If, as he does to me, Gavin Newsom ever struck you as a unique kind of psychopath in the mold of Patrick Bateman, his family’s sordid historical connections to Nazism might not come as a surprise.
But it’s certainly interesting news that you’re not likely to get in a human-interest profile from MSNBC — the RFK Jr. treatment, as it were.
Related: Unhinged Liberals Accuse RFK Jr. of Using Secret Nazi Code on Twitter
For a bit of brief historical background, Newsom’s career has been bankrolled and promulgated by the notorious Getty family of Northern California, often regarded as the most powerful political force in the region.
Via Newsweek (emphasis added):
As the [Getty] family has navigated personal and professional successes and failures, it has also become inextricably enmeshed into the California political fabric, with longtime close family friendships developing between the Gettys and current Governor Gavin Newsom, Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, as well as their families. William A. Newsom II, Gavin's grandfather, was a surrogate father to Getty sons John Paul Jr. and Gordon. William "Bill" Newsom III, Gavin's father, was even the bearer of the ransom money when John Paul III was kidnapped. Newsoms, Harrises, Pelosis and Gettys are godparents to one another's children and make appearances at important family events.
Powerful politicians schmoozing with magnates is nothing particularly revelatory.
However, what Newsweek leaves out of its review is that William Newsom’s Getty-affiliated business partner, Otto von Bolschwing, began his lengthy career as a Nazi officer working for the Jewish Affairs Office (Judenreferat) as an authority on Zionism, influencing the regime’s gradual shift toward extermination, writing in a 1937 memorandum:
A largely anti-Jewish atmosphere must be created among the people in order to form the basis for the continued attack and the effective exclusion of them...The most effective means of depriving the Jews of their sense of security is the wrath of the people that expresses itself in riots. Even though this method is illegal, it has, as shown by the 'Kurfürstendamm Riot', had a longstanding effect[.] The Jew...fears nothing so much as a hostile atmosphere which can spontaneously go against him at any time.
Later, with the help of the CIA, von Bolschwing successfully fled Germany and any prosecutions he might have faced for his work, later establishing himself as a businessman of prestige in California in the service of the billionaire oligarch Getty family.
Via Wikipedia (emphasis added):
In March 1969 von Bolschwing and his family relocated to Sacramento, California, where he had been retained as a business consultant with the technology firm Trans-International Computer Investment Corporation (TCI), due to his extensive international business contacts. TCI held a controlling interest in various Silicon Valley–based subsidiaries involved in overseeing the development of high-volume computer networks for businesses as well as navigation systems for oil tankers employing satellite communications. The company’s portfolio also included multiple classified contracts with the US Defense Department related to the possible military-applications of satellite technology.
Once established in Sacramento and working for TCI, von Bolschwing continued cultivating relationships with business and political figures. These included:
- San Francisco corporate lawyer and US Appeals Court Judge, William Newsom (father of current California governor, Gavin Newsom);
- aerospace developer and Fairchild Aircraft executive Emanuel Fthenakis;
- Helene von Damm, the personal secretary to then-California Governor Ronald Reagan;
- billionaire philanthropist J. Paul Getty Jr., an heir to the Getty family petroleum fortune.
In 1969, while von Bolschwing was working for Getty-affiliated TCI, also the employer of William Newsom, the pair traipsed across Europe for a workcation on account of the former Nazi officer’s impressive contacts across the continent. Newsom described von Bolschwing as “sauve and plausible.”
Via San Jose Mercury (emphasis added):
Justice [William] Newsom, who traveled as a TCI attorney with von Bolschwing in Europe in 1969-70, said von Bolschwing alluded to wartime work for the Americans.
“He was suave and plausible,” Newsom said, “He seemed to have all the credentials. He looked kind of world-weary,” recalled Newsom. “He had the long cigarette-holder, his- hair was slicked.
