Chapter 9: Shell collaborated in the Nazi annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia
Rhenania-Ossag221 was the operating company for the Royal Dutch Shell Group in Nazi Germany. As one of the two biggest German oil companies and the main lube oil manufacturer, Rhenania-Ossag was an industry leader in Nazi Germany. Many of its workers and directors were Nazis. The Nazi regime did not take direct control of Rhenania-Ossag until January 1940. Before that date, following Hitler’s annexation of Austria on 12 March 1938 and the occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Royal Dutch Shell managing directors sanctioned Rhenania-Ossag taking over the Shell operating companies in those countries. This meant that a company already heavily penetrated by the Nazi system gained control over Shell companies in Austria and Czechoslovakia. All of this took place before the outbreak of World War II and while Royal Dutch Shell was still in control of its subsidiary companies, including Rhenania-Ossag.
Most of the above information comes directly from Volume 2 of “A History of Royal Dutch Shell” (page 78)222 with supplementary background material where indicated.223 Extract from page 78 We have already noted the Nazi government’s appointment of a Verwalter for Rhenania-Ossag in January 1940; the Bataafsche Verwalter subsequently assumed formal control over the companies in countries under German occupation or in the German sphere of influence, such as Hungary. Of the Group’s companies under Nazi control only Astra, Rhenania-Ossag, and Nafta Italiana continued operating at their former levels. As we have already seen, Astra was drawn into the German war effort. As one of the two biggest German oil companies and the main lube oil manufacturer, Rhenania-Ossag was an industry leader in the country. Following Hitler’s annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, Group managing directors sanctioned Rhenania-Ossag taking over the Shell companies in those countries. With the rupture of overseas supplies, Rhenania-Ossag turnover plummeted, but the company formed part of the official oil cartel and thus had a share in the processing and distribution of any oil coming in, which assured a steady, if meagre, flow of revenues. In December 1940 the Verwalter activated the hidden financial reserves built up during the 1930s to raise the company’s capital from 75 million to 120 million Reichsmarks. A year later Rhenania-Ossag floated a bond loan of RM 60 million to pay off an old loan from Bataafsche and finance some new installations. Meanwhile, the relationship between parent company and subsidiary had to some extent been reversed by the appointment of Rhenania-Ossag’s research director as Verwalter over Bataafsche’s Amsterdam laboratory, to ensure that it would contribute to the German war effort. EXTRACTS END Astra was the operating company of Royal Dutch Shell in Romania. Nafta Italiana was the operating company of Royal Dutch Shell in Italy. Austria was annexed into the German Third Reich on 12 March 1938.224 Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany225 and Austria,226 in March 1938, the conquest of Czechoslovakia became Hitler’s next ambition. The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Nazi Germany left the rest of Czechoslovakia powerless to resist subsequent occupation. On 16 March 1939, the German Wehrmacht227 moved into the remainder of Czechoslovakia.228
Notes
221. Link to Wikipedia article Rhenania-Ossag ↩
222. Link to shellnews.net webpage containing page 78 from “A History of Royal Dutch Shell: Volume 2. ↩
223. Link to Wikipedia Rhenania-Ossag article ↩
224. Link to Wikipedia article “Anschluss” Source 1 ↩
225. Link to Wikipedia article “Nazi Germany” Source 1 ↩
226. Link to Wikipedia article “Austria” Source 1 ↩
227. Link to Wikipedia article “Wehrmacht” Source 1 ↩
228. Link to Wikipedia article “German occupation of Czechoslovakia” Source 1 ↩