Julius Barmat

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Judko (Julius) Barmat (18 December 1889, Uman – 8 January 1938, Brussels) was a Ukrainian-born Jewish entrepreneur in the Netherlands who in 1924 became involved in an enormous corruption scandal, which resulted in the largest judicial process in German history. Furthermore, he was involved in corruption scandals around the Belgian government. He maintained narrow contacts with the Dutch Secret Service and was a prominent figure within the social-democracy. According to some people the German affairs resulted in the seizure of power by Hitler.Template:citation needed

Early life

Julius Barmat was the son of a rabbi. Julius grew up in the Polish town of Łódź, with his brothers Solomon, Herschel (who later called himself Henri), Isaak, and David. He studied at a technical school in the town. In 1906 he went to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He was sickly and the Jewish family of De Winter provided him with shelter for a few months to recover. In 1908 he was employed by the business of Winterling & Co in Rotterdam, which sold Russian bonds. Barmat was also employed as an interpreter as he could speak Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, German, and Yiddish. After a complaint from the Russian consulate the owners were arrested in Germany and charged with forging Russian state lottery tickets, but were released on bail. They moved to the Netherlands, but fled again to Germany when a police investigation was started. The business was sold to the German national Adolf Bohlander, who renamed it Barmat & Co.

Activities before and during the First World War

Barmat married Rosa, the daughter of his benefactor on 2 February 1908 in London. He divorced her on 1 September 1908 and married her again shortly afterwards. On 1 June 1909 their only child, a son, was born. Starting a profitable trade in food supplies, Barmat moved his business to Amsterdam and in 1913, with his business partner Czopp, he founded the Holland-Balkan Handelsvereeniging (Holland-Balkan Trade Company) with several agencies in the Balkans. Both men were convicted of a crime, and they were accused by two companies of swindling. A request for naturalisation was rejected. Barmat was very anti-Russian because of the anti-Semitic policy of tsarist Russia; nevertheless he promoted trade with Russia.

At the beginning of the First World War he and three of his brothers returned to Łódź, while their businesses in the Netherlands continued. In Łódź the brothers made a substantial profit from black market trading in food. A threat of police interference caused them to flee again to the Netherlands. They started trading with Germany, circumventing the British sea blockade. In 1916 the brothers amalgamated their respective enterprises in the Amsterdamsche Export en Import Maatschappij (Amexima). Shortly afterwards the company was blacklisted by the British government because of their trading with Germany.

Communism and intelligence service

Barmat was also involved with Russian internees in the Dutch village of Bergen, mostly sailors and political refugees. In this way he came into contact with socialist and communist circles. After the Russian revolution Barmat called himself the unofficial representative of the communist regime. In the Netherlands he maintained contacts with the communist leaders Willem van Ravesteyn and David Wijnkoop. He mediated the transfer of 400,000 rubles from the Russian government to the Communist Party Holland. The double agent Jacob Eskens who worked for both the Netherlands and Germany, tipped off his coordinator Karel Henri Broekhoff of the Dutch intelligence services about this transfer. Subsequently, a telegram from Karl Radek, who was in Berlin negotiating the peace conditions, to Wijnkoop was intercepted, indicating that the money had not arrived, and that it may have been intercepted.

Social-democracy

In 1918 Barmat abandoned the communists. It appeared that he started working for Broekhoff. He commenced a close relationship: Broekhoff moved into an apartment owned by Barmat, and later, when Barmat was living in Berlin, Broekhoff visited him regularly up to 1924, staying over and participating in wild parties. Broekhoff was homosexual and it seems that the close contacts were of the same nature. The visits of Broekhoof may also have been for intelligence aims. Barmat joined the socialist party and donated large sums of money for the Dutch and Belgian magazines Voorwaarts (Forward) and the German Magazine Vorwärts.

Barmat became close friends with the Dutch socialist leader Pieter Jelles Troelstra. This leader introduced Barmat to the liberal ministers Loudon and Posthuma. Barmat wanted to gain a large grain deal with the Ukraine; the objective of opposition leader Troelstra was to raise extra money for his election campaign and the government could release the food shortages. However the deal failed. Via his socialist network Barmat came in direct contact with socialist politicians such as the Belgian Camille Huysmans (later minister-president of Belgium), the extreme left Czech party leader Vilem Brodecký, the British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, the German president Friedrich Ebert, diverse German ministers of the SPD and the Deutsche Zentrumspartei and Czech ministers. The office of the socialist Second International was housed in the residence of Julius Barmat in Amsterdam, where also its Belgian secretary Camille Huysmans resided. Because of that office the German president Friedrich Ebert, the German Chancellor Gustav Bauer and several German ministers regularly visited Barmat. He regaled all these people, paid their hotel bills and gave them all kinds of gifts. In 1923 he even paid a bill for several weeks stay in a beach hotel in Zandvoort by Philipp Scheidemann, who in 1918 was minister-president. Bauer got a position in the supervisory board of the Amexima-concern and the son of Ebert a job within that concern.

The activities of Barmat drew the attention of the Amsterdam police. Broekhoff may have wanted to learn whether Barmat was reliable for his intelligence aims. The chief superintendent of police ordered an investigation into the books of the company. Barmat cooperated completely. It appeared that the German government had arranged for him a 600 million Mark credit at the State Bank against a low rate of 1½%. Thus Barmat was able to close trade contracts with the German government for food supplies and army necessities, while offering credit to the government. In this way he obtained 5% interest and 10-20% higher prices than his competitors. When within a few years hyperinflation struck in Germany, he made great profits, because he could pay debts with money that had become valueless in the meantime.

Berlin in the early twenties

In 1920 Barmat moved to Berlin, where he maintained good contacts with individuals in the German social-democratic parties, connected with the mainly social-democratic government. Barmat also had good contacts in the intelligence services, such as Maltzahn, who had been appointed State Secretary of Foreign Affairs and who was involved with relations with the Soviet Union. In this way Barmat obtained foreknowledge of government decisions that might have influence on stock exchange rates. The Amexima-concern grew fast and comprised within a few years 60 enterprises: trade enterprises, steel companies, banks and shipping enterprises. The enormous concern was founded on credits, for which parts of the concern acted as securities for other concern parts, so that in reality no security existed. After living at several addresses in Berlin, Barmat bought a luxurious villa on the island of Schwanenwerder in the Kleiner Wannsee in Berlin. On this island many very rich business people lived, who were mostly of Jewish descent. In popular speech the island was called the "Jewish republic", and the anti-Semitic Joseph Goebbels called it Schweinenwerder (Pigs-werder). Broekhoff came often to visit and stay over. Wild parties held there were at the same time business meetings between Jewish and Ukrainian entrepreneurs. It was a world full of corruption affaires and fraud. Barmat's villa later became the property of a Jewish banker, from whom it was extorted by Goebbels.

Arrest

At the end of 1924 Iwan Kutisker was arrested and accused of bribing and swindling. Barmat had many business contacts with Kutisker; together they exploited among others a ferry service between Hamburg and Helgoland. Barmat, his brothers Henri and David, and his fourteen year old son were then arrested by a police force of 300 men. In the following months arrest warrants were executed against the five brothers Sklarz, the brothers Ciprut, the brothers Leo, Max en Willy Sklarek, the brothers Alfred and Fritz Rotter, Michael Holzmann, Ludwig Katzenellenbogen and Israel Helphand (better known as Alexander Parvus, who financed the journey in 1917 of Lenin to Russia). Most of them were Jews of Eastern European descent. During the respective police investigations extensive bribing practices in German government circles came to daylight. President Ebert was also accused of involvement in these practices. This caused Ebert political difficulties. However, he died suddenly, so that the accusations were no longer investigated. Chancellor Bauer had to resign because he had accepted a gift of 100,000 Marks (before hyperinflation) from Barmat. Post minister Anton Höfle was also arrested.

As a consequence of his arrest the credits of Barmat dried up. Due to that credit crisis a series of enterprises within the Amexima-concern went broke, and the concern had to be dismantled.

In the course of 1925 several of those arrested were interrogated, some publicly. Barmat was also interrogated publicly; he was vibrant and humorous. A few weeks later he was seriously ill and was brought for questioning on a stretcher to the court. Barmat shouted in the court that he had been poisoned in jail. His brother Henri, Kutisker and Höfle became very ill with the same symptoms. It appeared that the prisoners were drugged with large doses of the soporofic pantopon. Barmat and his brother Henri recovered, but post minister Anton Höfle died and a few months later Kuitisker died after becoming insane.

Trial

A series of trials followed. Barmat was accused of obtaining seventy million marks at 18-24% interest by issuing cheques which were later dishonoured, and lending this sum out illicitly at 126% interest. It was alleged that the state lost 30 million gold marks through this fraud. The prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of five years and a fine of 400,000 marks. After a trial lasting more than a year, in which more than 200 witnesses were called, the ruling given in 1928 ran to more than 1500 pages. Barmat was sentenced to six months imprisonment for bribing customs officer Bruno Stachel with an inflatable puppet for his little son. Barmat's possessions in Germany were confiscated, but his possessions in the Netherlands remained out of reach of the German authorities. In the same trial Barmat's brother Henri was sentenced to three months imprisonment. Both Barmat and Henri appealed against the verdict. Therefore, Barmat and Henri could not leave Germany. A few months later all appeals were withdrawn; the brothers had little to win because they had been longer in jail than their sentence- imprisonment or even acquittal could at best result in minor compensation which would be immediately confiscated for restitution of the creditors of the bankrupt enterprise. Barmat and Henri were expelled from Germany. In the Netherlands they were jubilantly received by prominent members of the SDAP.

Anti-Semitism and power seizure by Hitler

In Germany the national-socialists increased strongly their anti-Semitic campaign. Because of the scandals that during the trial came to daylight, the propaganda was rather effective. In most of these scandals the same ingredients were present: bribery, fraud, enormous wealth rapidly gained, wild parties, connections with the social-democratic party, connections with members of the government, wartime cooperation with German intelligence services and contacts with the Bolshevists in the Soviet Union and with Eastern European Jews. The social-democratic government was blamed for having given permanent residence permits to 25 persons related to Barmat. In the anti-semitic movie Der ewige Jude (The eternal Jew) many of the main suspects of the trials, including Barmat, were portrayed. During the election campaign of 1932 on the election posters of the NSDAP was written: Immer wieder prophezeite Hitler, Dass die Erfüllungspolitik, die Misswirtschaft des Barmat- und Sklarek-Systems, der Steuer-Bolschewismus einst zum furchtbaren Zusammenbruch führen müsse (again and again Hitler prophesied that the wrong economy of the Barmat- and Sklarek-systems, the tax-Bolshevism will lead to a terrible breakdown). At June 12, 1934 the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf looked back to the electoral triumph of Hitler and wrote: Barmat was the disaster of the German Jews, because his name was the battle cry that brought Hitler the victory.

Stavisky in France

In France in 1933-34 Serge Stavisky was a suspect in a similar scandal involving 235 million francs. According to French newspapers Stavisky was a nephew of Julius. Stavisky's book-keeper alleged that Barmat had been an advisor in bank cases, and had maintained relations with French security services. During questioning by a committee of enquiry the former French minister-president André Tardieu called Julius a ‘spy-crook’. On 7 January 1934 Stavisky’s chalet near Chamonix was raided by police. They found Stavisky's body. According to a French newspaper Stavisky had committed ‘suicide’ by ‘shooting himself with a rifle from three meters distance’.

The end of Barmat

After their return from Germany Barmat and Henri lived alternately in the Netherlands and Belgium. The brothers founded several enterprises in both countries, and bought empty limited liability companies. In Belgium several affaires occurred involving the coal mine Flora, regarding the disappearance of paintings (perhaps forged) given as security for loans disappeared, and around the bank Goldzieher and Penso via which he draw dishonoured cheques to a value of 36.1 million gold francs from the Belgian Kredietbank. In Switzerland Henri was accused of deception involving the Kantonale Bank Appenzell. Because Switzerland requested the extradition of Henri, Julius paid the damages from Goldzieher and Penso. In January 1933 Belgium extradited both brothers and they moved again to the Netherlands. They received a so-called Nansen passport for stateless people. The passport indicated that after leaving the Netherlands they were not permitted to return. Nevertheless, Julius Barmat could travel several times to Brussels and return. After a few months Belgium requested the extradition of Julius Barmat and Lithuania also wanted to question him about fraud in connection with the building of a merchant fleet and the construction of a tram way. In May 1933 the Netherlands extradited both brothers; Henri left for Austria and quickly obtained Austrian nationality, but Julius appealed and at the last moment the minister withdrew the order. Belgium also withdrew the extradition order. In a report in 1937 by the Alien Police it was mentioned that Barmat was close friends with both the coordinator of the Dutch intelligence services Broekhoff and the former chief superintendent François van 't Sant of The Hague, who became during the Second World War the head of the Dutch intelligence services in London and was probably earlier involved with intelligence services. When Barmat requested a visa for Italy, the superintendent of police of Amsterdam Van IJsendijk answered that nothing unfavourable about him was known.

In 1937, in Belgium, a trial against Barmat was started regarding the fraudulent bankruptcies of the Noorderbank and the bank Goldzieher en Penso, but out of fear of being arrested Barmat failed to appear. It appeared that he had arranged his business via the president of the National Bank of Belgum Paul van Zeeland, who in the meantime had become minister-president. The Belgian Intelligence Service had compiled reports about Barmat, but it was not allowed to make them public. At the same time general Etienne, the former director of Goldzieher en Penso, committed suicide. During the trial the transactions were attributed to René Timont, the director of the Noorderbank who died in 1934. Belgium again requested the extradition of Barmat. It appears that Barmat lost Broekhoff's protection. Louis Franck, the director of the Belgian National Bank, who was involved in the scandals died on 31 December 1937 of a heart attack, this being the last day before his retirement. This death, one in a series in this scandal, was regarded as suspicious and there were rumours that it was suicide. Armand Anspach-Puissant, a member of the city council of Brussels who was involved in the scandal, also died.

On 30 December 1937, Barmat was extradited to Belgium. At the border he was still healthy, 20 kilometres further in Antwerp he became ill, but according to the accompanying detectives he was able to continue to the St. Gilles-jail in Brussels. There his situation worsened; the symptoms were similar to those during his stay in the Berlin jail. He died on 8 January, held in the arms of his wife. The newspapers mistrusted his death in combination with all other deaths during the respective scandals– a Dutch newspaper wrote cynically: And now is it is the turn of Barmat himself. The authorities ordered an autopsy and ordered the removal several glands in order to search for poisons. Officially, nothing was found. Barmat was buried in Amsterdam. Henri was convicted in absentia to five years imprisonment, which after an appeal was reduced to four years. Belgium asked Austria for the extradition of Henri, but in the mean time he fled to Poland and obtained Polish nationality so that he could not be extradited. The son of Barmat worked during the war for the Jewish Council. Both the son and the wife of Barmat survived the war in the concentration camp Theresienstadt. After the war, and even nowadays, Barmat became the target of anti-Semitic propaganda by Neo-Nazis.

References

• Harthoorn (2011). Vuile oorlog in Den Haag (Dirty War in The Hague), Utrecht (Netherlands): Van Gruting.* Vuile oorlog in Den Haag (Dirty war in The Hague), by Rudi Harthoorn. Publisher Van Gruting, 2011}}.
• The publisher Van Gruting removed without approval of the author most information about Julius Barmat from the book; the part of the text employed for this lemma, can be consulted in the Municipal Archive of The Hague.

See also

• Barmat Scandal