In 1931, American journalist Annette Anton of Detroit News interviewed the new leader of Germany, Adolf Hitler. Above the working table of the main Nazi, the correspondent noticed a portrait of the main American car dealer Henry Ford. In response to Annette's surprise, Hitler sincerely said: "I consider Henry Ford as my inspiration."
It was no coincidence that Ford was among the Fuhrer's idols. It was thanks to Ford, as well as a number of the largest moneybags in the United States, that the hidden growth of Germany's military potential took place. In the pre-war years, the economy of the Reich grew by leaps and bounds.
Probably the most typical representative of American business, and at the same time, a great friend of Hitler, Henry Ford Sr. can be called. As one of the main tycoons of the American market, Henry Ford provided serious financial support to the NSDAP. In gratitude, the Fuhrer not only hung his portrait in his Munich residence, but also wrote with admiration about Ford in his book "My Struggle". In response, Ford annually congratulated "his German friend" on his birthday, while giving him a "gift" worth 50,000 Reichsmarks.
Even before the start of the war, the Nazis received 65,000 trucks from Ford branches in Germany, Belgium and France. In addition, the Ford subsidiary in Switzerland has repaired thousands of German trucks. He repaired German motor vehicles and the Swiss branch of another American auto giant General Motors, which was also the largest contributor to the German auto concern Opel, successfully cooperating with it throughout the war and receiving hefty dividends. But Ford was out of competition!
According to the American military historian Henry Schneider, Ford helped the Germans obtain rubber, vital for German industry. Not only that, until the beginning of World War II, the owner of the US auto giant supplied Hitler with military equipment, for which, in honor of Ford's 75th anniversary, the Fuhrer awarded the hero of the day the highest award of the Third Reich for foreigners - the Grand Cross of the German Eagle. The German consul even made a trip to Detroit to personally hang the Golden Cross with a swastika on the auto tycoon's chest. Ford was delighted with this award. More than 1,500 of Detroit's wealthiest citizens attended a grand celebratory dinner organized on the anniversary day of July 30, 1938.
Even with the beginning of World War II, Ford did not interrupt his collaboration with the Nazis. In 1940, Ford refused to assemble engines for the aircraft of England, which was at war with Germany, while in the French city of Poissy, his new plant began to produce aircraft engines, trucks and cars for the Nazi army, which entered service with the Wehrmacht. And after 1941, Ford's subsidiary in occupied France continued to produce trucks for the Wehrmacht, while another subsidiary in Algeria supplied Hitler's General Rommel with trucks and armored vehicles. Even in April 1943, when the Soviet Union was fighting bloody battles with the Nazis, Ford's French subsidiaries worked exclusively for the benefit of Germany. Freight "five-ton" and passenger "Fords" were the main army transport of the Wehrmacht. The main issue for the corporation was profit,which she tried to get at any cost. At the end of the war, the Allied aviation bombed the plant in Poissy, but did not touch the same Ford plant in Cologne, Germany, although almost the entire ancient city was destroyed. Remarkably, after the war, Ford, like its powerful competitor General Motors, thanks to the efforts of major lawyers, obtained compensation from the US government "for damage caused to their property on enemy territory."inflicted on their property in enemy territory. "inflicted on their property in enemy territory."
Ford was far from the only American corporation that had a hand in the creation of the German war machine. By the time the Second World War broke out, the combined contributions of American corporations to their German branches and representative offices amounted to about $ 800 million. Investments of Ford - 17.5 million, Standard Oil of New Jersey (now existing under the name Exxon) - 120 million, General Motors - 35 million, ITT - 30 million.
For example, American companies supplied thousands of aircraft engines for the Reich aviation and, most importantly, licenses for their production. For example, the BMW Hornet engines that powered the Junkers-52, the most popular transport aircraft in Germany, were manufactured under license from the American company Prat & Whitney.
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General Motors in Germany was owned by Opel. The factories of this company stamped Reich armored vehicles, as well as almost 50% of the power units of the Junkers-88 bombers. In 1943, the German subsidiary of General Motors developed and began producing motors for the Messerschmitt-262, the first jet fighter of the Luftwaffe.
During World War II, IBM managed to triple its capital. Much of it was obtained through cooperation with Hitler. The calculating machines supplied through the German branch allowed the Nazis to quickly conduct a census of the population of the occupied countries and determine the number of persons subject to arrest (the equipment helped to identify even those Jews who had been carefully concealing their origin for several generations by means of cross-analysis). IBM supplied many Reich departments, including concentration camps, with its calculating machines, spare parts for them and special paper.
Of course, in words, the US government opposed the collusion of American corporations with the Nazis. For example, during the war, the “Trading with the enemy act” law was passed, which provided for severe punitive measures for such cooperation. But in fact, numerous lobbyists, sent by the moneybags to all echelons of power, helped those to bypass any obstacles.
American lawyer James Martin, who, among others, opposed the practice of economic cooperation with the enemy, wrote in his book Brotherhood of Business: “In Germany, it was not German, but American businessmen who interfered with us. Those who interfered with us acted from the United States, but did not act openly. It was not a law approved by Congress, an order from the President of the United States, or a decision by the President or any member of the cabinet to change political course that hindered us. In short, it was not the "government" that was formally interfering with us. But the force that hindered us, as is quite clear, held in their hands the levers with which governments usually operate. In the face of growing economic power, governments are relatively powerless, and this is certainly not news."
Even after Germany declared war on the United States, a number of the largest American companies, with the full connivance of the White House, continued to cooperate with Hitler!
Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon) supplied the Nazis with $ 20 million worth of gasoline and lubricants. Until the very landing of American troops in France, the tanker fleet of "neutral" Spain worked almost exclusively for the needs of the Wehrmacht, supplying it with American "black gold", formally intended for Madrid. Even in the first months of 1944, Germany re-exported 48 thousand tons of oil from Spain every month.
The same thing happened with another strategic raw material - rubber. At a time when the United States was unable to supply its own army with raw materials, in particular, synthetic rubber, Standard Oil entered into a deal with Hitler's Germany, according to which the company pledged to carry out regular supplies of raw materials, fuel and rubber overseas - to Germany, Italy and Austria. As a result, the American army was left with nothing - the supplies of the necessary raw materials were scheduled by the Rockefeller clan for 8 years in advance. When the United States entered World War II, the American government was forced to negotiate with a dummy British office that sold rubber and other necessary resources purchased from German concerns, which in turn were purchased from Rockefeller. Thus, when Americans purchased their own raw materials through third parties,Standard Oil received windfall profits from both sides.
In 1942, a small scandal broke out in the United States: Standard Oil deliberately reduced the supply of methanol to the US Army. Methanol was used to produce lubricants based on natural gas (essential for aviation at high altitudes), acetic acid (a component of explosives) and synthetic rubber. Finally, in 1943, the Rockefellers sold 25,000 tons of ammonium sulfate (a component of explosives) and 10,000 tons of cotton to occupied France, despite the fact that the shortage of these goods was acutely felt in the United States.
And also synthetic rubber and, of course, a lot of spare parts for the aviation and automotive industries, for tanks went to the Germans from across the ocean. Of particular value were the 1100 tons of tungsten received by Germany from the United States during the war. As you know, tungsten has been a key component in the production of anti-tank shells and the electronics industry.
A dark story was associated with SKF, the world's largest manufacturer of ball bearings. While giant shipments of bearings (more than 600,000 annually) were shipped through South America to Nazi customers, the Curtiss-Wright aviation corporation, which produced engines for the US Air Force, did not receive the coveted steel balls from SKF for a long time. Prat & Whitney, another aircraft engine manufacturer, has also been forced to cut production due to disruptions in bearing supplies from SKF. Due to worn-out parts, planes suffered accidents, people died, some of the new machines could not take off at all, but SKF was only interested in profit, and the Germans paid more.
When on October 14, 1943, the commander of the US Army Aviation, General Henry Arnold, ordered an air raid on the SKF ball bearing plant in Schweinfurt, Germany, the enemy somehow learned of the operation and was able to prepare a defense, shooting down 60 American aircraft as a result. On October 19, Arnold bluntly told the London News Chronicle: "They could not have organized a defense if they had not been warned in advance." I think it's unnecessary to explain who warned the German branch.
The American corporations also helped the Reich with military developments. At the height of the war, specialists from the Morgan-controlled multinational telephone corporation of the United States "International Telephone Telegraph" worked hand in hand with their German colleagues in Switzerland, having an excellent roof from the German special services. One of the shareholders of ITT was the head of political intelligence of the Security Service, Walter Schellenberg. And the head of ITT, Colonel Sostenes Ben, at the height of the war, helped the Nazis improve guided aerial bombs. With the help of such bombs, the Germans barbarously destroyed London, sank and damaged many ships, among which, ironically, were American ones, for example, the American cruiser Savannah.
When the President of the Reichsbank and Hitler's Minister of Economy, Jalmar Schacht, were tried at the Nuremberg Trials, he recalled Opel's ties with General Motors and suggested putting the captains of American business on trial. Of course, the proposal was not accepted.
Natalia Nekrasova
