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3. Jews and Corruption
It is no exaggeration to say that public life in those days was governed by an epidemic of corruption. This was by no means confined to Germany. Europe and the United States of America were similarly affected. Jews played a leading part in corruption scandals everywhere. In France it was Hanau, Oustric, Stavisky; in the United States of America it was Insull; and in Austria, Bosel, Berliner, and Castiglioni were the outstanding figures.
Fundamentally it is unsurprising that this plague of corruption became most widespread and acute in the period that followed the disastrous War. But that Jews should be the bearer and the principal beneficiary of this process of disintegration is typical of their character.
It is understandable that Germany, as the loser of the War, became infected with the germ of corruption to an especially acute degree. During its most distressful period of trial and tribulation, which was the result of the Dictate of Versailles, Germany became acquainted with Jews as the exploiters and beneficiaries of its national misfortunes. None of the other countries involved can point to as bitter an experience with this.
The Jewish profiteers who undermined the structure of German economic life in those years of national distress, and finally were responsible for its total collapse and ruin, range from the company-promoter type and the inflation-profiteer to every type of soldier-of-fortune and large-scale swindler. In no other national economy has Jewish nature — with its selfishness, its unscrupulousness, and its lust for quick profits — developed itself so unrestrictedly as in Germany throughout that tragic period.
Even the war companies, which during the War attended to the supplying of raw materials, were allowed to come more and more under Jewish influence. The largest concern of its kind, the Central Buying Company [Zentral Einkaufsgesellschaft], for example, was controlled by a Jew. The important War Metals Company [Kriegs Metall Company] had 14 governing men of whom 12 were Jews. A public scandal over the business methods of this company was avoided for the simple reason that the political and military developments of the War confronted Germany with more pressing matters.
Jewry's great and triumphant hour of corruption came with the end of the War. The liquidation of the armaments factories and the sale of military stores and equipment offered splendid opportunities for obscene profits, and Jews were not slow to exploit this state of affairs. The Jew Richard Kahn, to mention one example, made a contract with the Deutsche Werke — the largest state-owned armaments plant — whereby the whole of its valuable stock was sold to him at scrap-metal price. Kahn was not the only Jew who profiteered enormously as the result of Germany's downfall. Felix Pinner, a Jewish author, in his book German Industrial Leaders [Deutsche Wirtschaftsführer] (Berlin, 1924), has characterized the innumerable Jewish profiteers as follows: "Many of them ... started business as army suppliers. In a number of cases it was difficult to say whether their chief motive was a desire to deal in military supplies or to find an excuse for shirking military duties. In many cases their big opportunity came when military stores and equipment were finally sold. Others again firmly established themselves financially with the advent of the currency inflation period."
Business in deflated currency in the years 1919 to 1923 brought many noticeable triumphs to corrupt and speculative dealers. Jews in particular were prominent in floating large companies by shady transactions on the exchange. These companies, which, again, were none too securely established, paid out large dividends in their early stages before finally crashing. The most well-known names in this respect are the Jews Jakob Michael and Richard Kahn, and the Eastern Jew Ciprut and his brother. These two brothers are mentioned in the Jew Pinner's book, from which we have already quoted. Pinner states: "The Ciprut brothers are of the breed that comes from the southeastern plains of Romania or Persia: soldiers-of-fortune attracted by the decomposing stench of German currency."
All these cases however were not the deciding factors that turned the Jewish question in Germany into a most burning problem for the whole nation. No. They took place at a time when all phases of economic and political law and order were extremely lax, and so, to a certain extent, they were almost lost in the general chaotic state of affairs during the first post-war years. But nothing was more calculated to open the eyes of the general public in Germany and fan the flame of antisemitism than the huge wave of Jewish corruption which had assumed such a criminal character that one public scandal followed another in swift succession.
We refer in particular to the five Sklarz brothers, the three Barmat brothers, the three Sklarek brothers, and the two Rotter brothers, as well as the scandals associated with Michael Holzmann and Ludwig Katzenellenbogen. All these Jewish masters in corruption were, with the exception of Katzenellenbogen, Easterners, i.e., Galician or Polish Jews, who had migrated to Germany either during or after the War.
The first of the large corruption cases involved the five Sklarz brothers. With the help of influential connections in the Social Democrat Party, they succeeded, shortly after the War, in obtaining a monopoly on the supplies of the troops who had been commissioned to restore domestic law and order. These contracts led to enormous profits within a short space of time. The brothers increased their wealth considerably by discreet bribes to leading government officials and by further such dealings. All this materially helped these Jewish blackguards when they subsequently came up for trial. Little light could be thrown on their shady conduct, and after a well-nigh endless trial only one of the five brothers was convicted in 1926. The brothers were ably assisted by a Russian Jew, Parvus-Helphand, one of the most unscrupulous blackguards and swindlers produced by the War. He used the millions he made out of war supplies to establish good relations with Social Democrats in power at that time. A principal wire-puller, he remained in the background of many corruption scandals; no one dared to start proceedings against a man who had successfully bribed so many leading government officials.
The three Barmat brothers were artists in corruption on a more imposing scale. Their home was in Kiev, and during the War they did business in Holland as food merchants. With the help of the Jewish politician Heilmann, the five Sklarz brothers, and Parvus-Helphand, the three Barmat brothers ultimately received permission to settle in Germany. By means of ruthless exploitation of human weaknesses — small and large favors which ended in direct bribes — these brothers were able to win the confidence of government members and influential friends. In this way they soon became the owners of ten banks and many industrial concerns. Partly by using fraudulent balance sheets, they obtained a loan of 38 million Marks, partly granted by the Prussian State Bank and partly by the Reich Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. When this inflated Barmat concern crashed, its debts were estimated at 70 million gold Marks; half this sum had to be covered by the savings of small investors. The subsequent court proceedings ended in very short terms of imprisonment. Herr Bauer, the Social Democrat Reich Chancellor at the time, who was implicated in the proceedings, was forced to resign. After the crash, Julius Barmat went abroad again. Able to obtain loans in his new surroundings, he applied with great success the methods that he had adopted in Germany. He finally defrauded the Belgian National Bank of 34 million gold francs by bribing politicians. He evaded the law by committing suicide in 1937.
The three Jews Iwan Baruch, Alexander Kutisker, and Michael Holzmann were less successful than their predecessors. Nevertheless they are worthy of mention. They turned their attention to the Prussian State Bank, which Barmat had previously defrauded. They, too, succeeded in defrauding this institution, in the amount of 14 million gold Marks.
But the largest scandal, by far, was the case of the Sklarek brothers of whom there were three. This case is certainly unparalleled in the history of crime, politics, business, and bribery. The principal victims were the city authorities in Berlin. By a clever and crafty system of favors, gifts, and bribes of every description, these three Jews had literally purchased goodwill in various civic quarters in Berlin — where Social Democrats and Communists were chiefly in power. In this way these brothers secured an absolute monopoly for the supply of clothing to the police force, the traffic department, the social aid depots, and the public works department. All municipal officials were systematically bribed who might in any way prove useful to the Sklareks in obtaining and keeping their monopoly. Even the Oberbürgermeister, Berlin's Lord Mayor, was bribed. In this way it was possible to obtain payment from the Berlin Municipal Bank for all faked invoices, i.e., invoices for goods never supplied. The sums paid on that account ran to incredible figures. When the Sklarek firm finally suspended payments, the Berlin Municipal Bank had been defrauded of 12.5 million Marks. An inquiry to ascertain the whereabouts of a further 10 million brought no results. The legal proceedings against these three Jews commenced in 1932 and lasted nine months. In accordance with public feeling, the sentences were more severe than in previous cases. Two of the brothers (one had died in the meantime) were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment with hard labor.
Mention must still be made of the Jewish Director-General Katzenellenbogen. He was head of the Schultheiss-Patzenhofer concern. This was one of the largest industrial concerns in Germany, with a share capital of 75 million Marks and a preferential capital of 15 million Marks. By means of disreputable speculation with a view to personal enrichment at the expense of the company, Katzenellenbogen brought this vast concern to the verge of bankruptcy. The shareholders were defrauded of 30 million Marks. Katzenellenbogen used some of his dishonest profits to finance Erwin Piscator, the Bolshevik theatrical director. Herr Katzenellenbogen was finally convicted for fraud and for issuing false balance sheets, and was sentenced to imprisonment.
The final case in this list of corruption scandals was the one involving the Rotter brothers. These two Jewish speculators had formed a combine encompassing seven of the largest Berlin theaters. The work of exploiting these theaters was considerably facilitated by floating several companies the affairs of which were dumped in the hands of a willing innocent who was acting as a figurehead. In a single year, 1932, the two adventurers were able to squeeze no less than 300,000 Marks clear profit out of these undertakings (after expenses). Their monthly salaries, which they themselves had fixed at 2,000 Marks each, were not included in this figure. A further 400,000 Marks accrued to them thanks to a fraudulent contract concerning two cultural undertakings. And while Christian actors in these theaters were badly underpaid, the Jewish "stars" got fantastic salaries — as much as 1,000 to 2,500 Marks per evening was no rare occurrence. The Rotters lived a life of luxury, but the day came in 1932 when their concern finally crashed, with debts amounting to 3.5 million Marks. The two brothers declined any and all responsibility and decamped for Liechtenstein, for which country they had taken care to obtain naturalization papers.
We have already said that Austria also had large-scale Jewish corruption scandals. Leaving aside Castiglioni and Bosel, we pause on Berliner, the big Jewish swindler. As Director-General of the Phönix Life Insurance Company, he used this major company's funds for political purposes. Berliner maintained excellent relations with all political parties in Austria and paid out a total of 3 million schillings in bribes for elections and the occupation of certain important positions. He influenced the press of his day by payments amounting to 170 million schillings. The trade unions and the military Heimwehr organization were also supported by him from funds misappropriated from his company. The company's debts finally totaled the mammoth sum of 670 million schillings. Three hundred thirty thousand policy holders, chiefly of the non-wealthy middle-class type, were the principal sufferers and had to foot the bill through reduced benefits and increased premiums.
This list of Jewish corruption does not claim to be complete at all. Attention has been drawn only to those few large cases, in Germany and elsewhere, that focused special public attention. But the examples given here belie the oft-repeated Jewish assertion that Jews were no more involved in corruption than Christians were. During the period which has been referred to, only two great corruption scandals by Christians took place; these were the cases of the Raiffeisen Bank and the Lahusen. Jewish participation in corruption was, therefore, not only greater on a qualitative basis — i.e., when compared to the Jewish population ratio — but also in absolute numbers.
A decisive factor in judging Jewish corruption is that legal punishment was invariably delayed or no charge was subsequently preferred against the criminals. When a conviction did take place, punishment was invariably mild. The reason for this is to be found in the very friendly and mutually profitable relations existing between the criminals and various influential personages in the government and other public bodies. And here again, Jews were always to be found in key positions. Mention of this interconnection of interests has already been made. Reference was made to Heilmann, the Jewish Social Democrat Reichstag member who paved the way for the Barmats. The Jewish Secretary of State Abegg was also noted as acting in a similar capacity.
More examples of Jewish corruption in the Prussian Civil Service are the cases of Drs. Weiss and Weismann. They were the Deputy Chief of Police in Berlin and the Secretary of State and State Commissar for Public Law and Order in Prussia, respectively. Both were officially responsible for law and order; Weismann was classified as the senior official in Prussia, the largest of the Federal States. Weismann played a particularly shady part in the proceedings against the Sklarz brothers. It is characteristic of him that he attempted to bribe Herr Gutjahr, the leading state prosecutor, with a sum of 3 million Marks, in an attempt to have the charge modified. Gutjahr refused to be bribed and subsequently Weismann was responsible for this trusted official's being officially reprimanded.
In private life Drs. Weiss and Weismann were both addicted to gambling. The Jewish periodical The World Stage [Die Weltbühne] criticized Weismann in 1920 as "one of the most notorious gamblers in Berlin." Weiss — again, Berlin's Deputy Chief of Police — was frequently surprised in 1932 in various illegal gaming dens. Before the National Socialists came to power Berlin's Court of Appeal even confirmed that he had committed a certain offense against the law and "did not possess the moral qualities necessary for such a responsible position."
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Next week:
4. The Jews in German Political Life
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No jews, just right
Less talk, more action
Last edited by Sean Gruber; August 31st, 2014 at 03:33 PM.
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