Airline accused of helping Nazis to flee

Airline accused of helping Nazis to flee

www.timesonline.co.uk

The Dutch national airline is facing calls for an inquiry into its role in helping Nazis to flee to South America, after the discovery of documents suggesting that it played an active role in smuggling suspected war criminals out of Germany.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I can't wait to see how this investigation turns out. There are ominous sign of royal involvement here.

An inquiry could reopen controversy about the role of the Dutch Royal Family as the late Prince Bernhard, father of Queen Beatrix, was on KLM's board in the postwar years.

Stay tuned for the next revelation.

www.timesonline.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

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edit to add snippet from link

[edit on 7/5/07 by masqua]

Its pretty clear that the nazi's had to have had some higher level help. A perverse underground railroad of sorts that helped committed party members escape.

The Dutch had an almost multiple personality disorder when it came to WWII and the nazi's. They had some fierce resistance, but on the flip side had enough sypathizers to round out an entire Waffen SS brigade. In that light its not surprising that they would have help and sympathy from somewhere

Interesting, but I don't really see the point in investigating this, everyone involved is probably long dead and KLM is now owned by Air France.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Interesting, but I don't really see the point in investigating this, everyone involved is probably long dead and KLM is now owned by Air France.

Well, you're probably right, but if for nothing, we'll at least have historical accuracy.

Originally posted by FredT
The Dutch had an almost multiple personality disorder when it came to WWII and the nazi's. They had some fierce resistance, but on the flip side had enough sypathizers to round out an entire Waffen SS brigade. In that light its not surprising that they would have help and sympathy from somewhere

Do you mean Brigade or division? A brigade is rather small, around 5000 men. I can understand this though, as the Dutch were viewed as a "pure race" or whatever, much like the British (and to a lesser extent the French) were also viewed.

Interestingly enough (and off-topic slightly) but a huge number of "German" troops on the eastern front weren't German at all. Rather they were Romanian and Hungarian's.

Originally posted by stumason
A brigade is rather small, around 5000 men. I can understand this though, as the Dutch were viewed as a "pure race" or whatever, much like the British (and to a lesser extent the French) were also viewed.

Yeah. All indications are that Hitler thought that the Dutch would be easily integrated into the Third Reich due to their similar language and he admired their gene pool (I guess he liked tall blonds). In reality, the Dutch caused the Nazis a lot of problems. I'm sure there were collaborators like there were in France and other countries, but I think it's clear that the bulk of the Dutch people were against the Nazi occupation.

[edit on 5/8/2007 by djohnsto77]

Two Words:

OPERATION PAPERCLIP

Makes these Dutch airlines look like cute little puppies...

[edit on 8/5/07 by Souljah]

The topic here is KLM, Souljah.

On the subject of the Nazis.

There are many people still alive who remember the situation in Holland during the occupation, but never mind that. There are also their children who must be looking at themselves a little awkwardly over this.

As others may not know, I have family in the Netherlands. My grandfather was active in the underground and subsequently saw citizens executed for his actions and my stepfather spent the duration in a German POW work camp since he was in the Dutch Army. I'll not debate the collusion some indulged in since the same can be said of the English, Americans and, no doubt, Canadians.

What galls me about this story is how easily some dismiss involvement by corporations and persons in power. There is no excuse for what happened ( if true) and the truth must be outed, even if it took 60 years to reveal it.

Nicely put masque.

This indicates to me that we may finally get a clearer insight into the Vatican/Red Cross/Odessa activities in arranging the escape of Nazis to South American. The involvement of the Dutch Royal family would certainly indicate that this may be the case, as they and also the Belguim monarchy were long suspected of sympathies within the party as well as their loyalty to the Pope. What would be very insightful is if we could get some of the names of the nazis that were 'allegedly' moved via KLM airlines, but given the sympathies of the Dutch Royal family I would guess that we are looking at a catholic connection. I agree that it is definately one to watch for those of us who know that there is still much to be uncovered from this period of our collective history.

As you point out, as with much of Europe, there was a gulf between who the Dutch were and who their aristocracy/leaders were. In terms of the war effort is concerned the Dutch have nothing to be ashamed of, throughout europe resistance was rife and very harshly dealt with, requiring bravery that few us can even comprehend. Many people made lots of money out of WWII, many of the aristocracy simply packed their bags and moved into the Dorchester (or wherever) and then as this story suggests helped those that had collaborated or committed atrocities to escape. A little justice, however late would be a breath of fresh air.

There has never been enough research into the involvement of corporate entities in regards to their involvement with the Nazi movement, prior to, during, and after the war. As much as I hate to agree with him, Souljah does have a point, at least partially, you cannot investigate this sort of accusation without crossing paths with Operation Paperclip. This was an unforgivable breach of ethics on the part of the allied intelligence community. All done in the name of defeating communism. Phooey.

As for all the people involved being dead; this is true, but for historical clousure, if nothing else, it needs investigation. Not just KLM, but all corporate entities with ties in the past with the Nazi movement.

The various royal families in Europe and the wanna be royals in America, and their sycophantic elites are long overdue for a close look for their involvement with National Socialism.

[edit on 8-5-2007 by seagull]

I agree Seagull, the difference though is that we know far more about Operation Paperclip than we know about the activities of the corporations and papal monarchists. There have been numerous books written about Operation Paperclip and although the information out there is not entirely comprehensive we do know how and why particular Nazis were taken out of Europe, what they did post-war etc.

There were other branches within Nazism, those that held loyalty to the Pope and the dissolved Holy Roman Empire. This is still largely shrouded in secrecy, it has become, to an extent, myth. There is strong suggestion that the red cross and the vatican supplied passports and other transportation papers to a number of infamous nazis - Joesph Mengele for one. The KLM investigation could very well provide the information that could shed light on this aspect of post-war activities.

Thing is, if you start on KLM, you open a whole can of worms.

A short list of companies to investigate would be:

Siemens
Volkswagen (founded by the Nazi's)
EADS (oh yes, EADS.. Heinkel and Messerschmitt are just two companies now owned by EADS)
Mercedes
Rheinmatel
Opel (Part of general Motors when the Nazi's took control of the factory)

Almost all of the above made use of slave labour during the war.

There are other's, but where does the buck stop? After all, some of these companies where just doing what was told of them, ie; Make tanks/planes etc.

Just think, had the Germans won, our companies would be in the same boat, although we didn't use slave labour at least!

So maybe this is simply another airline company trying to wreck KLMs reputaion or buisness?

Regards,
Maestro

Originally posted by maestro46
So maybe this is simply another airline company trying to wreck KL M's reputation or business?

Well I don't think so, considering KLM does not exist anymore, rather it's a subsidiary of
Air France-KLM, so it would'nt really be very useful of a thing to do in that sense.