HEIR TO THE HOLOCAUST Prescott Bush, 1.5 Million Dollars and Auschwitz: How the Bush Family Wealth is Linked to the Jewish Holocaust

While the Enron scandal currently cultured and well schooled, modern men, like Standard Oil, General Motors and Chase unfolds, another Bush family business scandal forward looking. Their crime showed the Bank, all of which was sanctioned after Pearl lurks beneath the shadows of history that may world that evil can slip in and blend in amid Harbor. But as The New York Times reporter dwarf it. the most civilized surroundings. In the end Charles Higham later discovered, and On April 19, 2001, President George W. only conscience can stop it.” published in his 1983 groundbreaking book,– Bush spent some of Holocaust Remembrance But while President Bush publicly Trading With The Enemy; The Nazi American Day in the Capital Rotunda with holocaust embraced the community of holocaust Money Plot 1933-1949, “the government survivors, allied veterans, and their families. survivors in Washington last spring, he and smothered everything during and even after In a ceremony that included Jewish prayers his family have been keeping a secret from the war.” Why? and songs sung by holocaust victims in the them for over 50 years about Prescott Bush, According to Higham, the US camps, Benjamin Meed, a survivor of the the president’s grandfather. According to government believed “a public scandal ... Warsaw ghetto uprising, movingly described classified documents from Dutch intelligence would have drastically affected public morale, to the gathering what he experienced on April and US government archives, President caused widespread strikes and perhaps 19, 1943. George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush provoked mutinies in the armed services.” “I stood outside a Catholic church, which made considerable profits off Auschwitz slave Higham claims the government thought “their faced the ghetto,” Mr. Meed said, “a young labor. In fact, President Bush himself is an trial and imprisonment would have made it Jewish boy posing as a gentile. As I watched heir to these profits from the holocaust which impossible for the corporate boards to help the ghetto being bombarded by the German were placed in a blind trust in 1980 by his the American war effort.” artillery, I could see many of the Jews of my father, former president George Herbert However, Prescott Bush’s banks were community jumping out of windows of Walker Bush. not just financing Hitler as previously burning buildings. I stood long and mute.” reported. In fact, there was a distinct business The survivor concluded his reminiscence Throughout the Bush family’s decades link much deeper than Mr. Higham or Mr. saying, “We tremble to think what could of public life, the American press has gone Loftus knew at the time their books were happen if we allow a new generation to arise out of its way to overlook one historical fact published. ignorant of the tragedy which is still shaping – that through Union Banking Corporation A classified Dutch intelligence file which the future.” (UBC), Prescott Bush, and his father-in-law, was leaked by a courageous Dutch President Bush, appearing almost George Herbert Walker, along with German intelligence officer, along with newly surfaced uncomfortable, read a statement that said that industrialist Fritz Thyssen, financed Adolf information from U.S. government archives, humanity was “bound by conscience to Hitler before and during World War II. It was “confirms absolutely,” John Loftus says, the remember what happened” and that “the first reported in 1994 by John Loftus and direct links between Bush, Thyssen and record has been kept and preserved.” The Mark Aarons in–The Secret War Against the genocide profits from Auschwitz. record, Mr. Bush stated, was that one of the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the The business connections between worst acts of genocide in human history Jewish People. Prescott Bush and Fritz Thyssen were more “came not from crude and uneducated men, The US government had known that direct than what has been previously written.

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but from men who regarded themselves as many American companies were aiding Hitler, This new information reveals how Prescott

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by Toby Rogers illustration Ryan James

Bush and UBC, which he managed directly, profited from the Holocaust. A case can be made that the inheritors of the Prescott Bush estate could be sued by survivors of the Holocaust and slave labor communities. To understand the complete picture of how Prescott Bush profited from the Holocaust, it is necessary to return to the year 1916, where it all began.

Post World War I: Thyssen Empire On The Ropes

By 1916, August Thyssen could see the writing on the wall. The “Great War” was spinning out of control, grinding away at Germany’s resources and economy. The government was broke and his company, changed his citizenship from German to Thyssen & Co., with 50,000 German workers Hungarian and married the Hungarian and annual production of 1,000,000 tons of aristocrat Baroness Margrit Bornemisza de steel and iron, was buckling under the war’s Kaszon. Soon Heinrich Thyssen switched his pressure. As the main supplier of the German name to Baron Thyssen Bornemisza de military, August Thyssen knew Germany Kaszon. would be defeated once the US entered the Near the end of World War I, August war. Thyssen opened the Bank voor Handel en At 74, “King” August Thyssen knew he Scheepvaart in Rotterdam. The neutral was also running out of time. His first born Holland was the perfect location outside of Germany to launder assets from the August

“prince” Friedrich (Fritz) Thyssen, had been

groomed at the finest technical business Thyssen Bank in Berlin when the financial

schools in Europe and was destined to inherit demands of the Allied forces surfaced. But 02 may/june his father’s estimated $100,000,000 fortune the war ended much sooner than even Thyssen and an industrial empire located at calculated and what developed caught the

Muehhlheim on the Ruhr. “Rockefeller of the Ruhr” off guard.

In addition to Fritz, plans were also made On November 10, 1918, German clamor for the second son Heinrich. At the outbreak socialists took over Berlin. The following of the war, Heinrich Thyssen discreetly morning at 5 a.m., what was left of Germany 55 surrendered to the Allies, officially ending agreed to help the Thyssens with their plan the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, opened World War I. “At the time of the Armistice for an American bank. the Union Banking Corporation in 1924. and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, The following year, a wounded Germany my Father and I were deeply saddened by the was growing sicker. The government had no Union Banking Corporation spectacle of Germany’s abject humiliation,” solution and froze while Germany rotted from Thyssen recalled later in his autobiography, I within. With widespread strikes and Early in 1924, Hendrick J. Paid Hitler. production at a near standstill, Fritz Thyssen Kouwenhoven, the managing director of Bank After the war, chaos descended on later recalled, “We were at the worst time of voor Handel en Scheepvaart, traveled to New Germany as food ran short. Winter was the inflation. In Berlin the government was York to meet with Walker and the Harriman looming over a starving nation when on Dec. in distress. It was ruined financially. Authority brothers. Together, they established The 7, 1918, the socialist Spartacists League came was crumbling. In Saxony a communist Union Banking Corporation. The UBC’s knocking on the Thyssen Villa with armed government had been formed and the Red headquarters was located at the same 39 militia. August and Fritz were arrested and terror, organized by Max Hoelz, reigned Broadway address as Harriman & Co. dragged from jail to jail across Germany for through the countryside. The German Reich As the German economy recovered four days. Along the way, they were lined up ... was now about to crumble.” through the mid to late ‘20s, Walker and in staged executions designed to terrorize In October, 1923, an emotionally Harriman’s firm sold over $50,000,000 worth them. desperate Fritz Thyssen went to visit one of of German bonds to American investors, who It worked. When released, the two his and Germany’s great military heroes, profited enormously from the economic boom Thyssens were horrified at the new political General Erich Ludendorff. During the 1918 in Germany. In 1926, August Thyssen died at climate in their beloved Germany. They socialist rule in Berlin, Ludendorff organized the age of 84. Fritz was now in control of one could not accept that Germany was a military resistance against the socialists and of the largest industrial families in Europe. responsible for its own demise. All the industrialists were in great debt to him. He quickly created the United Steel Works Germany’s problems, the Thyssens felt, When Thyssen met with Ludendorff, they (USW), the biggest industrial conglomerate “have almost always been due to foreigners.” discussed Germany’s economic collapse. in German history. Thyssen hired Albert It was the Jews, he and many others believed, Thyssen was apocalyptic, fearing the worst Volger, one of the Ruhr’s most influential who were secretly behind the socialist was yet to come. Ludendorff disagreed. industrial directors, as director General of movement across the globe. “There is but one hope,” Ludendorff said, USW. Meanwhile Fritz’s younger brother “Adolph Hitler and the National Socialist Thyssen also brought Fredich Flick, Baron Thyssen Bornemisza de Kaszon party.” Ludendorff respected Hitler another German family juggernaut, on board. moved to Rotterdam and became the immensely. “He is the only man who has any Flick owned coal and steel industries principal owner of the Bank voor Handel en political sense.” Ludendorff encouraged throughout Germany and Poland and Scheepvaart. All the Thyssens needed now Thyssen to join the Nazi movement. “Go desperately wanted to invest into the Thyssen was an American branch. listen to him one day” he said to Thyssen. empire. One of the primary motivations for Thyssen followed General Ludendorff’s the Thyssen/Flick massive steel and coal 1920s: The Business Ties That Bind advice and went to a number of meetings to merger was suppressing the new labor and hear Hitler speak. He became mesmerized by socialist movements. Railroad baron E.H. Harriman’s son Hitler. “I realized his orator gifts and his That year in New York, George Walker Averell wanted nothing to do with railroads, ability to lead the masses. What impressed me decided to give his new son in law, Prescott so his father gave him an investment firm, most however was the order that reigned over Bush, a big break. Walker made Bush a vice W.A. Harriman & Company in New York his meetings, the almost military discipline president of Harriman & Co. Prescott’s new City. E.H. hired the most qualified person in of his followers.” office employed many of his classmates from the country to run the operation, George Thyssen arranged to meet privately with his Yale class of 1917, including Roland Herbert Walker. Averell hired his little brother Hitler and Ludendorff in Munich. Hitler told Harriman and Knight Woolley. The three had Edward Roland “Bunny” Harriman as a vice Thyssen the Nazi movement was in financial been close friends at Yale and were all president. trouble, it was not growing fast enough and members of Skull and Bones, the mysterious By 1920, George Herbert Walker had was nationally irrelevant. Hitler needed as on-campus secret society. Despite the upbeat already built a fortune in Missouri. Walker, a much money as possible to fight off the fraternity atmosphere at Harriman & Co., it charismatic former heavyweight boxing Communists/Jewish conspiracy against was also a place of hard work, and no one champion, was a human pit bull. He lived life Europe. Hitler envisioned a fascist German worked harder than Prescott Bush. to the fullest, owning mansions around the monarchy with a nonunion, antilock national In fact, Walker hired Bush to help him east coast and one of the most extravagant work force. supervise the new Thyssen/Flick United Steel apartments in Manhattan. His hobbies were Thyssen was overjoyed with the Nazi Works. One section of the USW empire was golf, hunting, drinking scotch and beating his platform. He gave Hitler and Ludendorff the Consolidated Silesian Steel Corporation sons to a pulp. Elsie Walker, one of Walker’s 100,000 gold marks ($25,000) for the infant and the Upper Silesian Coal and Steel grandchildren described Walker as a “tough Nazi party. Others in the steel and coal Company located in the Silesian section of old bastard” whose children had no love “for industries soon followed Thyssen’s lead, Poland. Thyssen and Flick paid Bush and their father.” He was also a religious bigot although none came close to matching him. Walker generously, but it was worth every who hated Catholics, although his parents Many business leaders in Germany supported dime. Their new business arrangement raised him to be one. According to other Hitler’s secret union-hating agenda. However, pleased them all financially, and the collective sources, he also did not like Jews. some donated because they feared they would talents of all four men and their rapid success In 1922, Averell Harriman traveled to be left out in the cold if he actually ever seized astonished the business world. Germany to set up a W.A. Harriman & Co. power. In the meantime Hitler and the Nazi party branch in Berlin. The Berlin branch was also Most industry leaders gave up on Hitler were broke. Since the German economic clamor may/june 02 run by Walker. While in Germany, he met with after his failed coup in 1923. While Hitler recovery, members and donations had dried

the Thyssen family for the first time. Harriman spent a brief time in jail, the Thyssens, through up, leaving the Nazi movement withering on

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It has been 60 years since one of the great money laundering scandals of the 20th century ended and only now are we beginning to see the true historical aspects of this important period of world history, a history that the remaining Holocaust survivors beg humanity to “never forget.”

the vine. In 1927, Hitler was desperate for when he and Thyssen would walk through the Nazis lost a sweeping 35 seats in the cash; his party was slipping into debt. Hitler cool Black Forest in 1929-30, Thyssen would Reichstag, but since the Nazis were already told his private secretary Rudolf Hess to shake tell Waldeck that he believed in Hitler. He secretly negotiating a power sharing alliance down wealthy coal tycoon and Nazi spoke of Hitler “with warmth” and said the with Hindenberg that would ultimately lead sympathizer Emil Kirdorf. Kirdorf paid off Nazis were “new men” that would make to Hitler declaring himself dictator, the outcry Hitler’s debt that year but the following year, Germany strong again. With the depression of German voters was politically insignificant. he too had no money left to contribute. bleeding Europe, Thyssen’s financial support By 1934, Hindenberg was dead and In 1928, Hitler had his eyes on the made Hitler’s rise to power almost inevitable. Hitler completely controlled Germany. In enormous Barlow Palace located in The great depression also rocked March, Hitler announced his plans for a vast Briennerstrasse, the most aristocratic section Harriman & Co. The following year, new highway system. He wanted to connect of Munich. Hitler wanted to convert the palace Harriman & Co. merged with the London firm the entire Reich with an unprecedented wide into the Nazi national headquarters and Brown/Shipley. Brown/Shipley kept its name, road design, especially around major ports. change its name to the Brown House but it but Harriman & Co. changed its name to Hitler wanted to bring down unemployment was out of his price range. Hitler told Hess to Brown Brothers, Harriman. The new firm but, more importantly, needed the new roads contact Thyssen. After hearing the Hess moved to 59 Wall St. while UBC stayed at 39 for speedy military maneuvers. appeal, Thyssen felt it was time to give Hitler Broadway. Averell Harriman and Prescott Hitler also wanted to seriously upgrade a second chance. Through the Bank voor Bush reestablished a holding company called Germany’s military machine. Hitler ordered Handel en Scheepvaart, Thyssen said he The Harriman 15 Corporation. One of the a’“rebirth of the German army” and “placed Hess in possession of the required companies Harriman had held stock in was contracted Thyssen and United Steel Works funds” to purchase and redesign the Palace. the Consolidated Silesian Steel Company. for the overhaul. Thyssen’s steel empire was Thyssen later said the amount was about Two thirds of the company was owned by the cold steel heart of the new Nazi war 250,000 marks but leading Nazis later claimed Friedrich Flick. The rest was owned by machine that led the way to World War II, that just the re-molding cost over 800,000 Harriman. killing millions across Europe. marks (equivalent to $2 million today). In December 1931, Fritz Thyssen Thyssen’s and Flick’s profits soared into Regardless of the cost, Hitler and officially joined the Nazi party. When Thyssen the hundreds of millions in 1934 and the Bank Thyssen became close friends after the joined the movement, the Nazi party was voor Handel en Scheepvaart and UBC in New purchase of the Brown House. At the time, gaining critical mass around Germany. The York were overflowing with money. Prescott neither knew how influential that house was charismatic speeches and persona of Hitler, Bush became managing director of UBC and to become the following year when, in 1929, the depression and the Thyssen’s Bank voor handled the day-to-day operations of the new the great depression spread around the world. Handel en Scheepvaart all contributed to German economic plan. Bush’s shares in UBC With the German economic recovery up in Hitler’s sudden rise in popularity with the peaked with Hitler’s new German order. But flames, Hitler knew there was going to be a German people. while production rose, cronyism did as well. line out the door of industrialists waiting to In September 1932, Thyssen invited a On March 19, 1934, Prescott Bush give him cash. group of elite German industrial tycoons to handed Averell Harriman a copy of that day’s his castle to meet with Hitler. They spent New York Times. The Polish government was 1930s: Hitler Rises – Thyssen/Bush Cash In hours questioning Hitler, who answered all applying to take over Consolidated Silesian

their questions with the’“utmost satisfaction,” Steel Corporation and Upper Silesian Coal

Thyssen would later try to claim that his Thyssen remembered. The money poured in and Steel Company from’“German and 02 may/june weekends with Hitler and Hess at his from the industrial circles mostly due to American interests” because of rampant Rhineland castles were not personal but Hitler’s “monarchistic attitude” towards labor “mismanagement, excessive borrowing,

strictly business and that he did not approve and issues of class. fictitious bookkeeping and gambling in

of most of Hitler’s ideas, but the well-known But by November, German voters grew securities.” The Polish government required clamor journalist R.G Waldeck, who spent time with weary of Hitler’s antidemocratic tendencies the owners of the company, which accounted

Thyssen at a spa in the Black Forest, and turned to the Communist party, which for over 45% of Poland’s steel production, to 57 remembered quite differently. Waldeck said gained the most seats in the fall election. The pay at least its full share of back taxes. Bush and Harriman would eventually hire attorney into either coal or additives for aviation Attorney General Francis Biddle signed the John Foster Dulles to help cover up any gasoline.” Trading With the Enemy Act, which banned improprieties that might arise under Even though Thyssen and Flick’s any business interests with US enemies of investigative scrutiny. Consolidated Steel was in their possession, war. Prescott Bush continued with business Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939 Hitler’s invasions across Europe spooked as usual, aiding the Nazi invasion of Europe ended the debate about Consolidated Silesian them, bringing back memories of World War and supplying resources for weaponry that Steel Corporation and Upper Silesian Coal I. Thyssen and Flick sold Consolidated Steel would eventually be turned on American and Steel Company. The Nazis knocked the to UBC. Under the complete control of solders in combat against Germany. Polish Government off Thyssen, Flick and Harriman and management of Bush, the On October 20, 1942, the U.S. Harriman’s steel company and were planning company became Silesian American government had had enough of Prescott Bush to replace the paid workers. Originally Hitler Corporation which became part of UBC and and his Nazi business arrangements with promised Stalin they would share Poland and Harriman’s portfolio of 15 corporations. Thyssen. Over the summer, The New York use Soviet prisoners as slaves in Polish Thyssen quickly moved to Switzerland and Tribune had exposed Bush and Thyssen, factories. Hitler’s promise never actually later France to hide from the terror about to whom the Tribune dubbed “Hitler’s Angel.” materialized and he eventually invaded be unleashed by the Nazi war machine he had When the US government saw UBC’s books, Russia. helped build. they found out that Bush’s bank and its A portion of the slave labor force in shareholders “are held for the benefit of ... 1940s: Business As Usual Poland was “managed by Prescott Bush,” members of the Thyssen family, [and] is according to a Dutch intelligence agent. In property of nationals ... of a designated enemy Consolidated Silesian Steel Corporation 1941, slave labor had become the lifeblood country.” The list of seven UBC share holders was located near the Polish town of of the Nazi war machine. The resources of was: Oswiecim, one of Poland’s richest mineral Poland’s rich steel and coal field played an E. Roland Harriman – 3991 shares regions. That was where Hitler set up the essential part in Hitler’s invasion of Europe. Cornelis Lievense – 4 shares Auschwitz concentration camp. When the According to Higham, Hitler and the Harold D.Pennington – 1 share plan to work Soviet prisoners fell through, the Fraternity of American businessmen “not only Ray Morris–– 1 share Nazis transferred Jews, communists, gypsies sought a continuing alliance of interests for Prescott S. Bush – 1 share and other minority populations to the camp. the duration of World War II, but supported H.J. Kouwenhoven – 1 share The prisoners of Auschwitz who were able to the idea of a negotiated peace with Germany Johann G. Groeninger – 1 share. work were shipped to 30 different companies. that would bar any reorganization of Europe One of the companies was the vast along liberal lines. It would leave as its residue The UBC books also revealed the myriad of Consolidated Silesian Steel Corporation. a police state that would place the Fraternity money and holding companies funneled from “Nobody’s made the connection before in postwar possession of financial, industrial, the Thyssens and the government realized UBC between Consolidated Silesian Steel and political autonomy.” was just the tip of the iceberg. On November Corporation, Auschwitz and Prescott Bush,” Six days after Pearl Harbor and the US 17, 1942, The US government also took over John Loftus told Clamor. declaration of war at the end of 1941, the Silesian American Corporation, but did not “That was the reason why Auschwitz was built President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary of prosecute Bush for the reasons Higham noted there. The coal deposits could be processed the Treasury Henry Morgenthau and US earlier. The companies were allowed to operate

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within the Government Alien Property When Thyssen died, the Alien Property It has been 60 years since one of the great custodian office with a catch – no aiding the Custodian released the assets of the Union money laundering scandals of the 20th century Nazis. In 1943, while still owning his stock, Banking Corporation to Brown Brothers ended and only now are we beginning to see Prescott Bush resigned from UBC and even Harriman. The remaining stockholders cashed the true historical aspects of this important helped raise money for dozens of war-related in their stocks and quietly liquidated the rest period of world history, a history that the causes as chairman of the National War Fund. of UBC’s blood money. remaining Holocaust survivors beg humanity After the war, the Dutch government Prescott Bush received $1.5 million for to “never forget.” began investigating the whereabouts of some his share in UBC. That money enabled Bush Loftus believes history will view Prescott jewelry of the Dutch royal family that was to help his son, George Herbert Walker Bush, Bush as harshly as Thyssen. “It is bad enough stolen by the Nazis. They started looking into to set up his first royalty firm, Overby that the Bush family helped raise the money books of the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart. Development Company, that same year. It was for Thyssen to give Hitler his start in the 1920s, When they discovered the transaction papers also helpful when Prescott Bush left the but giving aid and comfort to the enemy in time of the Silesian American Corporation, they business world to enter the public arena in 1952 of war is treason. The Bush bank helped the began asking the bank manager H.J. with a successful senatorial campaign in Thyssens make the Nazi steel that killed Allied Kounhoven a lot of questions. Kouwenhoven Connecticut. On October 8th, 1972, Prescott solders. As bad as financing the Nazi war was shocked at the discovery and soon traveled Bush died of cancer and his will was enacted machine may seem, aiding and abetting the to New York to inform Prescott Bush. soon after. Holocaust was worse. Thyssen’s coal mines According to Dutch intelligence, In 1980, when George H.W. Bush was used Jewish slaves as if they were disposable Kouwenhoven met with Prescott soon after elected vice president, he placed his father’s chemicals. There are six million skeletons in Christmas, 1947. Two weeks later, family inherence in a blind trust. The trust was the Thyssen family closet, and a myriad of Kouwenhoven apparently died of a heart managed by his old friend and quail hunting criminal and historical questions to be attack. partner, William “Stamps” Farish III. Bush’s answered about the Bush family’s complicity.” choice of Farish to manage the family wealth There is no question that the Bush family 1950s: Bush Sells UBC Stock is quite revealing in that it demonstrates that needs to donate at least $1.5 million to the the former president might know exactly where proper holocaust reparation fund. Since By 1948, Fritz Thyssen’s life was in ruins. some of his inheritance originated. Farish’s Prescott Bush is dead, the only way to After being jailed by the Nazis, he was jailed grandfather, William Farish Jr., on March 25th, compensate is for the main inheritors of his by the Allies and interrogated extensively, but 1942, pleaded “no contest” to conspiring with estate to make amends with surviving slaves not completely, by US investigators. Thyssen Nazi Germany while president of Standard Oil and the families of slaves who died in Bush and Flick were ordered to pay reparations and in New Jersey. He was described by Senator and Thyssen’s coal mines. If the Bush family served time in prison for their atrocious crimes Harry Truman in public of approaching refuses to contribute the money to compensate against humanity. “treason” for profiting off the Nazi war for Prescott Bush’s involvement in the On February 8, 1951, Fritz Thyssen died machine. Standard Oil, invested millions in IG Holocaust, it is like denying the Holocaust bitterly in Argentina at the age of 78. Thyssen Farben, who opened a gasoline factory within itself and their role in one of the darkest was angry at the way he was treated by Europe Auschwitz in 1940. The billions “Stamps” moments in world history. after the war and how history would remember inherited had more blood on it then Bush, so him as Hitler’s most important and prominent the paper trail of UBC stock would be safe Special thanks to John Loftus, Emmy winning financier. during his 12 years in presidential politics. journalist, author and current president of the Florida Holocaust Museum.

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