February 16, 1919
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
e Financing of Hitler and Ford's Propaganda Rol(
(
LIAM SAPHIRE
ht 1979, JTA, Inc.)
I
YORK — While
diverse sources
be have been ex-
others, James
his sister, Suzanne
.e produced the de-
r ook on the subject,
'inanced Hitler"
ess). The question
inced Hitler is, of
rhetorical because
wer is virtually
!ment of post-World
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•dent sympathizers
Nazi funds could be
in the wretched
; dropped into hats
believers in smoky
ils and in the mill-
marks contributed,
ies surreptitiously,
nan industrialists;
Pounds Sterling —
ieless favorable pub-
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r.ess lords and in
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'agnate Henry
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eh lenders
osing on
indus-
trialists, generally men of
good education and worldly
contacts, were not anti-
Semitic according to the
Pools. Some, like Emil Kir-
dof, head of a large coal
mining complex who was
Hitler's first patron among
the industrial elite, were ac-
tually friendly toward Jews.
Others considered the
"Jewish question" raised by
the Nazis to be of little in-
terest to them.
Fritz Thyssen, "re-
membered as the man
who gave more money to
Hitler than any other in-
dividual," denied being
an anti-Semite. But "he
certainly felt the Jews
were one of the principal
forces behind Com-
munism," the Poolg
wrote.
According to the authors,
an anti-Semitic linkage was
at least partly responsible
for raising the obscure
German Workers Party —
precursor of the .NSDAP
(Nazi Party) — above the
numerous other radical
right splinter factions,
semi-political street gangs
and disaffected veterans
groups that littered the
post-war German land-
scape.
The army, represented
by the land-owning Jun-
kers of Prussia and their
Bavarian counterparts,
also helped the Nazis
with funds. The party
was viewed by the officer
Germany's Racist
Thule Society
Hitler gravitated to the
Workers Party because he
apparently knew it was re-
ceiving clandestine support
from a sinister racist cabal
known as the Thule Society.
This group preached racial
purity, with emphasis on
anti-Semitism. Its symbol
was the swastika and at
least some of its members
practiced pagan rites de-
rived from the mythical
source-land of the Germanic
tribes, Ultima Thule.
The membership in-
cluded upper middle class
and wealthy Germans,
some Prussian aristocrats
and various obscure persons
with mysterious access to
high society. Through them,
Hitler gained his first entry
to respectable "salons" and
promptly became the darl-
ing of society matrons and
dowagers. Although almost
celibate in his personal life
(he was not homosexual)
Hitler exerted a magnetic
attraction for women in all
strata of society.
On an individual basis,
the Pools say, German
women contributed propor-
tionately more money to the
Nazis than their menfolk.
Another benefit derived
from the Thule connection
was its secret purchase of
the failing Jew-baiting
newspaper Volkischer
Beobachter (Racial Ob-
server) which became the
Nazi Party press organ.
ADOLF HITLER
prosperous and stable
middle 1920s. They began
to soar again with the
first signs of oncoming
depression in 1928 and
reached full flood with
the world economic.crisis
of the early 1930s.
A more disturbing
phenomenon than German
support for the Nazis is the
number and prestige of
non-German donors who
contributed generously to
Hitler long before the Nazis
could claim more than mar-
ginal political influence. Al-
though Henry Ford's anti-
Semitic activities are old
history, it comes as a shock
to learn, as the Pools docu-
ment, that the Nazis de-
rived many of their ideas
and Jew-baiting techniques
from Ford rather than Ford
from them.
corps as a possible in-
strument to unseat the
hated Weimar regime
and remove the yolk of
Versailles. Esteem for the
military had dropped
sharply among the Ger-
man masses after the
war. The generals were
interested in fostering a
political movement that
appealed to the working
class but espoused
nationalism instead of
socialism and put the
onus of Germany's defeat
on "traitors" at home
rather than the officers in
the field.
The young Nazi Party
impressed the military by
its ability to sway the lum-
penproletariat. Hitler him-
self, though discharged
from active duty, remained
a paid agent of the Bavarian
army until 1920. It is not
surprising that army funds
were secretly funneled to
the Nazis at an early date.
When this was opposed by
some of the officers, Hitler's
early associate, the ineffa-
ble Capt. Ernst Rohm,
proved adept at embezzle-
ment and blackmail.
Discussing the period
1919-1923, the year of the
failed Munich putsch which
represented the low point of
Nazi fortunes, the authors
provide an incisive picture
of Germany's desperately ill
society. Indeed, the average
German suffered mightily
from unemployment, infla-
tion, riots, strikes and fear
of a Communist-led revolu-
tion after World War I.
In many instances it
was desperation, com-
pounded by ignorance
rather than ideology
which led them to "give"
to the Nazis. Contribu-
tions from individual
Germans reached a peak
during the worst of the
unemployment and infla-
tion but tapered off shar-_
ply during the relatively
Henry Ford's
Role Documented
The authors devote a long
chapter to "Ford and Hi-
tler." They note, and it
should be made clear to the
reader, that the racial aber-
rations of Henry Ford Sr. in
no way reflected the at-
titude of members of his
family or the automobile
company he headed.
Henry Ford, the best-
known American indus-
trialist of his time, was and
remains an enigma. A repu-
ted genius at things
mechanical, he barely com-
pleted an elementary school
pedition to end the war in
Europe. He took with him
a hastily assembled
group of pacifists,
idealists, wishful thin-
kers, free-loaders and
charlatans to "get the
boys out of the trenches
by Christmas." His un-
likely collaborator in that
well-intentioned but
doomed enterprise was a
Hungarian-Jewish jour-
nalist and veteran of the
women's suffragist lec-
ture circuit, Rosika
Schwimmer.
Schwimmer possessed lit-
tle in the way of feminine
charm. But she was a for-
midable personality, spell-
binding at the lectern and
as convinced of her righte-
ousness as Ford was of his.
She also had exceedingly
thick skin, for Ford confided
to her, as the peace mission
was crossing the Atlantic,
that it was the "Jewish
bankers" who started the
war and who had the power
to end it.
Nevertheless, Ford re-
mained loyal to Schwim-
mer, willingly paying her
expenses until her eccen-
tricities so alienated the
rest of the group that he was
forced to accept her resigna-
tion from the project. (For
an excellent account of this
nearly forgotten episode,
readers are referred to "The
Peace Ship" by Barbara S.
Kraft, published this year
by MacMillan.)
rectly from Ford's public
tion . . . One of his (Hitler',
closest associates, Dietric
Eckart, specifically men
tioned the 'Protocols' an
`The International Jew' a'k,
sources of inspiration foi,
the Nazi leader."
Whatever monies Fbrd
gave the Nazis were trans-
ferred secretly although
there was nothing illegal
involved. "It was obviously
more prudent for Ford that
there be no evidence linking
his name with a rad
rightist party," the aut,—
wrote. They traced "three or
four definite channels" by
which Ford money flowed to
the Nazis:
One was through White
Russian intermediaries
lined up by Hitler's most
successful fund-raising
emissary overseas, Kurt
Ludecke. Another was
through Siegried and
Winifred Wagner, son
and daughter-in-law of
Richard Wagner, who
were entertained by Ford
while visiting the U.S. in
1924, ostensibly to prom-
ote the Bayreuth music
festival.
In the manner of many
self-made men, poorly . edu-
cated but crowned with vast
material success, Henry
Ford regarded his opinions
on politics, economics and
almost any other subject, to
be infallible. Thus, when
after the war Ford's anti-
Semitism turned ugly and
dangerous, he purchased
the country newspaper
"Dearborn Independent"
specifically to propagate his
opinions of Jews.
HENRY FORD
education. His outlook on
the world was fixed by the
homilies he learned from
McGuffey's "First Electic
Reader." Beyond that, he
had little use for books be-
cause they "mussed up" his
mind.
Ford could never recon-
cile himself to the changes
that were rapidly obliterat-
ing the rural America of his
boyhood and, in his simplis-
tic way, he was convinced
that some evil human force
was responsible for them.
He distrusted banks, and
the bankers he knew least
about were the "Jewish
bankers," hence they must
be the most evil. He was, for
his times, a humane and
generous employer — be-
cause he dreaded any form
of trade unionism. He be-
lieved war to be wasteful
and that tractors were more
profitable than tanks;
therefore, he was a pacifist
and a sincere one.
In 1915, Ford organized
and financed — out of
pocket in the amount of
some $500,000 — an ex-
Dearborn Paper
Spread Anti-Semitism
From 1919-1927 its
nationwide circulation ex-
ceeded a quarter of a mill-
ion. Reprints of the articles
were published in a four-
volume set (1920-1922)
under the title "The Inter-
national Jew" which was
translated into a dozen lan-
guages, including German.
The Pools wrote, "If `The In-
ternational Jew' was the
Bible, then to the. Nazis
Henry Ford must have
seemed a God. His anti-
Semitic publications led
many Germans to become
Nazis," especially German
youths.
Further on, the authors
noted, "Not only did Hitler
specifically praise Henry
Ford in 'Mein Kampf but
many of Hitler's ideas were
also a direct reflection of
Ford's racist philosophy.
There is a great similarity
between 'The International
Jew' and Hitler's 'Mein
Kampf and some passages
are so identical that it has
been said Hitler copied di-
Anti-Semitism was en-
demic among the British
upper classes during the
1920s, coupled with obses-
sive fear of Bolshevism. Hi-
tler received funding from
those Lords of Fleet St.,
Rothmere and Beaverbrook
and, even more valuable
perhaps, excellent' prow
notices for his- plans for the
New Germany. Financial
support, through devious
and complex channels, was
also forthcoming from "The
Old Lady of Threadneedle
Street" — the Bank of Eng-
land — whose governor for
24 years was the anti
Semitic Montagu Norman .
Not even the Royal Fan-
Hy was immune. At lea:
one member, the Prince
Wales, briefly King Edwai
VIII and later Duke .
Windsor, had a strong affin-
ity for Germany since his
youth. "Legend has it," the
Pools wrote, "that Edward
was compelled to abdicate
due to his refusal to give up
`the woman he loved.' -How-
ever, this issue was_used as
a facade to conceal the more
critical objection which the
government had with the
King — namely his. pro-
Nazi attitudes." If the Pr-
ince did not give money, he
lent considerable prestige to
the Nazi cause.
According to the authors'
account, Nazi fundraising
abroad was least successful
with rank-and-file German
Americans. Ludecke was
almost thrown out bodily
when he harangued a Ger-
man Society meeting in
Washington, D.C. in 1924.
The heyday of the
German-American Bund
was, of course, a decade
away and by then the tables
were turned. The Nazis
were not soliciting funds,
they were financing prop-
aganda and subversion all
over the world.