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had publicly intimated that the marriage represented an alliance Prince Bernhard's family relationship with the Thyssens may go between both nations—a notion refuted by Queen Wilhelmina. some way to explaining why the prince, together with a Dutch More telling is the fact that when he arrived in England after intelligence unit, travelled to the Russian zone in Berlin in 1945 to the outbreak of war and asked to work in British intelligence, his recover a batch of buried "incriminating corporate papers" offer was declined by members of the Admiralty because they belonging to Fritz Thyssen that evidenced "secret Thyssen didn't trust him. Nor did the Supreme Allied Commander, ownership". This small favour was carried out under the pretext General Eisenhower, who refused him access to sensitive intelli- that the daring prince was recovering the Dutch crown jewels gence information. However, with the intervention of King stolen by the Nazis. The papers were returned to The Netherlands George VI, Prince Bernhard was eventually allowed to work in and deposited in the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, in war-planning councils. Whoops! Rotterdam, which was secretly owned by Thyssen. Known as Moving on quickly, to understand the very special relationship Operation Juliana, this cunning scheme was a body-blow to between Prince Bernhard and General Walter Bedell Smith—who Allied investigators who were anxiously seeking the "missing most certainly had complete access to pieces of the Thyssen fortune".” General Eisenhower's intelligence—we need The US attorney to the Rotterdam bank to advance several years. After WWI, was Allen Dulles, who had migrated from Prince Bernhard is believed to have been the OSS office in Bern, Switzerland, to rofitably employed dealing in art stolen ecome the US intelligence chief in post-war profitably employed dealing i 1 b he US intellig hief in p during the war. Gerben Sonderman, whom i Germany. Prince Bernhard described as the "best It Is alleged that the friend I ever had" (presumably Adolf had number-one activity of FENCING THE ROSE 7 2) ac as . . ; Family 4 ars 9 9 prince’ private pilot for eansporting sioien | TM Augustan Society is) isc ar inks to enterprises, with art according to Ton Biesemaat, who wrote intelligence gathering, intelligence connections. Take, for example, about the art ri in his sé Th i the Order of the Rose of Li a chivalric Correggio Mystery" mame epews “ and that itis an order awarded to the German House of In 1941, Son ierman, a Dutch Fokker intelligence front for Lippe. An offshoot of this order is the Noble pilot, developed contacts with Germans involved in plundering Dutch artworks. A close contact of his was Alois Miedl, a "banker, spy and art dealer" who occasionally dressed in SS uniform.” After the war, Miedl operated on behalf of the ODESSA, the SS escape network that transported Nazi war criminals to safety in South America— particularly Argentina, to where Bormann is believed to have escaped. This was also a favourite destination for Prince Bernhard after the war, and he was usually accompanied by his The curiosity here is that many of best friend, Gerben Sonderman. The Augustan Society's early members Another of those seemingly involved in this stolen-art trading and some of its founders were formerly with wartime intelligence ring was Hungarian nobleman Prince Alfred zur Lippe- services, mostly the OSS. They included Crolian Edelen, Robert Weissenfeld, a relative of Prince Bernhard. By another of those Formhals, Robert Gayre, John Driscoll, George Balling and remarkable coincidences, Prince Alfred's daughter was the wife of Forest Barber, all of whom had also previously been Shickshinny Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kaszon, son of Knights—a so-called "fake" order that claimed descent from the Company of the Rose, founded by Ernst August Prinz zur Lippe—the first cousin of Prince Bernhard—and Sir Rodney Hartwell. Today, the Noble Order of the Rose is awarded exclusively and by invitation only to members of a curious research institute called The Augustan Society, founded in 1957 with a focus on genealogy, royalty, nobility, chivalry, heraldry and related topics and housed in a mansion located in the Mojave Desert near Daggett, California. SMOM, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the official Vatican Order of the Knights of Malta. Fritz Thyssen's brother and heir to the Thyssen family fortune. Russian Grand Priory of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The Walter Bedell Smith, as we have seen above, was in close Shickshinny Knights boasted some really heavyweight English contact with the prince during the period that Montgomery was and American pro-Nazi military and intelligence officers.” drawing up his initial plan to capture the Dutch bridges and then It is alleged that the number-one activity of The Augustan dash to Berlin via the Ruhr. Just how close this friendship with Society is intelligence gathering, and that several members of the Prince Bernhard was can be judged by the fact that after the war society began working together three or four years before Bedell Smith and Prince Bernhard went into business together. officially incorporating it as a legal entity (thus dating it back to One might describe it as an "import-export company" because it circa 1954—more on this date later). It is also said that it is an involved an art trading company called Bernard Ltd which used intelligence front for SMOM, the Sovereign Military Order of military aircraft to fly between Soesterberg—a short distance Malta, the official Vatican Order of the Knights of Malta. The from Prince Bernhard's Soestdijk Palace—and the USA. Augustan Society was originally located in Torrance, California— However, in August 1945, Bedell Smith donated his private a location that gave rise to an insider adage, "When you hear a plane to fly Nazi spymaster Reinhard Gehlen and five of his gen- sneeze in Torrance, you hear a 'God bless you' on the Via eral staff to Washington, DC, for secret talks. This move was in Condotti". The Via Condotti in Rome is the location of the complete contravention of prevailing American policy and, Palazzo di Malta, the headquarters of SMOM. according to author Charles Higham, could have resulted in court The SMOM connection to this story is not without considerable martial proceedings against Bedell Smith.* interest. Members of this order have included such Nazi notables intelligence front for SMOM, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the official Vatican Order of the 36 * NEXUS It is alleged that the Knights of Malta. www.nexusmagazine.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2005