The wealth of industrialists enabled World Wars i and ii. Many of the same industrialists profited from National Socialist policies through the regime’s Aryanization, slave labor or increased arms production. After the war, they continued to shape politics, and some took note of one particular politician: Franz Josef Strauss. What does this history mean for the Christian Social Union (csu) and German politics today?

The World War ii history of the wealthiest dynasties in Germany has long been obscure. The 2022 book Nazi Billionaires has shed light on history’s dark aisles.

In his book, David de Jong states, “The brutal legacy of the dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz, and still control Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW has remained hidden in plain sight—until now.” De Jong focuses on the family history of the Quandts, the Flicks, the von Fincks, the Porsche-Piëchs, the Oetkers and the Reimanns. The list can be extended to other companies and individuals that profited from the Third Reich. De Jong concludes his book by detailing how many of the billionaire heirs have refused to deal with this history in an appropriate manner. But the more intriguing question is: What does that mean for Germany today?

It’s a well-documented fact that some of these companies are still politically involved. For example, Germany’s Zeit wrote in April:

It is rich, powerful and little known. The association Die Familienunternehmer fights the energy transition with aggressive campaigns and drives politics. … The association’s board includes shareholders from Henkel, Dr. Oetker, Miele and Deichmann—internationally active corporations with sales in the billions.

Dr. Oetker is one of the Nazi billionaire dynasties. In 2018, it was revealed that an heir from the von Fincks was one of the main contributors to the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party. Even more famous is the Flick affair, a large scale political bribery scheme from the 1980s.

But the Nazi billionaires’ involvement in politics goes back further and is even more extensive. The example of Franz Josef Strauss from the csu illustrates this.

In his biography of Strauss, Peter Siebenmorgen notes:

Strauss, in particular, has been an extremely creative and successful fundraiser for his party since his first days in political office. He did not even have to solicit many donors, who approached him of their own accord and sometimes handed over considerable sums in cash; on the fringes of an election event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1949, for example, 12,000 dem—a fortune at the time.

Siebenmorgen recounts that the chiefs of the Flick and Quandt dynasties took a particular interest in Strauss, even valuing his advice for their businesses. This was lucrative for Strauss and his party.

Siebenmorgen also gained insight into files that proved Strauss received bribes through a shell company from 1964 until the 1980s. In 2015, Spiegel wrote: “The list of payers ranges from BMW and Bertelsmann to Daimler-Benz and Dornier to companies belonging to the Flick empire and media mogul Leo Kirch’s TaurusHolding GmbH.”

Once again, we see the fingerprints of the Nazi billionaires.

De Jong points to another connection between the Nazi billionaires and Strauss. In the 1960s, Krauss-Maffai under Flick’s control was awarded with the first contracts of the Leopard tank thanks to “Strauss’s backing.” The design of the tank was created in cooperation with Porsche. In the following years, the Leopard tank and later versions were integrated into the German Armed Forces and exported around the world—and the Nazi billionaire families were again involved in large-scale weapons production.

In the years after the war, banker August von Finck supported the csu and the Bavarian Party. “Just as in those days, the flow of money was not always comprehensible at first glance,” Süddeutsche Zeitung reported in 2010. “He already maintained close relations with the young Franz Josef Strauss, who often visited him at the Möschenfeld estate near Munich, but none with the Social Democrats.” The same Finck helped finance the rise of Adolf Hitler and profited from the Nazi’s Aryanization of Jewish banks. His son donated to the election campaign of Strauss’s political heir, Edmund Stoiber, and later enabled the rise of the AfD. His grandson August François made the news in 2019 for being the most important donor to Augustus Intelligence, an obscure artificial intelligence company with right-wing connections that includes yet another prominent csu member: Karl-Theodor zu Gutthenberg.

World War ii ended almost 80 years ago. But many of the activities of these Nazi billionaire families are covered in mystery. Many of the heirs shy away from the limelight while their companies flourish. The Bible reveals they will once again play a role in shaping Germany’s destiny. These prophecies are explained in “Rising From the German Underground,” by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry.

In this article, Mr. Flurry points to the so-called “Red House meeting” that took place toward the end of World War ii between senior Nazis and representatives of companies like Krupp, Messerschmitt, Volkswagenwerk and Rheinmetall. The document, declassified in 1996 by United States’ intelligence, revealed these business leaders were told they must “prepare themselves to finance the Nazi Party, which would be forced to go underground ….”

How extensive were these plans? Who were all the involved industrialists? How well was their plan executed? And what does this mean for our day? The Bible gives the answer.

While the industrialists’ work covers a wide array of political support, it is all aimed at reviving the German empire’s strength. Germany’s industrial conglomerate will again unite to support one political leader. As Mr. Flurry explained, Revelation 18 reveals that businessmen and industrialists, referred to in prophecy as “the merchants of the earth,” will throw their weight behind a “political-religious power.”

We mentioned a few examples of who could be part of these merchants. Mr. Flurry mentioned a few others in his article. But one thing is sure: The last resurrection of this deadly empire will include some of the same industrialists that enabled World Wars i and ii.

I highly recommend studying Mr. Flurry’s article “Rising From the German Underground” for a deeper understanding of these prophecies.