By Michael Collins Piper

Some AMERICAN FREE PRESS readers were upset by the first two articles in this series reflecting on the proliferation of myths, phony documents and fraudulent “quotations” muddying serious research into big issues of the current day and events of the past.

However, AFP’s job is to report the facts.

This week, we take a look at one particularly ubiquitous myth—a combination of myths—which has excited many: A variety of claims the Bush, Rockefeller and Rothschild families and a host of “Jewish bankers”—together or independently—helped finance Hitler’s rise to power.







The most cited source for the story Jewish bankers paved the way for Hitler is Hitler’s Secret Backers, supposedly by a Jewish banker named Sidney Warburg.

First of all, there was no Sidney Warburg. But those who actually read the spurious book (and most who cite it haven’t read it) will find the unknown author says—in contrast to what people think he said—that Jewish bankers didn’t finance Hitler. Instead, the book claims some naughty non-Jewish bankers did so.

But even that isn’t true. An accurate assessment by James Pool in Who Financed Hitler absolutely refutes the legend big banking or industrial interests played a substantial role funding Hitler. Most of the Nazi Party’s money came from small contributions and sales of literature.

No Rothschilds backed Hitler. That’s a myth. One banker, a practicing Christian of one-quarter Jewish descent, was said—by one source, passing on a rumor—to have donated money to Hitler. And that’s it. The one Jewish banker known to have given money to any Nazis gave it to elements in the Nazi party—the Strasser brothers—who were trying to stop Hitler.

And Hitler wasn’t descended from any Rothschilds or Frankenbergers. If he had any Jewish blood, it has never been authoritatively traced.

One proponent of the claim Hitler was Jewish cites Brigitte Hamann’s Hitler’s Vienna as proof, pointing out the book describes stories of Hitler’s Jewish heritage. In fact, Hamann dissects the legends, refuting them in detail. Scholars such as Carolyn Yeager and Veronica Clark, in Warwolves of the Iron Cross, have also demolished the rumors.

Some claim Hitler was pro-Zionist. They are wrong. For a brief period Hitler did encourage some Zionists in efforts to promote Jewish immigration from Germany to Palestine, as described in Edwin Black’s The Transfer Agreement. However, at the same time, other Zionist forces were calling for war against Hitler as early as 1933.

The legendary “Nazi-Zionist collaboration” was a tiny blip of no geopolitical consequence. But it makes for great Internet chatter.







Others are hysterical over the fact American banks and corporations worked with the Nazi regime, yet—despite the frenzy—this is neither a major revelation nor is it extraordinary.

These were well-known arrangements, sometimes going back decades, with whatever German government was in power.

Many think that Antony Sutton “proved” in Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler that Rockefeller-controlled Standard Oil funded Hitler. However, in his book, Sutton says flatly: “Standard Oil apparently did not finance Hitler’s accession to power.”

Some cite that same book as evidence the Bush family, with the Harriman banking interests, funded Hitler. In fact, Sutton says only that the Harrimans—like many American financial groups—had connections to corporate interests in Germany. And he concludes that this “does not suggest that the Harrimans directly financed Hitler.” He never mentions the Bushes at all.

Another rumor claims the Bushes were part of a “fascist plot” to overthrow Franklin Roosevelt, often citing Jules Archer’s The Plot to Seize the White House. While there was a scheme to dislodge FDR—which many patriots believe to have been a good thing—the book never mentions the Bushes, nor is there any other evidence they had anything to do with that plot.

As Detective Sergeant Joe Friday used to say: “Just the facts.”

Michael Collins Piper is an author, journalist, lecturer and radio show host. He has spoken in Russia, Malaysia, Iran, Abu Dhabi, Japan, Canada and the U.S.