Father of Koch Brothers Helped Build Nazi Oil Refinery, Book Says

[Purveyor]

By NICHOLAS CONFESSOREJAN. 11, 2016

The father of the billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch helped construct a major oil refinery in Nazi Germany that was personally approved by Adolf Hitler, according to a new history of the Kochs and other wealthy families.

The book, “Dark Money,” by Jane Mayer, traces the rise of the modern conservative movement through the activism and money of a handful of rich donors: among them Richard Mellon Scaife, an heir to the Mellon banking fortune, and Harry and Lynde Bradley, brothers who became wealthy in part from military contracts but poured millions into anti-government philanthropy.

But the book is largely focused on the Koch family, stretching back to its involvement in the far-right John Birch Society and the political and business activities of the father, Fred C. Koch, who found some of his earliest business success overseas in the years leading up to World War II. One venture was a partnership with the American Nazi sympathizer William Rhodes Davis, who, according to Ms. Mayer, hired Mr. Koch to help build the third-largest oil refinery in the Third Reich, a critical industrial cog in Hitler’s war machine.

The episode is not mentioned in an online history published by Koch Industries, the company that Mr. Koch later founded and passed on to his sons.

Ken Spain, a spokesman for Koch Industries, said company officials had declined to participate in Ms. Mayer’s book and had not yet read it.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/us/politics/father-of-koch-brothers-helped-build-nazi-oil-refinery-book-says.html?_r=0

[DonCoquixote]

1. One thing that we can never, ever forget

Is that just because WW2 placed the Nazis and the US on different sides of the Chessboard does not mean that they ever oppose each other. Indeed, we had Prescott Bush actually try to lead a coup. In countries where the rights is not feared due to the alliance of Churchs and the wealthy, Mr. bush would have done jail time, instead, we have a son and a one grandson for President, and if we botch this, possiby more.

[Mike Nelson]

2. Billionaires don't get rich...

...paying attention to such details.

[EdwardBernays]

3. History

Last edited Tue Jan 12, 2016, 08:14 AM - Edit history (2)

is a funny thing...

Like, in 2016 when we think "forced medical testing on prisoners" we think "Nazi concentration camps". That's CERTAINLY not some the Greatest Generation would ever do...

Except they did.

And frequently.

This lasted for 40 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

This started in 1946:

"In a 1946 to 1948 study in Guatemala, U.S. researchers used prostitutes to infect prison inmates, insane asylum patients, and Guatemalan soldiers with syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases, in order to test the effectiveness of penicillin in treating the STDs. They later tried infecting people with "direct inoculations made from syphilis bacteria poured into the men's penises and on forearms and faces that were slightly abraded . . . or in a few cases through spinal punctures". Approximately 700 people were infected as part of the study (including orphan children). The study was sponsored by the Public Health Service, the National Institutes of Health and the Pan American Health Sanitary Bureau (now the World Health Organization's Pan American Health Organization) and the Guatemalan government. The team was led by John Charles Cutler, who later participated in the Tuskegee syphilis experiments. Cutler chose to do the study in Guatemala because he would not have been permitted to do it in the United States. In 2010 when the research was revealed, the US officially apologized to Guatemala for the studies. A lawsuit has been launched against Johns Hopkins University, Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Rockefeller Foundation for alleged involvement in the study."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala_syphilis_experiment

And eugenics was ALL the rage for years and years as well. As part of that the US government sterilised many thousands of poor and minority women, often secretly but almost always against their will.

It's great political propaganda, that a Koch helped the Nazis, but... in the 1940s - heck throughout US history a LOT of Americans have done a LOT of evil for business reasons or personal gain.

[starroute]

4. More on William Rhodes Davis

Much more at the link.

http://vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres8/Hydra.pdf

The collaboration between the Republican Party and the Nazis was an ongoing effort throughout the 1930s. However, it would not reach epidemic proportions until the 1940 election. With the European continent already embroiled in war, and President Roosevelt espousing pro-British views, the Nazis were desperate to keep the United States out of the war. In a bizarre plot full of intrigue involving Texas oilman William Rhodes Davis, labor leader John L. Lewis, and Mexico, Nazis provided extensive funding to the Republican Party for the 1940 election. W.R. Davis of Texas Oil had been supplying the Germany navy with oil since 1936, and was the owner of Eurotanker, a huge German refinery. For the complete story of Davis, the reader should see Dale Harrington's Mystery Man. Davis had arranged a deal to supply the Nazis with oil from Mexico. Since Mexico had nationalized its oil fields, including some owned by Davis, the Mexican oil market was boycotted by big oil, led by Standard Oil of New Jersey. The deal, therefore, was vital for the Mexican economy.

The outbreak of war in Europe also jeopardized Davis' road to riches. Davis used his friendship with John L. Lewis to arrange a meeting with Roosevelt early in 1940 in which he proposed a wild peace plan to FDR. Roosevelt was cool to the plan and informed Davis that any peace plan would have to come through official channels. Davis rushed to Europe, arriving in Italy, and then traveling to Germany. There he met with Goering. Central to Davis' plan was the removal of Hitler; the Nazis would remain in power under Goering. Upon his return, Roosevelt refused to meet with Davis.

Besides the peace plan, talk between Goering and Davis centered on the upcoming presidential election. The Nazis were desperately seeking the defeat of Roosevelt, although they were less than enthusiastic with the Republican candidates. They agreed the best chance of defeating Roosevelt was to back the Republicans rather than run a third party. Davis knew that Lewis was opposed to war and had informed the Nazis that Lewis had control over the election with his large block of union voters. Lewis was not pro-fascism. Instead, he feared that a new war would lead to a dictatorship and the placing of the CIO under emergency laws. In light of the Red Scare of 1919 one can hardly fault Lewis for his fears. Talk soon settled on how much money would be needed to defeat Roosevelt, with the final sum settled at five million dollars.