'lhoHousoOf RO'lHSGHIhD 'Gary Allen, a graduate of Stanford, is author of the best-seller None Dare Call It Conspiracy. He has ju st published a new book, The Rockefeller File , .which is n ow available. Mr . Allen is an AMERICAN OPINION Contributing Editor. • THOSE uncommonly rich Roth­ and power. Business Week of January schilds of Europe have recently ac­ 12, 1976, observes: "The Rothschilds' quired a major Californ ia banking billions gave them more power than .chain and a large Pennsylvania steel any multinational company, however company. Many Americans are begin­ sovereign, enjoys today. Governments ning to wonder if we are right in the courted them for loans, Europe's middle of a Rothschilds' move into bourses [stock exchanges] were easily the American economy. manipulated by their alternating bull The very name Rothschild evokes and bear tactics ...." But the name images of enormous wealth, luxury, Rothschild is also historically synony- . APRIL, 1976 13 mous with conspiracy, intrigue, and rope to seli them to prosperous collec­ manipulation. The Rothschilds an tors. 'Eventually this led him to an au­ but invented international banking.' dience'with the wealthy Landgrave of Joseph Wechsberg writes in The Hesse. * Meyer sold the landgrave .a Merchant Hankers: "Sometimesthey number of his most precious medals made mistakes and gave loans to the and coins. It was the first Rothschild wrong country, and lost money. They transaction with a head of state. influenced national economies, backed Prince William of Hesse was enor­ cities and countries, railroads and mously wealthy, in part from selling utilities, invested in underdeveloped the serfs of his domain to anyone who areas, pioneered shipping lines, canals happened to need soldiers. He was the and communications, equipped whole ' source of the Hessian troops used armies, became king-makers and court against us by the British in our War bankers, and frequently made world for Independence. This has occasion­ history .. .." ally led enemies of the Rothschilds to For the past 175 years the history claim that it was Meyer Rothschild of the House of Rothschild has been , who sold the Hessians to the English to an amazing extent the backstage to kill Americans. It makes a good po­ history of power in Western Europe. lemic, if that is what interests you, How the Rothschilds gained emi­ but it does not happen to be true. nence, and have kept it to this day, is a Neither is it true that Meyer Amschel phenomenon thattranscends business Rothschild was the secret power be­ acumen. Itis rooted in the virtuoso use hind the creation of the Illuminati in of the family and its umbratile con­ 1776. At that time Meyer was a strug­ nections as a means' of holding and gling thirty-two-year-old pawnbroker, extending power. It is also enshrined and while his descendants would in myth, mystery, and falsehood. move kings on and off thrones, Accounts of the Rothschild dynas­ and manipulate governments around ty begin with Meyer Amschel Roth­ the world, the founder of the House schild, who was born in 1743. Meyer of Rothschilds was spending his time was not, of course; created from during this period trying to keep Adam's rib. His progenitors are traced chicken in the family soup.. back six generations in Frankfurt, Meyer's big break came in 1801 Germany, to around 1550. Meyer's when William made him his financial father, Amschel Moses Bauer, was a agent after Rothschild had success­ small merchant who died of smallpox fully bribed the ~rince's business when his son was eleven. His dead manager by offering him a percent­ father had wanted him to become a age of the take. It was a bribe well rabbi, but Meyer preferred business. spent. In the following year, Meyer He obtained a clerkship in the Oppen­ fronted for William in the lending of heimer Bank in Hanover and as he ten million thalers to the prince's un­ learned he worked up to become aju­ cle, the King of Denmark.t William nior partner. Returning to Frankfurt did not want the king to know the with a small sum he had saved and source of the funds and used Roth­ considerable knowledge, he opened a schild as a conduit. This represents the small second-hand store and money­ lending business in the Jewish ghetto. •A landgrave was a German prince having terri­ torial jurisdiction. Meyer soon expanded his pawnshop to tMany historians believe that the use of the include the trading of old coins arid term dollar is a corruption of the old German spent part of his time travelling Eu- thaler. 14 AMERICAN OPINION Keystone Photos Conspiracy has been the hallmark of eight generations of Rothschilds as they and their associates have financed wars and revolutions since before-Water­ loo, including the Communist revolts of 1848 and 1871. The palace above, on Rue Lafitte, was built by Baron James (R.) and suffered no looting or damage while leaders of the Paris Commune destroyed half of Paris. first Rothschild involvement in the manned by members of the family ­ business of bankrolling governments. luckily a large one - not by hired Two other factors made possible hands. (To this day, only Rothschilds the creation of the House of Roth­ are partners or owners of the great schild. First, Meyer produced five Rothschild banks.) When Schonche, sons; second, he was in exactly the the eldest daughter, married, her hus­ right business to make a vast fortune band was not employed in the busi­ out of the Napoleonic wars. But had ness; but when Amschel wed a year Rothschild not produced those sons he later, his wife promptly received a probably would have died unremem­ position. (To this day the female line bered. The family's admiring biogra­ is as rigidly kept out of Rothschild pher, Frederick Morton, writes in his affairs as the male line is included.) book, The Rothschilds: Meyer also began a system of secret bookkeeping in addition to the offi­ Old Meyer now gave this new force cial one. (Today Rothschild business formal status. In 1800 he entered into is "secret" to the extent that it con­ a partnership with his two eldest sists, despite its immense size, of pri­ sons. He established rules which be­ vate partnerships which need publish came pillars of a dynastic constitu­ no balance sheets or other informa­ tion. All key posts in the firm were tion.) APRIL,1976 15 During the Napoleonic wars, Wil­ liam of Hesse was forced to flee from the oncoming French legions. Part of his assets were left in the care of Meyer Rothschild. One of Meyer's sons, Nathan, had previously been dispatched to England to establish the family's first international branch. Prince William's assets were smug­ gled out of Germany to Nathan in England, who proceeded to parlay them into millions. The famil y was thus able eventually to return Wil­ liam's assets to him with five percent interest. The wealthy German never knew that he had provided the capital for launching a fortune that would be rivaled in modern times only by that of the Rockefellers. From England, Nathan smuggled desperately needed foodstuffs past Napoleon's navy to a starving Europe at fabulous profits. These profits en­ abled Nathan to specialize. Morton Titular head of the Rothschilds is writes: "T hrough him the Rothschilds Baron Guy (above). Baron Edmond, stopped buying and selling goods, wealthiest of the family, is on the Bil­ even profitable contraband. Through derberger Steering Committee, has him they switched to the ultimate moved into U.S. banking, and is the commodity. From 1810 on, and to this likely successor. Says Guy:"We will very hour, the family would buy and change ... but will still dominate." sell money only." * Nathan's next coup involved using his extensive smuggling system to help England get funds to Welling­ ton , who was fighting Napoleon on the continent. He became, in effect, His Majesty's chief broker and pay­ master to England's most important army. At this point, Nathan's younger brother James enters the pic­ ture. He established an office in 'Morton is being somewhat hyperbolic here . The famil y has long appreciated the leverage involved in controlling natural resources . The quotation "Let me control a nation's currenc y, and I care not who makes its laws," is attrib­ uted over and over to Meyer Amschel Roth­ schild. However no primary source is ever cited. While the remark is probably apocry­ phal, the famil y has certainly appreciated this concept for seven generations. 16 AMERICAN OPINION . Rothschild Banking Empire The Naples branch was discontinued in 1861, the Frankfurt branch in 1901, and the Vienna branch with the coming of World War II. Meyer Amschel English Branch 1743-1812 French Branch T I /<-" I Nathan Jacob 1777-1836 (James) 1792-1868 I T Lionel I I 1808-1879 Alphonse Edmond Gustave 1827-1905 1845-1934 1829-1911 . T I I Leopold Nathaniel r r 1845-1917 1840-1915 Edouard Maurice Robert T 1869-1949 1881-1957 1880-1946 I I Lionel Anthony Nathaniel 1 1 1882-1942 1887-1961 1877- 1923 Baron Baron Guy Edmond 1 1 1909- 1926- Cie.du Nor d Cie. Hncnciere Evelyn Victor, (Imetol, Peno- Banque Lord rroy o, Mokt a ) Bonque Privee 1931- Banque Rothschild Bank of Ca lifornia Rothschild Rothschild Rothschild Bank Israel Euro. Co. Continuation 1910- A.G. Club Med iterra n;", N.M. Rothschild & Son , Rothschild The Economist Continuation T N.M. Rothschild ( & Son, David I I 1942- Baron Elie \ 1 Cie. du Nord Baron I I Jacob 1917- Alain Edmund Leopold PLM 1936- Cha tea u Lalite 1910- 1916- 1927- Rothschild Rothschild Rotbschild Continuation Continuation Cont inua tion N.M.