Meanwhile the same old historical myths were reheated and served up yet again. We were encouraged to believe that Fritz Thyssen had seen the error of his early support of Hitler and the Reich and paid a heavy price for his resistance. No mention was made concerning his tax evasion and illegal foreign currency transactions. They also claimed him to be considered a German hero for opposing the Versailles Treaty, the allied occupation of The Ruhr and the stringent reparation payments imposed by the allies. This was of course hardly something that could be considered unique. In fact Germany as a nation has been ‘somewhat remiss’ in paying their debts for either World Wars. We were also asked to believe that Fritz had really rather liked Jews and even had some as personal friends.

At the same time, Heini’s father Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza was treated with a great deal less generosity, presumably because, following our revelations, they were obliged to admit that throughout the war he had continued to profit from his industrial contribution in supplying armament for the Reich. It was also made to sound like an activity entirely independent of the Thyssen organisation. Predictably, no mention was made of his banking and financial contribution. They even got Federico Zichy-Thyssen to claim that his uncle’s behaviour had rubbed off on Heini and that his grand-mother had warned him ‘never to do business with Heini’. He didn’t mention that the same grandmother had joined the Nazi party three years before her husband and returned from South America after the war to take charge of the Thyssen organisation and found The Fritz Thyssen Stiftung. But he did remind us how much unhappiness his fortune had brought him and how his children constantly fought over their inheritance; which must have sounded familiar to Francesca.

Then the story moved on to the Rechnitz Massacre for which the program makers wheeled in none other than Wolfgang Benz, the retired professor of antisemitism research at Berlin University; the same Wolfgang Benz who originally reacted to my feature in FAZ by denying that the massacre had ever taken place. Making no mention of his original claim, or why he had changed his mind. In an effort to eliminate Margit Batthyany-Thyssen as a suspect he insisted that only uniformed Nazis had been involved in the massacre, though he gave no evidence to support his claim. The program even claimed that Margit hadn’t known about the massacre until she was told the following morning. Paul Gulda, of all people, then insisted that Franz Podezin, one of the main perpetrator, had only been ‘following orders’! He even mentioned the ficticious telephone call that so many apologists claim to have instructed Margit’s lover to shoot the Jews. But the fact that she had helped two of the guilty to escape justice was ignored. I was mentioned as the author of ‘The Thyssen Art Macabre’ which was dismissed by the program as being inaccurate and disregarded by ‘experts’. They also claimed that I had accused Margit of actually shooting some of the victims of the massacre herself, which I didn’t, despite being quite convinced she did, but unable to prove such an accusation. They insisted it was not a book that should be taken seriously, without giving any reason why they were mentioning it in the first place.

Broadview TV then moved on to more recent times by claiming that Heini, who Simon de Pury described as the best collector of his time, had ‘donated’ his art collection to Spain, while Francesca insisted that the only reason why the Bermudan court case had collapsed was because his children had withdrawn all charges so that their father could die a happy man, despite Tita’s attempts to get her hands on all his money.

Finally the program makers brought ThyssenKrupp back into focus by getting its long-time Chief Executive Dieter Spethmann to say what a deeply wonderful company it was and how much it had contributed to Germany’s wealth, well-being and economic miracle. Since the documentary was shown, the company has announced plans to cut its global workforce by some 25% and admitted that the recent sale of shares was an effort to reduce its enormous debts.

It is doubtfull that even such a misleading documentary could have any effect on the fortunes of ThyssenKrupp or the Thyssen families (either Zichy or Bornemisza) but if the program had been more accurate and less misleading at least, ThyssenKrupp, The Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, ARD and Germany’s academia may have retained some degree of credibility.

Portraits of Elisabeth and Dieter Spethmann by Warhol.

The caller, a resident of Rechnitz, informed me that the location of the victims´ burial was ´to the left (north-east) of the town´s Catholic cemetery´.

Apparently, after the war, following the relocation of the military war heroes cemetery, a decision was made to refill their empty, unmarked graves with the remains of the Jewish victims. The decision had been made by the local authorities who had arranged for the temporary release from jail of Hildegard Stadler, one of the perpetrators of the atrocity, who then led them to the site of the original burial.

Despite previous denials, it now seems reasonable to assume that the local authorities, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, some members of the Thyssen-Bornemisza and Batthyany families and many residents of Rechnitz have always been aware of these facts.

If the residents of Rechnitz are now admitting the truth, hopefully the Austrian authorities and the two families involved will follow their example.

+                +                +                 +               +                 +                  +               +              +

Um 17 Uhr am Sonntag, 20. März 2011, eine Woche vor dem 66. Jahrestag des Massakers an 180 jüdischen Zwangsarbeitern während eines von Margit Thyssen-Bornemisza gegebenen Festes, bekam ich einen Telefonanruf.

Der Anrufer, ein Einwohner von Rechnitz, teilte mir mit, dass die Grabstelle der Opfer sich ´links (nord-östlich) vom katholischen Friedhof´ befinde.

Anscheinend wurde nach dem Krieg, nach der Überführung des Heldenfriedhofs, die Entscheidung getroffen, dessen leere, unmarkierte Gräber mit den Überresten der jüdischen Opfer aufzufüllen. Die Entscheidung wurde durch die örtlichen Behörden getätigt, die kurzzeitig Hildegard Stadler, eine der Akteure des Massakers, auf freien Boden setzten, um von ihr zur ursprünglichen Grabstelle geführt zu werden.

Trotz bisheriger Leugnungen scheint es also, als dürfe man annehmen, dass die örtlichen Behörden, das österreichische Innenministerium, manche Mitglieder der Familien Thyssen-Bornemisza und Batthyany und viele Einwohner von Rechnitz sich dieser Fakten schon immer bewusst waren.

Wenn die Einwohner von Rechnitz nunmehr die Wahrheit zugeben, dann werden die österreichischen Behörden und die beiden Familien hoffentlich ihrem Beispiel folgen.

+       +       +

Kommentar am 23.03.2011 von Herrn Dieter Szorger, Abteilung 7 – Kultur, Wissenschaft, Bildung – Burgenländische Landesregierung, A-Eisenstadt:

Sehr geehrter Herr Litchfield

Ich würde mir wünschen, dass die im Artikel skizzierten Fakten stimmen und dass das Grab endgültig gefunden wird. Vielleicht sogar im Zuge der Grabungsarbeiten, die am Gelände um den Kreuzstadl in den nächsten Monaten starten werden, wenn das Open-Air-Museum des Vereins Refugius eröffnet wird.

Bezüglich des Wahrheitsgehalts der oben skizzierten These bin ich aber eher skeptisch, muss aber zugeben, dass ich die örtlichen Rahmenbedingungen dafür zu wenig kenne.

Comment on 23.03.2011 by Mr Dieter Szorger, Department 7 – Culture, Science, Education – Burgenland County Government, A-Eisenstadt:

Dear Mr Litchfield

I would hope that the facts sketched in the article were true and that the grave can finally be found. Perhaps even during the excavations, which will begin within the next few months in the area around Kreuzstadl, when the open air museum of the Refugius society will be opened.

As to whether the above sketched thesis contains any truth, I remain somewhat sceptical, although I have to admit to not being familiar enough with the specific local conditions.

Further comments:

Silvia Hl, Madrid: ´Hopefully the massacred Jewish will find justice after all. Hopefully the assassins will also find themselves in front of that same justice.´

Eva Dabara, Tel Aviv: ´Startling, staggering story you´ve brought here, David´.

Michel van Rijn, Western Cape: ´Great work, David. What a story!´  ]]> http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2011/03/rechnitz-massacre-burial-site-finally-revealed-grabstelle-des-massakers-von-rechnitz-endlich-preisgegeben/feed/ 2 http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2010/06/is-broadview-tvs-sebastian-dehnhardt-helping-the-thyssens-to-white-wash-their-history-by-caroline-schmitz/ http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2010/06/is-broadview-tvs-sebastian-dehnhardt-helping-the-thyssens-to-white-wash-their-history-by-caroline-schmitz/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:31:40 +0000 admin http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/?p=3649 Back in February we learned that Broadview TV in Cologne was producing a documentary on the Thyssens to be shown on German television (ARD channel) later this year as part of their ‘German Dynasties’ series. This was interesting news, as we knew that for several years such a venture has been planned in Germany but had so far failed to materialise.Following the publication of our book, a major rewriting of the family and corporate history was initiated, co-sponsored by the Thyssen corporation (via Fritz Thyssen Foundation) and the Thyssen family (represented by Georg Thyssen-Bornemisza). Now Broadview TV was announcing that their film (see this Scanned Document) would feature ‘August, Fritz and Heini Thyssen’, making no mention of either Heini’s father Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, a key figure of the story whose role we have researched and reported extensively, or Fritz’s wife Amelie, who was a committed Nazi, yet regained ownership and control of the corporation after Fritz’s death in Argentina (not in Germany) in 1951, while never publicly recanting her political beliefs.

Instead, Broadview TV announced that their emphasis would be on ‘Fritz Thyssen’s TRAGIC embroilment with the Third Reich’ as well as ‘the patron of the arts Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza’.

For a brief moment we paused to think what Heinrich and Heini Thyssen, who had spent most of their lives aggressively denying their Germanness, would think about being turned back into ‘Germans’ posthumously! And hadn’t Fritz and Amelie always insisted they were stateless? In my opinion as a German it is wrong for the German public to be asked to accept this family back into their national consciousness as one of their own, without being given the chance of seeing an unbiased picture of BOTH their achievements AND their failings.

We are not in any way denying the Thyssens’ achievements. They created a vast industrial empire, thousands of jobs and careers as well as wealth for the German nation and beyond. To be more precise, August and his brother Josef did those things, as well as their workers, foremen and managers. But Fritz (& Amelie) and Heinrich Thyssen were big cogs, very big cogs indeed in the process that brought Adolf Hitler to power.  As such, the Thyssens’ ‘embroilment’ with the Nazis was NOT, I repeat NOT tragic for the Thyssens. The Thyssens were not victims. They were perpetrators. They supported the Nazis because they wished to eradicate Communism and Socialism and ensure their own profits and lifestyles.

The actual tragedy was the one that befell the people of Europe and of the wider world who died in their millions or survived to live on with their haunting memories. More often than not they were offered no support to come to terms with their experiences, while the Thyssens were allowed back into the position of role models. Now they’re reintroduced into the German media and, in our opinion, instead of owning up fully to their historic role, commission sanitised reports which airbrush inconvenient truths out of the public picture. This is evident in recent publications where embarrassing facts were circumvented or ignored.

We decided to contact Mr Dehnhardt to try and find out what kind of course he was planning to take with his documentary. Having written to him early in February we heard nothing. So we wrote to the Head of ARD, Mr Peter Boudgoust. He wrote back a very nice letter, saying he had passed our concerns on to the commissioning editors, in this case Christiane Hinz at WDR in Cologne. But we heard nothing from Mrs Hinz, even when emailing and phoning her.

Finally, after another letter to Mr Boudgoust, Mrs Hinz replied. She suggested our worries were ‘unfounded’, that the ‘POSSIBLE film about the Thyssens’ was still ‘ONLY AT A PROJECT STAGE’, that ‘all relevant historical points’ would be researched and that ‘if any questions arose that only [we] could answer’ they would ‘of course’ contact us. No apology was made for her previous silence.

Now finally – after 4.5 months – Mr Dehnhardt too has chosen to communicate with us, though rather pointedly, he has addressed his reply (see enclosed) to David only, not to myself, his German kinswoman, although our letter came from both of us. Once again, like Mrs Hinz before him, Mr Dehnhardt points out that ‘all relevant themes, including those from the time of the Third Reich’ will be dealt with, but adds ‘you have no right to expect for the interpretations derived from your research to be given an automatic platform in our programme’.  He also bemoans our sceptical approach, stating that it is ‘devoid of any reality’, particularly in view of the fact we ‘know nothing about the concept, form and content of [his] film’. Meanwhile, however, he still fails to communicate any of the concept, form and content in the professional manner that we would expect.

The word ‘interpretation’, of course, is a very interesting choice in this context, as it carries all the connotations of ‘spin’. The fact is that if you leave Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and Amelie Thyssen out of the picture, you refuse to deal with real historical issues, namely those of managing German companies throughout the war from a Swiss safehaven, including the use of slave labour, international Nazi banking, the Rechnitz Massacre, the Thyssens’ post-war protection from Allied retribution, etc, etc, etc. These are straightforward facts; not ‘interpretations’.

Mr Dehnhardt has been criticised in the past for producing a documentary in which the views were said to have been over-emotional and unbalanced. Kultura Online Magazin found that his film on the battle of Stalingrad did not give a voice to the Russian side and only described the results but not the reasons for the historic developments in question. When confronted with this criticism, Mr Dehnhardt replied: ‘I think the individual [German] soldier also has the right to be a victim, especially in the context of Stalingrad. My film shows that he was only a small cog in a big machine’.

Here Mr Dehnhadt is right. But this statement begs the question as to how he will deal with the ‘big cogs’ when it comes to his documentary on the Thyssens. Will he still have the likes of his father (or my father and uncles for that matter) in mind or will he now bow to the power and influence of the cosmopolitan ‘big cogs’? Will he tell the German public the tale of Fritz Thyssen suffering in a concentration camp, although we established he was under comfortable, protective custody while his brother Heinrich continued to supply the Nazis with coal, submarines and aerial torpedoes from the safety of Switzerland? And will he tell people what an art expert Heini Thyssen was when we showed that Heini Thyssen himself told us his father had bought the collection simply in order to transfer money out of Germany and Thyssen art has been used and abused as a convenient veneer behind which to hide a guilty past ever since?

We shall have to wait and see. But after our experiences of looking into all things Thyssen for over fourteen years, we remain sceptical, particularly since Mr Dehnhardt makes several films on different subjects every year. In this short space of time he could not possibly have enough insight into a vast topic such as Thyssen to offer anything but a simplified view. A view that is in danger of misrepresenting the past in a way that will once again allow the Thyssen big cogs to indulge their privileges while shunning their historic responsibilities.

We really hope to be proved wrong, because for the last seventy plus years the German public has been misinformed regarding Thyssen. We believe that while they may not like the image of the Thyssens that we have revealed, it is up to them, not to what might prove to be a Thyssen-influenced media company, to decide.

The programme was finally aired on 8 November 2010.

COMMENTS:

eldeadpixel writes: Thanks for this good article. I wonder if that documentary will be shown here in Spain… Keep us up to date!

Sebastian Dehnhardt, film producer and managing director of Broadview TV, Cologne

Four and a half months for a reply - And they call us 'illogical'...

(For the English translation of the El Mundo article, click here: 100515ElMundoTwinPeaks).

Tita Thyssen (photo: El Pais, Spain)

Silvia Hl from Spain writes: ‘La sola imagen del tinglado es digna de la más sórdida historia del pueblo profundo. Y se hacen llamar aristocracia. Sea verdad o mentira, es asqueroso. Endogámicos pervertidos! The sole image of the makings makes one think of sordid, weird peoples from other ages. It is a real shame that Spain has to deal with guys like these. As for LA and USA, hypocrites!’

Michael Hecht in London says: ‘Spooky’.

Marta Cibelina blogs: ‘In Spain, it is forbidden to reveal the identity of a sperm donor and not permitted for a woman over 60 to adopt a child. In Spain, it is also illegal to use surrogate mothers to conceive. The story of Tita’s adoption therefore provokes a sick feeling in people. The best one/she could do is to keep quiet about it all. But today, I heard her on a programme saying ‘of course I know who the biological father of my twins is’. Yet, the logical thing would be for her not to know and if she does, it’s something that only concerns her daughters and nobody else. In Spain, we have different values and laws concerning adoption and in vitro fertilisation. For better or worse, these girls will be raised in our country and in our culture’.

Jonathan VS in Spain twitters: ‘The Jet-Set is like that…..What the hell….’.

petitemaoiste twitters: #novelendogamy #inbredaristocrats #aristocratasdegenerados

jarais in Boston twitters: Squicky rumors from Spanish jet set that baronesa thyssen’s rent-a-womb twins fathered by her grown son #toomuchmoney #thosepoorkids #rentawombnightmare

Carlos, the Spanish barman at the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club says: ‘This reminds me of the Woody Allen syndrome’. (For those who don’t remember: Woody left his wife to pursue a relationship with their adopted daughter).

JotaInKoelle says: ‘Yo mientras no lo use para cocinar no me sorprendo de nada’.

‘People who are less interested in historically substantiated studies with traceable references and who would rather form their opinions based on sex-and-crime journalism might be entertained by Litchfield, David: The Thyssen Art Macabre, London 2006 (German edition: Die Thyssen-Dynastie, Die Wahrheit hinter dem Mythos, Oberhausen 2008).’

I feel such a statement says more about Rasch than it does about me, and I appreciate the publicity it has afforded my book, including the increase in visits to this website, particularly from the Ruhr district. However, a recent critical review awarded Rasch’s book on Amazon by a reader in Munich might have been unlikely to have imbued him with a similar spirit of generosity:

‘Unfortunately, the title of this book is somewhat misleading, as of the 214 letters only 4 are by Heinrich Thyssen’s hand. It also does not limit the scope of its contents to the years 1919-1926 but includes furthermore a considerable amount of historical material on the history of the Thyssen family and its industries which has been written by Professor Manfred Rasch who is listed as editor of the book. As Professor Rasch is also the head of the archives at ThyssenKrupp, it makes it difficult to accept the impartiality of his views. The style of the book is academic and thus requires an overwhelming interest in the subject matter, as much is being taken up with supportive material in the form of bibliography, sources, commentaries etc.

One also gets the impression that this book, despite its size and the obvious complexity of the research, was in fact created in some haste, as on far too many occasions it sidesteps various historical issues by announcing that scientific research is still ongoing. But what I find even more surprising is the way Prof. Rasch deals with other authors, some of whom have published considerable research about the subject, for instance the Briton David R L Litchfield (‘The Thyssen Art Macabre’, in German: ‘Die Thyssen-Dynastie’), whose description of the murder of 180 Hungarian slave labourers during a party organised at Rechnitz Castle by Margit Thyssen-Bornemisza caused a big stir a few years ago. Prof. Rasch suggests that his readers should view Litchfield’s book as mere entertainment: just an alarming error of judgement or a worrying example of professional jealousy?

This is particularly disturbing in the light of the anti-Semitism in the Thyssen family (see letters dated 9.9.1919, 21.7.1923 and 30.7.1923) which the book presents to the interested public. All in all, however, this is a fascinating read which contains much material of interest to both amateur and professional historians’.

One certainly gets the impression that the corporation may now be trying somewhat too hard to paper over the cracks in their historiography. You may no longer be able to see the cracks but you can certainly see where they have been, which only serves to draw attention to the papering.

I was also particularly interested in the impression that ThyssenKrupp is now giving of having archives that are open to the public. This was certainly not the case when we were researching our book. In fact quite the opposite. However, Rasch still seems determined to believe that, having been denied access to his archives, we chose to create our book without documentary evidence. This is of course totally and completely inaccurate and an opinion that appears to have been based on his wishful thinking.

Apart from the fact that our book is most certainly based on fully documented evidence, Rasch, who is obviously holding me responsible for the cracks in his professional credibility, would perhaps have been better advised not to talk of ‘entertainment’ in connection with a family that was responsible for the financing and use of slave labour, in particular (but not exclusively) in the context of the Rechnitz massacre (which Rasch chooses to ignore, apart from providing a link to an Austrian website).

To assist Manfred Rasch with future editions of his book, I include in this post excerpts of documents confirming the Thyssens’ war-time financing of their SS-occupied castle in Rechnitz, documents which I can only assume he overlooked in his haste to publish his book. They concern meetings of Heinrich and his son Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (‘Heini’) with their managers Heinrich Lübke and Wilhelm Roelen on 22 August 1941 in Flims, on 9 November 1941 in Zurich and on 2 February 1944 in Davos and include details of the RM 400,000 loan from August Thyssen Bank Berlin to Rechnitz, yearly contributions of RM 30,000 for Margit Batthyany and RM 18,000 for the upkeep of the castle, as well as a notification that Thyssengas (then Thyssensche Gas- und Wasserwerke) was generally ‘looking after’ Rechnitz.

Scanned Document
Scanned Document-1
Scanned Document-2

(all excerpts of documents in this post are from the archives of David R L Litchfield and are to be reproduced with his permission only).

ThyssenKrupp's historian and archivist Prof. Manfred Rasch

Documents substantiating Thyssen funding of Rechnitz castle during the second World War (Archives of David R L Litchfield, not to be reproduced without permission)

Documents substantiating Thyssen funding of Rechnitz castle during the second World War (Archives of David R L Litchfield, not to be reproduced without permission)

Documents substantiating Thyssen funding of Rechnitz castle during the second World War (Archives of David R L Litchfield, not to be reproduced without permission)

‘Adel verpflichtet. So sagt das Sprichwort. Aber wozu verpflichtet Adel?

Der Brite David Litchfield bekam durch seine Bekanntschaft zu ‘Heini’ Thyssen Einblicke in die Unterlagen der Familie Thyssen.

Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza wurde 1921 als Sohn des gleichnamigen Vaters geboren. Sein Onkel Fritz hatte Anfang der dreissiger Jahre eine unrühmliche Rolle bei der Machtergreifung Hitlers gespielt und die Gunst der Stunde genutzt, um sich und seine Familie kräftig zu bereichern. Der “Führer” belohnte den Grossindustriellen mit einem Sitz im Reichstag. Schon 1934 kam es zu Spannungen zwischen Thyssen und Hitler, 1939 gar zum Bruch. Trotz seiner Flucht wurden die Nazis seiner habhaft und verschleppten ihn ins KZ. Hermann Göring hielt indes seine schützende Hand über Fritz Thyssen.

Gleichwohl machte die Familie Thyssen glänzende Geschäfte im Krieg. ‘Heini’ Thyssen, ein gut aussehender Jüngling, erlebte erste Liebschaften und rettete sich in die Schweiz. In den Alpen verlebte er den Krieg.

Untrennbar mit dem Namen Thyssen verbunden ist ein Massaker in Rechnitz. Kurz vor dem Einmarsch der Roten Armee veranstaltete Gräfin Batthyany, eine geborene Thyssen, eine Sause auf ihrem Schloss mit hochrangigen Nazis und SS-Offizieren. Die betrunkenen Anwesenden machten sich einen Spass daraus, etwa 200 Juden abzuschlachten. Muss erwähnt werden, dass die adeligen Gastgeber für dieses Verbrechen nie juristisch belangt wurden?

‘Heini’ Thyssen folgte seinem Vater als Chef des Hauses. Mit seinen Geschwistern lieferte er sich einen heftigen Erbstreit um die Macht. Es folgten Jahre als Playboy: Geld, Macht, Liebe.

Das Buch ist gut geschrieben. Dort, wo Aussagen der Familienmitglieder nicht durch Quellen belegt sind, hinterfragt Litchfield diese Aussagen. Er beleuchtet das Treiben einer Familie, in der Geld alles ist.

Wozu Adel verpflichtet, weiss ich nach der Lektüre des Buches immer noch nicht, aber das Treiben der Familie Thyssen erinnert an etwas anderes: Geschichte verpflichtet. Nämlich zur Verantwortung.’

(Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft, Magazin 1/2010, Rezensionen, s. 29/30, Dr Norbert Korfmacher, ‘Eine Unternehmensgeschichte: Die Thyssen-Dynastie’).

http://www.deutsch-israelische-gesellschaft.de/
http://www.bamby.de/mylife.htm ]]> http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2010/04/dr-norbert-korfmacher-rezensiert-die-thyssen-dynastie-fur-die-deutsch-israelische-gesellschaft/feed/ 0 http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2010/03/private-enterprise/ http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2010/03/private-enterprise/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:07:20 +0000 admin http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/?p=3056 Dear Manfred Rasch (‘Ueberspieler’, ThyssenKrupp Smoke and Mirrors Department),

Congratulations on your latest literary output, but I am confused. When we came to see you in November 1998, you told me that the letters between August Thyssen and his son Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza were Baron Heini Thyssen’s private property.

You also told us: ‘We are not a service organisation for the Thyssen family. We are the archive of a company or companies, and have nothing to do with the Thyssen-Bornemisza family.’ Were you lying or has something changed? So: Who owns the copyright to your book and/or to the letters? All very mysterious!

I am certainly looking forward to receiving a copy of the book, not so much because of what it will contain, but what it doesn’t. Fortunately, as we also have copies of all the letters, which were given to us by Heini Thyssen, we can fill in any gaps you might inadvertently have left. We hope nobody has been tempted to forge any additions, as you once accused us of doing.

I have to say that I find the fact that you, and presumably ‘the organisation’, are choosing to do such a book, while ThyssenKrupp is the subject of ‘independent’ academic research, deeply suspicious. Why do I get the feeling that it is all part of the re-writing of corporate and family history in response to the publication of our book ‘Die Thyssen-Dynastie. Die Wahrheit hinter dem Mythos’ (assoVerlag Oberhausen, 2008)? ]]> http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2010/03/private-enterprise/feed/ 1 http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2010/02/seven-days-with-the-batthyanys/ http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2010/02/seven-days-with-the-batthyanys/#comments Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:00:19 +0000 admin http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/?p=3002
The following is my exchange with Alexander Batthyany on the forum of ‘Das Magazin’ in Zurich during the month of February 2010. My latest entry was not accepted by the magazine’s forum (as of 24 June 2010, we notice that the Batthyany family have now made an entry concerning the Rechnitz Massacre on their website and that Das Magazin have also now included our criticism of the Batthyanys’ original lack of comment in their discussion forum):

End of February 2010: David Litchfield to Alexander Batthyany (unpublished by forum):
Bitte entschuldigen Sie die Verspätung meiner Antwort, aber ich musste erst noch ein Buch fertig schreiben, welches sich wiederum mit einer eminenten Familie beschäftigt, die ihre faschistische Vergangenheit verleugnet – diesmal eine englische Familie.

Was die deutschsprachige Bevölkerung angeht, so ist es meine Ueberzeugung, dass das einzige was ‘selbstverständlich’ ist, bzw. wobei keine Gefahr des ‘Missverstehens’ besteht, die Tatsache ist, dass viele Deutsche und Oesterreicher weiterhin glauben, dass es den Juden recht geschah und dass keinerlei Reue gezeigt wird, sondern im Gegenteil die Gelegenheit – falls gegeben – willkommen geheissen würde, das Gleiche morgen wieder zu verbrechen. Dies ist leider meine Sicht, die ich aus persönlicher Erfahrung gewinnen musste. Uebrigens wurde sie auch von Margit Batthyany’s Bruder Heini Thyssen mit mir geteilt.

Ich denke, es ist auch bemerkenswert, dass Sie die Thyssen Familie nicht erwähnen, deren Giftbecher Ihre Familie gern in Empfang nahm, wofür die Einwohner von Rechnitz bis heute bezahlen müssen.

Während ich akzeptiere, dass Sie persönlich das Massaker bedauern, die Opfer beklagen und mit ihren Familien trauern, so vermittelte mir Sacha Batthyany andererseits mündlich – im Gegensatz zu seinen gedruckten Aeusserungen – den Eindruck, dass Sie wohl die Ausnahme und nicht die Norm innerhalb des Batthyany Clans darstellen.

Sollte Ihnen daran gelegen sein, die Position Ihrer Familie in direkterer Weise aufzustellen, warum probieren Sie nicht, einen diesbezüglichen Beitrag auf www.batthyany.at freizuschalten, der Ihre Sympathie für die Opfer und Ihr Bedauern ob des Rechnitzer Massakers widerspiegelt, und eine Einladung an andere Mitglieder Ihrer Familie enthält, diese Haltung öffentlich zu unterstützen?

An Ihrer Stelle würde ich allerdings bei dieser Aktion lieber nicht die Luft anhalten. Wie Sie vielleicht wissen, enthält die Batthyany Webseite bisher keine einzige selbständige Information zum Thema Rechnitz.

Mid-February 2010: Alexander Batthyany to David Litchfield on ‘Das Magazin’ forum:
Manche Dinge sollten so selbstverständlich sein, dass sie zu erwähnen nicht mehr notwendig sein müsste. Aber da man das Selbstverständliche dann eben doch noch ausformulieren muss: Ich bedauere die 180 Opfer des Massakers ebenso wie ihre Angehörigen und Nachkommen.

Möglicherweise war mein Schreiben missverständlich formuliert, und wenn dem so sein sollte, will ich das gerne korrigieren: ich wollte primär zum Ausdruck bringen, dass Fragen der Schuld (der eigenen wie der innerhalb einer Familie) als existentielle Fragen individuell zu beantworten sind. Da ich ein Mitglied dieser Familie bin und einige der Beitragenden hier den Eindruck äusserten, dies sei eine Stellungnahme “für die Familie” wollte ich daher auf diesen einen Punkt gesondert hinweisen.

Ich beschäftige mich bereits lange genug mit diesem Thema – daher habe ich als gegeben vorausgesetzt, was ohnedies keine Frage mehr sein sollte: das Bedauern, bzw. die Sympathie mit den Ermordeten. Aus eben diesem Grund schrieb ich ja auch von Schuld und Verantwortung.

Mid-February 2010: David Litchfield to Alexander Batthyany on ‘Das Magazin’ forum:
Ich habe Ihren Beitrag immer wieder durchgelesen, kann aber leider nirgends einen Ausdruck Ihrer Sympathie für die 180 jüdischen Menschen entdecken, die in dieser Nacht getötet wurden; oder Ihres Bedauerns ob der grausamen Tat.
Ihre einzige Sorge scheint dem Ruf Ihrer Familie zu gelten.
Ich schliesse meine Beweisführung ab.

End Jan./Beg. Feb. 2010: Alexander Batthyany on ‘Das Magazin’ forum:
Das ist ein hervorragender Artikel, von dem ich viel gelernt habe. Was mir allerdings nicht eingeht, und was mir auch unter rein pragmatischen Gesichtspunkten kaum haltbar erscheint, ist die in manchen Kommentaren anklingende Meinung, dieser Artikel sei “für die Familie” geschrieben worden. Scheinbar gehen jene, die dies annehmen, davon aus, dass die Familie (oder auch nur irgendeine andere Familie) eine geschlossene Gruppe darstelle, die einen der ihren losschickt, um für sie zu sprechen oder zu schreiben.

Das liest sich als Idee vielleicht gut, ist aber kaum praktikabel: und das kann sich wohl jeder vor Augen führen, der den Versuch unternehmen wird, für seine eigene Familie zu sprechen oder einen Artikel zu veröffentlichen; und das Scheitern dieses Versuchs wird dann hoffentlich zeigen, wie unwahrscheinlich es ist, dass dies in einer doch recht grossen Familie wie der unserigen geschehen soll. Im Übrigen halte ich dies – neben der wie gesagt fehlenden Umsetzbarkeit eines solchen Unterfangens – auch für eine bedenkliche Modellierung der Familie als “Sippe”, die geschlossen für die Meinung und Reflexionen eines Einzelnen einstehe und umgekehrt. Bedenklich ist dies deswegen, weil das ein Bild ist, das üblicherweise nicht zuletzt eben jene zeichneten, über deren Verbrechen wir hier diskutieren und für deren Ideologie vermutlich keiner der hier Diskutierenden nur die geringste Sympathie empfindet. Darin dürften sich – über alle anderen Meinungsunterschiede hinweg – alle hier Diskutierenden in Konsens befinden.

Was ich eigentlich sagen will – und was meiner Lesart zufolge auch Sacha Batthyány nicht anders sieht und in einem in meinen Augen sehr gelungenen Text zum Ausdruck bringt: Am Ende steht jeder, der in seiner Verwandtschaft einen solchen “Fall” zu beklagen hat, alleine damit da: Hier konkret mit der Frage, was genau in dieser Nacht geschah und der nicht minder bohrenden Frage, was in den Jahren danach war, in denen die Beteiligten, inkl. Margit B., hoffentlich einmal ausgenüchtert genug gewesen sind, um über diese Nacht in Rechnitz nachzudenken. Auch alleine bleibt man mit der entscheidenden Frage, wie man selbst mit Schuld im eigenen Umfeld umgeht. Und man findet auch nicht allzu schnell eine Antwort darauf, und vermutlich wird auch diese Antwort immer nur Stückwerk bleiben. Schon daher – und auch, weil hoffentlich die historischen Recherchen über das Massaker von Rechnitz weitergehen werden – kann es keine “allgemeine Stellungnahme” geben – weder eine abschliessende, noch eine allgemeine. Bleiben wird allerdings das Problem der Schuld und des Umgangs mit Verantwortung. Auch das sollte die Vermutung, es handle sich bei dieser oder anderen Stellungnahmen um quasi in Auftrag gegebene Pressemitteilungen im Namen der Familie, oder für die Familie, relativieren. Die Familie besteht, wie jede andere Gruppe auch, aus Individuen; und Fragen der Schuld, Verantwortung und des Umgangs damit sind grundlegend und eigentlich individuelle Fragen. Das ist hier der Fall wie in allen anderen existentiellen Bereichen des Lebens ebenfalls.

Das scheint mir auch in dem Text von Sacha Batthyány zum Ausdruck zu kommen, zumindest so, wie ich ihn lese.

Our english translation of the article with our comments:
http://www.davidrllitchfield.com/2009/12/the-batthyany-conspiracy-all-innocent-on-the-eastern-front/

The original article by Sacha Batthyany, published on 11.12.2009:
http://dasmagazin.ch/index.php/ein-schreckliches-geheimnis/

Willkommen beim Clan Batthyany

However, when Jelinek subsequently accused me in Professor Walter Manoschek’s Book ‘Der Fall Rechnitz’ of basing ‘The Thyssen Art Macabre’ on ‘hearsay’, I thought a little light-hearted revenge might be in order, now that I have discovered the secret of her writing style:

First you need to write a play. Any play. Then you feed it through a computer translator into any other language. Then reverse the process back into the original language – and heyho! and voila! – you have instant Jelinek. Try it!

**************************************************************************************

Literarischer Diebstahl ist nichts neues und ich muss gestehen, dass ich ziemlich stolz war, als mir klar wurde, wieviel von meinem Buch über die Thyssens Elfriede Jelinek in ihrem Stück ‘Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel)’ verwendet hatte; sie erwähnt es in den Danksagungen der gedruckten Version. Ich war mir allerdings auch bewusst, wie ironisch die Bestätigung ihrer Verwendung von T. S. Eliot’s ‘The Hollow Men’ ist, denn Eliot war ein grosser Meister des Plagiats.

Als Jelinek mir jedoch im Nachhinein in Professor Walter Manoschek’s Buch ‘Der Fall Rechnitz’ vorwarf, mein Buch (deutsche Ausgabe: ‘Die Thyssen-Dynastie. Die Wahrheit hinter dem Mythos’) sei ein ‘meist auf Hörensagen beruhendes Buch’, dachte ich mir, es wäre nunmehr an der Zeit für ein bisschen scherzhafte Rache, zumal ich das Geheimnis ihres Schreibstils entdeckt hatte:

Zunächst müssen Sie ein Stück schreiben. Irgendein Stück. Dann schicken Sie es durch das Uebersetzungsprogramm auf Ihrem Computer in irgendeine andere Sprache. Danach schicken Sie es wieder zurück in die Originalsprache – und presto! und sodele! – schon haben Sie Instant-Jelinek. Probieren Sie’s mal!

Time can be so cruel

'Plagiarise, Plagiarise, Let no one else's work evade your eyes' (Tom Lehrer)

I did not say ‘Under English law, the Baroness can disinherit Borja. I said ‘As far as I know, no European country permits total disinheritance’.

http://www.elmundo.es/papel/2009/12/19/laotracronica/21587838.html

EL LÍO DE LAS PATERNIDADES EL BIÓGRAFO DE LOS THYSSEN

«LAS NIÑAS PODRÍAN SER DEL BARÓN»

Eso es lo que David R. L. Litchfield, amigo de Heini Thyssen durante 25 años, desvela en esta entrevista en exclusiva. «Si es bajo legislación inglesa, la baronesa podrá desheredar a Borja»

ADRIANO SILVA

El último capítulo en el enfrentamiento de los Thyssen acaba de escribirlo Tita Cervera asegurando que su hijo Borja esta «abducido por una secta». La guerra en esta familia, como en los 90 sucediera entre el barón Thyssen y sus hijos mayores, se repite como un bucle. David R. L. Litchfield, autor de La historia secreta de los Thyssen (Temas de Hoy), la conoce bien. El biógrafo del barón analiza en exclusiva para LOC las claves del enfrentamiento entre Carmen y Borja. Su trayectoria como escritor y periodista, así como la amistad que mantuvo con ellos durante 25 años, le avalan.

Pregunta.- ¿Qué le parece que Tita no fuera a la boda de su hijo?

Respuesta.- Sé que se casaron y que Tita no fue. Conocí a Blanca hace años. Tita me confesó que contrató a Blanca para que alejara a las cazafortunas que se acercaban a Borja. Ella le ha educado como a un príncipe. Le ha sobreprotegido siempre. No quería que se le acercara una cualquiera, entonces contrató a Blanca para que su hijo estuviera vigilado. La cuestión no es que Tita odie o no a Blanca. Simplemente no estaba en el plan que su hijo se terminara casando con la «funcionaria».

P.- Hay quienes ven un paralelismo entre las vidas de Tita y Blanca. ¿Blanca (la aprendiz) ha superado a Tita (la maestra)?

R.- Bueno, las comparaciones son odiosas, pero veamos: Blanca ha formado una bonita familia, tiene un marido fiel, un hijo con él, disfruta de la fortuna de los Thyssen… Tita tiene un montón de cuadros que todos vais a pagar, un hijo con el que está enfrentada y dos hijas de dudosa proveniencia. Tú eliges quién gana o quién pierde.

P.- De hecho, durante muchos meses se ha especulado con que Borja pueda ser el padre biológico de las hijas gemelas de Tita. ¿Lo ve posible?

R.- No creo que Borja sea el padre. Borja no es un Thyssen. Me creo más la posibilidad de que el padre de esas niñas fuera Heini. Es una mera hipótesis, no lo afirmo. De esa forma Tita aseguraría el porvenir de las gemelas. [El barón murió en 2002 y para concebir a las niñas, nacidas en 2007, su herencia genética debería haber sido preservada en un banco de esperma].

P.- ¿Tita mira a Blanca con los mismos ojos con los que Francesca, la hija del barón, la miraba a ella en el pasado?

R.- Sin duda. La mira de la misma forma snob. Es una cuestión de dinero y estatus social.

P.- Presuntamente, Tita exigió a Borja que se hiciera las pruebas de paternidad, ya que desconfiaba de que Sacha fuera su nieto. ¿Hay algún precedente en la familia Thyssen?

R.- Y tanto que los hay. Que yo sepa, hasta en tres generaciones se han planteado problemas de este tipo. De los cuatro hijos de Heini Thyssen (George, Francesca, Lorne y Alexander), sólo Francesca es hija biológica. Y no lo digo yo, me lo confirmó el barón.

P.- ¿Cómo cree que terminará esta historia?

R.- No va a terminar, al menos mientras tengan dinero para seguir pagando a los abogados.

P.- ¿Le sorprende que la baronesa haya demandado a su hijo?

R.- No me sorprende, pero creo que lo hace para desviar la atención sobre sus negociaciones de arte en Málaga y San Feliu. Ella está intentando vender su colección de arte, al igual que lo hizo el barón.

P.- Borja ha declarado recientemente que es beneficiario, junto a su madre, de parte de la colección de arte de Heini Thyssen. ¿Contradice esto el Pacto de Basilea (el acuerdo alcanzado por Tita y los hijos del barón en relación al reparto de la herencia)?

R.- Borja no tiene ningún derecho sobre la colección. Sólo tiene derecho a los cuadros que pertenecen a su colección privada, pero no a los del barón. Igualmente, habría que recordarle a Borja que sus cuadros están cedidos al Estado español a través de un acuerdo de préstamo.

P.- Pero, ¿tiene derecho Borja a reclamar parte de la herencia?

R.- Borja puede hacer lo que considere, pero conociendo a Tita como la conozco, saldrá perjudicado. Su madre hará de todo para que ese dinero no le llegue. Pero la cuestión es: ¿bajo qué jurisdicción sería resuelto el caso? ¿española, suiza o británica?

P.- Según la baronesa, la británica. Se dice que Tita desheredará a Borja.

R.- Si es bajo la legislación británica, la baronesa podrá desheredar a su hijo si así lo considera.

P.- Después de todo lo que ha llovido, ¿cree posible una alianza entre Borja y Francesca en contra de Tita?

R.- Es posible, pero poco probable.

ANTIGUA AMISTAD

MISMO PATRÓN. David R. L. Litchfield ha vivido de cerca las tensiones entre el barón Thyssen y su familia. «Los conozco hace más de 25 años. Al barón le fascinaba encomendar biografías. Cuando leyó uno de mis libros le entusiasmó la idea de que le escribiera una, pero no llegó a buen puerto. Tras varios años sin hablarnos, en 1996 me llamó Tita diciendo que finalmente el barón estaría dispuesto a que yo fuera su biógrafo. Tampoco salió bien. Sin embargo, eso no me impidió sacar mi libro La historia secreta de los Thyssen, con toda la información que recabé durante todos esos años a su lado». Su relación con Tita y Heini fue «fluida». «Podían ser un grano en el culo, pero estamos cortados por el mismo patrón, así que no hubo problemas».

The edge of Villa Favorita, Lake Lugano, Switzerland

Heini Thyssen and David Litchfield at Villa Favorita, ca. 1989 (photo: Nicola Graydon)

Heini Thyssen in his gallery, Villa Favorita, Lugano, ca. 1989 (photo: Nicola Graydon)

Heini Thyssen (photo: Nicola Graydon)

Lake Lugano seen from Villa Favorita

Breakfast at Villa Favorita