. See page 486 RDSH V1.)

When he gave the admitted financial support after his retirement as DG, he was still a director of multiple Shell group companies; was still active in company matters (as Shell historians put it, he “continued to meddle in Group affairs…”); and still held shares giving him a measure of control over the Group, as already explained.

He was still intervening on Boxing Day 1938 just forty days before his death. See pages 486 and 488 RDSH V1. 

Ian Cummins and John Beasant, the joint authors of the book “SHELL SHOCK THE SECRETS AND SPIN OF AN OIL GIANT” delivered an unambiguous conclusion about the relationship between Sir Henri and Hitler. They described Deterding as “a hardline Nazi revered and ultimately mourned by Hitler.” (Page 110 of their book). They were not in the pay of Shell and their verdict is totally in accordance with the evidence.

Summary

Contrary to the spin by Shell’s historians, there is overwhelming evidence that Deterding was not held at arms length from Hitler. The evidence confirms a strong relationship between Deterding and Hitler, with Shell’s leader being a welcomed friend of the Nazis and a financial supporter.

Particularly bearing in mind:

1. Deterding’s meeting with Hitler in November 1933, which Shell’s historians seem to have dismissed as a figment of his imagination.
2. The international news reports of the Deterding/Hitler four-day summit in October 1934.
3. The multiple reports that Deterding and Hitler used a joint agent to represent them.
4. The admission by Shell’s historians that Sir Henri remained active in Group affairs after his retirement as DG and did give financial support to the Nazis.
5. The impressive tribute from Hitler on behalf of the German people on the wreath Hitler sent to Deterding’s funeral.
6. Information from an independent source about Hitler’s stirring tribute to Sir Henri as inscribed on the portrait displayed at Deterding’s former German mansion.
7. The specific acknowledgement in that tribute of a major donation from Sir Henri.
8. The unambiguous evidence from  Hjalmar Schacht, given under interrogation, of the sizable contributions, received from Sir Henri Deterding. 
9. The verdict reached independently by Ian Cummins and John Beasant that in fact Hitler revered Deterding.

There is no question that Shell, as a company, despite some misgivings at the Dutch HQ, publicly highlighted the importance of Shell’s financial contribution to the German national economy (after the Nazis came to power). 

Shell’s historians acknowledged this in red text on page 470 of RDSH VI:

Late in 1933 Rhenania set up an information office for motorists and launched a large series of motorists’ touring maps, emphasizing – despite some political doubts from The Hague – the importance of Shell as a contributor to the German economy.

It is a history of mutual admiration between two megalomaniac dictators with a personal relationship, working together to advance shared objectives, some of which benefitted Shell. That is the truth, as opposed to the spin.

SAMPLE CHAPTER ENDS

John Donovan, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.com

The ebook by John Donovan (right) can be purchased via Amazon websites around the world. Chapter headings are listed below. The introduction and some sample Chapters are accessible via the hyperlinks provided.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTERS

1. The best historians Shell could buy
2. News story February 2015: Shell ship named after a Nazi SS Officer
3. Royal Dutch Shell and the Nazis
4. Media coverage of Sir Henri Deterding’s Death
5. The Nazi Funeral of Royal Dutch Shell leader Sir Henri Deterding
6. Great friend of the Germans
7. You Can Be Sure of Shell
8. Royal Dutch Shell Anti-Semitism
9. Deterding’s support for Nazi Stormtroopers
10. Shell support for the Nazis continued after the retirement of Sir Henri as leader
11. Shell collaborated in the Nazi annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia
12. Shell’s notorious business partner: IG Farben
13. Royal Dutch Shell and Nazi slave labor
14. Control of Royal Dutch Shell companies in Nazi-occupied Europe
15. Nazi connections relating to Shell
16. Shell historians attempt to distance Deterding from Hitler (above)
17. Why does it still matter?
18. Time for a rare public apology from Shell?
19. Key Dates
20. Shell cloak and dagger activities
21. Wikipedia: The sanitization of Shell’s history
22. Authors unique connection with Shell

Index of Shell leadership financial support for the Nazis

EBOOK BY JOHN DONOVAN: SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Index of Shell leadership financial support for the Nazis

Dutch cartoons provide evidence of a perception in pre-WW2 years that Sir Henri Deterding was a major financier of Hitler’s Nazi regime. Identified by name in both cartoons, Deterding is depicted handing over a bag of money to the Nazis containing a large sum – 1000 000 00 – in unspecified currency: see enlargements 1 and 2. Overwhelming evidence confirms that the perception was well founded.

INDEX IN DATE ORDER

Extracts from relevant news reports and books, many authored before WW2, are listed in date order, providing compelling evidence of what transpired all those years ago.

The overall information confirms the financial contribution Royal Dutch Shell leadership – which included Nazis, Nazi appeasers, and pro-fascists, made to the Third Reich.

It was given in a variety of forms: investment; jobs; taxes; massive donations in cash and food; oil on long-term credit and revenues from Shell advertising in a Nazi newspaper, Völkischer Beobachter. The authors of RDSH V1 described the food donations in the following terms on pages 483 and 485:

“The grand gesture Deterding made after his retirement illustrates how he liked to use his money. In December 1936 he donated, with much fanfare, 10 million guilders from his personal fortune to set up a fund for buying up surplus foodstuffs in the Netherlands and selling them in Germany, purportedly to ease the plight of Dutch farmers and German consumers, equally hit by the trade barriers and exchange restrictions between the two countries. The proceeds of this deal would be donated to the Nazi charity Winterhilfswerk. This was really an ingenious scheme to avoid taxes and currency complications in transferring part of his capital to Germany.”

This information is not strictly correct. Sir Henri’s retirement as Director General of the Royal Dutch Shell Group did not take effect until 31 December 1936.

His controversial food donations to the German Winterhilfswerk (Winterhelp) scheme commenced just before, not after his retirement as DG.

Sir Henri was still DG of the Group when the initial massive donation of food to Nazi Germany was announced in a Reuter’s Wireless report dated 20 December 1936. The donated food on that occasion filled 7,000 railway wagons.

Despite criticism in the news media, specifically linking the money saved on food to Nazi rearmament, Deterding continued to donate Dutch food for Nazi Germany, where he now lived after marrying his secretary, a young German woman. The food donations allowed the Nazis to divert funds to building up military might.

Section “A” on page 14 of a Military Tribunal document arising from the War Crimes Trials at Nuremberg (dated 6 December 1947), had the heading: “Financial Support of Hitler and Nazi Party.” It mainly covered the funding given to the Nazi Party at a critical time by IG Farben. It states on page 14: “The financial support thus given by Farben along with other industrialists contributed to Hitler’s seizure and consolidation of power.”

On the same page, it makes direct reference to “…contributions to the winter aid scheme (Winterhilfswerk)…” as part of the “important contributions.”

That is official recognition of the importance of food donations to the Nazi Winter Aid Fund in supporting Hitler and his regime.

In reading the listed information in date order that follows, it seems proper to give extra credence to information published while the industrialist Sir Henri was still alive. He had the opportunity to challenge in court any incorrect statement or allegations about him.

All of his financial support for Hitler and the Nazi party took place while he was a director of multiple companies within the Royal Dutch Shell Group and retained a measure of control via preference shares. This included the period after he had retired as DG.

His Shell colleagues must have been well aware from all of the international publicity about the massive financial aid, yet Sir Henri remained as a director. Perhaps it also suited the Group because of its continuing relationship with the leadership of Nazi Germany, which had such a high regard for Deterding and his money.  Sir Henri never retired from being a Shell director. Shell records prove that he was a Shell director until the day he died: 4 February 1939.

Chronological extracts from various publications, 1932 onwards:

1932

Evidence from Dutch Newspaper “Limburger Koerier.”

This evidence comes from page 480 of RDSH V1.

The text printed in red on page 480 states:

“This extract from the Limburger Koerier of 29 December 1932 was only one of the many articles in the national and international press speculating about who might be funding the Nazi party, which was deeply in debt. Deterding’s name came up more than once.”

The graphics show a cutting of the Limburger Koerier article and a related receipt/note with a date stamp of 29 December 1932.

The headlines state:

SIR HENRI DETERDING

Sponsor of the German National Socialists?

The article revealed that the Nazi party was 12 million marks in debt.

It listed examples of extravagant spending by Hitler and his private army, mentioning expensive houses, hotels, cars, horse riding and air travel. The article goes on to speculate who was funding it all. It makes reference to foreign great industrialists contributing to Hitler’s political and military organization.

The part substantiating the headline and sub-headline, which suggests exactly who was behind the funding, has been judiciously removed/censored by an unknown party just when the name “Sir Hen” appears.

1933

On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed as Reich Chancellor.

Motorist Touring Maps

In 1933, after Hitler came to power, the Shell German subsidiary, Rhenania-Ossag, launched a series of motorist touring maps, which boasted about Shell’s input into the German economy i.e. into the coffers of the Hitler/Nazi regime.

Extract from the text:

Die SHELL-Organisation in Deutschland stellt sich gleichzeitig in den Dienst richtig verstandener Nationalwirtschaft. Sie bemuht sich um weitere ErschlieBung deutscher Erdölvorkommen unter Ausnutzung der in weltumfassender Tatigkeit gesammelten Erfahrungen

Translated, it means that the Shell organization in Germany was utilizing its global experience to support the German national economy. An example map is displayed on page 470 of RDSH V1. The header in red text above the map states:

“Late in 1933 Rhenania set up an information office for motorist and launched a large series of motorists’ touring maps, emphasizing – despite some political doubts from The Hague – the importance of Shell as a contributor to the German economy.”

Shell boasted about its contribution to the German economy stretching back to 1924.

The relevant text on the section headed “SHELL und DEUTSCHLAND” contains a series of claims e.g. Shell had created technical perfection at its refineries in Germany and was the largest oil industry employer in the country. Shell claimed that the German economy had received 170 million Reichsmarks from the Shell Group.

Other sums involving over a billion Reichsmarks are listed. The overriding message was that Germany was benefitting financially from its link with Shell. An English language translation can be read here.

It is fair to say under the circumstances that Shell was also a great friend of the Germans.

I assume the maps provided precise directions to the Polish border.

There are several references within this book to Johannes Steel, with extracts from his writings. He authored the book “Hitler As Frankenstein” published by Wishart & Co in 1933.

According to Wikipedia, Johannes Steel was the son of a German-Dutch landowner.

When the Nazis took power in Germany, he fled to the USA and initially got a job as a journalist working for the New York Post. Because of his foresight, which included predicting WW2, he later became a successful radio commentator in America.

Extracts from his book, “Hitler As Frankenstein:”

From page 22

Finance is Adolf Hitler’s personal prerogative. Funds are centralised under his direction and he is virtually the only person who can authorise disbursements. It is no concern of the mass of the brown shirts, in the view of their leader, to know where the money comes from or how it is spent.

From pages 88 & 89

Dr. George Bell was present at several of these conferences as a delegate of Hitler and Deterding jointly. For Dr. Rosenberg, who at that time had been just two years naturalised in Germany, had become Hitler’s expert in foreign affairs, and he had advised Deterding, through the medium of Dr. George Bell, who brought about the contact, as to the attitude the Hitlerites would take in regard to the question of the Polish Corridor and the Soviet Ukraine, where there are rich supplies of oil. Rosenberg suggested to Deterding, through Bell, that at an appropriate moment unrest should be fostered in the Ukraine, and an attempt be made with the aid of Germany to wrest the Soviet Ukraine away from the Soviet Union and give it back to Poland, to whom it had belonged at the time of the ancient Polish kingdom. Germany in return should receive the Corridor back, so satisfying the Hitlerites’ nationalistic ambitions, and Sir Henri Deterding should be rewarded with mineral concessions for his efforts to persuade responsible British quarters to give tacit support to such an undertaking.

Anyway, from the day of the Ukrainian Conference, Deterding has been supporting Hitler with considerable sums of money (which found their way into the Hitler exchequer through Dr. Bell), hoping that in case the Hitlerites should come into power, they would pursue at any rate an anti-Soviet policy.

On 1, December 1933, an American newspaper in Wisconsin, The Stevens Point Daily Journal, published an article under the headline: “Ex-Nazi Member ‘Opens” Mystery of Hitler Finances.”

It contained reference to the Steel book, “Hitler as Frankenstein”:

Extract

The book “Hitler as Frankenstein,” recently published by Wisbart & Co., and written by Johannes Steel, a former member of the nazi movement, although apparently not in the uniformed branch, contains some extraordinary facts about nazi financing – if facts they are. If they are not, they ought to be proven untrue by those against whom the charges are made.

Great Britain is listed in the book as one of the most productive fields for the hitlerites’ money-collecting activities. The main contributor appears to have been Sir Henri Deterding, the untiring advocate and organizer of foreign action against Soviet Russia. The nazi emissary Alfred Rosenberg persuaded him that the nazis would help him to important concessions in Ukraine.

The following is a direct extract from a book by Edgar Ansell Mower “Germany Puts The Clock Back” first published in 1933 by Penguin Books Limited.

From page 114

Sir Henry Deterding was accused by unfriendly Germans of having put up a considerable sum for the 1932 presidential campaign in the hope (or on the promise?) of being granted an oil monopoly in the ‘Third Empire’.

1934

In 1934, Johannes Steel published a further book, “The Second World War”

Extract from page 99

…had been advocating foreign action against the U.S.S.R., saw great possibilities in this plan and from that day on Deterding supplied the Nazis with money. This money was transmitted by Dr. Bell, who was murdered by Storm Troopers in March 1933, when he tried to sever his connection with the Nazis.

On 8 November 1934, an American newspaper in New Brunswick NJ, The Daily Gleaner, published installment four of a serialization of the Steel book, “The Second World War.”

Extract

Nazi foreign policy as a whole is based upon the plans of Alfred Rosenberg now the head of the Foreign Office of the National Socialist Party. As far back as 1926, Rosenberg through his secretary, Dr George Bell, a Scotchman naturalised in Germany, established contact with Sir Henri Deterding, the British oil magnate. He informed Sir Henri of the foreign political programme which the National Socialists intended to pursue when they achieved power. Sir Henri, as well as the directors of the Lena Goldfield, who for a long time had been advocating foreign action against the U.S.S.R., saw great possibility in this plan, and from that day on Deterding supplied the Nazis with money.

The World Diary by Quincy Howe, first published in 1934, contains information confirming that Deterding contributed to Hitler’s campaign funds. It also confirmed the role played in such transactions by Dr. George Bell.

The publication contains nearly 400 pages and although the pdf file is condensed, still takes a few minutes to load. Also, note that many pages are blank, including the first four.

Extracts from pages 57, 58 & 59

While British industrialists were fighting against the same group of German industrialists whom Thyssen also opposed, the foremost British oil magnate gave funds to Hitler. His eyes, however, were on Russia rather than Europe. Sir Henri Deterding, director general of the Royal Dutch-Shell Oil Company, had married a White Russian wife and had lost valuable oil properties in Russia at the hands of the Bolsheviks. According to Antoine Zischka, author of The Secret War for Oil, a book that carries the endorsement of Francis Delaisi, Deterding maintained a special agent in Hitler’s camp-Dr. George Bell, a naturalized German of Scotch birth. “Through the hands of Bell,” wrote Zischka, “enormous sums of money flowed from Deterding and others as gifts to the National Socialist Party.” M. Zischka talked to Dr. Bell in Berlin in 1932 after Deterding had withdrawn his support because he had become “a little worried about Hitler’s Socialist tendencies.” Up to that time, however, Deterding gave money to the Hitlerites, all that his agent Bell asked for.” 

What did the Nazis have to offer Deterding? Hitler’s autobiography contains a passage that advocates attacking the Soviet Union, prying the Ukraine loose from Communist rule, and setting it up as a republic, financed and exploited by Germany. Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s chief adviser on foreign policy, had worked out the same scheme in greater detail in the plan that bears his name, and Deterding’ s persistent hostility to Russia made the Nazis his natural allies.

Page 334

The fact that Deterding had contributed to Hitler’s campaign funds accounted for his high opinion of Fascism as an aid to the industrialist And his approval of Roosevelt’s attacks on the money changers provided still further evidence that the New Deal merely marked the rise of the industrial magnate and the fall of the financial magnate.

Extracts from Reuters reports published by The Singapore Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 15 December 1934:

PETROL MONOPOLY

May be purchased from Germany

Berlin. Dec. 12.

Following the denial of a report that the Royal Dutch had offered a loan to Germany, it is now alleged that an Anglo-Dutch-American group have proposed to pay 1,500,000,000 marks in three instalments for a thirty years monopoly of petrol in Germany.

Berlin, Dec 11.

The recent visit of Sir Henry Deterding to Berlin is associated with a rumour that the Royal Dutch has combined with the Shell Company and offered the German Government a loan of 400,000,000 Dutch guilders.

1935

Extract from page 4 of The Port Arthur News published 13 January 1935:

Berlin insiders say that Sir Henry Deterding, of the Shell Oil combine, was in the capital incognito recently and offered the German government a 250 million dollar credit for oil purchases, over several years. The news leaked out and both the Dutch and the British governments have sat on the scheme—hard. It goes to show what the wily Anglo-Dutchman and his friends think of the dangers of the I.G. Farben engineers experimenting further with synthetic gas.

Extracts from The Titusville (PA.) Herald published 11 February 1935:

Rumors have circulated repeatedly during past months that Sir Henri Deterding, president of the Dutch company, is angling for a slice in the proposed monopoly. “Although great secrecy obtains,” said an official of questioned authority today, “it seems obvious that Deterding tried to come to some agreement concerning the position of Shell oil in Germany during his visit here this week.”

Information from the Meriden Record published 13 September 1935:

Sir Henri is described in the article as the “strong man of the billion dollar Royal Dutch Shell corporation…” and was said to enjoy a monopoly in the Nazi state.

1936

Reports of Sir Henri donating millions of dollars worth of food to Germany:

The Straits Times, 30 December 1936, page 11: (Publication of a Reuters report dated ten days earlier – 20 December 1936:

Extract

Sir Henri Deterding And The Nazis.

Berlin, Dec. 20.

The Dutch oil king, Sir Henri Deterding, is giving 10,000,000 Dutch florins to buy agricultural products in Holland for Germany.

The official Nazi organ, Der Angriff, describes the gift as a gigantic one of foodstuffs for “the winter help.”

Sir Henri has long been regarded as one of the leading friends of the new Germany.–Reuters Wireless.

Translated extracts from an article published in Dutch by The Nation: State and Literary Newspaper: 28 December 1936:

Sir Henri Deterding and Dutch agriculture Purchase for Germany

Following reports in the press, be informed that Sir Henri Deterding, concerned with the difficulties, which finds the Dutch agriculture and impressed by the objections that the food in Germany reveals has decided outside the Netherlands German-clearing to, funds amounting to some millions of dollars available for the purchase of Dutch agricultural products which will go to Germany…

The Scotsman:£1,100,000 Gift to Germany FOR FOOD PURCHASE: 29 December 1936:

The Manchester Guardian: £1,000,000 TO BUY FOOD: Helping Germany: SIR H. DETERDING PROVIDES MONEY: Tuesday 29 December 1936:

(Article displayed on next page)

Extract

£1,000.000 TO BUY FOOD

Helping Germany

SIR H. DETERDING PROVIDES MONEY

The Guardian article quotes from a report published in the official Nazi newspaper “Angriff,” under the headline: “Deterding Plans Gigantic Gift of Foodstuff for the “Winter Help.”

The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA) Wednesday 30 December 1936: Page 11:

UNEXPECTED AID FOR GERMANY

£1,000.000 Purchase Of Dutch Produce

THE HAGUE. December 28.

With a view to assisting Dutch farmers, Sir Henri Deterding, Director-General of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., has given £1,000.000 to purchase produce for export to Germany. The gift is said not to be concerned with politics. Sir Henri Deterding married a German, Fraulein Knaack, in June last year, and at present lives outside Berlin. His object is, as a Dutchman, to help both countries. He proposes to buy up vegetables and meat, unsaleable owing to over-production. The Dutch Government has agreed to issue special export licences.

THE TIMES: “DUTCH HELP FOR GERMANY”: 30 December 1936:

Extract

Sir Henri Deterding has drawn up a scheme by which the entire surplus of Dutch agricultural products is to be bought and transported to Germany. There it will be sold in marks and the revenue will be handed over to the German Winter Help organization.

(A Nazi Organization)

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS: DUTCH SHELL HEAD TO BUY DUTCH FARM PRODUCTS FOR GERMANY: Wednesday 30 December 1936:

Extracts

DUTCH SHELL HEAD TO BUY DUTCH FARM PRODUCTS FOR GERMANY

The rise of a new agrarian party in the Netherlands, dominated by Sir Henri Deterding, may result from the oil magnate’s large-scale purchases of Dutch farm products for Germany, officials here said today.

Another result may be preferential treatment for Sir Henri’s oil interests in a grateful Germany, these authorities indicated.

Sir Henri, chairman of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, a Hollander recently married to a German woman, yesterday announced he was making available 10,000,000 guilders (about $5,400,000) to buy products of Dutch farms – which have had a hard time finding markets- for shipment to Germany, where shortage of foodstuffs is a serious problem.

The Argus (Melbourne) Wednesday 30 December 1936 Page 1:

Extract

With the object of assisting Dutch farmers, Sir Henri Deterding has given £1,000,000 for the purchase of farm products for export to Germany.

The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA Thursday 31 December 1936 Page 17: Complete Article:

Extracts

DUTCHMAN’S GIFT TO GERMANY

Communism And Trade Barriers Aimed At

Australian Associated Pres.

THE HAGUE, December 29.

Indicating that his gift of £1,000,000 to purchase produce for export to Germany was aimed to circumvent economic restrictions and communism.

Version published 31 December 1936 on page 10 of The Sydney Morning Herald:

Extracts

SIR HENRI DETERDING’S CAMPAIGN.

Reason for £1,000,000 Gift. LONDON, Dec. 30.       

Sir Henri Deterding, director-general of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, and a director of the Shell Transport and Trading Co., Ltd., who has given £1,000,000 for the purchase of Dutch produce for export to Germany, apparently intends the gift as part of the campaign against economic restrictions and Communism. “The main object of the Communists is to prevent co-operation between the nations,” he says. “They therefore started to create trouble in Spain six years ago, and the result is now visible. “Britain can be thanked for her policy of non-intervention, which has prevented greater trouble among other Powers, whose further co-operation will be the quickest remedy against infectious Communism.”

Reviewing the economic conditions of Holland, Sir Henri Deterding expressed the opinion that the only solution was the diversion of the surplus products to a country where they were wanted. Restriction on trade between Germany and Holland could then be safely cancelled.

A new institute has been founded n Harlem, by which a periodical will be issued under the editorship of Dr Dyt, the administrator of Sir Henri Deterding’s large estates in Mecklenburg (Germany).

Reuters report published on page 1 of The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 31 December 1936:

SIR HENRI DETERDING

EXPLAINS BIG GIFT TO AID GERMANY

Sir Henri Deterding, in an interview, said his gift of 10,000,000 florins to buy agricultural products in Holland for Germany, was actuated by the necessity of doing away with cumbersome restrictions and helping to restart the free exchange of commodities.

The world is starting to enthrone gold as its ruler, he said. That is wrong for the world as well as for gold.   Reuter

Extract from a New York Times article published 31 December 1936 under the headline “DETERDING AIDS REICH AS WAY TO BAR REDS”:

Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES

AMSTERDAM. The Netherlands. 

Dec. 30.–In a statement appearing in the leading newspapers here, Sir Henri Deterding, chairman of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company explains his plan to purchase about 10,000,000 guilders’ worth of Netherland cattle and agricultural products for the German food supply.

From the book “Hitler, Volume 1” by Konrad Heiden: Publisher Eugen Prager, 1936 – Biography & Autobiography – 388 pages (Search for book title in Evidence File index):

Extract from page 224

They showed such exact knowledge that the agency of wire-pullers was immediately suspected, until in 1929 Hitler positively denied any financial connection with the East-Elbe Brown Coal Syndicate. On the other hand, financial connections with Sir Henry Deterding, head of the Koninklijke Shell-Oil concern, owner of Russian oil wells confiscated by the Bolsheviks, and the main instigator of the anti-Bolshevik campaign, were never denied either directly or indirectly.

Extract from The Aryan Path, Volume 7, Issue 6: Indian Institute of World Culture: Theosophy Co (India) Ltd 1936 (Search for the book title in Evidence File index):

Extract from page 262

Deterding, Director General of Royal Dutch Shell, gave funds to the Hitler movement and even French munitions makers contributed to Hitler’s war chest.

1937

Time.com: “GERMANY: Petticoat Philanthropy?” Monday, Jan 11, 1937:

Extract

Sir Henri, who was knighted by King George V in 1920, has for many years had his chief residence in London’s swank Mayfair, but last week he was sitting in his new house near the German capital and showed signs of developing into a good Berliner. His big Germanic gesture as 1937 opened was to place 10,000,000 Dutch guilders ($5.475,000) at the disposal of Dutch farmers…

Entry in the diary of Dr Joseph Goebbels made on 12 January 1937 (Search for his name in Evidence File index):

“Hilgenfeld says WHW Deterding has donated 40 million.”

This was a reference to a 40 million Reichsmark donation made by Deterding to the German Winter Help Work aka Winters Fund – a food donation scheme known by the acronym “WHW”. Part of the funds received were diverted by Goebbels for other purposes e.g. to build a giant factory for Volkswagen, which built military vehicles.

Related extracts from a translated Wikipedia article (as copied on 15 January 2016):

In the prewar years, the largest item on the revenue side, however, were the “donations from companies and organizations…

The Winter’s Fund was therefore an indispensable financier of the Nazi People’s Welfare, which in turn ran a “Nazi racial-genetic biology people care.” Primarily the Nazi People’s Welfare aimed with its affiliated organizations aim to promote the “genetically healthy” and “racial quality” within the meaning of a “people care”…

Erich Hilgenfeld was a special envoy of Hitler. He was also Chief Director of the WHW and became head of the associated Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt/People’s Welfare Organization (NSV) and in 1939, a Brigadeführer in the Waffen-SS.

The Advertiser (Adelaide), Saturday 23 January 1937 page 23:

Extract from page 23

Awaiting Goering’s Return

Reports from other sources suggest that while Germany would undoubtedly welcome tentative conversations at present regarding possible economic readjustments, she will not allow any interference with her military Four-Year plan. She may even for that reason refuse Sir Henri Deterding’s offer to buy £1,000.000 worth of foodstuffs from Holland for Germany.

SIX MONTHS LATER, SHELL DIRECTOR, AND CONTROLLING SHAREHOLDER, SIR HENRI DETERDING, CONTROVERSIALLY DONATED MORE FOOD TO NAZI GERMANY.

Extracts from a New York Times article “Deterding to Distribute More Food in Germany” published 8 June 1937:

Some months ago he spent 10,000,000 florins on agricultural produce that could not be sold by normal means because of clearing regulations. He gave this to the German Winter relief.

Sir Henri’s action met much criticism. It was said, for instance, that Germany’s situation was largely caused by her rearmament policy…

Ignoring all criticism, the famous oil magnate announced today he would soon devote another large sum to the purchase of agricultural surplus, mainly vegetables, for distribution in Germany.

1938

Extracts from the book “The most powerful man in the world: The Life of Sir Henri Deterding”: By Glyn Roberts:

Extract from page 305

But Deterding was impressed, and the Dutch press reported that, through the agent Georg Bell, he had placed at Hitler’s disposal, while the party was “still in long clothes,” no less than four million guilders. This huge subsidy came at a decisive moment in the history of the growing Nazi movement. Let there be no doubt that, had it not been found, the whole racket might have collapsed and the history of Germany and of Europe might have had a different complexion.

Extracts from page 317

The Daily Telegraph quoted the Vienna Arbeiter Zeitung which said that Bell was liaison officer between the Hitlerites and a big international magnate who had contributed much money to the Nazi cause. “Last year Dr. Bell with the Hitlerite leader Rosenberg met the magnate in London, and big credits for the Nazis followed.”

The German writer Johannes Steel, who had had unique opportunities of studying from the inside the growth of the Nazi movement, its true aims and the sources of its financial and diplomatic backing, gave evidence, though his name was not used. Steel had worked as director of Germany’s Economic Intelligence Service, and knew all about the Nazis and their friends. He offered to explain to this body exactly where the Fascists who controlled Germany were getting money from in England; the man whose part he wished to reveal was Sir Henri Deterding.

Extract from page 320

Sir Henri Deterding did not layoff the Nazis; he did not cease to praise their aims and achievements in public and in private, and he did not cease to assist them financially.

Extract from page 322

The Nazi “bulwark against Bolshevism” had to be kept up; in 1931 reports were denied of a Deterding loan of £30,000,000 to be made in exchange for a petroleum monopoly. In the Presidential election of 1932, in which the two leading candidates were Adolf Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg, Deterding was accused, as Edgar Ansell Mowrer testifies in his “Germany Puts the Clock Back, of putting up a large sum of money for the Nazis on the understanding that success would give him a more favored position in the German oil market. On other occasions, figures as high as £55,000,000 were mentioned.

Extract from page 322 running on to page 323

Sir Henri knew that Germany was on the brink of starvation, that wages were low and nutrition lower; he knew that unless every good friend of the Nazi regime was prepared to help to prop it up, it would very soon collapse in the face the wrath of the working people of Germany and the administrative incompetence of its heads. Food was the crux of the problem. Germany had little, and much of what she had was of poor quality and frequently made of chemicals or substitutes. Holland, on the other hand, had a large surplus.

Extract from page 323

Sir Henri had a grand idea. All Holland’s agricultural surplus, itself at times an economic problem, should go to Germany, into the hands of the German Government, which would be that much further away from bankruptcy and the sack. Who would pay for it? Why, he would. It was worth it. Sir Henri had always been prepared to payout real money to prevent Bolshevism from making another conquest in Europe. His initial contribution to this scheme was quoted as being $5,500,000.

Extract from page 324

The Nazis were doubtless delighted to receive an initial delivery of the bacon of thirty thousand pigs; and soon much more followed. One report spoke of “millions of tons” of bacon. Seven thousand railway wagons were used in the first immense delivery.

(The mosaic is from Wikipedia Winterhilfswerk article)

Book reviews of “The Most Powerful Man in the World” in 1938.

Information from a pdf of a New York Times book review by P.W. Wilson of “The Most Powerful Man in the World” by Glyn Roberts published 12 June 1938:

Review based on information in the book states that Deterding married a German and became pro-Nazi and according to reports that Roberts believed to be trustworthy, gave a large sum to the Hitler movement to obtain a favoured position in the German oil market.

Extracts from A.F.P. review of the Glyn Roberts biography of Sir Henri Deterding – “The Most Powerful Man in the World.” The Milwaukee Journal published the review on Sunday 12 June 1938 under the headline: “Sir Henri Deterding Is the Arch-Villain in This Biography”:

Two years ago Sir Henri Deterding, the Anglo-Dutch oil king and head of the Royal Dutch-Shell Group, retired as director general of the Royal Dutch unit, at the age of 70, though he remained on the board of directors. In his semiretirement, Sir Henri will feel flattered that his dear enemies, the leftists, still regard him as “the most powerful man in the world,” and they charge him with financing Hitler, admiring Mussolini and generally propping up “decadent capitalism: all over the world. Sir Henri is not merely a fascist, he is the cause of fascism in others, the paymaster and wet nurse of a dictatorship.

Extracts from a review of the Glyn Roberts biography of Sir Henri Deterding – “The Most Powerful Man in the World.” It was published on Sunday 12 June 1938 by The Galveston Daily News under the headline: “BIG OILMAN” A leftist Life of Sir Henri Deterding of Royal Dutch Shell:

The author believes that the enormous financial and political power wielded by a really big-shot capitalist like Deterding is a very dangerous influence in world affairs – and particularly when such power is used, as Deterding, according to the author, used it in the post-war years to organize the forces of fascism in Europe, to wage an unremitting propaganda campaign against Soviet Russia and to subsidize the nazi movement in Germany. Besides subsidizing the nazis in the hope that Hitler will launch a crusade against Soviet Russia, Deterding, says the author, also admired Mussolini, sides with Franco, has his doubts about democracy, believes that youth should be “disciplined” and all “idlers” shot.

As a businessman, his life has been an astonishing success, and his achievements in building up gigantic financial structures have been prodigious. The author readily admits all this, but grows alarmed because Deterding is on the fascist side – as if such a man could be on any other side! – and concludes his book by saying: “And we have seen the world which he, in many ways the most powerful man in it, has produced.

BOOK REVIEW BY JOHN B. CLARK OF MERCER UNIVERSITY of the book “The Most Powerful Man in the World. BY GLYN ROBERTS: (New York: Covici-Friede. 1938):

EXTRACT FROM PAGE 228

Deterding, though pretending to remain free from politics, has always been a political factor. His has been a crusade for capitalism. He has poured millions of dollars into the hands of Franco and the Fascist cause in Spain; has aided Hitler and the Nazi program in Germany; has admired Mussolini; and has given unstinted financial support to White Russia.

All of the above information was published prior to the death of Sir Henri Deterding on 4 February 1939 when he had the opportunity and ample funds to take legal action if defamed.

1939

Extract from the 1939 book “ARMIES OF SPIES”: By JOSEPH GOLLOMB:

George Bell, a Scotch engineer, was also a minor figure, but he was the agent of Sir Henri Deterding, the British oil king. Sir Henri and Adolf Hitler have had in common a plan to help themselves to Soviet Russia’s oil fields. Their alliance went back to the time when Hitler had not yet become Chancellor but was first getting there. Sir Henri, sensing an ally, contributed 4,000,000 gulden to Hitler’s growing party. The Alliance was so unsavoury to a large public and the contribution so heavy that Sir Henri used an intermediary the little known George Bell.

1940

Extract from page 21 of the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, Published Wednesday 12 June 1940 under the headline “FIFTH COLUMN”:

It had been said that powerful financial groups with Canadian connections had contributed to the Nazi movement in Germany, he said. Among those was Sir Henri Deterding of the Shell Oil company. Mr Caldwell emphasized he was dealing only with established facts. 

The book “War in the Twentieth Century”: By Willard Waller: (Search for the book in Evidence File index):

Extract from page 350

The British oil magnate, the late Sir Henri Deterding, contributed to Hitler’s campaign funds because he saw in the Nazi movement an instrument to attack the Soviet Union and to regain his petroleum wells that the Russians had confiscated.

1941

Collected Works of Michal Kalecki: Volume VI: Studies in Applied Economics 1927-1941 (Search for the publication in Evidence File index):

FROM PAGE 173

Subsequently, apparently not unfounded revelations have surfaced that Deterding had given large subsidies to Hitler who more than once has extended his offer in the role of the future conqueror of the Soviet Union in the services of international capitalism. An integral part of Hitler’s programme is forcing the separation from the USSR of the Ukraine and the Caucasus with its oilfields. Deterding’s subsidies for Hitler must have been large since, not content with these lofty dreams about the future triumphs of German arms, Deterding is said to have received much more concrete pledges from Hitler: the Nazi leader supposedly promised that after he comes to power, he will give Deterding the German oil monopoly in exchange for a payment of £1.5 million and a 20% share in the profits of the monopoly.

1942

Extract from the book “PATENTS FOR HITLER” by Günter Reimann (Copyright 1942):

Extract from page 22

Sir Henri Deterding had built up Royal Dutch Shell as his private world empire. He was respected and protected by foreign governments as the sovereign manager of that gigantic enterprise. He was interested in discovering and fostering those forces which would eliminate once and for all the danger of social or colonial revolutions. Therefore he was one of the earliest financial backers of the Fuehrer – long before Hitler came to power. In later years, when Nazi Germany rearmed, he was an ultra-appeaser. He made great donations (at the expense of Shell) to the Nazis, and he personally offered to supply the Third Reich with foodstuffs and vital raw materials, the acquisition of which was to be financed by foreign credits which he would undertake to arrange.

On 25 October 1942, The Los Angeles Times published a review by Conrad Rank of a book authored by reporter Marquis Child’s, entitled: “I WRITE FROM WASHINGTON”:

Child’s is described in the review as “trying to be eminently fair” in his appraisal of public figures. During his research, he had discovered “startling facts”, some relating to Shell and Sir Henri.

Child’s said in his book:

“…Sir Henri Deterding of Royal Dutch Shell was not himself innocent of working with Hitler. Sir Henri backed him with a huge sum when the Nazi party was about to fall; and it was the oil man’s objective to get Hitler to attack Russia so that Sir Henri might take over the Baku oil fields.”

1943

The Book “Way for America” by Alexander Laing (Published in 1943):

EXTRACTS

FROM PAGE 241 & 242

Edgar Ansel Mowrer published in 1933 a book entitled “Germany Puts the Clock Back.” In it he said (p. 146), “Sir Henri Deterding was accused by unfriendly Germans of having put up a considerable sum for the 1932 presidential campaign in the hope (or on the promise?) of being granted an oil monopoly in the Third Empire.”

FROM PAGE 242

Deterding made it plain that he too considered Hitler’s dictatorship a stabilizing influence which could join in an orderly removal of the blunders of Versailles. If he was secretive about his early backing of the Nazis, later he came out as an earnest advocate of a scheme which greatly eased Hitler’s problems. Deterding put his own estate manager in charge of the Western Cooperation plan, under which benevolent Dutchmen bought up the Dutch food surplus and gave it to German organizations. Public acknowledgment of Deterding’s own first contribution to the scheme placed it at a sum which converts to more than five million dollars. This was after Hitler and his henchmen had committed some of their most loathsome brutalities.

FROM PAGE 244

He is alleged to have spent millions helping Hitler to power.

PAGE 245

Sir Henri was an unashamed admirer of Fascism.

PAGE 247

Recalling these circumstances, ask yourself whether the opinion of the “most powerful man in the world” –the praiser of Mussolini and backer of Hitler-the announced hater of the Soviets–the autocrat of the second largest oil company in existence had a decisive effect upon the course of the British government.

PAGES 249 & 250

In desperate recognition of their mistake in backing the more dangerous of two tyrants, most Britons began to oppose the Hitler regime as much as they dared. Sir Henri then indicated where his own sympathies still lay by moving his headquarters from the house near Windsor Castle to another which he had recently purchased between Berlin and Rostok. He was buried on his German estate. The bishop who delivered the funeral oration said (according to the New York Times) that the oil man had fought Bolshevism with the “boldness of a Napoleon and the will-power of a Cromwell.” Placing the last wreath, an official emissary added, “In the name of Adolf Hitler, I greet you, Henri Deterding, the great friend of the Germans.”

From the book “Maxim Litvinoff: Arthur Upham Pope”: (Search for the book in Evidence File index):

Extract from page 173

…influential figure in the background was the rabidly reactionary Sir Henry Deterding, later a friend of Adolf Hider, who beyond doubt lavishingly financed a good deal of anti-Soviet propaganda.

1944

From the book “The Gentleman Talk of Peace”: By William B Ziff:

Extract from page 337.

The German Fuehrer had risen to power with the indirect assistance of powerful reactionary British groups. Industrial giants such as Henri Deterding, head of the vast Shell Oil combine, and the immensely wealthy Guinness family, are said to have contributed heavily to the Nazi war chest.

1945

Extract from a New York Times article published 19 October 1945 under the headline: U.S. FIRMS FUELED GERMANY FOR WAR:

Extract

Standard Oil and the Anglo-Netherland Royal Dutch Shell group also aided I.G. Farben in 1934 and 1935 to purchase large quantities of mineral-oil products, the report said. These products, including airplane benzine and lubricants, were bought for a market price of $20,000,000 and stored as reserve stocks.

From the book “The Plot against the Peace: A Warning to the Nation!”:

Extract from page 100

“*Other international financial backers of Nazism in its early years included Sir Henri Deterding, Anglo-Dutch chairman of the oil trust Royal Dutch Shell;”

1946

From The New York Times article: “Propaganda Success in Britain Vaunted by Rosenberg to Hitler”: 10 January 1946:

Extracts

“NUREMBERG, Germany, Jan. 9- One of Alfred Rosenberg’s reports to Adolf Hitler on his work in winning friends for nazism in foreign countries came to light today”:

Rosenberg also told Hitler that “a firmer bond” had also been established between Rosenberg’s British division and Sir Henri Deterding, the oil magnate, and his associates.”

1949

From the book “THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE LUFTWAFFE”:

The book by Lieutenant-Colonel Werner Baumbach has a reference to a portrait found in the country home of Sir Henri Deterding, signed by Hitler and containing the following inscription:

“Sir Henry Deterding – in the name of the German people, for your noble donation of a million reichsmarks.”

Related article: Adolf Hitler thanks Sir Henri Deterding for donation of a million reichs-marks

1954

From the book “Tycoons & Tyrant”:

Extract from pages 110 and 111:

It is generally believed that Sir Henry Deterding, the Dutch oil king , who owned an estate in Mecklenburg and supported all anticommunist movements, helped Hitler in a big way. It is alleged he gave as much as ten million marks in the course of the years. I have been unable to find concrete evidence to prove this point.

Footnote on page 111:

Walter Gorlitz and Herbert A. Quint in their Adolf Hitler-eine Biographie (Stuttgart, Steingruben Verlag, 1952), p. 279, merely refer to Deterding as one of a number of financial backers.

1957

From the book “German-French Unity, Basis for European Peace.”:

Extracts

From page 113

More illuminating than Dodd’s entry in his diary is an entry in a German diary, according to which General von Schleicher, while Chancellor, said early in January, 1933:  

Hitler must be, arrested, his Party dissolved and outlawed, the whole scandal of the Nazis’ revenues brought to light, their connection with the armaments industry abroad, with Deterding, with Ivar Kreuger made public.

Pages 114 & 115

In the early thirties, Deterding regarded the struggle against the Communists as “the only task left for him to accomplish.”  He was, thus, a natural ally of Adolf Hitler.

In 1932, the Netherlands’ press reported that the Dutchborn Sir Henri had subsidized the NSDAP with 4,000,000 gulden, a statement that was allegedly never denied.

Immediately after the Reichstag fire, February 27, 1933, Bell brought Dr. Gerlich several important documents, one of which was a contract of the NSDAP, represented by Chief-of-Staff Roehm, with the English-Dutch petroleum King Deterding, concerning the financing of the SA in the years before the seizure of power, against the assurance to favor his oil interests after the seizure of power.

Page 116

Deterding had also been a good friend of Hermann Göring ever since the latter’s early days.

It is noteworthy that E. A. Mowrer heard “unfriendly Germans” accuse Deterding of having put up a considerable sum for the 1932 presidential campaign in the hope (“or on the promise?” Mowrer inserted) “of being granted an oil monopoly in the Third Empire.” When Sir Henri Deterding died in February, 1939, the German press was instructed not to mention that he had been a sincere friend of Nazi Germany.

Extracts from page 117

If Sir Henri was thought liberal enough to give the weak British Fascist leader two million marks, it may be safety concluded that his contributions over the years to the Hitler movement, infinitely more important to him, comprised a good many millions of marks. He may surely be considered the largest single foreign financial backer of the NSDAP.

One of these was Fritz Thyssen, who also mentioned to Mr. Emery Reves, the editor of his book I Paid Hitler (New York, 1941), that Sir Henri Deterding was one of the foreigners who gave financial aid to Hitler.

Page 180

These principles decreed by the victors in 1945 and 1946, lead logically to the conclusion that, for instance, Viscount Rothemere as an influential moral supporter, and Sir Henri Deterding as an outstanding financial supporter of the Hitler movement were Offenders, ranking as Activists, and would have been liable to the severe sanctions under Article IX.

1964

From the book “The Gestapo: a history of horror”:

Page 29

In fact the S.S. settled bloody accounts, liquidated their adversaries and the accomplices of the old days who had become dangerous. They murdered the engineer, George Bell, who had acted as intermediary in the financial transactions between Hitler and Sir Henri Deterding:

1975

From the book “THE SEVEN SISTERS: THE GREAT OIL COMPANIES AND THE WORLD THEY MADE”:

Page 96

His influence on the company was erratic and as one Shell veteran recalls: ‘Deterding’s interventions were like thunderstorms; suddenly flattening a field of wheat, while leaving other fields un-scathed.’ The stately managers of Shell began to have the worrying impression that their Director-General was going mad, and still worse, going pro-Nazi.

Page 97

He died six months before the outbreak of war: memorial services were held in all Shell offices in Germany and Hitler and Goering both sent wreaths to the funeral on his estate.

1979

Extracts from the book “WHO FINANCED HITLER” (The Secret Funding of Hitler’s Rise to Power): Published in 1979:

Reference source for pages 319, 323 & 512 below

From page 319

Deterding was one of the wealthiest men in the world. His clandestine meetings with Hitler’s representative gave little indication of the plots, intrigues, and secret transfers of money that were taking place between Deterding and Hitler.

From page 323

The Dutch press stated that Deterding sent to Hitler, through Georg Bell, about four million guilders. Some said Sir Henri gave the Nazis money in exchange for their agreement to give him preferred standing in the German oil market when they came to power. In 1931, it was reported that Deterding made a loan of £30 million to Hitler in return for a promise of a petroleum monopoly. Some claimed the loan was as much as £55 million. Louis Lochner, former foreign correspondent and authority on the relation between Hitler and big business, mentioned an alleged “ten million marks” contribution by the Dutch oil lord to the Nazis. With so many sources agreeing on the matter, there can be little doubt that Deterding financed Hitler.

1983

From the book “The Windsor Secret – – New Revelations of The Nazi Connection”:

Extracts from page 42

In mid-1933 Rosenberg made a second and last visit to Britain. He spent an entire weekend at the palatial home at Ascot of Sir Henry Deterding. Several newspapers gave reliable accounts of the visit. Reynolds Illustrated News wrote: “In the light of the present European situation, this purely private talk between Hitler’s foreign adviser (Rosenberg) and the dominant figure in European oil politics is of profound interest.”

The meeting between Rosenberg and Deterding was significant because Deterding was one of the wealthiest men in the world, and it is a fact that in the 1930s he loaned Hitler between 30 and 55 million pounds. His clandestine meetings with Rosenberg, though, gave little indication of the plots, intrigues, and secret transfers of money that were occurring between Hitler and Deterding.

1984

Annual, Volumes 19-20: Obshtestvena kulturno-prosvetna organizat͡sii͡a na evreite v Narodna republika Bŭlgarii͡a. T͡Sentralno rŭkovodstvo: Published 1984:

From page 165

According to the American journalist and historian P. Lockner, Henry Deterding alone had subsidized Hitler with 10,000,000 marks. (Henry Deterding was an English Petroleum tycoon.)

From the book “The Blood of His Servants”:

On page 63, Deterding is described as “a maniacal genius.”

Extract from page 128

Ever since Sir Henry Deterding’s death in Berlin in 1939, the ties with Shell and its banker Mannheimer had dissolved. Even more, now that the war was going badly for the Nazis, Shell wanted to disassociate itself from Deterding’s fanatic devotion to Hitlerism.

1985

From Intercontinental press publication: 1985: (Search for the named publication in Evidence File index):

Extract from page 325

One of Hitler’s earliest foreign financial backers was Sir Henri Deterding, head of the giant Royal Dutch/Shell oil company.

1988

Toward an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions:

Extract from page 129

Sir Henry Deterding, Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, pointed out in 1932, the “Nazis are a great stabilizing force which would come in handy against Soviet Russia.”

1992

Extracts from the book “The Prize” By Daniel Yergin”:

From page 369

For there was a risk that the Group could pass under the Nazi sway. The heart of the problem was Henri Deterding, the grand master of the company. He had continued to dominate the Group through the 1920s. “Sir Henri’s word is law,” observed a British official in 1927.

“He can bind the Board of the Shell without their knowledge and consent.”

In the mid-1930s, as he entered his seventies, Deterding had developed two infatuations. One was for his secretary, a young German woman. The other was for Adolf Hitler.

Page 370

Deterding died in Germany in early 1939, six months before the war began. Strange and deeply disturbing rumors immediately reached London. Not only had the Nazis made much of his funeral, but they were also trying to take advantage of the circumstances of his death to gain control of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group.

From the book: “The Mexican petroleum industry in the twentieth century”:

EXTRACT FROM PAGE 97

Accordingly, Deterding-who was certainly sympathetic to fascism–channeled cash to Hitler (“thanks to English money Hitler conquered Germany”), in the hope that Hitler would revalidate Royal-Dutch’s lost Caucasian concessions

Extract from the book “George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography”:

From page 47

Shell’s chairman, Sir Henri Deterding, helped sponsor Hitler’s rise to power, by arrangement with the royal family’s Bank of England Governor, Montagu Norman.

From the book “A CENTURY OF WAR”: “ANGLO-AMERICAN OIL POLITICS AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER”:

From page 83 running on to page 84

The final London visit of Alfred Rosenberg was in May 1933, this time as one of the inner figures in the new Hitler government. He went directly to the country home in Buckhurst Park in Ascot of Sir Henri Deterding, the head of Royal Dutch Shell and arguably the world’s most influential businessman. According to English press accounts, the two had a warm and eventful discussion. Rosenberg had first met Deterding during his 1931 London trip. Royal Dutch Shell had intimate contact with, and provided support for the German NSDAP. Though the details were kept secret, reliable British reports of the day were that Deterding had provided substantial financial support to the Hitler project in its critical early phases.

1993

New York Times: Review/Television; The Epic Of Oil, Catalyst Of Conflict: (Review of a TV Documentary)

Extract from the article:

It concentrates especially on the unlikely partnership, out of which was born Royal Dutch Shell, between Marcus Samuel, the Jew from the East End of London who became the Lord Mayor of London, and Henri Deterding, the dashing Dutch oil man who turned into a Nazi supporter in his old age.

See related article about the same PBS documentary published under the headline: “Film of Royal Dutch Shell founder Sir Henri Deterding giving a Nazi salute”

The New York Times published an article in August 1933 reporting that the international financier J.P. Morgan had taken exception to an allegation in the Steel book, “Hitler as Frankenstein,“ that his firm had contributed to Nazi funds.

The book was temporarily withdrawn. A slip was inserted stating: “The publishers are informed that this statement is without the slightest foundation in fact and that neither Mr Morgan nor the firm of J.P. Morgan & Co, nor any individual partner of the firm ever make any contribution to Hitler or any other German organization.”

There is no evidence, of which I am aware, of Deterding or Shell taking any such action.

With regard to J.P. Morgan, many allegations about the firms’ alleged pandering to the Nazis have continued to be published over the years, up to current times; just Google “J.P. Morgan and the Nazis” on the web and also within “Google Books.”

1997

From the book “The Trial of the Germans”:

Page 229

Some support of Hitler came from foreign countries. The Dutch oil magnate Henri Deterding, who had an estate in Mecklenburg, made sizable contributions.

From the book “A Century In Oil”: The ‘Shell” Transport and Trading Company 1897-1937” by Stephen Howarth: Published in 1997:

Page 187

Deterding had become increasingly right-wing, bordering, some said, on the megalomaniac. 

The Nazis, eager even after his death to exploit the publicly-avowed support of this world-famous individual, virtually hijacked his funeral: Field Marshal Goering, chief of the German air force, sent a wreath; so did Hitler… 

From an article by Andrew Rowell published on 15 November 1997 by The Guardian under the headline: “Unloveable Shell, the Goddess of Oil”:

“After it merged in 1907 with its rival Royal Dutch, the Royal Dutch Shell company was formed; its first chairman was the Dutchman Henri Deterding. By the 1930s, Deterding had become infatuated with Adolf Hitler, and began secret negotiations with the German military to provide a year’s supply of oil on credit. In 1936, he was forced to resign over his Nazi sympathies.”

1998

From the book: “Hitler+Geli“:

According to information on pages 187 and 188, Ernst Rohm, head of the SA (aka stormtroopers/brown shirts), entered into a secret agreement with Sir Henri Deterding, described as “an oil tycoon with a controlling interest in Royal Dutch Petroleum and the Shell group.” 

From an article published by The Observer: Oil behemoth that must evolve: 20 December 1998 (Page 34)

Unfortunately, Deterding was also an authoritarian who was strongly attracted by the ideas of first Mussolini and then of Hitler’s Germany. The scandal forced Deterding to resign in 1936.

2000

Extract from the book “DOING BUSINESS WITH THE NAZIS”:

From page 149

The American consul in Hamburg reported in 1934 that Deterding, because of his fear of the Soviet Union, was favourably inclined toward the German government as a necessary safeguard against the spread of communistic ideas in western Europe. The consul added: Sir Henri had contributed fairly large sums to the National Socialist treasury before the advent of the Party into power and since Herr Hitler’s assumption of the Chancellorship; he had offered to supply the Reich with all their oil requirements in return for payment in blocked reichsmarks …

Extracts from a book by F. William Engdahl “Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order” published 21 February 2001:

EXTRACT FROM PAGE 100 OF THE BOOK

Royal Dutch Shell had intimate contact and support to the German NSDAP. While the details were kept secret, reliable British reports of the day were that Deterding had provided substantial financial support to the Hitler Project in its critical early phases.

2002

From the book “Hidden Agenda: How the Duke of Windsor Betrayed the Allies”:

Extract from pages 19 & 20

This is significant because Deterding was one of the wealthiest men in the world, and it can hardly be a coincidence that after Rosenberg’s visit in the early 1930s, Deterding loaned Hitler almost £55,000,000.

From the book “Fathoming the Holocaust: A Social Problems Approach”:

Extract from page 34

The party also solicited money from beyond German borders. Hitler himself went on several fund-raising tours in Switzerland, Austria and Czechoslovakia. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had his government provide support. Through Rosenberg the party received money from wealthy British oilman Sir Henri Deterding.

Extract from a book review of “Sir Henri Deterding and Royal Dutch-Shell: Changing Control of World Oil 1900-1940”:

When he died early in 1939 and his wife, against family wishes, had him buried in that country, the regime exploited the burial as a propaganda coup, and the Foreign Office in London incorrectly feared lest his Shell shares might fall into German hands.

2003

From the book “The Hitler/Hess Deception: British intelligence’s best-kept secret of the Second World War”:

Extracts from pages 206 & 207

After meeting the persuasive Rosenberg, Deterding would loan Hitler the enormous sum of £55 million.

2005

From the book “Earth Could Be Fair: A Chronicle”: By Pierre Van Paassen: Published May 2005:

Extracts from pages 393 and 394

That fellow Hitler is the God-given leader Europe has needed for a long time. He is going to straighten things out a little. To begin with, he will get us the Baku oil fields back. That’s as certain as tomorrows sunrise. Deterding and Colijn are supporting him, and every decent businessman in the land.

From the book “The Weimar Republic”:

Extract from page 115

Germans in foreign countries, and some magnates such as Ford, Deterding and Kreuger, provided the NSDAP with large sums, partly from ideological motives (anti-Semitism) and partly from political and economic calculation.

From the book “SHELL SHOCK: THE SECRETS AND SPIN OF AN OIL GIANT:  By IanCummins and John Beasant.

Extract from page 119:

There can be little doubt that Deterding had been supporting Hitler from the early 1930s. He was obliged to deny in 1931 that he had offered the Nazis a £30 million ‘loan’ in return for a petroleum monopoly…”

The authors went on to explain that UK Foreign Office records subsequently proved that Deterding’s denial was false.

2006

From the book “Energy for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide to Conventional and Alternative Sources”:

Extracts from page 156

Deterding became a Nazi sympathiser because of their determination to rip communism out root and branch. Deterding would not be the only industrialist, statesman, monarchist, or church leader to support the Nazis for this reason. The board of directors removed Deterding from his position in 1936 by forcing him to retire, and he died six months before the war started.

2007

There is considerable further information dealing with Shell/Deterding financial support for Nazi Germany within: “A History of Royal Dutch Shell, Volumes 1 and 2,” published in 2007. 

2008

Extract from a review of F. William Engdahl’s book “A Century of War” by Stephen Lendman:

The Weimar government was weak, the scheme was to topple it, and it made Hitler Reichschancellor on January 30, 1933. On August 2, 1934 he seized absolute power as Fuhrer. British interests backed him, Royal Dutch Shell financed him, and the Bank of England “moved with indecent haste to reward” him with a vital line of credit.

Information from a book published in 2008: “The Nazi Hydra in America: Suppressed History of a Century: Wall Street and the Rise of the Fourth Reich”:

According to the authors of this book, Johannes Steel testified about Deterding’s financial support for the Nazis during an inquiry into the Reichstag fire. The book also says that Deterding made a £20 million loan to Hitler:

Extracts from pages 48/49

“At the inquiry into the Reichstag fire, Johannes Steel, a former agent of the German Economic Intelligence Service, testified to Deterding’s financial support for the Nazis. The Dutch press reported that Deterding had given Hitler about 4 million guilders. By the 1930s, Deterding began secret negotiations with the German military to provide a year’s supply of oil on credit. In 1931, Deterding made a 20 million pound loan to Hitler, allegedly for a promise of a petroleum monopoly once the Nazis were in power. In May 1933, Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s representative, met with Deterding, confirming the close link between big oil and the Nazis.

2009

From the book “Shadow Rulers: The Euro-American Trojan Horse”:

Page 401

Another Bank investor that came aboard the Hitler boat was Sir Henry Deterding. Head of Royal Dutch-Shell Oil, whose motives, according to Marrs, arose from the Fuhrer’s Mein Kampf disclosures of a plot to regain the oil field assets of Baku, Grozny and Maikop, through the subjugation of Russia. 

2010

From the book “Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler”:

Extracts from pages 101 and 102

There is circumstantial evidence that Deterding was pro-Nazi. He later went to live in Hitler’s Germany and increased his share of the German petroleum market. So there may have been some contributions, but these have not been proven. 

(The author was apparently unaware of the evidence amassed by Shell’s paid historians from Shell’s archives. Nor of the news reports of the huge donations of food to Nazi Germany by Deterding while a Shell director.)

2011

From Fortune Magazine, an article by Christian Stadler: “5 ways to keep your company alive”: Published 7 March 2011:

In the years before World War II, Shell was very much a one-man-band led by Sir Henri Deterding. Under Deterding’s firm control, the group prospered but also flirted with disaster as he saw Adolf Hitler as the man most likely to preserve Europe from Communism. Luckily for Shell, Deterding retired in 1936 before he could make any disastrous commitments.

In fact, as previously pointed out, Deterding remained a director of multiple companies within the Royal Dutch Shell Group until the day he died in February 1939. And the evidence proves that he did make massive donations to Nazi Germany.

Shell funded adverts in a Nazi Newspaper, Volkischer Beobachter:

Extract from page 478, RDSH V1:

Even before Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor, Deterding’s fervent anti-communism and opinions about general economic policy had received favourable treatment in the Volkischer Beobachter, the Nazi newspaper which also sported conspicuous advertising for Shell products.

Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s emissary to Deterding, was the first editor of Volkischer Beobachter. (Information from page 304 of the Glyn Roberts book: “The Most Powerful Man in the World.”) 

Cyrano article (center) reporting on Funeral of Sir Henri Deterding (translated from French to English – sourcepage 489 RDSH V1):

Deterding, the financier of Hitler

Sir Henri Deterding, the tycoon of the oil industry, Anglo-Holland, had a fine funeral. All the press praised, appropriately, the great captain of industry, the tycoon and financier of an Almighty City. But there is one aspect of his life that went unspoken:

Sir Henry Deterding was one of Hitler’s financial secrets.

On many occasions, he made huge sums available to the German Führer. Only recently – in 1937 – he made a donation of 200 million francs to the Hitler’s government.

Sir Henry was a passionate admirer of Hitler, with whom he had frequent interviews.

His covert mission, in favour of the Reich, was to improve business relations with Britain, and was of great importance. It explains some of England’s complacency towards Hitler. The Fuhrer has not been ungrateful. On the death of Sir Henri Deterding he ordered expressions of sympathy.

His special envoy, Hilgenfeld, laid a beautiful wreath at the Tomb of the potentate of Royal Dutch, saying: On behalf of the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, I salute you Henrich Deterding, great friend of the Germans

A monument will be erected in Mecklenburg, to Sir Henry, and will bear the simple inscription:

A friend ( from / of / to ) Germany

ENDS

Two cartoons and related information contained within page 477 of RDSH V1. Both from the International Institute of Social History.

DISPLAYED IN RED TEXT ON PAGE 477:

Marinus van der Lubbe, a simple-minded young Dutch vagrant, was found guilty of starting the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933 and was executed, but the blaze was widely seen as a conspiracy of right-wing agents provocateurs. Deterding, Hitler, and Johannes Bell, one of the German signatories to the Treaty of Versailles, were depicted as ‘Van del’ Lubbe’s accessories’ (far left), while Deterding was rumoured to be Hitler’s paymaster against Communism.

Cartoon with the caption: “VAN DER LUBBE’S MEDEPLIGHTIGEN (VAN DER LUBBE’S ACCOMPLICES):

Deterding, Hitler and Johannes Bell – were all depicted as being accomplices in the Reichstag fire. This conclusion is arrived at from the above information in red text authored by Shell’s historians and on a translation of the text at the foot of the cartoon.

Their connection with the fire, via a joint agent of Deterding/Hitler,  George Bell, is indicated on page 313 of the biography of Sir Henri by Glyn Roberts. According to information on page 316, the Manchester Guardian reported that Georg Bell had actually helped to carry the inflammable material that set the Reichstag ablaze. Credible evidence on page 317 links the fire, Hitler, Dr. Bell and Deterding.

In the cartoon depiction (right) Deterding is shown handing over a bag full of money (1000 000 00) of unspecified currency, to an unidentifiable uniformed Nazi.

The Nazi receiving a money bag from Deterding via one hand uses his other hand to pass money bags behind his back to a chain that begins in human form, including one identified as “Lubbe.”

They transform into demons in the latter part of the chain.

There is a date stamp for 12 April 1933 and a reference in the text under the cartoon to the Reichstag fire, which occurred in February 1933; just a few years before Deterding started sending food donations to Germany.

This means that the funding that was the subject of allegations in the early 1930‘s preceded the massive donations of food by Deterding that begun in 1936.

The cartoonist was uncannily accurate in this nightmarish glimpse into the then future horrors perpetrated by the Nazis.

Marinus van der Lubbe was found guilty of starting the Reichstag fire, which took place in 1933. He was executed in 1934, beheaded by guillotine.

Cartoon with the caption: TEGEN OORLOG EN FASCISME (AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM – Mobilize for the first of August):

Adolf Hitler is depicted astride a Swastika, with Deterding shown below, sitting on top of what may be a Soviet soldier wearing a gas mask. Deterding is holding aloft what appears to be a money list with various sums ticked off.

The cartoon implies that Hitler and Deterding were in league together against the Soviets.

The cartoon relating to Marinus van der Lubbe made it plain that Deterding was a Nazi paymaster. The cartoon (right) showing him in an apparent tag-team partnership with Hitler against the Soviets followed the same theme.

Deterding’s name is visible on his cartoon image on enlarged copies of each cartoon – A and B.

There is no evidence that Sir Henri, the then Director General of Royal Dutch Shell, took issue with the content, which would have been grossly defamatory if untrue. 

There is further information from RDSH V1, about Deterding’s financial support for the Nazis.

Extract from page 483 of RDSH V1:

The grand gesture Deterding made after his retirement illustrates how he liked to use his money. In December 1936 he donated, with much fanfare, 10 million guilders from his personal fortune to set up a fund for buying up surplus foodstuffs in the Netherlands and selling them in Germany, purportedly to ease the plight of Dutch farmers and German consumers, equally hit by the trade barriers and exchange restrictions between the two countries. The proceeds of this deal would be donated to the Nazi charity Winterhilfswerk.

Extracts from page 485 of RDSH V1:

Moreover, Deterding was widely reported as making rash promises to German officials.

In June 1934, during the negotiations between the oil companies and the government over bulk installations, the British Ambassador to Germany, Sir Eric Phipps, heard information that Deterding had promised Hitler to have the Group supply one year’s worth of products on credit to Germany should its economic situation become desperate.

No records corroborating Sir Eric’s information have been found in the company archives. However, Rosenberg noted in his diary that he had made a deal with Deterding in May 1934 that the Group would stock one million tons of oil products in underground tank farms built by the Group, only to see the transaction founder on red tape in German departments.

Whether true or not, the story reached Deterding’s board colleagues, feeding a nagging suspicion about the soundness of his judgement.

Screenshot gallery:

Alfred Rosenberg around 1935:

Nazi propaganda poster for the W.H.W (Winterhilfswerks) – the Nazi-run Winter Help Fund charity in which Sir Henri Deterding of Shell was the largest donor.

Propaganda photograph of staff at work at the Nazi W.H.W. December 1935.

The notorious Nazi propaganda supremo Dr. Joseph Goebbels accompanied by his detectives. As already mentioned, Goebbels recorded in his diary the fact that Deterding had donated 40 millions to the WHW. 

SAMPLE CHAPTER ENDS

John Donovan, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.com

The ebook by John Donovan (right) can be purchased via Amazon websites around the world. Chapter headings are listed below. The introduction and some sample Chapters are accessible via the hyperlinks provided.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTERS

1. The best historians Shell could buy
2. News story February 2015: Shell ship named after a Nazi SS Officer
3. Royal Dutch Shell and the Nazis
4. Media coverage of Sir Henri Deterding’s Death
5. The Nazi Funeral of Royal Dutch Shell leader Sir Henri Deterding
6. Great friend of the Germans
7. You Can Be Sure of Shell
8. Royal Dutch Shell Anti-Semitism
9. Deterding’s support for Nazi Stormtroopers
10. Shell support for the Nazis continued after the retirement of Sir Henri as leader
11. Shell collaborated in the Nazi annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia
12. Shell’s notorious business partner: IG Farben
13. Royal Dutch Shell and Nazi slave labor
14. Control of Royal Dutch Shell companies in Nazi-occupied Europe
15. Nazi connections relating to Shell
16. Shell historians attempt to distance Deterding from Hitler
17. Why does it still matter?
18. Time for a rare public apology from Shell?
19. Key Dates
20. Shell cloak and dagger activities
21. Wikipedia: The sanitization of Shell’s history
22. Authors unique connection with Shell

Index of Shell leadership financial support for the Nazis