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when gephardt merton's drove his taxi around him a half an in 1949 he had no idea that he would one day do business with the west german intelligence service the b.m.d. and also the cia mittens was a former member of the s.s. a daredevil paratrooper many of the government files about his post-war activities remain top secret to this day. after she was a fog of us there's no question that merton's worked at the cia especially in the sale of weapons if you do see

a guy but those arms deals lead to foreign policy problems and that's why the files remain closed and so forth not on it's off or just like much the on off for fish was. mittens found at his taxi company and claim a half and in the late 1940 s. some people who met him said they found him intimidating. visually and so for me i can still picture him it was a big strong guy and he knew how to throw his weight around post stuff really get well. met and soon establish connections with powerful government officials around the world and later sold weapons on behalf of the b. and d. . that flew in merton's was ideal for the b. and d. because he knew how to keep those weapons deal secret. for over $300.00 have to. matins called his company taxi law. in the post-war years his former comrades were

among his employees. they drove cabs similar to this one. the company is still in business. in the office there's a photo of the original site. files from the braman state archives reveal the names of some of the men who worked for teens at taxi lloyd. one of them served on americans as a paratrooper during the war. his name was going to allow bush. 70 years later matins widow ursula still remembers the name of another colleague. lindemann i recognize that name right away mchugh my husband and lindemann founded the taxi company. on done up there were so tired

a number of men from his former paratrooper unit who had ended up in braman. along the phone. and that's how he was able to build up the company. merton's now lives near washington d.c. in a quiet residential area in northern virginia her husband died 25 years ago until recently she lived on in the same house she had shared with and. now she has moved in with her eldest daughter and i get to it took 2 years for us to convince ursula mountains to give an interview about her late husband she was nervous about appearing in front of a camera she may also have been concerned about the subject matter but she feels comfortable in her daughter's company and agreed to talk to us.

she shows us some family photographs she says that she fell in love with her husband almost at once. because he was really ambitious and he always did what he set out to do. in 1901 manton's took part in germany's airborne invasion of crete he was one of about 10000 paratroopers that occupied the greek island during the occupation the germans massacred large numbers of civilians the atrocities are remembered on crete to this day. the airborne invasion began on may 20th graphic artist all of a court shows us what it might have looked like. merton's was a unit commander at the time after the war he was to form

a network with many of his fellow paratroopers and some of them became employees in his new taxi firm and famous often. who did for mertens was a highly decorated officers. and he started building just network of former paratroopers known as the green devils. but they were all right wing extremists. only until. in august 1943 of these paratroopers matins. and halakhah took part in a failed german effort to hold back the allied offensive in northern france. after the war manton's and his colleagues turned up and lehman which was occupied by u.s. troops. the us authorities soon issued a business license to matins taxi company he was the owner and going to a lawyer she was the authorised signatory. matins hired other former paratroopers

including zick freed hoya. as life slowly returned to normal in post-war western germany business picked up for texas lloyd. it held a monopoly which allowed it to drive american soldiers around and transport goods through the soviet occupation zone to the u.s. carriers and berlin. veterans and his family lived a comfortable middle class life and raymond the couple now had 2 daughters but ursula says her husband soon became restless and was looking for a new challenge. in the early 1950 s. he moved to egypt to work for the country's military his family later joined him there ever answer is no god 1st he was there all by himself.

but he soon recruited some former german officer. she would for you to these were people that he knew well and they had a very specific job to do. that job was to train egyptian paratroopers egypt wanted an airborne division like the one the germans had used on crete. egypt hired german advisers including former general vilhelm far. less than in their small intimate i moved from merton signed on with the egyptians in march 951. 1 of many german military advisors and trainers and i said that this work played extremely well with the thought. the matins family now lived in cairo in a city that in the early fifty's was rapidly developing into

a modern metropolis. but militants often returned to west germany to develop his business contacts. b.n.p. documents show that the dialer corporation even gave him a car for his personal use ursula merton's noted that it was a mercedes of course we asked her why he needed such an expensive car. the 1st. i have no idea. it was a status symbol something that would share with others that he was important. to us and from the beginning we always had. magical scripts on. the egypt mehrtens built the foundation for his future career as a weapons dealer. his business contacts brought him to the attention of the b.m.d. the west german intelligence service. in early 1955

militants traveled for several months across the middle east including a stop in saudi arabia. saudi king faisal became an important client. matin soon delivered warships to him. he traveled as far as pakistan where he later sold the government fighter jets for the war with india. a number of post-colonial states were now building up their military forces. during his travels met and met with a number of former nazis who worked as military advisors as well as top security officials including titled to newsy of saudi arabia and mohamed of egypt. the indie documents indicate that met in strip was financed by german businesses including dima bents the company has so far not responded to our request for comment. after militants returned to

blame and he came up with a plan to use part of the port as a base for weapons exports. at the same time the b.m.d. was developing a secret plan to export surplus weapons. the project was led by a man known at the time by his code name. warm had an office at b.m.d. headquarters near munich and soon began a series of regular meetings with matins. the former s.s. man matins needed the b n d for his ambitious plans and the b. and d. needed matins because he knew who wanted the weapons. but who was strong. as bush norm stone is actually how much funding are the head of the b.n. these procurement departments for the travel day this was a unique situation from the 2 of the bundeswehr was in the process of updating

a number of its weapons systems and that was going to create a lot of surplus. in january 1965 shredding up as to sex. for terry to come to his office to take notes. b.m.d. president was there spending it outlined the creation of a company to sell the surplus weapons. the company will have to civilians as owners to conceal the b n d s participation. claim and would play a key role. the company will set up storage facilities near the port all the company's profits will go to the b. and d. . the letter was actually a transcript of a top secret discussion that spending or have with a senior official at the defense ministry.

to be india is indeed the galen's time as b. and d. chief was drawing to a close and the agency was trying to spread its influence to the far east africa and latin america and let her. through the one way to do that was to sell weapons to countries in those regions secretly. the despite the fact that such sales were prohibited by west german law that ones will be export he had veered into and to communist. the b.n. needed an experience weapons dealer like militants to make it all happen. mat in 5 to 7 in the mountains was the 1st choice when looking for a shady weapons dealer in p.s. the v. had the international connections and the support of the cia. a branch of the b.m.d. archives in the berlin district of least ephedra. some declassified documents on mansions are stored here after months of negotiations we were finally allowed to

see them. there is a portrait of the german president. and one of the. despite his nazi past the americans made him the 1st head of the b.m.d. he served until 968. it was during his period in office that the b. and d. was involved in arms deals. this is the new b. and d. headquarters complex and berlin the agency allowed us to review 24 declassified files on mittens but declined to say how much top secret material actually has on him. there's information here on militants weapons exports his work with west german companies and the conflicts in which those weapons were used. court documents later indicated that militants closely coordinated his activities with the b.m.d. . there are also documents on militants proposal to develop a port facility in braman which he would then use to export surplus born despair

weapons. the company to be created by the b.m.d. would be known as mavic. this strawman shows the site where militants want to set up the new business the part of the brain that. he proposed to use prison inmates as workers a bank in mecca would handle the financing. matins ambitious plans were never finalized but weapons were transported. merchants had even purchased 2 ships for the purpose both were built at the visa shipyard employing one was called the very hot on. the other was the billet on. matins used the ships to deliver weapons on behalf of the b.m.d.

. when the vera tar carried and he took missiles to pakistan in 1966 matins and the b.m.d. were informed. at the same time the belittle transported fighter planes to india with false documents at the time india and pakistan were at war. matins had acquired the weapons from the west german army and delivered them to enemies the shipments were illegal under west german law and international law but covered up by the b.m.d. matins was needed for exactly this purpose. but it's hard to do you see had business contacts that allow them to falsify and use declarations of the full value of the shipments bound for saudi arabia where allegedly routed through iran weapons for india allegedly went through italy 1st you would need excellent connections as

a weapons dealer to do that. the core of merton's empire was a company located near bonn merchants export or merrick's for short. there was also a marriage subsidiary in switzerland with nontransparent business structures. historian peter hama schmidt has a number of merrick's files the documents for example indicate that klaus bobby a former nazi who fled to south america after the war also bought surplus west german weapons from erik's. the mayor thanks us for america was so to speak an extension of the federal governments . and it worked with the b. and d. and shipped weapons through various channels to latin america for example. for all . the b.m.d. actively promoted such deals together intelligence about crisis regions but how much of it says it violated its constitutional mandate to simply observe.

this activity began in the 1950 s. and least its peak in the mid 1960 s. with large shipments of weapons. they started taking more risks because the merit system works of well. these accounts and so this question. it wasn't intelligence work but weapons deals. merrick's wasn't involved with intelligence. but the b. and d. found that they could gather intelligence much more effectively by setting up and implementing these weapons deal. on. the size or whatever so it gave them access that they might not have had otherwise. the absolutely. this photo shows matins at his office in boston he was now selling weapons worldwide with the approval of the b. and d. . he also became an international representative for the u.s.

firearms manufacturer colt matins and his family later moved to america has eldest daughter margarita now lives in northern virginia. market or is 70 years old now and has become an accomplished artist this is a self-portrait. some of her works have been displayed at local exhibitions. my guitar tells us that her father was often away from home on business. this is enough you know what he did for a living out of this with you know all that. advice profession he was known as dina . 24 almost every week my brothers and i would see in until about my father in death the german news magazine. on one occasion my high school physics teacher told me at the beginning of the year

zeke that he was going to give me the worst great possible on. this because of your father. i think so my father had bought me a house in the oil district of bone. and. i had a car too i was the only student who had 1. 1 of my teachers said to me i ride to work on a bicycle and you come driving up in an alfa romeo it wasn't good for my image are . not good public relations in the us did you feel like you had to defend him. you know all fathers have some sort of job. to find. your heart matters all the number of properties including this estate near bonn of course he always arrived at his headquarters in his mercedes he often held meetings here with his international business contacts.

on rare occasions he also received journalists but they were not really welcome. in the mid 1970 s. matins did agree to an interview with journalist bigot. we meet vicar in hamburg back then he was working for monitor a t.v. magazine he was doing research for a report and came across material on militants in his weapons deals including claims that bribes were paid vick it had talked to some politicians about this and now he wanted to interview manton's the 2 met and met in the state near bonn. so i went over there and he was very polite and. we went into his office and he asked me what i wanted to talk about. and i replied i'd like to ask you about

saudi arabia saudi arabia right. i wanted to ask about the connections between merrick's and the nurse and shipyards and the payments that were made and so on. and. what happened after. and he started shouting get out of. the saddle so that he was very quick tempered. and so the interview came to an abrupt end before it even started but vic at decided to pursue the story from a different angle. he said offer do some shipyard check on allegations that bribes have been paid in connection with the sale of 3 patrol boats to saudi arabia. so i went to the shipyard and i brought along all the documents i had about the

steel. diffuses. my cameraman shot some film outside and then we went in. the. company official came out to meet me and he said my cameraman was welcome to go to the cafeteria and have some coffee but i said that he had to stay with me to make all the interviews. that is going. into it so he went to this room and there were about 20 people sitting there. for 3 shipyard officials lawyers and so on. they asked me what i wanted to talk about and so i told them because. they asked me to be more specific so i showed them the documents and then everyone got really angry and they threw us out of. the us and shipyard headquarters and braman. the family owned company with each shipyards builds luxury yachts and warships.

british person is the company's c.e.o. he has good contacts with the german political establishment including german president. when steinmeyer was foreign minister loosen accompany him on visits to saudi arabia and iran. here they are the shipping trade event in payment in 2016. there were plans to sell this and build patrol boats to end goal. in 2012 newson signed a 1500000000 euro contract with saudi arabia but the indy documents indicate that it was gary who introduced the lewis and shipyard to the county's. met and set up the patrol boats deal that all the vicar had investigated back then even proposed to build a military port facility for the saudis. here are the blueprints. west german steel

giant corp was also to have participated in the project. the project would include barracks for $1500.00 men the shipyard and storage bunkers for tippy toes the b. and d. a said to have been aware of these plants the loose and company declined to talk to us at all about this but it seems clear that matins represented the shipyard and informed the b. and d. . he was also involved with a b. and d. right this is the government has done i know nothing about that. i have no idea what the b.n. d.s. is it the cia you know what you're here he had a lot of contacts and they included the cia he knew 1st hand what was going on around the world. contest and. you know for years the so

he had cia contacts yes i knew that. it's difficult to document the extent of matins contacts with the cia many of the files are still top secret. b.m.d. long suspected that he was also working with a foreign intelligence service later and even considered him a security risk because of his extensive network of contacts he didn't always share what he knew with a b. and d. . but that b. and d. continue to work with matins. it staff sometimes attended meetings it is a state near bonn. today the state it deserted a neighbor remembers when we had to live here he returned often even long after his family had moved to the united states. the town that a month ago he was a really nice guy. but he was selling weapons for the government at the time. and i

was well known so many even wrote a book about it. when he lived here 30 years ago he really took care of the place he had 7 gardeners top. of the shift. the neighbor says the sheik bought the estate but left it empty but back then mansions used to host intelligence officers and other people for a. host weekend meetings there who had weapons manufacturers and people from the defense ministry. and it was reportedly a lot of drinking. into even the $400.00. documents from the b.m.d. and other sources indicate the agency was losing control of militants in his business activities. the material includes photos and transcripts of confidential meetings between b. and d. officials and matins. a report from one meeting hints that the agency had no idea

how to rein him in. the november 1965 mansions met with to be india officials to warm and helms off at his villa in switzerland the talks went on for days. met and picked up hams dorf at the geneva airport storm arrived later that evening the men started drinking wine merchants who reportedly had drank whiskey beforehand was quoted as saying that they were going to have a real party. at one point he was also reported to appraised at off hitler. maton said that he was negotiating with iran to allow surplus bundeswehr aircraft to land there for leadership meant to pakistan he also admitted that he was working with the cia. but then the alcohol got to him.

the d.n.d. people experience mittens erratic behavior the next day he brought out a secret report from the egyptian military and documents from the cult company. he said that the b.m.d. could make copies. there is no record of how the 2 guests responded to all this. the other what was merton's relationship with the b.n. deal like. shit that's difficult. in the beginning i think the b. and d. had a lot of respect for him. and he was a self-made man who set up an international corporation in just a few years. and then it's not about years or. rights but it became clear early on that merton's was unpredictable. made it clear that he was going to pursue his own interests regardless of the people who were protecting him for all of a unique and even shoots and all the in the b.m.d.

office he also knew that if something went wrong he wasn't going to have to take the blame. at the end of the 1960 s. the b. and d. wanted to break of contacts with militants he was called to appear before an internal b.m.d. commission that was investigating the agency's involvement with weapons teams. they wanted to know about his other contacts and how much they knew they wanted to take control of the situation. perhaps he was a double agent course. probably yes. what do you think of the sessions honestly so i can say but it was very self-confident i can't imagine that he felt intimidated by these people. did he bring lawyers. for what. he had all the documentation he needed from the b.m.d.

exactly. hard mittens now turned against the b. and d. that could be dangerous for a lot of top government officials. this is villa hama schmidt near bonn the official residence of the west german president until 1904. karl causton served as the president from 1979 to 1904 he began his government career in the 1960 s. as a state secretary or deputy minister 1st in the foreign office and then in the ministry of defense. in 1988 and 69 carstens was the head of the chancellor's office his responsibilities included keeping an eye on the b.m.d. so he must have been familiar with care how it may have to its weapons deals and his cooperation with the intelligence agency.

yours is a member of the bee indeed historical commission. he would interest this ecstatic a lot of stuff came across carstens desk at the chancellor's office including some things that could turn out to be illegal. but he said later that he couldn't remember a lot about some of it's at sea so later he was called to testify before a parliamentary committee that was looking into the b m d's activities. in 1974 costin's was interviewed about the be india's involvement with the sale of surplus weapons. if the b. and b.'s role in weapon deals is to be fully clarified a special investigation must be carried out. would you be prepared to testify. of course but i'm not convinced that such an investigation will be in the country's best interests there's no point in asking questions about activities that were perfectly legal and be followed. give these in.

cost and told the committee that when he was head of the chancellor's office he was not aware of any b. and d. weapons deals that implies that he knew nothing about the internal b. and d. investigation into merton's activities. chancellor court new york using on scene here on the far left appears to have had a chief of staff that was rather poorly informed on this matter. the s.p.d. was particularly upset about the reports of weapons sales to india and pakistan and demanded answers from kissing as government. in 1969 became chancellor the s.p.d. launched an investigation into the b. and b.'s involvement with weapons deals. matins sought as

a move to discredit costumes. either so i'm happy. i'm tired of people picking on. just this morning i weighed in spiegel magazine that a court judge in lower saxony is looking into some new allegations. as if that was i can only say to those who attack custance that i could make similar claims about the activities of the current chancellor you know the flu study what it does the same thing. it does there were. met in felt that he was being targeted by the new s.p.d. covered. it was once chief of staff last even proposed a series of b.m.d. reforms but at the same time he refused to hand over files to prosecutors who were investigating metals into said that to do so would be detrimental to the interests of the government. in november 975 met in stood trial in bonn on charges of violating west german export laws particularly in

connection with weapon sales to india pakistan and saudi arabia. matins is seen here on the right along with some of his merrick's co-defendants no charges were filed against anyone from the b.m.d. . in november 1905 the court ruling from this mobile phone for both merton's was acquitted on the charge of violating export laws his attorneys convinced the court that the weapons sales have been made on behalf of the b n d that was bad news for the agency that. we visited the north rhine-westphalia state archive and to a sport where a copy of the verdict is stored. unlike the original court and by it considered it important to keep it. we weren't allowed to take pictures of the actual documents just the covers of the

files but we were permitted to quote from the documents matins was acquitted because the weapons exports were approved by the b. and d. and he was convinced they were legal because. the b. india received requests from individual states and enabled contractual agreements. to be indie took steps to provide financing options for merrick's e.g. . the be a nice warm erik's representatives to secrecy. had to be in deep implemented its own foreign policy agenda was it a state within a state a so-called deep state. yours do for sums up his findings. ishtar knew and as your caught there was a very bureaucratic organization that operated but a great deal of vanity and weakness in highly complex circumstances and that is what the weapons deals were probably known to just a small group within the b.m.d.

so i don't think it was a deep state system as such but it had some of its characteristics i was into a martyr stuff. mehrtens weapons deals made him a very wealthy man. he sold 90 old west german fighter planes to. as well as automatic weapons ammunition and hand grenades to chad as that country descended into civil war in the mid 1960 s. . after methods was acquitted the west german government was ordered to pay him $5000000.00 marks in compensation an expensive end to a close business relationship between arms dealer and intelligence agency should be in the order for the b.m.d. bears the final responsibility because the merton's deal got out of control and if he was actually conducting foreign policy by selling weapons to various countries the b.m.d. probably underestimated americans completely. met his wife and daughter gave us the

impression that they knew little about the full extent of his business dealings he didn't talk much about them and he was away from home much of the time. but my guitar has come to terms with the fact that her father was a weapons dealer. would you like to know more. no it doesn't really matter. that's football what's done is done you have to get on with your life. matins worked for the cia and the u.s. he allegedly supplied weapons to any communist guerrillas in central america on its behalf. and he maintained unofficial connections to the b. and d. . the nightmare 1900 was

he was excluded from the operational side of the agency's activities. but in the 1970 s. the b.m.d. used him and his contacts to find out more about the international arms trade for that so he continued as an informer and was never completely locked out of it. historian dealer has found evidence that linked militants to the infamous colonia dignidad settlement in chile which was established by german immigrants. it appears be india official said matins into the settlement. sheila found evidence that militants had close ties to pinochet security apparatus. a map in southern africa merton's repeatedly stated that he traveled to chile on behalf of the b. and d. . he met manual control as it was later head of pinochet's secret police and officials of colonia dignidad including hartley top it appears they established

close ties and. this video was made in the 1980 s. it shows the main road that led to the settlement. here's the main entrance. the sign over the gate says in effect or i didn't either or benefactor of dignity. met installed state prosecutors in 1990 that he had visited the settlements several times on behalf of the b.m.d. he called the. state prosecutors in a bid to help its leader paul shaffer when he was under investigation for crimes including physical injury and deprivation of liberty. in a statement merchants praised the settlement as a model german community he denied reports that people had been physically abused

in a room known as the potato seller. matins testimony runs to $31.00 pages and still has a copy of it. sums up the statement. described in detail his visits to colonia dignidad and he attempted to refute a number of allegations point by point for point. for example he said that he'd seen no evidence that people had been tortured there and he saw no underground corridors we also spoke with a doctor at the settlements hospital he concluded it was impossible torture had taken place there. before. but in fact the potato cellar was used by chiller secret police to torture political detainees. we asked did the b. and d.

really ask militants to visit the settlement what was his exact mission there the b. indeed declined to comment. arsal americans says she only knew her husband as a private individual. then this only shift to gage i just don't have any information on his business deals or contacts. i'm sorry i really don't. care hard mehrtens a former nazi paratrooper and small business owner who became one of europe's leading weapons dealers died in 1903 at the age of 73 in fort lauderdale florida.

he took many of his secrets to the great. a number of hopes for world cup glory qatar is building stadiums to host of these sucker events of 2022 and the appear to be big changes afoot in the state itself with how much progress is really been maybe high in the scenes i'm extremely surprised to hear that is anything remotely resembling a democracy. lifting the veil in qatar. a close up 90 minutes on. the finest berlin the tourist guide for germany's

booming capital i love berlin. 50 nations 50 stories and 15 very personal tips cumberlands very best features. book now planet for live our girl back series every week on d w. how does taiwan taste. correspondent susan hough and to. explore the various flavors of exotic squeezing our food fusion and fun i have done the challenge for you. tasty tied to. start september 1st on d w.

this is d w news live from berlin finding a way out of italy's folate ical crisis one day after prime minister giuseppe conti presides the government is plunged into uncertainty we'll look at the options now facing italy also coming up. after a line team day standoff more than t.v. migrants aboard a rescue vessel are allowed.