by Cliff Ball
Chapter 3
Gregory Evans saw the writing on the wall as the Allies came closer and closer to Berlin in the waning days of the War. He knew he would have to get out before the Allies found him, but he also wanted as much of the money the Nazi’s had accumulated deposited in his own bank account. He figured that if he could somehow get a hold of Hitler’s signature, he could sign a bank draft with Hitler’s signature on it, and he would be able to transfer Nazi money into his own account. Gregory finally came up with a plan and figured that if he withdrew a certain amount every so often, no one would be the wiser. Now he just had to somehow get Hitler alone and give him something to sign.
Gregory found the opportunity to get Hitler alone when a staff meeting of the higher-ups in the German High Command broke up, leaving Hitler alone. The frown lines on Hitler’s face clearly showed that he was worried about the Allies. Gregory, thinking that Hitler might be distracted, approached Hitler’s desk, and said, “Mein Fuhrer, I need you to sign something for me, if you’re not busy,”
“Yes, yes, hand it over and I’ll sign,” Hitler said in a somewhat dismissive tone, without looking up at Gregory.
Gregory slipped the four page memo in front of Hitler. The memo was written in such a way that only a person with a high-degree of education would understand it, and Hitler did not have a very good education. He began to read it, but instead asked, “What’s this about?”
“This is to ensure that if the Allies try to access your bank accounts, they will fail. This authorization will force your bank to accept only your signature. Does this please you?”
“That’s an excellent idea Evans, and it does please me. I will sign it immediately.” Hitler put pen to paper and signed the document. “There you go. Do you need anything else?”
“No, Mein Fuhrer, what you just did was quite enough. Thank you and good day.” Gregory gave Hitler the Nazi salute, with no reaction from Hitler, and then he left Hitler’s office.
Gregory returned to his home, copied Hitler’s signature to a bunch of bank withdrawal slips, packed up his bags, loaded them into his car, and started on his way to Switzerland. So far, no one seemed to have caught on to his scheme, and he guessed that the SS and Gestapo were busy trying to keep the German troops from abandoning their positions as the Allies over-ran them. Expecting to get away scot-free, Gregory slowly drove his way through the German countryside, managing to avoid Allied troops, and the occasional battle, getting into Switzerland itself without any fuss less than a week later.
Gregory drove up to the Swiss bank that had the Nazi accounts. Once inside, Gregory wrote up a bank draft, with Adolf Hitler’s signature on it, which would authorize him to take out three million dollars worth of Nazi money so he could deposit it in his account. Gregory thought a three million dollar withdrawal probably wouldn’t raise the suspicion of the teller or anyone else in the bank. He approached a teller with his bank draft, and said, “I’d like to withdraw some money from this account,”
The teller looked at the bank draft, cocked her eyebrow when she saw whose name was authorizing the withdrawal, and then she said, “This looks to be in order and I can do that for you. Any particular way you’d like your withdrawal to be cashed out?”
“Yes, I’d like a check so I can deposit it elsewhere. If you can do that,”
“Oh, yes, we can do that. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be back with your check.” Five minutes later, “Here you are, sir. Is there anything else we can do for you while you’re here?”
Gregory took the check, looked it at it closely to make sure he received the amount he wanted, and then replied, “No, I don’t need anything else. When I do, I’ll return in a few days to update the account. Thank you. Goodbye.”
Gregory then went over to the bank he was a member of, so he could deposit the three million into his account. His account was more secure than the German government’s and he had his bank make sure that he was who he said he was. Before he could deposit anything, the bank required his fingerprints. Once that happened, the teller or the supervisor on duty would go back to the files and compare the fingerprints. When they were satisfied he was Gregory Evans, they took his deposit slip and the check, and then deposited the money into his account.
Gregory would do this again in four days, and he keep repeating this procedure until he was satisfied that he had most of the Nazi money in his bank account. Once he was sure he had enough money, he would return to the United States. For now, he would rent a hotel room so he could complete his task.
Gregory was about to withdraw money for the fourth time from the German account, when the teller gave him some news, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but the United States government has seized all government assets held by Germany, including their bank accounts. I can no longer give you what you’re asking for. I apologize for the inconvenience. However, if you need to open up an account, I can help you with that,”
“When did this occur?” Gregory was disappointed by this turn of events, but it didn’t surprise him.
“Our bank was contacted two days ago. Agents from the United States Treasury will be arriving sometime in the near future to claim whatever German assets we have here. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience,”
“This was expected, no need to apologize. Such things happen in war.” Gregory said with a shrug. “Thank you for the excellent service your bank has provided. Good day.”
Now was the time for Gregory to return to the United States. He didn’t worry about his bank account in Switzerland; it was safe, as he was certain the United States government had no idea who he was. With what he already had deposited in his account from a lot of the Jews wealth, the Nazi money secured the future he had planned out for himself.
In order to get back to the States, Gregory would have to get into Italy, where he had heard of escaping Nazi’s getting onto ships bound for South America, to Argentina specifically, since the Peron regime was sympathetic to the Nazi cause. Gregory loaded his car with his luggage and drove to the town of Spezia, Italy, where there were a few ships that were bound for Argentina. He bought a ticket and settled in for the trip to Argentina. Once he was in Argentina, he would rent a car and drive back to the United States.
Several weeks later, Gregory arrived back in New York City. He went to his apartment first to rest because he would be going to his father’s office the next day to take care of business. Gregory’s apartment was basic and utilitarian; his walls had no paintings, clocks, or other decorations hanging from them, there was nothing to really indicate who lived here. Even though he had the most expensive radio money could buy, he barely ever touched it, mostly because it was there for the status symbol it was. However, he did have a modest library; all of the titles consisted of works about great men of authority and how they gained their power. Gregory had nothing on his bookshelf that would be pointless for him to read, like fiction in general. He preferred the cold, hard facts of real life. Everything Gregory did was for a purpose, he never did anything that anyone else would consider fun. Fun for him was amassing as much money and power as he could in his lifetime, no matter who he had to step on, no matter who he had to hurt.
The next day, Gregory made his way to his father’s office in Manhattan. As he walked into the reception area of the office, his father’s secretary, Catherine, looked up to see Gregory walking in with ever widening eyes. No one had expected Gregory, which was the way he liked it.
“My father in?”
“Uh, yes, but maybe I should warn him you’re here first,”
“No, there’s no need for that.” Gregory walked up to the door to his father’s office and opened it.
Gregory found his father, Nathan, working on paperwork, apparently tuning everything out, since he obviously didn’t even hear the door open. “Hello, Father,”
To say Nathan was surprised would be an understatement, since the older man practically fell out of his chair, almost pulling whatever he was working on with him. “Son! Wh
en did you get back from Germany?” he asked, as he got up to greet Gregory.
“I returned to New York yesterday. When I saw that the Allies were prevailing, I made my exit, along with a few million dollars of Nazi money that I transferred to my bank account before the U.S. Treasury seized the German accounts,”
“Excellent. Were the Nazi’s ever wise to you?”
“No, sir, I don’t think so. I’m sure Himmler and Hitler were suspicious, but they never did anything about it. How goes the war on the home front?”
“There are rumblings of an invasion of Japan similar to what the Allies did at Normandy. As long as this war stays hot, we’ve got a lot of business. The Japanese will die to the last man and the United States Army will get a lot of people killed trying to invade the Japanese homeland, probably all for naught. Of course, there are rumors of war, mostly of the civil variety, in China, Korea, and Indochina, so we’ll have plenty of business. What do you think of the plan to re-build Europe in the image of the United States and a proposed United Nations?”
“I don’t think Europe is really worth re-building. They’re always going to be a garbage dump of a crapsack continent, especially since half of it looks like it might be controlled by the Soviet Union, and they’ll never really be united even if they try to be a United States of Europe or whatever they want to call it. As for the United Nations, it’ll be useful to have all the nations’ leaders or their representatives available all in one spot; much easier to manipulate them to our side that way, and it’ll be more useful than the League of Nations ever was. Anyway, I think it’s finally time to consolidate all the power and bring everything the associates do under our auspices. What do you think, Father?”
“I agree. However, does this plan to consolidate power include making me retire?”
“I’m afraid so. Didn’t you send me to Germany to teach me leadership skills so I could take over the family business? If this was not your intention, then I’d like to know now, so I can decide what to do next,”
Gregory’s attitude made his father feel threatened, so he asked, “Are you planning to do away with me if you don’t get the answer you want?”
Gregory put his arm around the older man’s shoulders and said, “Now, now, Father, no need to get defensive. You’re welcome to stay in the position you have now, purely as a figurehead, but I want to run the company from behind the scenes. You’ll be the public face, while I consolidate everything. When it comes time to retire in two or three years, you’ll do it with a smile on your face and you will be happy to have me take over. It’s all very simple, really,”
“And what if I don’t do what you want?”
“Well, the consequences would be rather…. severe. I trust that you don’t want to know what those consequences will be, do you?” Gregory gave his father a look that sent shivers down Nathan’s spine.
“No. What do you need me to do?” Nathan replied with resignation.
“I have some legal paperwork for you to sign. We can take this legal mumbo-jumbo to the lawyers if that’s what you prefer, but they tend to gossip about such things. We don’t want that. Once we’ve dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s, we’ll get the members together, separately, and I’ll convince them to turn their power over to me. Now, let’s get this started.”
Within two hours, Gregory had taken over the family business. His father would be the ceremonial head, while he would wield the power. In the coming weeks and months, he decided that he would visit the conferences about the United Nations and then he would talk to each of his father’s associates about giving over their businesses to him. Some would see his way and others more than likely would not, but he would consolidate all of the resources of this world these men held under his own umbrella, so he could shape the world how he wanted it. It made him smile thinking about how much he could eventually influence the President of the United States or others of similar power. He was anxious to get started, but first things first.
One of the men Gregory went to see was Wayne Thompson, whose work involved influencing politicians and the rich and powerful - usually the same thing. Wayne was a man who always got his way. It took him two years, but Thompson managed to convince Franklin Roosevelt to manipulate the Japanese into attacking American assets. FDR and the rich and powerful wanted to get involved with the war in Europe, but there was too much resistance from the American people, who were isolationist. So, they created a situation that would force Americans to want to go to war, and the perfect situation happened at Pearl Harbor. Thompson was not easily persuaded to others’ point of view, so Gregory knew he had some tough negotiations to go through to get Thompson to hand over his business to him.
On a clear, crisp morning in the fall, Gregory arrived at Thompson’s office. Gregory knew Thompson was waiting for him, because the man’s secretary let him enter the older man’s office without any fuss or making him wait for an interminable amount of time.
As soon as Gregory walked into the inner office, Thompson, who was a big man, greeted the young man with a powerful handshake, and said, “Welcome, welcome young Mr. Evans. What brings you here this fine morning?”
“Thank you for seeing me Mr. Thompson. I’m here to talk some business with you, sir,”
“Yes, I know. For such a young man, your reputation precedes you. Please have a seat and we’ll talk shop,”
Gregory sat down at the chair that was in front of Thompson’s desk, while Thompson sat down in his own chair behind his desk. Then he said, “Go ahead, make your pitch, Gregory,”
“I’m consolidating power and I want what you have, simple as that. What do you want for your business so I can proceed with my plans?”
“You’re a bold one, I’ll give you that. Tell me, what will you do with all of this power once you have it?”
“Re-shape the world in my image, no matter how long it takes,”
Thompson began laughing, catching Gregory by surprise, which didn’t make him any happier with the older man. “What do you find so funny?” asked Gregory, who was scowling.
“Do you really think you can get the world to bow down to you so easily? Do you know how long such a thing would take?”
“You don’t think I can get the world to bend to my will?”
“Oh, I think you could, but it would take you nearly a lifetime, and by the time you’ve accomplished your goal, you’ll be an old man. You would be much too old to even remotely enjoy such power. Do you plan on having children?”
“I hadn’t considered it. Why?” Gregory wasn’t sure he liked where this conversation was heading.
“If you have a child, you can pass all of your hopes and desires onto them, and they can finish what you started. That way your legacy will live on in future generations. I have a suggestion, if you’re willing to listen,”
“You have my attention, since I hadn’t thought that far ahead into the future,”
“If you marry my daughter, I will give you what you want. That way, I’ll still have a piece of the pie in this game you plan on playing,”
“Marry your daughter? Is she so ugly that nobody wants her? Or is she as dumb as a box of rocks?” Gregory was disgusted with the suggestion, he considered women to be a waste of his time.
Thompson’s mood darkened, he frowned, and said in measured tones, “Watch yourself young man. I’m playing along with you now, but that could change rather quickly. If you’d like to know what she looks like, here’s a picture of her with her mother,” Thompson handed over a picture to Gregory that was on his desk.
Gregory took a look at the picture. The young lady was attractive, he supposed. Her hair color was brown, her hairstyle was done in the typical mid-1940’s look, she had green eyes, she was not too skinny, and her style of dress was what was currently popular. Gregory thought he could work with that. Then he asked, “Has she gone to college?”
“Of course. She’s currently a junior at Harvard. Here’s my proposal: I’ll only hand over my business if you court m
y daughter until she’s graduated from Harvard, and once I see the two of you are married, I’ll transfer my authority over to you. Do we have a deal?” Thompson extended his hand, indicating that he wanted a handshake deal.
For Gregory, this felt like a game, and he hated it, but he had to play it. He could just carry out a hostile takeover, but that would be bad for this particular business deal, since the clients were very sensitive types and didn’t like their boats rocked. With a deep inhale, Gregory took Thompson’s hand, shook it, and the deal was done.
“Now, I’ll have to introduce the two of you to each other. Come to my house on Friday night at seven. Don’t be late. Got it?”
“I hear you loud and clear. If our business is done, I have other things to attend to. Good day, Mr. Thompson.”
Back at the office, he found his father, and, with a snarl, said, “That moron wants me to marry his daughter before he’ll even give me his business. He’ll pay for this. Maybe not immediately, but he and his family will pay. I guarantee it.”
******