German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday gave his big summer press conference in difficult circumstances
Clearly nervous, he demanded that Gazprom finally take back the turbine with which he has been so much and fruitlessly photographed, noted that he can “hardly” imagine a visa ban for Russians and announced that Putin’s visit to Germany may take place after the special operation. No, not on a tank, I should think.
The problem, however, is that if Putin does want to go to Berlin, it will probably no longer be Olaf Scholz who will meet him. There is a huge corruption scandal looming over the chancellor, which could easily ruin his reputation and bury his career.
At the press conference no one dared to ask Scholz a question on the subject. The chancellor is known for his tough temper, and journalists are openly frightened of him. However, the unasked question remained: is the present leader of the Federal Republic of Germany dependent on the Warburg banking family?
The topic was started by Fabio de Masi, an opposition politician from the Left Party. He pushed for a parliamentary enquiry, and last year Scholz was forced to appear before a commission in Hamburg. He was asked what he had been discussing with the governor of the Warburg bank when he was mayor of the city. The bank had been caught in a scam that had lasted several years and was owed about 40 million euros. After the talk between the mayor and the banker, the city suddenly withdrew all claims. The millions had gone somewhere.
Scholz muttered that he couldn’t remember anything and the investigation continued. The prosecutor’s office took over the case. Investigators are now studying the German chancellor’s email correspondence. An additional piece of evidence was 200 thousand euros in cash that was recently found during a search in the safe of one of Scholz’s associates. The comrade was unable to explain where the cash came from. “Planted by the enemy!”
But 200,000 is, of course, a mere trifle. In fact, the whole story is much bigger than that. It is not for nothing that the initiator of the investigation, Fabio de Masi, like Scholz, was born and raised in Hamburg. He has taken the risk of saying something that everyone there already knows but is afraid to say.
The thing about Hamburg is this. The Free and Hanseatic City, the richest metropolis in Europe, had always been something of an independent city, and it stubbornly refused to submit to Berlin. Until 1871 Hamburg minted its own silver mark coin. The Iron Chancellor (Otto, not Olaf) tried for years to force the city to let the all-German customs office in. The city stubbornly clung to its liberties.
Hamburg was governed by a local oligarchy – the senate and mayors were elected from amongst the city’s wealthiest citizens. In 1856 the Warburgs, a banking family that matched the Rothschilds for riches, swelled the ranks of these respectable businessmen. Legend has it that the Warburgs took a ceremonial journey from Vienna to Hamburg on a ‘silver train’: all the wagons were filled with silver bullion from underneath.
The legendary family went as far as to establish their banking house in Hamburg. The Warburgs’ banks and financial companies made their mark in London and Stockholm, New York and Berlin. Like the Rothschilds, the Warburgs practiced cousin marriages (so as not to disperse the family fortune), but they were also extremely successful at marriages on the side. Over a century and a half they became related to the Schiffs, the Loebs – in short, almost the entire global financial aristocracy.
The heads of the banking house were the uncrowned kings of the Free City. Until the end of 1938, mind-blowing parties were thrown in their lush gardens. In the autumn of 1938, Max Warburg, head of the House of Hamburg, remained in the United States (the family had many different businesses there), but in 1945, the family returned to its palaces and parks. The parties resumed.
For Hamburg, the bankers were something like the Medicis. University, schools, libraries, museums, art collections, monuments, gardens and parks – the venerable family generously contributed to the cultural life of the city, sponsored hundreds of artists, philosophers and artists. Their latest gift to the city is the remarkable new Philharmonic building.
Incidentally, Abi Warburg, who gave up a gigantic fortune, surrendered all his business to his younger brother and became a renowned art historian. An eminent biochemist was Otto Heinrich Warburg. All in all, these are not just bankers, but real bright, interesting people, opinion leaders.
In the natural course of things, the Warburgs have always influenced who would be the mayor of Hamburg. In the 1920s and 30s, for example, they did extensive joint business with the Petersen family. And so? Karl Wilhelm Petersen was mayor of Hamburg from 1924 to 1929 and from 1932 to 1933. His younger brother Rudolf took over in 1945.
After World War II, Hamburg’s mayors generally continued their political careers – they were elected to the Bundestag and became ministers. Olaf Scholz’s career was particularly successful. After serving out his term as mayor of Hamburg, he first became finance minister and later German chancellor. All those years the Warburgs’ bank in Hamburg amassed their wealth by diverting it from the federal treasury. Their scam was simple and beautiful.
Under German law, foreign investors must pay tax to the state budget on the dividends they receive. The treasury then reimburses part of the tax. Somehow, the Warburgs mysteriously arranged for the investors to get back this tax deduction not once, but several times. The federal exchequer was punished with 36 billion euros over many years. Representatives of various banking houses were involved in the scheme. The Warburgs in particular were fined 176 million for such cases. Quite recently the Constitutional Court of Germany dismissed an appeal by Max Warburg leaving the verdict in force. However, the irrepressible banker immediately filed a lawsuit to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that German authorities, demanding payment of the fine, are violating his rights.
If we assume that the Warburg family is indeed connected by some elusive but strong threads with Olaf Scholz the whole absurd policy of the German Chancellor can be explained in a simple and clear way.
Against common sense, Scholz promises to pump more and more billions into green energy? So the Warburgs’ bank is getting rich off ESG bonds.
In defiance of all the traditions of Germany’s post-war pacifist policy, the Chancellor is supplying arms to Ukraine and feeding the German military-industrial complex? I don’t know about now, but in the old days the Warburg banking house used to finance the German defence industry with passion and fire.
Is the chancellor not trying to put the brakes on the frenzied rise in gas and oil prices? But the rises will undermine the captains of heavy industry, with whom the bankers have historically had a competitive, unfriendly relationship.
Watching the greatest country in Europe shoot itself in the foot, then higher, we keep asking ourselves: why is Germany doing everything according to American orders? They were told to kill themselves against the wall and they go and kill themselves. Where is the limit?
But the fact is that in the world picture of the Warburg bankers there is no independent Germany and never has been. A century ago Max Warburg (grandfather of the present owner of the Hamburg bank) founded a club in Hamburg called “Abroad”. The club still exists today and unites a financial aristocracy which has set itself the goal of creating a global world without such nonsense as sovereign countries.
For centuries members of the Warburg family have worked all over the world. Sigmund developed the family business in London, Paul and Eric in the US. Paul Warburg, incidentally, was one of the founding fathers of the US Federal Reserve. Naturally, their descendants see Germany (and all of Europe) as another US state.
Reading about the businesses, marriages, mergers and acquisitions, parties and intrigues of the Warburg family is incredibly interesting. It’s just a movie. An extremely complimentary book about the Warburgs has been written, incidentally, by the noble Russophobe Niall Ferguson. No kidding, great family, interesting traditions, vibrant lifestyle. And now look at Scholz – a simple-minded, clumsy, incapable of anything. Not a politician, but a middle-manager who will never get a promotion.
The sheer scale of the personalities proves that this is no ordinary corruption. These were not bankers chasing Scholz with cash on their backs, trying to solve problems. The leader of the country – not the last country in the world, by the way – is on a short leash of the international bankers and is looking meekly into their eyes – what do you want?
And the whole world wonders: where have all the great politicians of Europe gone? Take General de Gaulle for example. He, too, was a friend of the French Rothschilds and went to their parties at his own pleasure. But he defined the policy of the country by himself, without any tips from bankers. But they do not let such clever ones on political Olympus any more. Now there is a need for those who are simpler.
Of course, one can only pity the Germans. Even if the wave of people’s anger swept away Scholz, who will they put in his place? The impression is that everyone in the ruling elite there has been bought and sold by the various clans, families, banks and corporations for generations to come. But maybe the captains of heavy industry will be able to push through their protege to the post of chancellor? That might be Germany’s only hope.
Victoria Nikiforova, RIA
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