Kraut economic terrorism


Looking at EU events, Polistra finds herself rereading Robert Parker and reprinting a previous observation...........

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I've been reading Headquarters Budapest by Robert Parker, published in 1944 when the Germans were starting to lose but not yet clearly defeated. Parker was an AP reporter, back in those wonderful days when AP reporters were on our side.

The book tells how Hitler took over the 'little countries' of Eastern Europe with very little military action.

I'm starting to wonder if we are currently fighting Service Release 2 of World War 2, not a brand new war.

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Here's Robert Parker interviewing Otto von Erdmansdorf in 1939, just after the Hitler-Stalin pact:

A member of the Prussian aristocracy, von Erdmansdorf had served German diplomacy for twenty years before Hitler came to power. He told his friends he abhorred the Nazi regime - but he served it faithfully. ... "And what do you think will happen if war comes?" I asked von Erdmansdorf. "France and Britain will probably fight alongside Poland."

The German minister swung around in his chair. "I think, if war comes," he said slowly, "that Germany must lose."

The Hungarian newspapermen stared at him. "I think Germany will lose if war comes now," repeated the German envoy, "but we will win the next one."

I asked him to explain. "Yes," he said. "We will be defeated in this war as we were defeated in the last war. But it will be only a token defeat as it was the last time. Just as in 1918, France and Britain will be terribly weakened. Germany has greater recuperative powers. We will recover faster the next time than we did the last time. On the other hand, the French and English will find themselves worn out. They will be dying nations even in apparent victory. Then, the third time, our job will be very easy." ...

I asked him whether Germany did not fear the power of the United States. The Hungarian editors nodded their heads as if joining in my query. "No", said von Erdmansdorf, "not in the long run. For you Americans don't know what you want."

He was wrong about the token-ness of the defeat, but he just might have been right about the persistence of the German imperial compulsion.

Parker went on to explain the Kraut tactics:

First the Germans gradually pulled the 'little countries' into total dependence on German trade. One cute trick: German businessmen and trade reps would buy up huge quantities of wheat and other raw materials at very high prices, then - often but not always - would fail to pay the debt. This made the 'little countries' reluctant to displease Germany, because their farmers and businesses stood to lose huge amounts of money if Germany pulled out entirely.

The Germans had long understood the possibilities of illegal currency markets in the Balkans. Their operations in dollars helped bring on the confusion and panic which later made some of the little countries easy victims for German diplomacy and arms. Loot from Poland and other northern countries was sold by the Nazis through Southeastern Europe for local currency. The proceeds, carefully manipulated on the illegal markets, brought them control of much of the Balkans' industry. Hitler's operations on Balkan black money markets brought him large dollar balances in the United States. The dollars were transferred to American citizens of German extraction and were used to finance Nazi propaganda and Nazi organizations in America.

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Modern methods differ in detail, and of course the name "3rd Reich" has been changed to "EU", but the blackmail is still the same.
  ¶ 1:53 AM