The Sun newspaper published an article horrifically confirming, following a DNA test, that a lampshade bought at a New Orleans car boot sale is made from human skin. A gruesome relic from Nazi crimes against humanity in the 2nd World War. As the main financier of the Nazis, does Royal Dutch Shell bear any moral (or legal) responsibility for the crimes of Hitler and his equally evil henchmen?

By John Donovan

Yesterday, after 70 years, Norway apologized for the deportation of 773 Jews from Nazi occupied Norway during World War 2.  The majority were shipped to concentration camps and only 34 survived. See news report below.

Royal Dutch Shell has much more to apologize for about its Nazi past.

Shell and its Nazi leader Sir Henri Deterding, conspired directly with Hitler, financed Nazi Germany, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis.

In March 2011, the chief corporate lawyer at Royal Dutch Shell threatened us with legal proceedings in relationship to this sensitive subject.  We are still waiting for Shell to take any action.

The world is still waiting for an apology from Shell.

RELATED INFORMATION

Shell boasted about the money it pumped into Nazi Germany

Royal Dutch Shell and the lampshades made from HUMAN SKIN

Royal Dutch Shell four day meeting directly with Hitler: 7 March 2011

Adolf Hitler thanks Sir Henri Deterding for donation of a million reichs-marks

Royal Dutch Shell founder Deterding backed Nazi Stormtroopers

Sir Henri Deterding of Shell donated millions of dollars in food to Nazi Germany

Evidence that Royal Dutch Shell financed fascist death squads

A History of Royal Dutch Shell Volume 1 (38 pages) HD 600 dpi

A History of Royal Dutch Shell Volume 2 (29 pages) HD 600 dpi

Norway apologizes to Jews

AFP January 28, 2012 3:14 AM

EXTRACT: “Shell was in a business partnership in Germany with the Nazi run company I.G. Farben, which manufactured and supplied the Zyklon-B gas to exterminate millions of people in the Holocaust. Under the circumstances, it can fairly be said that Deterding/Royal Dutch Shell contributed towards the gas bill.”

By John Donovan

The Sturmabteilung (SA) Stormtroopers, the paramilitary wing of the German Nazi Party, played an important role in Hitlers rise to power. SA men were known as “brownshirts.”

Sir Henri Deterding, the person most responsible for founding the Royal Dutch Shell global business empire, was linked to the SA.

Sir Henri was at the helm of the oil giant for over 30 years and at the height of his powers, was able to bind the Board of Shell without their knowledge and consent. Deterding and Royal Dutch Shell were one and the same.

Sir Henri was said to be the most powerful and richest man in the world.

Unfortunately, he became an ardent Nazi and there were many accounts published in the 1930s of his substantial financial support for Hitler and Nazi Germany. In 1936, Reuters confirmed with staff  at the German residence of Deterding a £1,000,000 donation of food to Nazi Germany.

Deterding was an honored friend of Hitler and a personal friend of Field Marshall Göring.

Hitler’s special envoy, Dr. Alfred Rosenberg, known as “Hitler’s mouthpiece” was a house guest of Deterding in the UK. Deterding later spent 4 days as Hitlers guest at Berchtesgaden. It was said: “Deterding Orders-Hitler acts”.

There is no evidence that Deterding ever challenged newspaper reports of his financial backing of the Nazis.

He also secretly backed the SA in return for preferential treatment of Shell’s business interests in Germany. This revelation was made during the trial of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. Shell was in a business partnership in Germany with the Nazi run company I.G. Farben, which manufactured and supplied the Zyklon-B gas to exterminate millions of people in the Holocaust. Under the circumstances, it can be fairly said that Deterding/Royal Dutch Shell contributed towards the gas bill.

The following are extracts from “The Nuremberg Trial” by Joe J. Heydecker and Johannes Leeb, originally published in German and later translated into English by R. A. Downie. (“A HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY AS REVEALED THROUGH THE TESTIMONY AT NUREMBERG”)

First an extract from the FOREWORD:

In concentrating almost completely on the factual contents of the Trial, the authors have attempted to present the history of the Trial itself in all its aspects, based on documents, depositions, records, and historical facts. They have left nothing to speculation or imagination; they have strictly avoided all romantic embellishment and additions. Thus everything in this book is historically accurate, every action and reaction of the protagonists is vouched for by eyewitnesses, every event provable, every quoted word was actually spoken.

Extracts from pages 110 & 111 covering The Reichstag Fire:

Thus, all those who had been in the know, and all who had unconsciously come upon the facts of the fire, had lost their lives.

Hanussen’s presumable informant, the engineer Georg Bell, who had his information from the highest Nazi circles, escaped to Austria, but before leaving he gave some secret Nazi papers to a Munich newspaper editor, Fritz Michael Gerlich. But his office was likely to be searched, and so those papers had to disappear as quickly as possible. The last to see them was the former State President of Wiirttemberg, Eugen Anton Bolz. Gerlich’s secretary, Miss Breit, clearly remembered the contents of the documents. They contained: detailed facts about the Reichstag fire; an agreement between the Nazi Party and the British oil millionaire, Deterding, concerning the secret backing of the SA in return for preferential treatment of his German interests; a list of witnesses to the fact that Hitler had murdered his niece Geli Raubal; plans for discrediting the Church; plans of SA Chief of Staff Roehm for getting rid of Hitler after the Nazis’seizure of power. The men who had seen these dangerous documents had to die. Bell was ferreted out by SA unit commander Uhl in Austria and was there dispatched with six pistol shots.

Georg Bell was an agent who acted jointly for Deterding and Hitler. He was murdered in Austria in April 1933 by a death squad of Nazi Storm Troopers and the SS after “making revelations about Deterding and the Nazis.” Bell apparently knew too much about sensitive matters the Nazis and Deterding/Shell wanted hushed up.

Royal Dutch Shell maintained its business relationship/collaboration with the Nazis after the resignation of Sir Henri as Shell Director General and even after his death a few years later.

RELATED: ROYAL DUTCH SHELL NAZI SECRETS

By John Donovan

On 28 April 1945, Lieutenant-Colonel Werner Baumbach (right), “General of the Bombers” – the top post in German bomber command, arrived at a country house located at Krakow, near Güstrow in Mecklenburg, for a meeting with Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the SS.

As overseer of the concentration camps and extermination camps, Himmler coordinated the murder of around 10 million people. (See Wikipedia).

It soon became apparent to Baumbach, after two portraits in silver frames were drawn to his attention, that the country house in which the SS was located, was formally the home of the oil baron, Sir Henri Deterding, the world renowned director of Royal Dutch Shell. Sir Henri, the man most responsible for the growth of Shell into a global oil giant, was an ardent Nazi and friend and financial supporter of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party .

The first portrait, signed by Hitler, contained the following inscription:

Sir Henry Deterding – in the name of the German people, for your noble donation of a million reichs-marks.

Adolf Hitler

The second photograph was of Reichsmarschall Herman Göring, Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe.

The inscription said:

To my dear Deterding, in gratitude for your noble gift of Rominten Hunting Lodge.

Your Hermann Göring

The above information comes from pages 235 and 236 of a book by Werner Baumbach entitled: “The Life and Death of the Luftwaffe”, first published in 1949 and translated into English in 1960. Although just a passing reference consisting of a few paragraphs from a book devoted to telling “the story of an officer who served his country with distinction and risked reprisals to speak his mind“, it provides historically important evidence confirming Deterding’s financial support for the Nazis.

Göring’s hunting lodge at Rominten in East Prussia was known as “The Reichsjägerhof.”

Baumbach “spent nearly six months in an English interrogation camp. He was told that he would be charged as a war criminal on the ground that he had fired on shipwrecked people. After unending cross-examination and investigation Baumbach was able to prove conclusively that throughout the war neither he nor any unit under his command had committed any violations of the Hague Convention.” (Source of this extract)

In 1939,  Göring sent a wreath to the Nazi funeral of Sir Henri.

It contained the personal message:

‘In the name and on the instructions of the Fuhrer, I greet thee, Heinrich Deterding, the great friend of the Germans.‘

Royal Dutch Shell continued its financial relationship with the Nazis after the resignation of Sir Henri as Director General of the company and even after his subsequent death.

By John Donovan

Today we publish further confirmation of Shell’s financing of Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Extract from a review of “Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order” by F. WILLIAM ENGDAHL

“Later, the consequences from Baron Kurt von Schroeder’s January 4, 1932 meeting would have to be faced after he, Heinrich von Papen and Hitler secretly arranged a Nazi takeover. A year later, another meeting followed preparatory to acting. The Weimar government was weak, the scheme was to topple it, and it made Hitler Reichschancellor on January 30, 1933. On August 2, 1934 he seized absolute power as Fuhrer. British interests backed him, Royal Dutch Shell financed him, and the Bank of England “moved with indecent haste to reward” him with a vital line of credit. The rest, as they say, is history, and from it would emerge a new world order.”

EXTRACT FROM PAGE 100 OF THE BOOK

“On January 30, 1933 Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of the Reich.

The final London visit of Alfred Rosenberg was in May 1933, this time as one of the inner figures in the new Hitler government. He went directly to the country home in Buckhurst Park in Ascot of Sir Henri Deterding, the head of Royal Dutch Shell and arguably the world’s most influential businessman. According to English press accounts, the two had a warm and eventful discussion. Rosenberg had first met Deterding during his 1931 London trip.  Royal Dutch Shell had intimate contact and support to the German NSDAP. While the details were kept secret, reliable British reports of the day were that Deterding had provided substantial financial support to the Hitler Project in its critical early phases.”

EXTRACT ENDS

Notes

1. Dr. Alfred Rosenberg was Hitlers envoy

2. The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known in English as the Nazi Party. (Extract from Wikipedia)

About the Author

F. William Engdahl is the author of the best-selling book on oil and geopolitics “A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order.” It has been published in eight languages. He is one of the more widely discussed analysts of current political and economic developments, and his articles and analyses have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines and well-known international websites.

By John Donovan

Many people fondly remember the advertising slogan…

“You can be Sure of Shell”

The legendary crooner, Bing Crosby, sung the praises of Shell in the 1950′s.

Our research indicates that the slogan

“YOU CAN BE SURE OF SHELL”…

was first used in Great Britain by Shell in 1937 (right) months after the forced resignation of Sir Henri Deterding, the man most responsible for the creation and global success of the Royal Dutch Shell Group.

Sir Henri in his latter years as the undisputed strong man ruler of Royal Dutch Shell, had become a fascist and an ardent Nazi, who provided massive financial support to his friend Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. The relationship and the financial support for the Nazis generated negative publicity for Shell.

We assume that the “YOU CAN BE SURE OF SHELL” slogan was designed to rebuild confidence in the company and its products and was no doubt directed at consumers and potential investors.

Fortunately, we have a comprehensive explanation from a Shell Chairman, Mark Moody-Stuart. It is in the form of a letter from him published by The Guardian newspaper on 2nd December 1997.

As can be seen, basically the slogan was meant to get across the message that Shell now has principles that it will not sacrifice to profit. It supposedly respects human rights and is trustworthy because it follows an ethical framework.

His illuminating letter, partly the product of the Shell PR propaganda department, was in response to a truly extraordinary indictment of the oil giant, in a Guardian article:

“Unlovable Shell: The Goddess of Oil“

Reference was made in the article to Shell’s double-dealings (secret negotiations) with Hitler and the Nazis, a relationship which continued long after the resignation of Sir Henri Deterding as Director-General of Royal Dutch Dutch.

Ironically, the Moody-Stuart letter was published at the time when Shell so-called “value creation teams”, were already engaged in activities leading to the falsification of Shell’s oil and gas reserves and one of the biggest investor frauds in history.

I assume that the regret for what was done “in a different historical or social context” was a reference to the historical fact that Shell conspired directly with Hitler, heavily financed the Nazi Party, was at times anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis.

At the time the slogan was introduced in 1937, Shell was already in bed with Hitler and the Nazi Party. Royal Dutch Shell Director General, Sir Henri Deterding, had a very close relationship with Hitler. There was a report in a gossip column that his wife, Lady Lydia, had an even closer relationship with Hitler.

Hitler’s special envoy, Dr. Alfred Rosenberg, known as “Hitler’s mouthpiece” was a house guest of Deterding in the UK.

Deterding later spent 4 days as Hitlers guest at Berchtesgaden.

Deterding and Shell gave huge financial support to Nazi Germany while Deterding was a director of Royal Dutch Shell.

It was said: “Deterding Orders-Hitler acts”.

Some of this happened in 1937, the year the “YOU CAN BE SURE OF SHELL” advertising campaign was launched.

Shell was stabbing Great Britain in the back, dealing with and funding the most evil regime in history, while treacherously pretending that Shell could be trusted by the British public.

It was for good reason that a deputy of Hitler stepped forward at Deterding’s funeral in 1939 and placed a wreath at his grave which said: ” In the name of Adolf Hitler, I greet you, Henri Deterding, the great friend of the Germans.”

It’s about time that Shell issued a full formal apology for its past corporate sins, which contributed to the horrific deaths of millions of people, instead of including an apology for unspecified misdeeds within a carefully contrived letter attempting to defend the indefensible.

No wonder Shell has ceased using the slogan.

Earlier this month, Royal Dutch Shell threatened legal proceedings against us in relation to these matters.

EMAIL FROM MICHIEL BRANDJES, 3 MARCH 2011

From: michiel.brandjes@shell.com
Date: 3 March 2011 09:02:21 GMT
To: john@shellnews.net
Subject: RE: A HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Dear Mr Donovan,

Thank you for your message. Except for this message the company does not wish to respond to you other than to convey that it strongly disagrees with your views and allegations, objects to your actions and reserves its legal rights, including with respect to copyrights.

On an exceptional basis we tested your views about history with the relevant historians. They convincingly refute with evidence what you claim in contradiction with A History of Royal Dutch Shell.

Best Regards,
Michiel Brandjes
Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate
Royal Dutch Shell plc

Registered office: Shell Centre London SE1 7NA UK
Place of registration and number: England 4366849
Correspondence address: PO Box 162, 2501 AN  The Hague,
The Netherlands

I pointed out in my response that Shell’s paid historians provided not a single example of any factual inaccuracy. Furthermore, as I correctly predicted, no legal action has been taken. This is most definitely not a subject that Shell wants aired in open court, as the evidence confirms our published conclusion that Shell is the most evil multinational corporation in existence.

And history repeats itself.

In recent days we have seen the latest reincarnation of a ruthless Shell leader, Peter Voser (who made thousands of Shell employees reapply for their own jobs), defend Shell’s dealings with the latest reincarnation of a ruthless dictator, Gaddafi.

ENDS

COMMENT ADDED ON 1 APRIL 2011 FROM IAIN PERCIVAL, RETIRED GLOBAL CHIEF PETROLEUM ENGINEER OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL (Iain retired from Shell in 2006 after 33 years of service.)

John – in your posting dated 31 March 2011 “You can be sure of Shell – the biggest confidence trick in history”, you wrote

when Shell so-called “value creation teams”, were already engaged in activities leading to the falsification of Shell’s oil and gas reserves and one of the biggest investor frauds in history.

I wish to correct any impression the team members were in any way conducting themselves in any other way than as competent, dedicated technical professionals conducing a root and branch examination of the huge volume of hydrocarbons in Shell’s resource portfolio categorized as “Scope for Recovery”. The aim of the exercise was to identify activities & projects which could (I emphasise the word could) lead to booking volumes of hydrocarbons as “Expectation” volumes, not proved, and only if there was a reasonable level of certainty the projects would go ahead. The outcome of the Value Creation initiative was a complete change in the way the company goes about generating hydrocarbon development concepts, designing and executing well programmes, defining and executing major engineering projects and optimizing the way facilities are operated and maintained. The current suite of E&P Global Processes, operating standards, learning & development programmes, best practice sharing / knowledge management owe their existence to the pioneering work conducted by the Shell technical professionals who worked in the Value Creation Teams.

The implication that the Value Creation work led to the falsification of hydrocarbon reserves and investor fraud is false. The work has led to value generation for investors in Shell resulting from increased efficiency in the use of capital and increased effectiveness of the technical staff in their daily work.

I remain immensely proud to have been associated with the value creation effort and the implementation of the subsequent changes to how we did our work.

Kind regards,

Iain Percival

COMMENT ENDS

REPLY BY JOHN DONOVAN

I have supplied below some information from independent sources on the issue raised by Iain Percival.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY REPORT ON SHELL RESERVES SCANDAL: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/final/shell_24aug04.pdf (August 2004 -- £17 MILLION FINE FOR “MARKET ABUSE”)

EXTRACT

Paragraph 5.

In 1998 Shell created five Value Creation Teams (‘VCTs”) to find radical new ways to improve Shell’s Exploration and Production business (“EP”) profitability and reputation and hence aid growth in the EP business. One VCT was tasked with creating the maximum value from Shell’s hydrocarbon reserves. A paper dated May 1998 entitled “Creating value through Entrepreneurial Management of Hydrocarbon Resource Values” made a number of recommendations including changing Shell’s reserves guidelines. On 16 September 1998 the revised guidelines were issued to Shell’s operating units. These revised guidelines resulted in an overstatement of Shell’s proved reserves of 940 million boe for the two years ended 31 December 1999.

Below is a link to the “REPORT OF DAVIS POLK & WARDELL TO THE SHELL GROUP AUDIT COMMITTEE: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY” dated 31 March 2004. Every page of the 202 page report is marked “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL”

I invite readers to download the report and run a search on “value creation team” and read the information on the related ten pages.  I will provide a few extracts here, but recommend that the entire 10 pages are read so the information can be seen in context.

From page 32 (or Court numbering -- page 52 of 202)

The Value Creation Team prepared a report for EP BusCom that was widely distributed within EP entitled “Creating Value through Entrepreneurial Management of Hydrocarbon Resource Volumes.”

From pages 45 & 46 (Using Court numbering -- pages 66 and 67 of 202)

In 1998 and 1999, a diagram known as the “cascade model” developed by the Value Creation Team appeared in the Guidelines. The”cascade model” illustrated the “migration of volumes between resource categories during the development life cycle.” In the diagram, “undeveloped reserves” appeared before “final investment decision” or FID (although the diagram does not make clear whether these volumes include proved undeveloped reserves).

Beginning in 1993, the Guidelines also introduced the concept of “commercial viability” (or later,”commercial maturity”) as a counterpart to technical maturity. As explained in the 1996 Guidelines, commercial viability implied that the project would yield an expected positive net present value (NPV) based on “advised Group reference criteria for commerciality.” Such viability was adequate for the inclusion of “reserves,” even though a more robust demonstration of “economic viability” (i.e., positive NPV under a number of technical risk downside scenarios) was necessary to obtain investment approval. In other words, it appears that the Guidelines permitted the booking of reserves (whether proved or expectation) with respect to projects that would not survive the Group’s capital allocation process, again a result that appears to fall short of “reasonable certainty.”

Pages 7 & 8 (or Court numbering -- 86 & 87 of 202)

C.    Revisions to the Shell Guidelines -- “Volume Value Creation Team”

In each of 1997 and 1998, Shell’s RRR performance significantly exceeded 100%. During these years Shell’s proved reserves were significantly boosted, not by exploration and development activity, but rather by significant modification to Shell’s methodologies for booking proved developed reserves. This change was at least partly the result of a review that was conducted under the auspices of a “Hydrocarbon Resource Volume Value Creation Team” (the “Value Creation Team”) within EP that was, in turn, established as part of Shell’s Leadership and Performance “LEAP” Focused Results Delivery Project. Similar to the relaxation in standards for booking proved gas reserves in 1990, this initiative was driven by the perception that Shell’s approach to booking proved developed reserves was more conservative than its competitors’, and that Shell’s reserves were therefore not maximizing value.

Footnote of page 4  (or Court numbering page 83 of 202)

It should be noted that the main increases in proved reserves resulting from the Value Creation Team’s revised Guidelines in 1997/1998 (See Section II C, below) related to proved developed reserves.  Such proved developed reserves did not make up a significant portion of the reserves recategorization announced on January 9, 2004.

RELATED ARTICLE

THE NEW YORK TIMES: At Shell, New Accounting and Rosier Oil Outlook: 12 March 2004

Extract

The problems at Royal Dutch/Shell can be traced to the first half of the 1990′s, when executives and investors began to grow concerned that the group’s reserves were not keeping pace with production. Their concern led them in 1997 to instruct the leadership and performance group, known within the company as LEAP, to “create value through entrepreneurial management of hydrocarbon resource volumes,” according to one company document.

PRESS STATEMENT BY FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY: FSA fines Shell £17,000,000 for market abuse

The Robert Gordon University: Iain Recognised for Mentoring Work

EXTRACT FROM AN ARTICLE BY CHRISTIAN STADLER PUBLISHED TODAY BY FORTUNE

5 ways to keep your company alive

March 7, 2011

In the years before World War II, Shell was very much a one-man-band led by Sir Henri Deterding. Under Deterding’s firm control, the group prospered but also flirted with disaster as he saw Adolf Hitler as the man most likely to preserve Europe from Communism. Luckily for Shell, Deterding retired in 1936 before he could make any disastrous commitments. The company did not forget its narrow escape.

(Photo: The Shell Mex House, Shell’s former headquarters in London. Photo taken in 1955)

SOURCE ARTICLE

Comment added by John Donovan. In fact Deterding remained a director of Royal Dutch Shell until his death in February 1939.

By John Donovan

This posting provides a clarification to my recent article “Will Shell block Internet publication of its Nazi past?”.

It is in relation to the following paragraph.

Information in Shell’s own authorised history of the company confirms that Shell pumped funds into the Nazi in a variety of ways, was at times anti-Semitic, sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis and conspired directly with Hitler.

When I said “and conspired directly with Hitler” that was partly an informed assumption on my part.

A four day meeting between Sir Henri Deterding (right), the founder and dictatorial leader of Royal Dutch Shell Group and Adolf Hitler, the fascist German dictator and leader of the Nazis did take place in October 1934. There is no dispute about that fact.

The meeting held at Berchtesgaden – Hitler’s mountain top retreat known as the The Berghof and later as The Eagle’s Nest – was reported at the time in a New York Times article. There was no later retraction by the New York Times of anything stated in the article.

The Deterding/Hitler summit, in combination with the personal message sent by Hitler to the funeral of Sir Henri, provides an indication of the very special relationship between Hitler and Deterding, the undisputed boss of Royal Dutch Shell.

According to the New York Times article, the subject discussed during the summit was the prospect of Hitler granting a monopoly to “Royal Dutch and Shell Companies of petrol distribution in Germany.” It seems reasonable to assume. bearing in mind subsequent events, that other subjects of mutual interest were discussed e.g. Hitler and Deterding both shared an intense interest in Russia, not limited to the Russian oil fields.

The two tyrants must have got on well because Dr. Georg Bell, a mysterious individual said to be a German spy, had already acted as a joint agent for Hitler and Deterding. Bell was an intimate of the perverted Storm Troop Leader Capt. Ernst Röhm, and was reportedly involved with Deterding in a counterfeiting operation against the Russian Rouble.

Bell was murdered in Austria in April 1933 by a death squad of Nazi Storm Troopers and the SS after “making revelations about Deterding and the Nazis.” Bell apparently knew too much about sensitive matters the Nazis and their financiers wanted hushed up.

These historical events were entirely at variance with the picture painted in “A History of Royal Dutch Shell” by Shell’s paid historians of the Nazis repeatedly rebuffing all overtures from Deterding for an audience with Hitler, with the Nazis determined to keep him firmly at arms length. This entire defence was based on a false premise.

Will Royal Dutch Shell carry out threat to block Internet publication of its connection with Hitler and the Nazis?

By John Donovan

I have printed below my recent email correspondence with Mr. Michiel Brandjes, the Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

As can be seen, it relates to Royal Dutch Shell’s support for Hitler and the Nazis.

I have already published a related article: “Royal Dutch Shell and the Nazis: Shell threatens legal proceedings

This is obviously a highly sensitive subject for Shell.

The reply to my email concerning our intention to publish related information from “A History of Royal Dutch Shell”, authored by Shell’s paid historians, is the first time we have managed to elicit any comment from Shell on the subject.

Since Shell’s statement and associated threats are likely to be of most interest, I have printed it first, then again in appropriate order, within the entire correspondence.

The links immediately below are the pdf files which generated the threats from Royal Dutch Shell. Because they contain multiple pages, they take some time to load, so please be patient.

A History of Royal Dutch Shell: Pages from Volume 1

A History of Royal Dutch Shell: Pages from Volume 2

Despite the bluster, it is doubtful that Shell will take any action, because to do so would guarantee coverage of the subject by the mainstream media, a development Shell executives must dread.

The example (top right) from Volume 2 of “A History of Royal Dutch Shell” is the official announcement in May 1940 of the transfer of Royal Dutch’s legal seat to Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles located in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. Royal Dutch Petroleum directors refused to locate the company seat in England. Perhaps they were not sure whose side they were on and were hedging bets about the outcome of the war? There was also antagonism between UK and Dutch directors in the Group, which seems to be a reoccurring theme.

EMAIL FROM MICHIEL BRANDJES, 3 MARCH 2011

From: michiel.brandjes@shell.com
Date: 3 March 2011 09:02:21 GMT
To: john@shellnews.net
Subject: RE: A HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Dear Mr Donovan,

Thank you for your message. Except for this message the company does not wish to respond to you other than to convey that it strongly disagrees with your views and allegations, objects to your actions and reserves its legal rights, including with respect to copyrights.

On an exceptional basis we tested your views about history with the relevant historians. They convincingly refute with evidence what you claim in contradiction with A History of Royal Dutch Shell.

Best Regards,
Michiel Brandjes
Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate
Royal Dutch Shell plc

Registered office: Shell Centre London SE1 7NA UK
Place of registration and number: England 4366849
Correspondence address: PO Box 162, 2501 AN  The Hague,
The Netherlands

ENTIRE EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE IN DATE/TIME ORDER

JOHN DONOVAN EMAIL TO MR MICHIEL BRANDJES, WEDNESDAY 2 MARCH 2011

From: John Donovan [mailto:john@shellnews.net]
Sent: woensdag 2 maart 2011 13:43
To: Brandjes, Michiel CM RDS-LSC
Subject: A HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Dear Mr. Brandjes

I have tried, without success, to send you two pdf files for your information. Both exceeded a size limit imposed by your server.

Each contains a selection of pages from “A History of Royal Dutch Shell”.

The first pdf relates to Volume One, 1890-1939, and contains the front and back cover, plus three preamble pages, including  copyright and publishers details. In addition, it includes numbered pages 464 to 493 inclusive.

The second pdf relates to Volume 2, 1939-1973, and contains the front and back cover, two preamble pages covering publishers details and copyright information, plus the following numbered pages: 12, 22, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84 and 86.

Both include the following 2 page introduction, plus an article from the New York Times published on 26 October 1934 reporting on a 4 day summit meeting between Hitler and Sir Henri Deterding.

INTRODUCTION

Royal Dutch Shell and the Nazis

By John Donovan

In the “Fortune Global 500 Ranking by Revenue 2010”, Royal Dutch Shell Plc is ranked as the second largest company in the world, after Wal-Mart Stores.

Many people know something about the oil giants’ controversial track record in Nigeria. It includes decades long plunder and pollution, with involvement in espionage, corruption, torture, murder, and other human rights abuses.

Some people are aware of Shell’s unscrupulous dealings with despotic regimes in Iraq, Iran, and Libya. Shell deliberately disguised shipping movements of Iraqi and Iranian oil during UN sanctions.

Very few people have any inkling of Shell’s pivotal support for Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Basically, Shell saved the Nazi Party when it was in danger of financial collapse and continued, for over a decade, to pump funds into the Nazi project. As a consequence, Shell was arguably indirectly responsible for over 30 million deaths in World War 2.

I have already published a series of articles on this explosive subject, the most recent major article under the headline: “Royal Dutch Shell Nazi Secrets”

The Dutch oil baron Sir Henri Deterding drove Shell’s support for the Nazis. He was the dictatorial founder of Royal Dutch Shell publicly described as the “Napoleon of Petroleum” and “The Most Powerful Man in the World”. Sir Henri was infatuated with Hitler and the Nazis.

An official account of the history of the oil giant – “A History of Royal Dutch Shell” – authored by eminent historians associated with Utrecht University, provided invaluable information during my research. The historians were given unrestricted access to Royal Dutch Shell archives. The Research Institute for History and Culture supervised the project. The entire 4-volume history published in 1997 costs £140 (over $200).

I have created pdf files from relevant pages of Volumes 1 & 2 for publication on the Internet. Public interest in knowing the truth about such historically important matters in my view outweighs copyright issues. Instead of the information being buried in an expensive set of history books available mainly in a few reference libraries for research by academics, the information is now freely available on the World Wide Web.

The public and investors should be aware of Shell’s Nazi past. Some people, perhaps relatives of those poor souls who suffered horrific deaths in the Nazi gas chambers, may wish to boycott Shell on these grounds alone. Shell’s Nazi business partner, the infamous I.G. Farben, supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children.

Information in Shell’s own authorised history of the company confirms that Shell pumped funds into the Nazi in a variety of ways, was at times anti-Semitic, sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis and conspired directly with Hitler.

Readers can see for themselves from the pages below that Shell continued its partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri Deterding as leader of the company. Sir Henri remained a director after his retirement from the top job and made huge food donations to Nazi Germany that were widely reported. This meant that Shell was aware of his activities and allowed him to remain as a director; no surprise bearing in mind that Shell also continued its partnership with the Nazis (even after the subsequent death of Sir Henri).

As a long-term campaigner against Shell management misdeeds, my objectivity and impartiality is open to question. This is why I created pdf’s containing relevant pages from “A History of Royal Dutch Shell”, so those interested can read Shell’s own account of relevant events.

Since the historians were paid by Shell, it follows that their objectivity and impartiality is also open to question. They also appear to have enjoyed some global jet setting funded by Shell.

The relevant historians  – Joost Jonker and Jan Luiten van Zanden – downplayed the central issue of Shell funding the Nazis on the basis that Hitler would not even agree to meet with Sir Henri. My own research, including newspaper reports from the 1930’s unearthed in The New York Times archive, revealed that this could not have been further from the truth.

Agents engaged in sinister activities jointly for Hitler and Sir Henri after the two men had a private four-day summit meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat in Berchtesgaden. Both dictators had designs on the Russian oil fields.

What transpired all those years ago obviously has no reflection on current Shell employees, the vast majority of whom are decent hard working people.

The dreadful events do however stain forever the name of Royal Dutch Shell and the brand name by which the company is best known throughout the world: Shell.

John Donovan

March 2011

INTRODUCTION ENDS

You will see my stated contention that public interest overrides copyright issues.

As you will probably be aware, I published an article last week giving notice to Shell lawyers of my intention to publish this information on the Internet.

I have not received any response and this suggests that Shell has no objection to such publication.

Please let me know if this assumption is wrong.

Shell is, as always, welcome to correct any inaccurate information which is stated as fact in the introduction.

If you want any comment or response by Shell to be added, it will be included on an unedited basis.

If there is no response within the next 48 hours, I will take that as confirmation that Royal Dutch Shell plc has waived copyright in favour of the public interest and our right to criticise Shell using the Internet, as stated by your company in its submission to the World Intellectual Property Organisation in 2005. This was in regard to the proceedings by Shell in respect of the top level domain name RoyalDutchShellPlc.com and two other Shell related domain names.

Internet publication in controversial circumstances may promote renewed interest in “A History of Royal Dutch Shell” and generate sales.

If you need more time to consider the matter, that is not a problem. Just kindly let me know within the 48 hour period that you will be responding after due consideration.

Best Regards
John Donovan

EMAIL RESPONSE FROM MICHIEL BRANDJES, 3 MARCH 2011

From: michiel.brandjes@shell.com
Date: 3 March 2011 09:02:21 GMT
To: john@shellnews.net
Subject: RE: A HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Dear Mr Donovan,

Thank you for your message. Except for this message the company does not wish to respond to you other than to convey that it strongly disagrees with your views and allegations, objects to your actions and reserves its legal rights, including with respect to copyrights.

On an exceptional basis we tested your views about history with the relevant historians. They convincingly refute with evidence what you claim in contradiction with A History of Royal Dutch Shell.

Best Regards,
Michiel Brandjes
Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate
Royal Dutch Shell plc

Registered office: Shell Centre London SE1 7NA UK
Place of registration and number: England 4366849
Correspondence address: PO Box 162, 2501 AN  The Hague,
The Netherlands

REPLY FROM JOHN DONOVAN

From: John Donovan <john@shellnews.net>
Date: 3 March 2011 13:18:33 GMT
To: michiel.brandjes@shell.com
Subject: Re: A HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Dear Mr Brandjes

Thank you for your response.

For the record, we are not in contradiction with the stated facts based on information/evidence in Shell archives, but rather with the surprising opinions and conclusions aired by your paid historians in relation to that evidence.

Their defence of the numerous allegations of Shell/Deterding funding of Hitler and the Nazi Party was founded on the claim that all attempts by Deterding to meet with Hitler were rebuffed, with the conclusion being that Deterding could not have been held in high esteem by Hitler. I can only surmise that the historians were unaware that in fact Deterding had a summit meeting with Hitler at Berchtesgaden. Only an honoured personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat. In contrast, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s face-to-face meeting in September 1938 with Hitler at Berchtesgaden in an attempt to avoid war, lasted for just three hours. The absence of any reference to the Deterding/Hitler meeting in my view undermines the credibility of the relevant paid historians and their ill informed opinions on this historically important matter.

Further evidence of the high regard the Nazis had for Deterding was apparent at his Nazi funeral, which included a glowing personal tribute from Hitler in a wreath sent by Göring: ‘In the name and on the instructions of the Fuhrer, I greet thee, Heinrich Deterding, the great friend of the Germans.‘

I am sure that you will understand that having been bombarded with various threats by Shell and its lawyers for getting on to 20 years, such threats have lost their impact.  Please also bear in mind the fact that we are in possession of a Shell internal communication indicating that Shell decided long ago that it would never take legal action against us. There was a fear expressed in one such communication about “internal laundry”. If you categorically state that Shell will take legal action if we proceed with our planned publication, then we would be more impressed and act accordingly.

As to the blanket condemnation of “our views about history”, I note that not a single example of any inaccurately stated fact has been provided.

Best Regards
John Donovan

CORRESPONDENCE ENDS

Text: “Together with Jersey Standard, Shell distributed the synthetic gas oil produced by IG Farben and was a partner in the extension of the project. The town of Leuna in eastern Germany was the hub of I. G. Farbenindustrie and gave its name to the company’s synthetic petrol.”

Royal Dutch Shell was for many years a business and cartel partner both in Germany and on a global basis, with I.G. Farben, the German Chemical giant, which was under control of the SS. The synthetic gasoline contributed significantly to Germany’s ability to wage war despite having been cut off from all major oil fields. I.G. Farben supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. During the Nuremberg trials, I.G. Farben Directors were found guilty of war crimes, including crimes against humanity, the “mistreatment, terrorization, torture, and murder of enslaved persons” and of being members of a criminal organisation, the SS. (Some information/extracts sourced from the Wikipedia article: IG Farben Trial)

By John Donovan

Royal Dutch Shell has today threatened legal proceedings in relation to revelations published on this website about the funding of Hitler and the Nazi Party by Shell and Sir Henri Deterding.

The Shell email says that Shell “reserves its legal rights, including with respect to copyright.”

This means that Shell is threatening defamation and copyright proceedings. This would be interesting litigation to say the least, likely to generate significant global publicity.

Shell has checked with its paid historians responsible for “A History of Royal Dutch Shell” and says that “they convincingly refute with evidence what you claim in contradiction with A History of Royal Dutch Shell.”

A blanket denial yet not one example provided of any specific inaccuracy.

It therefore seems even more appropriate that we publish all of the relevant pages from “A History of Royal Dutch Shell”. The public will then be in a position to draw their own conclusions, taking into account all of the other evidence we have assembled.

Subject to any High Court injunction, we will publish the information on the Internet *later today along with the unedited related email correspondence, which includes Shell’s first statement on this highly controversial matter.

*Since we have sent a reply to Mr Michiel Brandjes, the Company Secretary & General Counsel Corporate, we will hold off publication until Friday evening to give him a reasonable opportunity to make any further response or take any action.

EMAIL RECEIVED THIS MORNING:

You have obviously been hacked, there are pics of Hitler and the swastika as your page heading…

Extract ends

Surprising origins of the swastika

The EU has been urged to ban the swastika because of its Nazi associations with hate and racism.

The word is derived from the Sanskrit “svastika” and means “good to be”. In Indo-European culture it was a mark made on people or objects to give them good luck.

It has been around for thousands of years, particularly as a Hindu symbol in the holy texts, to mean luck, Brahma or samsara (rebirth).