Disclosures about the German spy network in inter -war Romania. The secret files of the companies that were carrying the Romanian economy

The Romanian Intelligence Service keeps in its archives, currently declared, documents about suspected companies that have been used as a screen for espionage, especially from Nazi Germany, on the territory of Romania, in the years preceding World War II.

Espionage in the interwar years. Illustrative photo. Archive source: BND-BUND.de

A number of famous companies in inter-war Romania, the majority with Romanian-German capital, and some founded in Hungary, were monitored by the Special Intelligence Service, the General Directorate of Police and Safety and of the Second Section of the General Staff. Their activity was documented by state safety structures.

Solagra, monopoly on seeds and spy network

Solagra, a company established in 1940, with Romanians and Germans, was one of the main companies suspected of being involved in espionage acts.

Shortly after its establishment, the company with German capital monopolized the market for oil seeds, being the only one that could buy sunflower, rapeseed and soy from the population and export oil in Germany. Solagra was suspected of hosting German informative networks.

“The Special Information Service had received information, from source appreciated as safe, that German specialists moved to Romania at the beginning of Solagra activity also had the task of organizing information networks. The company was liquidated in the summer of 1944, after the front line exceeded the areas in which the sunflower was massively cultivated, It had dropped considerably ”, shows the documents kept in the SRI archives.

In 1944, at the time of dissolution, the company had large debts and significant losses.

“There are no other documents about the informative activities of the shareholder and staff, as well as Romania's accession to the axis and attention transfer to the Allied countries.“Sori shows.

Solagra, accused of leaving the country's economy

At the end of 1944, the press of the time informed about the “Solagra business”, in which the German company, under the pretext of supporting the Romanian agriculture by “intensifying the crops of oil plants”, obtained from the Romanian state huge loans publicly guaranteed. The press noted that Solagra imposed, indirectly, a fee on the oil consumed by the population, through which the Romanians came to pay the company's expenses.

“The Solagra company obtained from the Government that these expenses be fully paid by the poor Romanian consumer, through a special consumption tax placed on one of the popular consumer products – the oil. Until the necessary amounts, the Government granted in advance to the company Solagra – in the account of the future revenues from this special tax, as well as 300 million lei, “The expenses for intensifying crops”. It is understandable, therefore, that following these arrangements, Solagra could spend without any restriction, generously dividing millions into salaries, chips, participations, gifts, etc., all passed, conveniently, in the chapter “expenses for intensifying crops” and incurred by the Romanian consumer “,, informed the publication “Signal”, in December 1944, when the company was already dissolved.

Solagra functioned as a legalized mechanism for diverting public funds, protected by political influences and complicities from the Financial Administration of the time, concluded the newspaper.

School of spies at Schenker

The Schenker transport company was suspected of spying acts, having serious history in the activity of collecting information.

“At the end of 1933, a great scandal broke out in Czechoslovakia, after the Prague press revealed that the company representatives, well placed in the country's transport system, spyed for Germany, transmitting data on weapons in and to Czechoslovakia”, Sori shows.

Some documents kept in the archives of the institution confirm the direct involvement of Schenker et Co. in economic espionage activities, but also sending staff to training in Germany.

“The prosecutor Poffan, from the Service of the Schenker Et Co. International Transport Society in Bucharest, who went to Germany at a spy school, communicates to Ludwig Kohlhammer, the leader of that company, among others, the following: the school whose courses follows is at Potsdam, in the Palace of the Old Imperial Command. May 1st.shows a document of the 1938 Intelligence Service, declassified and digitized by SRI.

Another document of the interwar safety structures, from December 1938, showed that people who had links with the Schenker Et Co. Transport House From Bucharest they stated that the general manager of this company, Ludwig Kohlhammer, prepared monthly reports of 150–200 pages, which he sent to Berlin to the Ministry of Economy of the Reich, in which he described the economic evolution of Romania.

“Kohlhammer offered details about the new railway works, the financial and monetary projects of the National Bank and the Government, the commercial negotiations in progress with the foreign delegations, as well as the projects for river traffic works. From the way Kohlhammer's reports, its reports, it appears to be one of the main economic informants,” The secret document showed, declassified and published by the SRI.

Accusations of fraud

In 1937, inform the newspaper Porunca of the time, the transport company was called “A cloister of smugglers and recidivist scammers“This was involved in a smuggling scandal, being accused of monopolizing exports from the Cernăuți region, especially eggs, and forged customs statements to avoid the payment of high taxes.

“Within a year, Schenker exported 40 egg wagons, whose customs duty was the amount of 130,000 lei per wagon. In order to avoid supporting these taxes, considered too high, the Schenker company resorted to scams, fake the exported merchandise. In this way, called the company, which raised a million lei, Mention in the export statements that the wagons contain eggs, falsify them, declaring that it is about oil cakes, which were imposed on a derisory customs fee, of about 300 lei per wagon ”, Relating the command of the time, in 1937.

By this fraudulent method, the company would have obtained illegal profits of about 1 million lei, damaging the Romanian state. The scam was discovered following a complaint and an investigation by the Romanian customs authorities, in collaboration with the Polish ones in Sniatin, who confirmed that the real goods were eggs, not oil cakes, added the publication.

Those involved were caught in a flagrant crime, and some of the directors and officials were arrested and sent to court, while the company was fined 16 million lei, which, however, did not pay.

Document of informative structures from the interwar years. Source: SRI archives

Schenker resorted to sophisticated methods of fraud, fiscal manipulation, frequent name changes, headquarters and object of activity, to circumvent the authorities and sanctions, note, in another article of 1937, the command of the time.

Spots infiltrated in transport companies

The Maritime Terestra, Romanian Terestra and Norddeutscher companies Lloyd-Bremen were, in turn, monitored, in the years before the war, being suspected of Nazi propaganda and espionage activities, under the cover of commercial transport.

Malert, a Hungarian air transport company that was active in Romania, was also involved in suspicious activities, related to unjustified personnel in Romania or to deviate its aircraft on prohibited routes.

Document of informative structures from the interwar years. Source: SRI archives

“In fact, the planes coming from Vienna Via Budapest brought to Bucharest, in addition to the few passengers, and additional personnel towards the race crew, some of which were often in the capital of Romania and later returned with a different race. Personally attracted the attention of Romanian information structures, because, practically, these trips were not justified. shows the documents in the SRI archives.

Industry companies, monitored by inter -war secret services

The company Ferrostall, part of a German concern, specialized in the metallurgical and chemical industry, was monitored by the inter -war information structures.

Document of informative structures from the interwar years. Source: SRI archives

“No certain data on the spy activity were preserved, but it came to the attention of the Romanian information structures, as it had built some production capacities for the defense industry, on the eve of World War II, respectively a steel in Hunedoara, a pipe factory for Nicolae Malaxa's concert, especially in the city.shows the documents kept in the SRI archives.

Other companies, offices, banks, associations, committees and offices in various fields served as a screen for the espionage activity of the German services and agents, especially Gestapo and the Intelligence Service of the National Socialist Party.

“For example, starting in the autumn of 1939, the Special Intelligence Service has identified economic and political espionage activities within Südosteuropa, Alfred Herzog, Ford Romania, Cosmos Technical Bureau, Schmidt Factory, Wirtschaftsrat (German Economic Committee in Bucharest), Mariner, Standard, Petrol Blok, Saturn Banking, The Bank of Romania Ltd ”notes SRI.

Documents regarding their activity have been subject to the declassification procedure and are made available to the interested researchers, through the study room within the Central Archive of the SRI.