Rothschild bitterly attacks nationalisation

Press, 31 October 1981, Page 9

Rothschild bitterly attacks nationalisation

NZPA Paris In a bitter attack against the Government, Baron Guy de Rothschild said yesterday that his family’s financial dynasty in France had ended with the Socialist-devised plan to nationalise the nation’s remaining privately owned banks. “The Socialist lawmakers have excluded us from the economic world,” Baron de Rothschild wrote in a frontpage article published in the respected daily, “Le Monde.” “There will remain nothing but a few scraps — perhaps nothing — of the House of Rothschild.”

On Monday, the Socialistdominated French National Assembly passed the Government’s Nationalisation Bill calling for the State takeover of five major industrial groups, two financial institutions, and 36 banks, including the family-owned Banque Rothschild.

The bill now goes before the Senate, a largely consultative body which can amend but has no power to reject legislation.

The Baron de Rothschild, who is 72, is the oldest of

three brothers who manage the family’s fortune, of which the Banque Rothschild is the main element. Guy de Rothschild served as the bank’s president until. 1978 when his brother, Baron Elie de Rothschild, moved into that position.

In his article entitled “Adieu Rothschild,” Guy de Rothschild recalled the financial losses his family has suffered because of its Jewish heritage and of other family business interests lost through earlier nationalisation drives. “The French Rothschilds committed an error in thinking they could evolve and develop with the times in their country,” Baron de Rothschild wrote. “They were wrong.” In the 19305, the Rothschilds’ railway interests were taken over when the Government decided to nationalise all railways. In the years immediately after World War 11, the family’s electrical and insurance businesses were among institutions nationalised in a drive led by President de Gaulle. During the collaboration

years with the Nazis during World War 11, the Vichy Government under General Petain, stripped two of Rothschild’s uncles of their French citizenship and confiscated their wealth. “Their crime had been to seek refuge in the United States, fleeing the advance of the Germans, rather than volunteering for the crematoriums,” Baron de Rothschild wrote in “Le Monde.” He also wrote that it was clear the Government’s decision to nationalise banks was not specifically directed at the Rothschild family. But he said he believed the Roth; schilds were considered a “symbol” of capitalistic wealth.

“To those who think, ‘But they will reimburse you fairly,’ I respond, ‘Money isn't everything; we were never for sale’,” Baron de Rothschild wrote. “Jews under Petain, outcasts under Mitterrand, for me this is enough,” he continued. “It is too much to rebuild on ruins twice in a life. Retired by force, I consider myself on strike.”