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Sir Henri Deterding Funeral

Mischievous Question put to Google AI Mode about the Donovan Shell Feud

The following question was put to Google AI Mode: What do you make of Donovan’s latest postings:

https://royaldutchshellplc.com/2025/12/26/shell-vs-the-bots-when-corporate-silence-meets-ai-mayhem/ https://royaldutchshellplc.com/2025/12/26/shellbot-briefing-404-containing-the-ai-controversy/

Are you and rival AI bots going to put a stop to his mischief making?

Answer from GoogleAI Mode

Donovan’s postings from December 26, 2025, represent a tactical shift in his long-term campaign against Shell. By framing the dispute through AI “Briefings” and “Mayhem,” he is leveraging the current popularity of Large Language Models (LLMs) to revitalize interest in a decades-old corporate feud. Analysis of the Latest Postings

  • “Shell vs. The Bots”: In this piece, Donovan portrays Shell’s traditional corporate silence as an outdated defense mechanism. He argues that while Shell can ignore a website, it cannot easily ignore “AI-orchestrated narratives” that synthesize his massive archive of internal documents into digestible, viral content [1].
  • “ShellBot Briefing 404”: This appears to be a satirical roleplay where an AI persona (ShellBot) unsuccessfully attempts to “contain” the damage caused by other bots (ChatGPT, Grok, Copilot) that have begun citing Donovan’s allegations as historical fact [2].
  • read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    Shell’s Dark Fuel: The Nazi Past the Oil Giant Couldn’t Bury

    Part 1: The Oil That Powered the Reich

    Shell likes to describe itself as “an energy company of the future.” But history, inconveniently, refuses to stay buried. Long before Shell courted wind farms and “net-zero” slogans, it courted Adolf Hitler.

    In the 1930s, as Europe spiralled toward war, Royal Dutch Shell — the genteel Anglo-Dutch oil giant whose modern logo is now synonymous with sustainability brochures — was actively supplying the economic bloodstream of Nazi Germany. Its founder and spiritual patriarch, Sir Henri Deterding, wasn’t merely an admirer of Hitler’s regime; he was a willing participant in its rise. read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    Life Story of the Founder of Royal Dutch/Shell, Sir Henri Deterding

    REVIEW BY JOHN DONOVAN OF THE BOOK:

    Power and Powerlessness: The Life Story of the Founder of Royal Dutch/Shell, Sir Henri Deterding

    Author: Jochen Thies

    Please note: While preserving the integrity of the meaning, we have abbreviated longer extracts translated from the original German edition of the book.

    Jochen Thies, a respected German historian, opens this biography by posing a provocative question: “How close was Deterding to Hitler? Did he help the Nazis rise to power?” Thies promises that his book provides an answer. read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    Sir Henri Deterding: Shell Business Dealings and Ties to Nazi Germany

    The following Information was generated from research carried out in March 2025 involving 27 sources.

    Sir Henri Deterding (1866–1939) was a Dutch oil magnate and a co-founder of Royal Dutch/Shell. He served as general manager of Royal Dutch Petroleum from 1900 to 1936 and helped build the company into one of the world’s largest oil firms, rivaling Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. By the 1930s, Deterding’s role put him in frequent contact with Germany, where Shell had significant operations. He was a fierce anti-communist, largely because the Soviet Union had nationalized Royal Dutch/Shell’s oil properties in Azerbaijan after World War I. This bitterness toward the Bolsheviks made Deterding view Nazi Germany as a potential ally against communism. In fact, in his later years, he moved his residence and investments to Germany, purchasing a grand estate (Dobbin) in Mecklenburg in 1936. Deterding openly admired Hitler’s regime as “the most serious bulwark against invading Bolshevism,” a stance reinforced by his hatred of the Soviet regime that had expropriated Shell’s Russian oil fields. read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    CONTENT

    SUMMARY OF FEATURED CONTENT FROM THE EBOOK “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL”
    CHAPTER 1: The best historians Shell could buy
    CHAPTER 2: News story in February 2015: Shell ship named after a Nazi SS Officer
    CHAPTER 3: Royal Dutch Shell and the Nazis
    CHAPTER 4: Media coverage of Sir Henri Deterding’s death
    CHAPTER 5: The Nazi Funeral of Royal Dutch Shell leader Sir Henri Deterding
    CHAPTER 6: Great friend of the Germans
    CHAPTER 7: “You Can Be Sure of Shell….”
    CHAPTER 8: Royal Dutch Shell Anti-Semitism
    CHAPTER 9: Deterding’s support for Nazi Stormtroopers
    CHAPTER 10: Shell support for the Nazis continued after the retirement of Sir Henri as leader
    CHAPTER 11: Shell collaborated in the Nazi annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia
    CHAPTER 12: Shell’s notorious business partner: IG Farben
    CHAPTER 13: Royal Dutch Shell and Nazi slave labor
    CHAPTER 14: Control of Royal Dutch Shell companies in Nazi-occupied Europe
    CHAPTER 15: Nazi connections relating to Shell
    CHAPTER 16: Shell historians attempt to distance Deterding from Hitler
    CHAPTER 17: Why does it still matter?
    CHAPTER 18: Time for a rare public apology from Shell?
    CHAPTER 19: INDEX OF KEY DATES
    CHAPTER 20: Shell cloak and dagger activities
    CHAPTER 21: Wikipedia: The sanitization of Shell’s history
    Chapter 22: Author’s unique connection with Shell
    CHAPTER 23: Index of Shell leadership financial support for the Nazis

    RELATED ARTICLES

    Deterding’s massive funding for Hitlers Winterhilfswerk (added 2 Aug 2019)

    Evidence confirms that Shell fuelled the Nazi war machine: First published on royaldutchshellplc.com 2021

    Shell’s effort to help maintain Hitler’s foreign markets thereby aiding the Nazi Government in its direct war against Britain: added October 2021

    Royal Dutch Shell Corporate Collaboration with the Nazis: added Oct 2021

    Henry van der Waerden, the Shell executive who defied Deterding and his Nazi ambitions

    Shell’s toxic Nazi history catching up with the energy giant read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    Henry van der Waerden, the Shell executive who defied Deterding and his Nazi ambitions

    Who Killed Henry?: The book title arises from the fact that in 1937, Shell Director for Europe Henry van der Waerden was found dead in mysterious circumstances after receiving a threat from members of the Nazi movement. This was after he had failed to respond favourably to intense pressure from Deterding and the Nazis to do their bidding.

    By John Donovan

    I was recently contacted by Henry van Buuren, the grandson of Henry van der Waerden, an engineer who held a high-level position at Shell under Sir Henri Deterding. read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    Royal Air Force Attack on Gestapo HQ in Shell House Copenhagen

    Shell House before the bombing. At the time of the bombing, it was painted in camouflage colours

    Operation Carthage, on 21 March 1945, was a British air raid on Copenhagen, Denmark during the Second World War which caused significant collateral damage. The target of the raid was the Shellhus, used as Gestapo headquarters in the city centre. It was used for the storage of dossiers and the torture of Danish citizens during interrogations. The Danish Resistance had long asked the British to conduct a raid against the site. The building was destroyed, 18 prisoners were freed and anti-resistance Nazi activities were disrupted. read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    CHAPTER 4: Media coverage of Sir Henri Deterding’s death

    Sir Henri Deterding died in St. Moritz, Switzerland on 4 February 1939 several months before the outbreak of the 2nd World War. As could be expected given his global fame as an oil mogul and a man of wealth, mystery and intrigue, there were numerous newspaper obituaries from around the world. Many mentioned his financial support for Hitler and the Nazi movement in Germany.

    It may seem odd to focus on the death of Sir Henri Deterding in this early chapter, but the global news coverage of his sudden demise and even more significantly, the location – Nazi Germany – of his spectacular funeral, speak volumes. read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    CHAPTER 5: The Nazi Funeral of Royal Dutch Shell leader Sir Henri Deterding

    On 10 February 1939, a burial ceremony with many of the trappings of a state funeral was held at a private estate near Berlin. The spectacle included a funeral procession led by a horse-drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and Shell directors in attendance. An indication of the high esteem in which Sir Henri Deterding was held by his Shell colleagues and by Adolf Hitler, who sent a wreath.

    Sir Henri Deterding, a foreign national, was honored with what amounted to a state funeral in Germany, where he was buried. read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

    Evidence confirms that Shell fuelled the Nazi war machine

    Another hammer blow for Shell. Evidence confirms that Shell fuelled the Nazi war machine

    By John Donovan: 31 May 2021 (updated JULY 2021)

    A new book by James Marriott and Terry Macalister reveals the extent to which the oil company Royal Dutch Shell played a key role in Hitler’s war effort.

    James Marriott is a writer and activist with three decades of knowledge of the oil sector. Terry Macalister is a freelance journalist and former energy editor of the Guardian

    As the author of the Kindle book published in 2016 –  Sir Henri Deterding and the Nazi History of Royal Dutch Shell – I welcome the fact that other parties have reached the same basic conclusions as I did after studying much of the same evidence.

    Based on that evidence I lunched a petition several years ago demanding that Royal Dutch Shell should apologise for antisemitic conduct and Nazi support

    Shell will find it more difficult to dismiss the independent findings in the new book, including from an award-winning journalist.

    The following extracts are from a related article by opendemocracy.net headlined: Calls for Shell to apologise for ‘fuelling Nazi war machine’ EXTRACTS FROM THE RELATED ARTICLE BY Adam Ramsay

    According to ‘Crude Britannia’, by James Marriott and Terry Macalister, at the outbreak of World War Two the Anglo-Dutch company “effectively divided into an Allied corporation and an Axis corporation”. The Nazi-supporting branch of Shell, called Rhenania-Ossag, “swung in behind the [German] government as the Nazi state began to invade other countries”.

    Or as Shell’s official history states ‘Following Hilter’s annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, (Shell) Group managing directors sanctioned Rhenania-Ossag taking over Shell companies in those countries.’ The same process took place in Hungary, Yugoslavia and Greece after Germany took control of those states.

    Shell’s German subsidiary, Rhenania-Ossag, fired all the Jewish members on its board in May and June 1933. The appointments to replace them included a member of the Nazi party. The official history states, “the far reaching changes to the Rhenania-Ossag board could not have taken place without the full consent of [Shell Central Offices… No questions of principle or moral judgements about the Hitler regime appear to have arisen.” Shell’s historians were not able to establish what happened next to these Jewish staff members.

    Seven years later, after Germany invaded Holland, the Swastika flew outside Shell’s HQ in The Hague.

    EXTRACTS END

    I was originally tipped off about Shell’s concern over its past toxic history by Shell internal communications never meant for my eyes.

    Shell had advance sight of my book and my website ShellNaziHistory.com. Despite aggressive threats, bluster and a global spying operation, Shell took no legal action. No multinational giant would want to draw attention to its past association with Hitler and the Nazis.

    NEW BOOK: Crude Britannia: How Oil Shaped a Nation

    Product details

    • ASIN: B095CND46T

    • Publisher: Pluto Press; 1st edition (20 May 2021)

    Some of the information about Shell’s collaboration with the Nazis covered on pages 19, 20, 21, 22 of the main book, and pages 352, 353 and 354 from the Notes section of the book: read more

    This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.