Chapter 14: Media coverage of the death of Sir Henri Deterding
Sir Henri Deterding died in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on 4 February 1939,314 several months before the outbreak of the Second World War. Given his global fame as an oil magnate and his reputation as a controversial political figure, his death prompted numerous obituaries. At the time of his death, he was still a director of several Royal Dutch Shell Group companies. What follows is a selection of contemporaneous news reports. SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS Dutch Shell Head Dies In Holland: Sunday 5 February 1939,315 EXTRACTS Sir Henri Wilhelm August Deterding was an outstanding figure in world financial affairs because of his role as guiding genius of the great Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, of which he remained a director after retiring from the post of director-general. He was known as a bitter foe of Soviet Russia and was named at a Moscow trial as having aided in a plot against the Soviet government. Daily Mirror: 9s.-a-Week to Millions: 6 February 1939 Page 7.316 Oil King Sir Henri Deterding, seventy-two, who died at St. Moritz, Switzerland, began as a nine-shillings-a-week bank clerk and rose to riches so great that eventually he matched dollar for dollar with Rockefeller. Sir Henri was a Dutchman. He was knighted by the British Government “for services rendered.” Hitler is said to have received his financial support. He hated the Soviet Government, admired Mussolini and aided France.
He was thrice married. His third bride was thirty-one years his junior. Daily Express: Deterding millions in Germany: 6 February 1939. Front page.317 THE personal fortune of Sir Henri Deterding, multi-millionaire oil king, who died after a heart attack on Saturday, is believed to be in Germany, where he went to live after his divorce in 1936. The Times: “Sir Henri Deterding Obituary”: 6 February 1939 366 Extract In the last few years he had spent much of his time in Germany, where he showed himself to be in sympathy with the German government’s attitude towards the Communists, whose main object, he wrote, was to permit as little cooperation between the nations as possible “because only then will their destructive principles succeed.” Three years ago he attracted some attention with a scheme for marketing the entire surplus of Dutch agricultural production in Germany and giving the proceeds to the Winter Help Organization. Although his first donation to the latter is believed to have amounted to more than £1,000,000, the scheme seems to have met with a rather mixed reception from the German authorities and little has since been heard of it. Daily Express: OIL KING MOVED HIS MILLIONS: 318 Feb 1939 Page 11.319 EXTRACTS Divorced, went to live in Germany Daily Express Staff Reporter SIR HENRI DETERDING, the oil king, once estimated to have a personal fortune of £25,000,000, has left practically nothing in England. The Montreal Gazette: SIR H. DETERDING, 72 DIES IN SWISS HOME: Monday 6 February 1939 Page 14.320
EXTRACTS
Netherlands-born Magnate Built Up Royal Dutch Petroleum Company Was Ardent Hitler Supporter and Foe of Soviet Sir Henri, who possessed a personal fortune estimated at between $150,000,000 and $200,000,000, had retired from the direction of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company. He became an ardent Nazi after Adolf Hitler attained power in Germany. A practical token of his admiration for the anti-Communist regime of Hitler was given in 1937. He gave $5,000,000 with which to purchase Holland’s surplus food products. He stipulated that the proceeds should go to Germany’s “Winter Help Fund.” THE OSHKOSH NORTHWESTERN: Rockefeller of Europe, Sir Henry Deterding, Dies: MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 1939 Page 7.321 EXTRACTS Son of Sea Captain Rises in Meteoric Career in Fashion Comparable to Horatio Alger Tales – Strong Pro-Nazi and Bitter Russia Opponent Carves Way to Success. He became an ardent Nazi after Adolf Hitler attained power in Germany. Deterding immediately saw the possibilities and set out to tie Royal Dutch and Shell together, the better to compete with Standard Oil. A practical token of his admiration for the anti-Communist regime of Hitler was given in 1937. He gave $5,000,000 with which to purchase Holland’s surplus food products. He stipulated that the proceeds should go to Germany’s “Winter Help Fund.” THE CALGARY DAILY HERALD: An Oil Napoleon: 7 February 1939 Page 4.322 EXTRACTS FEW careers in modern times have been more strange and eventful than that of Sir Henri Deterding.
An inveterate enemy of Soviet rule in Russia because of confiscation of the rich Caucasus oil fields, he later swung over to support for the Hitler movement in Germany and helped to finance it. Daily Express: Oil King will be buried in Germany: 7 February 1939.323 Oil king will be buried in Germany Daily Express Correspondent GENEVA. Monday.- The two sons of Sir Henri Deterding, the oil magnate, who died on Saturday, were expected to fly to St. Moritz yesterday, but arrived tonight by train with other relatives. After meeting Lady Deterding, they decided that their father should be buried on his estate at Dobbin, Mecklenburg, North Germany. The family will leave tomorrow morning. New York Times: DETERDING BURIAL PLANS: 7 February 1939,324 Extracts Oil Operator’s Body to Be Taken to His German Estate ST. MORITZ, Switzerland, Feb. 318 (AP).–The family of Sir Henri Deterding gathered at the Swiss villa where he died unexpectedly Saturday to take the body of the 72-year-old Netherlands-born oil operator back to his estate at Dobbin, Mecklenburg, Germany, for burial. New York Times: DETERDING HONORED BY NAZIS AT FUNERAL: 11 February 1939.325 As the coffin was lowered into the grave, a deputy of the Fuehrer stepped forth and, placing a wreath upon it, said: “In the name of Adolf Hitler, I greet you, Henri Deterding, the great friend of the Germans.” Field Marshal Goering sent a group of officers of the air corps to convey his respects. The Times: SIR HENRI DETERDING’S FUNERAL: 11 February 1939.326 Extract: Herr Hitler and Field-Marshal Goring, and the Dutch Government, sent wreaths to the funeral to-day of Sir Henri Deterding at his estate at Dobbin, Mecklenburg Daily Express: Hitler sends wreath: Front Page: 11 February 1939,327 Hitler sends wreath Daily Express Staff Reporter BERLIN, Friday.- Hitler has sent a wreath with a red, white and black ribbon worded “Adolf Hitler,” to the funeral today of Sir Henri Deterding, multimillionaire Dutch oil king, who died last Saturday. Time Magazine: Royal Dutch knight: 13 February 1939.328 Extract He backed Hitler in Germany, added a German residence to his English, Dutch and Swiss homes. THE ERA, BRADFORD, PA: TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1939.329 Extract The last honors bestowed upon the late Sir Henri Deterding by high German officials furnish eloquent confirmation of the story that he was one of the original financial backers of the Nazi movement. A Dutchman by birth and nationality, he attained the chairmanship of the Royal Dutch (Shell) Oil Co. and was knighted by the British king. The same article was published the following day in the Twin Falls News, Idaho:330 and The Milwaukee Sentinel on 16 March 1939.331 Extract Sir Henri Deterding gave 7½ million marks to Hitler in 1929
Daily Mirror: £250,000 FOR A BABY: 20 March 1939: Page 13332 EXTRACT EIGHT weeks after the death, of her seventy-year-old millionaire husband, Lady Charlotte Deterding, aged forty, has given birth to a daughter in a Berlin nursing home. Under the terms of her oil-magnate husband’s will the child will inherit about a quarter of a million pounds. Sir Henri left more than £2,000,000, but the exact figure is not yet known. Lady Charlotte was Sir Henri’s third wife. They were married in 1936. She was formerly Fraulein Charlotte Knaack and acted for some time as his secretary.
Notes
314. Link to shellnews.net webpage containing an article published by The New York Times on 5 February 1939 under the headline: “HENRI DETERDING DIES IN ST. MORITZ” The article mentions the Cattle and farm products Sir Henri “presented” to Germany as his contribution to the ght against Bolshevism. ↩
315. Link to shellnews.net webpage containing page 4 from the San Antonio Express newspaper published Sunday, 5 February, 1939: See headline “Dutch Shell Head Dies in Holland” ↩
316. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing a Daily Mirror article published 6 February 1939 under the headline “9s.-a-Week to Millions” ↩
317. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing a Daily Express article published 6 February 1939 under the headline “Deterding millions in Germany” Source 1 ↩
318. Link to a Reuters article published 2 December 2009 under the headline: “Shell critic says oil major targeting his website” ↩
319. Link to an article published on page 11 of the Daily Express on Monday 6 February 1939 under the headline “OIL KING MOVED HIS MILLIONS” ↩
320. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing an Obituary by The Montreal Gazette on page 14 of the edition published on 6 February 1939. ↩
321. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com article published Monday 6 February 1939 by The Oshkosh Northwestern under the headline “Rockefeller of Europe, Sir Henri Deterding Dies” Source 1 ↩
322. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing an article published 7 February 1939 on page 4 go The Calgary Daily Herald under the headline “An Oil Napoleon” ↩
323. Link to a royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing an article published on page 11 of the Daily Express under the headline “Oil king will be buried in Germany” Source 1 ↩
324. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing a New York Times article published 7 February 1939 under the headline “DETERDING BURIAL PLANS” Source 1 ↩
325. Link to shellnews.net webpage containing New York Times article “DETERDING HONORED BY NAZIS AT FUNERAL “: Published 11 February 1939 ↩
326. Link to shellnews.net webpage containing an article published by The Times under the headline “SIR HENRI DETERDING’S FUNERAL” on 11 February 1939 ↩
327. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing a Daily Express article published 11 February 1937 under the headline “Hitler sends wreath” Source 1 ↩
328. Link to time.com article published Monday 13 February 1939 under the headline “PETROLEUM: Royal Dutch Knight” ↩
329. Link to a royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing an article published on page 3 of The Era, BRAFORD, PA, Tuesday, 7 March, 1939. Item in the fourth column under the heading “CAUSE”. ↩
330. Link to a royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing an article by James McMullin published 8 March 1939 by Twin Falls News, Idaho. ↩
331. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing a syndicated article by Walter Winchell published by The Milwaukee Sentinel on 16 March 1939 ↩
332. Link to royaldutchshellplc.com webpage containing an article published on page 13 of the Daily Mirror on Monday, 20 March 1939, under the headline “£250,000 FOR A BABY” Source 1 ↩