EBOOK BY JOHN DONOVAN: SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Chapter 1: The best historians Shell could buy

Shell commissioned a group of eminent “independent” historians (above) mostly Dutch, to author a history of Royal Dutch Shell to mark the Group’s centenary in 2007.  The introduction in Volume 1 pledged independent research and “a proper and even-handed assessment of Deterding.” Something went amiss because the “history,” as published in regard to his dealings with Hitler, is simply untrue.

On 24 May 2015, a light-hearted story in the Prufrock column of The Sunday Times posed the question: “ARE corporate histories the new harbingers of doom?”  It cited the release of corporate histories of two multinational banks that proved embarrassing to the banks due to unforeseen developments. read more

LINK TO ARTICLE

JOHN DONOVAN SAR APPLICATION LETTER TO SHELL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998

19 July 2016

Mr. Gary Thomson SI-LSC/K
Shell International Limited
40 Bank Street
London E14 5NR

Dear Mr Thomson

Data Protection Act 1998 – Subject Access Request (SAR)

Thank you for your email dated 19 July 2016.

Please find enclosed completed application forms together with a postal order for £10 made out to Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

I obtained it before finding out that the fee can now instead be paid to a charity.

As you are aware, I operate royaldutchshellplc.com – a website focussed on the activities of Shell. read more

Written by Phil Allan – 26/05/2016 7:00 am

A senior executive from Shell’s multi billion dollar Brent field decommissioning team said the delay in deploying the enormous would not add to the cost of the project, despite putting put back a year.

Allseas’s Pioneering Spirit was originally due to have begun the mammoth project to remove the topside of the Brent Delta platform in the first half of 2016. The project is now scheduled for the 2017 lifting season.

Duncan Manning, business opportunity manager on the Brent project, said putting the removal of the 24,000 tonne topside into 2017 was “not a big issue” for the Shell. read more

Andrew Spurrier: 07 September 2015

Delivery of the 382 m by 124 m offshore platform installation and decommissioning vessel Pioneering Spirit (ex-Pieter Schelde), which was billed as the world’s largest ship when it arrived in Rotterdam in January, has been delayed until next year.

The vessel had been expected to come into operation on a contract to remove platforms for Shell in the Brent field and to carry out an installation contract on the Johan Sverdup field for Statoil but Allseas said that it had now informed the “relevant stakeholders” of the “updated” delivery schedule. read more

Worlds biggest ship, Pioneering Spirit, formerly a Nazi named vessel, the Pieter Schelte, is cleared to lift Brent Delta topside in one go

7 July 2015

Oil giant Shell is to press ahead with plans to remove the topside of the Brent Delta platform in a single lift after its decommissioning project was cleared by the UK government.

Shell will use a heavy-lift vessel to remove the 24,200-tonne structure once preparations have been completed.

Work has already started on strengthening the topside in anticipation of a 2016 lift.

UK ministers cleared the project following a 30-day public consultation.

The lift will be carried out by the Korean-built vessel Pioneering Spirit after “thorough preparations and weather assessments”, Shell said. read more

Extracts

How do you go about removing a massive piece of infrastructure from a hostile environment like the North Sea?

Oil giant Shell has come up with one answer which could be put to the test next year – using a mega-ship to remove the topside of an oil platform in a single lift.

The oil firm hopes Pioneering Spirit – originally called Pieter Schelte – will prove a game-changer by successfully removing the main structure in one go.

Allseas also has a contract from Shell to remove the topsides of two of the other three platforms in the field – Bravo and Alpha (along with Alpha’s steel jacket) – subject to consultation and UK government approval. It has an option to do the same with the fourth platform, Charlie. read more

Written by Energy reporter – 28/05/2015

Shell said in February it would seek approval for the Pioneering Spirit, thought to be the largest ship ever built, to lift and remove the topside in one piece, shunning more traditional methods which involve cutting installations into smaller sections.

FULL ARTICLE

(THE SHIP BORN WITH A NAZI NAME – PIETER SCHELTE) 

The campaign waged on this website to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte – which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS – has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name – Pioneering Spirit.

FORBES MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Big Oil’s $3 Billion Homage To A Nazi War Criminal: 20 Dec 2014

JOHN DONOVAN PETITION ON CHANGE.ORG: Out of respect to the victims of Nazi war crimes, please change the name of your gigantic new ship, the Pieter Schelte, named after your father, a former officer in the murderous Waffen SS and diehard member of the Nazi party: 22 December 2014

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC .com: Lloyd’s Register PR Fanfair Saluting Nazi named mega-ship The Pieter Schelte: 22 Jan 2015

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE: World’s biggest ship named after Nazi: 22 Jan 2015 read more

Daily Gazette 12 February 2015

Man’s fight to change ship’s Nazi-linked name succeeds

John Donovan, 67, of Colchester, launched an online petition calling for the vessel, the world’s largest crane ship, to be re-named.

The 403,342 gross tonne vessel had been named by the owner The Pieter Schelte after his father.

He was a Dutch officer in the Waffen-SS who eventually became an informant for the Dutch resistance in 1943.

But the name sparked outrage among leaders of Jewish communities and Holocaust memorial groups in Britain and in the Netherlands.

Mr Donovan, a retired contract worker for Shell, said: “Shell was signed up as one of the first customers and these companies knew this ship was going to be named in this way.. read more

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE (SUBJECT TO BROWSER)

Daily Gazette 11 FEB 2015

Man’s fight to change ship’s Nazi-linked name (Pieter Schelte) succeeds

By John Donovan

Following the decision announced on 9 February 2015 that Allseas is changing the name of The Pieter Schelte to the Pioneering Spirit, Ton Biesemaat, the Dutch investigative journalist, posted the following comment on our Shell Blog, which I assume is partly tongue in cheek:

Every seaman knows that changing a ship’s name brings bad luck. Especially if you do not purge all the references to the former name. Not even Pieter Schelte can stay on any documents. However Allseas with their admiration for the Nazi Pieter Schelte Heerema has chosen to rename their Nazi ship into Pioneering Spirit. Which is still a reference to the evil SS-man and even retains the P and S of Pieter Schelte. No sane minded seaman will take the risk to sail on this ship. Evil reigns there. Beware of the bad spirits! read more

Allseas Abandons Ship name

By John Donovan 

Associated Press has confirmed that after protests, the Allseas Dutch-Swiss maritime engineering company said Friday it will change the name of a giant ship that had been christened after a convicted Nazi.

Allseas Group said that due to the “widespread reactions” Edward Heerema has announced that the name of the vessel will be changed.

“It has never been the intention to offend anyone,” the company said in a statement.

Earlier Friday, the company said it had no plans to change the name. The new name was not immediately announced. read more

In the last few minutes Dutch investigative journalist Ton Biesemaat has advised me that he has heard from two sources that Allseas is dropping the Nazi name of its giant new ship, which has generated so much offence on an international basis. We await confirmation from Allseas or Shell as to whether this information is correct. 

UPDATE BY JOHN DONOVAN 6 Feb 2015

According to a Dutch magazine article published today, Shell had a long connection with Pieter Schelte Heerema, who, on May 17, 1942, was promoted by Heinrich Himmler no less, to SS- Untersturmführeris. Shell is currently scheduled to be the largest user of the Nazi named ship. Consequently, Shell has the clout to put immense pressure on Edward Heerema to change the name, under the threat of cancelling the contract. Surely Shell has contingency insurance in place to cover any losses, knowing beforehand that it was playing with fire in contracting to use a ship with such a toxic name? Astonishing similarity with the Brent Spar decommissioning affair, which turned into a PR disaster for Shell and seems destined to happen again in this foreseeable “storm of criticism” unless Shell acts decisively. Regular visitors to this website know that I have been warning Shell for ages about associating itself with this Nazi named ship. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the sleazy sinister son, Edward Heerema, is unhinged in relation to this issue. Shell should bear this obvious fact in mind. By naming his pariah ship after his father, Mr Heerema has transformed a relatively obscure Nazi into an internationally infamous Nazi and in the process, drawn a lot of unwelcome attention to himself and his tax affairs.  read more

An article by Steve Turner published on the EqualTimes.org website 4 Feb 2015 under the headline:

“We survivors do not want our past to be our children’s future,” said Roman Kent last week.

He spoke at the site of the Auschwitz death camp, seventy years on from the liberation of those imprisoned in this hell.

Roman was one of 300 survivors, reunited to remember the 1.1 million people who perished there at the hands of the Nazis.

As they gathered, the world’s biggest crane-vessel was preparing for the UK.

The Pieter Schelte is named after a SS officer, a war criminal, a man jailed for the enslavement of 4000 men on the eastern front, a man who allegedly spoke of the Aryan supremacy and in the most abhorrent terms about the Jewish people. read more

“For Allseas to name its vessel after a convicted Nazi war criminal is utterly shameful…: ”To even countenance honouring a Waffen-SS officer just shows how twisted, arrogant and out-of-touch Allseas management is. The Pieter Schelte should not be permitted to operate until it changes its name.”

Article published by Scoop.co.nz (New Zealand) Wednesday, 4 February 2015, from a Press Release by ITF Press Officer

Allseas Group’s Nazi-honouring vessel ‘must be banned’

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is demanding that Allseas Group SA, the owner of a ship that honours convicted Nazi war criminal Pieter Schelte, immediately change the vessel’s name.

The Pieter Schelte is a Panamanian flag of convenience vessel, contracted by Shell to service its Brent platforms situated on the UK continental shelf. It was named in honour of the Allseas Group’s owner’s father, who was a Nazi Waffen-SS officer.

ITF president Paddy Crumlin said the vessel’s name was a disgrace and it should not be permitted to operate in UK or European waters. read more

By John Donovan

Scottish TV news is reporting that the UK National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, and its sister unions, are outraged by the fact that Shell has awarded the Brent oilfield decommissioning contract to a ship with a Nazi name, The Pieter Schelte.

The unions intend to take coordinated action to stop the continued use of the scandalous Nazi linked name on the high seas.

Numerous articles have been published today as a result of a PR campaign by Shell in which it ironically claims to have learnt the lessons from the Brent Spar debacle. The STV story is the first to mention the Nazi name controversy. read more

Article by Peter Campbell On The Brent Delta Rig In The North Sea published by The Daily Mail/This is Money 2 Feb 2015 under the headline:

CITY FOCUS: Shell’s titanic task of breaking up massive North Sea oil structures as life of rigs comes to an end

Even though we are in British waters, the closest train station is Bergen, in Norway. In fact, the rig that we are standing on is so remote that London is three times further away than the Arctic Circle and the nearest landfall, on the Shetland Islands, is more than one hundred miles to the South West.

But Britain has this remote patch of icy water to thank for much of its prosperity over the last three decades. The Delta oil field, only a few miles from the border that divides British waters from Norwegian, has been one of the most productive ever discovered. read more

By John Donovan

Despite my forthright comments about Edward Heerema (the owner of the multibillion dollar ship Pieter Schelte), describing him a sinister individual who engages in shady financial machinations, I have not yet received a defamation writ.

Threats yes, but no writ. 

Edward Heerema is one of the squabbling sons of Pieter Schelte Heerema, the offshore pioneer and former German Waffen SS officer/war criminal. 

It could be because Allseas does not have my address, in which case they only need to ask me for it. read more

AN OPEN LETTER TO MR EDWARD HEEREMA, FOUNDER AND SOLE OWNER OF ALLSEAS

I am sure you are aware of the aggressive email I received at an early stage in my contact with Allseas. Your PR Manager Mr. Jeroen Hagelstein, informed me that Allseas reputation and integrity are extremely important. The last paragraph of his email amounted to a full broadside, with threats of immediate legal action. Shell can testify that I am not susceptible to threats. 

Dear Mr. Heerema

You are well aware of my petition trying to persuade you to change the name of your new ship, The Pieter Schelte, named after your father, an officer in the infamous German Waffen SS.

You have already paid a self-inflicted price for your good-intentioned, but wrongheaded decision and are apparently prepared to stick with the Nazi linked name in the long term.

I am referring to the collateral damage to your own reputation (for unwise decision making) and the reputation of your company, Allseas, as a result of being seen to brazenly operate a prominent ship under a Nazi linked name. That evil association will precede and follow the ship like an albatross, wherever it sails, for the rest of its days. read more

by Ton Biesemaat, Dutch investigative journalist

…there is overwhelming proof that Pieter Schelte Heerema remained a staunch Nazi until his death. Yet the world does not seem to care when one of the largest ships is named after this man 

There is a lot of media noise about one of the world’s largest ships, which is now in its finishing building stage in the port of Rotterdam. The ship is named Pieter Schelte after his father by the owner of the Allseas company Edward Heerema. So far so good. Allseas is an international player in the offshore industry and the Pieter Schelte will be used for pipe laying on the seabed and decommisioning of obsolete oil and gas platforms in for example the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico. However Jewish organisations are angry because the ship is named after a Dutch Nazi and SS-officer who was vehemently anti-Semitic (1). read more

By John Donovan

The Observer newspaper, the Mail Online  and the Dutch Financial Times, plus a variety of other news outlets, all published articles over the weekend covering The Pieter Schelte Nazi Ship Controversy. 

SOME OF THE HEADLINES

Jewish outrage as ship named after SS war criminal arrives in Europe: The Observer/Guardian

Named after SS Nazi war criminal: World’s largest ship sparks outrage as it arrives in Europe just as 70th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz is marked (Mail  Online) read more

SCREENSHOTS OF ARTICLE PUBLISHED SUNDAY 25 JAN 2015 BY THE DAILY MAIL/MAIL ONLINE read more

FROM AN ARTICLE BY ED VULLIAMY PUBLISHED BY THEGUARDIAN.COM AND THE OBSERVER NEWSPAPER, SUNDAY 25 JAN 2015 UNDER THE HEADLINE:

World’s biggest ship, the Pieter Schelte, sparks Nazi outrage on arrival in Rotterdam

Extracts

Leaders of Jewish communities and Holocaust memorial groups in Britain and the Netherlands have reacted with rage and despair at the arrival in Rotterdam of the world’s biggest ship, the Pieter Schelte, named after a Dutch officer in the Waffen-SS.

The vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush, said: “Naming such a ship after an SS officer who was convicted of war crimes is an insult to the millions who suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis. We urge the ship’s owners to reconsider and rename the ship after someone more appropriate.” read more

NON-PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATION OF AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY THE DUTCH FINANCIAL TIMES UNDER THE HEADLINE:

Criticism swells of Heerema’s ‘bad name’ heavy lift

Alexander Weissink
Sunday, January 25th, 2015, 11:26
Updated: Sunday, January 25, 2015, 16:56

The Dutch owner of offshore company Allseas in Delft is increasingly criticized for the naming of its newest vessel. Edward Heerema named the largest floating crane in the world after his father Pieter Schelte who was an officer in World War II in the German Waffen SS before he made his name as an offshore pioneer.

The Guardian

The Guardian Saturday citing various Jewish organizations complained about this tribute. The vessel with a size of eight football pitches and a cost of € 2.4 billion was early this month the subject of a ceremony on its arrival in the port of Rotterdam. In the backwater of Maasvlakte Pieter Schelte is being assembled in the coming months. After that lights the vessel obsolete oil platforms in the North Sea from their pedestal and drains. read more

Article by Tibi Singer published Saturday 24 Jan 2015

The Swiss-based Allseas Group’s new ship, Pieter Schelte, is 1,146 feet long and 372 feet wide. Built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in South Korea, at a reported cost of $2.85 billion, it is capable of lifting loads of 48,000 tons. It is the world’s largest offshore pipelay and platform installation vessel, equipped with a Sonardyne Ranger 2 USBL acoustic positioning system. It’s also named after a Nazi.

Allseas is owned by Edward Heerema, a Dutchman, who is the son of Pieter Schelte Heerema, an officer in the Waffen-SS. And Edward insisted on naming his prized ship after his dad. read more

The Pieter Schelte, named after a Nazi war criminal, arrived at the port of Rotterdam. Photo by FaceMePLS/CC

UPI ARTICLE BY AMY R. CONNOLLY PUBLISHED 24 JAN 2015

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Jan. 24 (UPI) — Jewish leaders in Britain and the Netherlands are outraged that a massive ship bearing the name of a Dutch Nazi war criminal arrived in Rotterdam to work in the European offshore oil industry.

The Pieter Schelte, called the world’s biggest vessel, arrived in port as Jewish organizations asked the ship’s owners to change the name. Jewish leaders said the recent terrorist attack at a Paris kosher deli that left four dead and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is making the decision to name the ship after the war criminal all the more difficult to understand. read more

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

Article by Toby Axelrod, January 22, 2015

Follow The JC on Twitter

Should the world’s largest ship be named after a convicted Nazi war criminal? No, says retired British businessman John Donovan – and he’s not sitting idly by.

The Colchester resident has launched an online petition asking shipping magnate Edward Heerema of the Allseas Group SA to change the name of its giant new vessel, the Pieter Schelte.

Schelte was Mr Heereema’s father, a renowned maritime engineer but also an avowed antisemite who joined the Waffen SS. He eventually became an informant for the Dutch resistance in 1943. read more

THIS ARTICLE, INCLUDING THE SCREENSHOT OF THE FRONT COVER OF JAN 2015 EDITION OF HORIZONS MAGAZINE (IMMEDIATELY BELOW), WAS SUPPLIED IN ADVANCE OF PUBLICATION TO LLOYD’S REGISTER AND ALLSEAS WITH THE INVITATION TO CORRECT ANY INACCURATE INFORMATION. IT FOLLOWS THAT BOTH FIRMS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEEK AN INJUNCTION TO PREVENT PUBLICATION. 

By John Donovan

The above screenshot is from the front cover of the January 2015 edition of Horizons Magazine published by Lloyd’s Register. The front page lead story, is a multipage PR extravaganza trumpeting the key involvement of Lloyd’s Register in the creation and building of the Pieter Schelte, “the world’s largest-ever ship.”

The one thing that spoils the celebration about the gigantic vessel, which arrived in Rotterdam days ago, is that it is named in honour of a senior Waffen SS Nazi officer jailed for war crimes, Pieter Schelte Heerema. read more

By John Donovan 

Royal Dutch Shell has appointed Possible as its global digital agency, starting with corporate brand work.

Seems a safe assumption that one important aspect will be an attempt to detoxify the reputation of Shell, which has recently agreed to pay huge settlements of litigation arising from environmental pollution in Nigeria and the USA. Shell is said to be suffering from buyers remorse on the latter settlement deal.

Shell settles Nigerian oil spills claim for $83.5 million

Shell Halts $90-Million Payout for Toxic Neighborhood after Judge Says Deal Can’t Be Secret read more

By John Donovan

Printed below is an article published today by The Jerusalem Post about my campaign to persuade Mr Edward Heerema to change the name of the latest edition to his Allseas fleet, The Pieter Schelte.

It has just arrived in Rotterdam for some final equipment installation and will be bound for the North Sea in four months to begin work decommissioning Shell oil rigs. Shell apparently has no problem with the Nazi name, which is perhaps unsurprising given its own past close association with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.  read more

INTRODUCTION BY JOHN DONOVAN: Royal Dutch Shell Plc (Company Secretary Michiel Brandjes) and Allseas were given advance sight of the article below on Tuesday and notified of my intention to publish today. They were offered the opportunity to point out any factual inaccuracies plus an invitation to supply comment for publication on an unedited basis alongside the article. I stated that if no response was received by today, Friday 31 January, I would take that as confirmation that Shell and Allseas do not challenge the facts as stated. No response was received from either company.

EXTRACT FROM THE ARTICLE: “So we are now in this twisted historical situation that a company with a heavy burden on its shoulders regarding supporting Nazi Germany during and after the leadership of Deterding in the 1930’s, has ordered a company with an equally dubious history to decommission Shell oil platforms using a ship named in honour of a former SS officer.”

By Ton Biesemaat

You cannot escape history: Royal Dutch Shell and Allseas

Two companies with a dubious past history come together. One is Royal Dutch Shell, which under her chief managing director Sir Henri Deterding financially supported Nazi Germany. The other one is Allseas, owned by Edward Heerema. He is the son of Pieter Schelte Heerema, pioneer of the offshore business and a former Waffen SS member and diehard Nazi.

Allseas has ordered a South Korean ship builder to produce one of the largest ships in the world for decommissioning obsolete oil platforms in for example the North Sea. European legislation, which originates from the famous Brent Spar affair, obliges oil companies to dismantle these oil and gas platforms in an environmentally safe way. A whole new multi billion dollar business in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico is emerging. The mega ship from Allseas is now in its test phase. read more

“Any implication that Allseas is any way involved in, or supported by, a political agenda – including any reference to conspiracy, criminality and non-transparent business relationships – is completely unfounded and refuted in the strongest possible terms.”

By John Donovan

I was recently approached by a party who made serious allegations against the Swiss-based Allseas Group, “a global leader in offshore pipeline installation and subsea construction.”

Someone appears to have put a considerable effort into putting forward a detailed set of allegations supported by extensive documentary evidence. That does not mean the allegations are true.

The source of the allegations drew my attention to Allseas links with Royal Dutch Shell.

In this connection, we have previously published leaked emails sent to Allseas by Shell EP Ireland in respect of the Corrib Gas Project. On 9 September 2008, Maura Harrington, a leading figure in the Shell to Sea campaign went on hunger strike in protest at the arrival of the Solitaire, an Allseas pipe-laying ship assisting in the Corrib project. read more