Evening star., 1944-02-19
Beduux
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Beduux
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the autumn of 1897 he arranged TO
the Duke of Windsor to visit tn,
United States, but the protests Of or
ganized labor caused the visits can
collation.. The American Fedora
zionist, American Federation of La
Dor magazine, in September, 1885
had reported labor's attitude towart
Bedaux:
The Bedaux system, stripped o.
its pseudo technical verbiage. il
nothing more or less than a nethoc
of forcing the last ounce of effor
out OF workers at the smallest pos.
sible cost in wages"
NaturaliZed in 1917.
BedauX, who was naturalized a
Grand Rapids, Mich. in 1917. es
tablished companies which bear hi
name in the United States ane
Throughout Europe, with overall
management of most of the firm
exercised through a holding com
pany in Amsterdam. He bought hi!
French chateau in Monts, France
near Tours, in 1927.
When he was arrested in North
Africa. Albert Raymond, president
of the International Bedaux Co
in New York, said Bedaux had no,
been connected with the manage.
ment of the Bedaux companies
in this country or Canada for five
years.
In those five years Bedaux wa.
busy in Europe concocting gigantic
economic schemes for the benefit OF
Germany or Vichy France, accord.
ing to Attorney General Biddle, who
told this fantastic story:
He rented summer home il
Berchtesgaden the seat of Hitler:
eagles eerieD in 1887 and ther,
made the acquaintance of Capt
Fritz Wiedemann, Otto Abetz
Hjalmar Schacht and others. AS {
favor to Wiedemann. he set up {
new branch Office of one Of his com.
panies in Turkey and appointed a.
its manager a German namee
Rosenbush, who had been Hitler
captain in the German Army during
the first World War.
"As Rosenbush was q Jew, hi
continued presence in German,
was considered embarrassing to tn,
Fuehrer. Bedaux was visiting a
the home of Joachim Won Ribben
trop in Salzburg in August, 1899
when the Foreign Minister received
word to fly to Moscow to conclude
the German-Russian nonaggressior
pact.
When France fell in 1910, Be
daux made his chateau available
to the American Embassy wher
part of the staff left Paris. HI
travelled back and forth between
the two zones of France and carried
on various negotiations with botf
the Germans and the Vichy French
His friend Abetz was now the Naz
Ambassador in Occupied France, ant
they conferred frequently He wa
also on intimate terms with promi
nent figures in the Vichy govern
ment and, on occasion, acted as al
unofficial intermediary.
I'm July, 1941, he went to NORTH
Africa at the behest of the Vich,
government to inspect operations a
some coal and lead mines. In No
vember Of that year. he developed {
plan whereby the oil refineries OF
the Persian Gulf could be protected
by the Germans against bombing
the Germans then being confden
that Rommel's drive toward Egyp
would be successful and that the re
f1neries might fall into their hands
He was invited to Berlin to discus
this plan with the military author
tiles. less than a month before tn,
declaration of war between thi
country and the Axis.
Released After Wars Start.
"Bedaux was subjected to 'hous
detention in his Tours chateau TO
a period of two months after Pear
Harbor. He was then released. Hi
relationships with both French an,
German officials remained cordia
He arranged through Abetz to hav
close friend, a Capt. Ledebu1
transferred from combat duty O,
the Russian front to a post in tn
occupation forces.
After the entry of the Unite,
States into the war he offered tn
German military authorities infor
nation in the files of the Interna
tlonal Bedaux Co. at Amsterdam
about the Persian Gulf oil refinerie
which was to be used in connectio,
with the plan to protect the re
flneries for the Germans. Throug]
Ledebur he managed to have al
the files and documents of his Am
sterdam headquarters transferred t
Paris, released from the control O
the German enemy property Gus
todian, and turned over to hi
brother CASTOR, a French national.
In the summer of 1912 Bedau
undertook the construction of
pipe line across the Shara Deser