How Hitler’s Secret Bankers Own Most of Europe Today

in the heart of Sweden there is this obscure family that owns Industries worth billions and they control a lot of what goes on in the world but you've probably never heard of them over the

course of six Generations the Wallenberg have turned invisibility into a superpower they grew their wealth and influence behind the scenes without ever being noticed they helped save countless

victims from Nazi Germany but at the same time they also helped Nazi Germany and banked for them as Wars waged and governments shifted and while other were

scrambling to survive the power of the wallenberg's only grew stronger making them one of Europe's most powerful and discreet

families from Astro zenica to Ericson and many other companies on the NASDAQ their influence spans industries that literally touch every aspect of our lives but you'll never find them

flaunting luxury Yachts or flashing diamonds and being all over the news in fact you'll probably never even see their name on any rich list that's because the Wallenberg have perect

fected the art of staying invisible through a clever network of Foundations they keep their immense wealth hidden but that brings up some interesting questions like how does this family

control so much power without anyone ever really noticing or how did six men who were Bound by Blood build a legacy that quietly runs the world but most

importantly who are they really the wallenberg's are a really interesting family but their rise to power was built on Secrets betray tril and some pretty shocking decisions you see Andre

Wallenberg got things started for the family in the early 1900s he set the stage for everything that followed when you think of Sweden today you think of a pretty strong economy and a world leader

in Innovation right but rewind of the mid 1800s and you'd see a Sweden that was pretty far from this the country was in a tough spot it was full of potential however it was painfully short on money

you could say that the actual problem was that they had big ideas but no way to fund them and then came a man who would change everything Andre Oscar Wallenberg a young naval officer who

just got back from the US full of motivation and inspiration to make a big change but what led that fire in Andre it comes down to a book called how to start a bank and that book sparked an

idea and he started the Stockholm's esila bankin orb I'm sorry for my pronunciation but that was Sweden's very first Private Bank in

1856 now before SCB it was really hard getting a loan from Stockholm because it would mean heading straight to the central bank I mean there was no competition no creativity when it came to financing is a pretty bad way to grow

an economy if you think about it so Andre's thinking was different he wanted to pull people's small savings and use that money to Kickstart the economy he was inspired by a model from Scotland

and the idea was simple get the money circulating and watch Sweden grow but here's a big question can One Bank truly change a whole country well that answer

didn't come from Andre alone he needed someone to take that risk and really make it sore and that person was his son not agathon Wallenberg his son joined

SCB and spearheaded the family's Vision he didn't just keep SCB local he pushed it to international waters and in very little time it racked up a fortune the real Turning Point came when a new law

that restricted Banks from holding too many industrial shares came in so what did the family do they created this thing called the investor AB in 1916 it was a move that set the family's future

in motion and solidified their lasting Legacy in Sweden's economic history and that's how SCB went Global under nut now nut and his wife Alice didn't just sit back and enjoy their wealth they had

built they had bigger plans for Sweden being childless they decided to pour their entire Fortune into the country's growth they founded projects across Stockholm including the development of

the town saloan now that wasn't all they understood that the value of long-term impact so in 1917 they created the nut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation this Foundation was dedicated to push the

boundaries in research science technology and medicine that's how their influence spread far beyond just banking but that wasn't nut's only focus he also became deeply involved in Swedish

politics in fact he served as Sweden's Minister for foreign affairs from 1914 to 1917 with this new role the responsibility of the family business passed on to his half brother who was

called Marcus Wallenberg senior now Marcus never believed in flaunting wealth or living a lavish life instead he was driven by an almost obsessive need to build literally he worked as an

alcoholic I mean he didn't care much for luxuries in fact he was known to wear pocketless jackets flipping them inside out when the fabric began to wear thin for people like Marcus it was all about

reinvesting every single resource back into their Ventures his Empire was his focus and it consumed him he was involved in pretty large companies like

AIA which is now ABB norsk Hydro Atlas diesel which is now Atlas papco papus stora cooperar which is now stora Eno Scania vabis which is now part of

Volkswagen and he steered some of these pretty big Behemoth companies through some of their toughest moments after World War I the world was in chaos in the midst of it all Marcus stepped up

and became Europe's go-to negotiator and arbitrator but just when Marcus thought that his future was set he hit a roadblock he assumed that nut would pass down everything to him after all Marcus

was the one who worked tirelessly to grow the family's Fortune but not had other ideas before he passed away he made a move that nobody ever expected he

put his entire fortune in a foundation at the time Marcus felt betrayed but he wasn't seeing the full picture just yet because little did he know that his decision was actually the family's

greatest stroke BR of luck it would turn out that without the foundation the wallenberg's wealth would have been spread out and lost amongst multiple heirs eventually it would have faded

with time but that Foundation changed everything it kept their riches intact focused and secured but even with the fortune secured the wallenberg's biggest

test was yet to come and it came in the form of one of History's darkest chapters as the world braced for war Marcus's Legacy would be carried on by his two sons Jacob Wallenberg and Marcus

do Wallenberg Jr I'm sorry for my pronunciation but they were about to step into roles that would literally shape the family's future in ways that nobody could predict Jacob Wallenberg was the one who truly carried the

Wallenberg name forward he inherited a heavy responsibility in 1918 he joined SCB and in case you need a reminder SCB was Sweden's first private bank that was

established in 1856 by Andre Wallenberg now Jacob quickly climbed the ranks of the bank and became vice CEO by 1920 and then CEO by 1927 a position that he held

for 19 years his leadership guided the bank through the trials of the Great Depression and the looming Shadows of War but what he didn't know yet was How Deeply the family's role would run as

the world around them shifted outside of Sweden tensions were increasing now even though Sweden stayed neutral the wallenberg's played a pretty dangerous game they literally did business with

both sides with the allies and the axis yo became one of Sweden's main trade representatives to Nazi Germany meanwhile his younger brother D was working with the Allies you see Sweden

was neutral on paper but behind the scenes the Wallenberg were negotiating on both sides and the plot only thickens from here because the wallenberg's connection to Nazi Germany ran deeper

than just trade sebb was one of the neutral institutions that cooperated with Nazi Germany in fact it was alleged that they helped launder looted assets from occupied territories including from

those of Jewish victims simply put SCB is a dark chapter where Financial transactions helped fuel both sides of the war in many ways yob Wallenberg became Sweden's go-to guide when it came

to dealing with Germany during the war now he handled exchange of goods between the two countries on the surface it seemed like a neutral position but there was so much more happening beneath the surface as the war continued the

wallenberg's involvement started to raise eyebrows what had started as a strategic business move soon turned into a tangled controversy the line between neutrality and complicity grew thinner

now the family's role in the war became very hard to ignore but it's kind of strange because while they were helping the Nazis the Wallenberg were also secretly helping to plot Hitler's overthrow at the same time it was a

risky gamble for the family I mean they were juggling loyalty survival and morality but here's how it went down the main part of the German resistance was led by a group called Black and Gord who

were determined to overthrow the Nazi regime and their goal was pretty clear they wanted to implement some kind of Cuda to seize control of the government but you know that they couldn't do it alone they needed support from outside

of Germany particularly from England and the US and that's where the wallenberg's came in the brothers acted as secret channels they acted as intermediaries passing messages between the resistance

and the Allied Forces yob wenberg even met with the German resistance leader Carl goriller in 1943 it was their last meeting and jakob's last trip to Berlin during the war and it was his last trip

because his involvement with the resistance had been exposed and returning to Germany would have been a death sentence and then came July 1944 the resistants launched their most

ambitious plans yet it was the infamous 20th of July plot to assassinate Hitler yob Wallenberg was even asked to meet a messenger in Stockholm with the news of the coup's success but as we all know

from history the plan failed the bomb went off but Hitler survived the messenger was caught jailed and executed and Geller the German resistance leader suffered the same fate just shortly

after now while ycob Wallenberg was entangled in secret negotiations and resistance plots his nephew Raul was on an entirely different Mission just like his Uncle yakob Wallenberg he was clever

resourceful and unafraid to take risks while hungary's Jewish population became the Nazis next Target in 1944 rul was tasked with an extraordinary assignment

to go to Budapest and intervene at the time hungary's 700,000 Jews were being deported to extermination camps and Raul's mission was to to stop these atrocities I mean once he was in Nazi

controlled Hungary rul Unleashed every trick in the book he forged passports to declare Jewish individuals under Swedish protection and the man literally pulled thousands from Nazi death trains he

intercepted Jews from being forced into death marches and rescued them in broad daylight and in the final days of the war the Nazis prepared to annihilate 70,000 Jews remaining in the budapes

central ghetto and rul bravely stepped in he negotiated and even threatened and somehow he stopped the slaughter I mean we have to acknowledge this immense contribution here the wallenberg's had

come out of Europe's worst moment stronger than ever but as the dust settled the carefully constructed image of the wallenberg's began to crack when the American troops uncovered documents

in stood guard they exposed something that haunted the wallenberg's for years these records showed that the sebb bank that belonged to the Wallenberg had a dummy relationship with Bosch a major

German company and actually the Wallenberg were helping the Nazis hide their assets and this discovery was a bombshell in 1945 the US Treasury officials blacklisted them labeling the

Wallenberg Brothers as special blocked Nationals that's like getting put in the financial equivalent of a penalty box only this time the stakes were Global trust and back at home in Sweden people

were beginning to wonder what else were they hiding sadly their reputation was shattered and their Prestige was gone and while this Scandal brewed something far more personal and heartbreaking was

happening the tragedy I'm talking about is the capture of Raul by the Soviets as I mentioned earlier this young Diplomat was only attempting to save people from Nazi camps and this was in 1945 the

Soviets had entered Budapest and R was taken into custody they accused him of being a spy and just like that he disappeared for years the Soviet Union denied knowing what happened to him and

decades later they would claim that he had long died of a heart attack in 1947 when he was only 35 years old but nobody knows the truth to this day meanwhile

the wallenberg's focused on rebuilding their wealth and their prestige on the global stage after the war they were eager to rebuild their business ties and surprisingly this included dealings with the Soviets in fact they were planning

to loan Stalin's regime a staggering $250 million now I can't help but Wonder but could the wallenberg's have used their influence to advocate for R's release or was it just a calculated risk

to prioritize business over pressuring the Soviets for answers I mean these are questions that are unanswered but we can only speculate the Swedish government didn't help much either when it came to Raul they stayed silent it's a tragic

and frustrating and a pretty weird story I mean a man who saved thousands of lives was left abandoned by the very people who could have saved him around this time yob considered stepping back after all he had built an Empire and

guided the bank through some of the most turbulent times in history in 1946 he made the decision and he stepped down from his role as CEO and his resignation marked the end of an era and with that the Baton passed on to his younger

brother brother Marcus do Wallenberg now Marcus was about to take the Reigns of one of the most influential financial institutions in Sweden but he wasn't just going to sit back and relax he had a mission Marcus was Hands-On reshaping

the Wallenberg Empire he turned Atlas diesel into Atlas Copco he also played a major role in developing Sweden's Sab fighter jets and managed tricky trade deals during the war now Marcus remained

at the center of every major decision for 50 years from 1930s until his death in 1982 but with all this power came huge pressure the weight of the family's

Legacy wasn't easy to carry and time was not being kind to his body so Marcus had his two sons Mark Wallenberg Jr and Peter Wallenberg and between the two sons Mark was the one who was ready to

step up he was being prepared for the role from a very young age Mark's education his career I mean everything was designed to prepare him for this moment simply put the job was to carry

on the Family's Legacy he worked hard to merge two major Swedish Banks called scandinav visa bankin and and the SCB to create a new form of SCB that we know today and the pressure was relentless

everyone expected him to succeed then in 1971 something happened that nobody saw coming at just 47 years old Mark Wallenberg took his own life it was heartbreaking and it was a huge loss for

the family a lot was writing on Mark he had a legacy to continue and an Empire to lead the tragic death of Mark Wallenberg left a void in the family business his brother Peter Wallenberg

stayed out of the spotlight mostly but suddenly he found his himself in the hot seat Peter had taken a different path far from the traditional family footsteps instead of diving straight into the family business he started at

the ground floor of the Atlas Copco in Africa there he worked his way up and slowly built his own career his relationship with his father had been strained and he knew that he had to forge his own future but with Mark's

sudden passing Peter's path took an unexpected turn the family needed him and though he was not the chosen one he stepped in and was determined to take on responsibility even if others doubted

him when Peter's father passed away in 1982 he stepped up as the head of the family business now nobody thought that he was the right fit there was a lot of doubt about him but Peter stepped up he

wanted to prove everyone wrong over the years he didn't just manage the business but he took it to a global level he pushed through major restructurings and even managed to buy back shares in Atlas

Copco and stora cooperberg from Volvo as a result he secured the family stake in those companies he did all of this by launching Patricia Industries which later became a crucial part of their

Investment Company investor ab and that was just the beginning of Peter's lasting impact on the family Legacy so the question is where does the Wallenberg family stand today well if you thought that their influence was

huge before just wait and see how far it really goes the Empire is now in the hands of the fifth generation the brothers yob Wallenberg Peter Wallenberg Jr and their cousin Marcus Wallenberg

and the numbers are really jawdropping according to the financial times the Wallenberg business Empire is valued at an estimated 250 50 billion e to put that into perspective that puts them up

there with the likes of Elon Musk when it comes to financial power but unlike Elon Musk you'll never hear much about the wallenberg's on the news and that's because much of their actual wealth is hidden that's right most of the

wallenberg's Empire's assets are locked away in foundations this clever structure helps them avoid inheritance taxes and ensures that no one in the family can just dip into the funds for

personal gain now this isn't just a small change that I'm talking about the found foundations hold more than $30 billion in assets they also have major stakes in publicly listed businesses

which together are worth over 660 billion that's why you'll never see the Wallenberg on any of the Sweden's Rich lists their wealth is there but it's kept within the family and managed

through these foundations their control over Sweden's economy is unmatched in Europe in fact the hyeran Gunner Waterberg who had written excessively about the wallenberg's rise says at best

every government whether left or right know knows that they must work with the Wallenberg it's what's best for Sweden now what really sets the Wallenberg apart is how they've built and sustained

their wealth across Generations there's this concept called The Curse of the third generation essentially it's this idea that the wealth created by the founders of successful companies are carried forward by their children but

then it starts to dwindle down by the time it reaches their grandchildren but that was not the case with the wallenberg's Jacob Marcus and Peter now in their late 60s are still running the

Empire they have already set things up for the sixth generation and will take over when the time comes now passing on wealth is one thing but passing on values is a whole other concept and

that's where the wallenberg's really stand apart these men don't live in the spotlight they focus on running their business as well and it shows they follow this family modotto which is

Latin and it means to be and not to seem they're not out there to make noise and Chase Fame instead they focus on what matters they rarely give interviews and when they do it's always about business

their institutions or their philanthropy they keep their personal lives and politics out of the public eye but despite all of this their power their influence and their control is still

very real the wenberg are seen as kingmakers as the financial times often calls them another publication also calls them the best paid charity workers in the world the mix of power and

philanthropy makes them Untouchable because if you go after the wallenberg's you're not just going after a family no you're going after Sweden at self and very few would dare to do that now after

everything we've seen so far the wallenberg's family makes you pause and think they're one of the most powerful families out there and they've built an Empire worth billions but despite this

they stay under the radar and they've perfected the art of passing wealth on through generations without losing a lot of it now through Wars economic crashes

and some really dark times they've held on to this wealth and power their ability to remain invisible while controlling in companies like Ericson astrazenica and Saab is nothing short of

extraordinary what's even crazier is that despite their massive influence they've avoided being part of any rich list they keep to themselves and they stay out of the Limelight and they've managed to use clever strategies like

the foundation system to keep their wealth in the family now having said all of this they are Financial Geniuses sure but they're also shrouded with a very dark past with helping Nazi Germany and

turning a blind eye only to help their businesses grow but having said that in the end of the day it's clear that the Wallenberg are still the masters of discretion now please do subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and

put a dollar sign in the comments to show that you've made it till the end also check out this video that I made about the Rockefellers I think you'll really enjoy it thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon