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Leslie Fry (February 16, 1882 – July 15, 1970) was the pen name of Paquita Louise de Shishmareff[1][2] (born Louise A. Chandor).[a] She was an American antisemitic, pro-fascist author, who is primarily known for Waters Flowing Eastward (1931), a book which asserts that Jews were to blame for both Capitalism and Bolshevism, and that it was primarily certain Jews who started World War I. She alleged that certain Freemasons were involved as well. She postulated that the ultimate aim of these particular Jews and Freemasons was "World Domination". These conclusions were based in part on her study of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Called "the most active fascist in southern California", Fry was also a paid Nazi agent who worked to cultivate Nazism in the United States. She attempted to unify various American fascist movements.[4]
Family background
editLouise A. Chandor[5][6][7] was born in Paris, France, the daughter of U.S. citizens John Arthur Chandor and Elizabeth (Red) Fry Ralston.
Louise's mother, Elizabeth (Red) Fry, married William Chapman Ralston (1826–1875) on May 20, 1858, in San Francisco. Soon after their marriage, Ralston rose to become a San Francisco banking and real estate magnate. He became a living legend, acclaimed as "the man who built San Francisco." However, the marriage was unhappy, and ended in tragedy on August 27, 1875, when Ralston drowned while swimming in San Francisco Bay. After a preliminary, partial settlement of her husband's estate, Elizabeth Ralston embarked in December 1875 on a steamer to Europe, intending to settle in Paris with her children. It is reported that she first met John Arthur Chandor en route, and that he soon joined her in Paris, even though he had been recently married in New York City.[8] It is not known if Chandor and Elizabeth Ralston married, but their friendship resulted in the birth of Louise A. Chandor (pen-name: Leslie Fry) in Paris on February 16, 1882.
Louise's paternal grandparents were Lasslo (Laslo) Philip Chandor (originally: László Fülöp Sándor) (1815/1817 – October 7, 1894) and Laura Mannabourg (September 28, 1827 – April 14, 1878). Lasslo was an Austrian-Hungarian adventurer, inventor and businessman, who had emigrated to the U. S. in the 1840s. As a founder and director of the Mineral Lighting Company in New York City, and inventor holding several patents, Lasslo had a keen interest in improving city lighting systems. In the early-to-mid 1860s he obtained four lucrative contracts to improve the public lighting of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is reported that the profits from the contracts, and the profits from his inventions used to fulfill them, made Lasslo a millionaire. Lasslo obtained the contracts by cultivating business relationships with U. S. diplomats in the administrations of Presidents James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson, who were involved in U. S.-Russia trade relations during this time. During the 1870s and 1880s, Lasslo was involved in the burgeoning oil and gas industries in Russia. Lasslo's son John Arthur Chandor (1850–1909), who was Louise's father, was also involved in various business activities in Russia.
Early life in Europe and Russia, 1882–1917
editLouise spent considerable time living in St. Petersburg while her grandfather and father were engaged in business activities there. On May 26, 1906 (Old Style)[9] in St. Petersburg, Louise married Captain (later Colonel) Feodor Ivanovich Shishmarev (born August 16, 1876) (Old Style),[10] an officer in the Russian Imperial Army. The Shishmarev family had been a Russian noble family for centuries. It is believed that Feodor was murdered in 1917 by Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution,[11] but before his murder he had the foresight to send Louise (who was now using her married name 'Paquita Louise de Shishmareff') with their two sons (Kyrill and Misha),[12][13] and the family fortune, out of the country to safety. During the Bolshevik Revolution, Paquita and her sons moved to Tiflis, in the Transcaucasian SFSR, where they lived under the protection of the American consulate.
Activities in the United States and Europe, 1917–1970
editIn the mid-summer of 1917 Paquita and her sons left Tiflis and traveled to the eastern Russian port city of Vladivostok, where they boarded the steamship S. S. Goentoer bound for San Francisco, California. They arrived August 31.[14][15]
According to the 1920 U. S. Federal Census records, in 1920 Paquita and her son Misha (Michael) (listed under the surname "Deshishmareft" in the records) were living in Mamaroneck (Westchester County), New York, while her son Kyril (listed as "Keera De Shismareff" in the records) was attending Mount Tamalpais Military Academy (in San Rafael, Marin County, California). It is believed that Paquita moved back to California about 1926. She was associated with fascist political circles during this period. Her wealth allowed her to financially support right-wing nationalists.[10]
Paquita met Henry Ford in or around 1920, and presented him with a copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. She conceived the Protocols as part of a conspiracy according to which a group led by the "cultural Zionist" Asher Ginzberg plotted world domination. However, at the time Ginzberg merely supported an international Jewish cultural and political revival, not the planning and formation of an actual Jewish state.
Antisemitic writer and Nazi ideologist Ernst Graf zu Reventlow named Fry as his source for his own view that Ginzberg was the author of the Protocols. After Philip Graves provided evidence in The Times of London that the Protocols were in reality a composite document which, for the most part, had been constructed/plagiarised from a variety of other writings which had been published previously to the appearance of the Protocols, Reventlow published his support for Fry's theory in the periodical La Vieille France. Ginzberg's supporters sued Reventlow, who was forced to retract his allegations and pay damages.[16]
Strongly opposed to Roosevelt's New Deal, Fry argued that it represented "the transformation of the Constitutional form of American government into that of the Kahal, or Jewish form of government. It has been called the New Deal and the Jew Deal. Both are correct and synonymous."[11]
Fry was involved in various fascist organisations of the 1930s, and founded the nationalist and isolationist Christian Free Press, "an anti-Semitic newspaper modeled after Germany's infamous Der Sturmer".[17] She joined forces with Henry Douglas Allen (1879–1961) in a failed attempt to revitalize the Ku Klux Klan. She also made failed attempts to unify American fascist movements. Documents found by San Diego police in Allen's briefcase in 1938 implicated Fry as a paid Nazi agent, but she escaped prosecution at the time.[18] However, she later became estranged from Allen and accused him of misappropriating money from her.[11]
In 1940, Fry fled to fascist Italy, but returned the U.S. after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1943, she was indicted for sedition as part of the Great Sedition Trial, albeit the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence. However, Fry, who'd been interned on Ellis Island upon her return to the United States, remained in custody until the end of the war.[11]
Origin of the Protocols according to Waters Flowing Eastward
editFry's major work, Waters Flowing Eastward (1931), attempted to prove that the Protocols were part of a plot to destroy Christian civilization. The apparent conflict between Communism and Capitalism was a smoke-screen for Jewish domination, as outlined in the Protocols. The claim repeated by many authors that the Protocols first came to light in 1884 via Justine Glinka, was originally put forth by Fry in the 1st edition (1931) of Waters Flowing Eastward, in a chapter of the book titled "How the Protocols Came to Russia".
According to Fry's account, Justine Glinka[19] (1836–1916), the daughter of Russian diplomat Dmitry Glinka[20] (1808–1883), was endeavouring (in the early to mid-1880s) to serve her country (Russia) by obtaining political information in Paris, which she forwarded to General Orgevskii. In 1884 a Jewish Freemason named Joseph Schorst (alias of Théodore Joseph Schapiro) sold Justine a manuscript copy of the Protocols (written in French) for 2,500 francs. Fry believed that Schorst had smuggled this copy of the Protocols out of the archives of one of the Mizraïm Masonic Lodges in Paris. According to records in the archives of the Sûreté (French Secret Police),[21] Schorst eventually fled to Egypt, where he was murdered. This manuscript of the Protocols then supposedly found its way (through a very convoluted and questionable route) into the hands of Sergei Nilus, who was the first person to publish it in its entirety (in 1905) under a single cover.[22]
Occult Theocrasy
editFry and her close friend Edith Starr Miller (Lady Queenborough) (1887–1933) spent about 10 years (1922–1931) as the leaders of a secretive international research group which they named the "International League for Historical Research". The purpose of this group was to identify (and clarify the interconnections between) the most important secret societies existing at that time in Europe, the United States, and in the Middle East. They detailed their findings in Occult Theocrasy (2 vols.) (Chatou, France: British American Press, 1931–1933), a work whose publication was completed shortly after Edith's death. This work is now widely regarded as a "conspiracy classic." Occult Theocrasy summarizes what was known at that time about the organizations and secret societies which collectively form what is now referred to, variously, as the Cabal, the Illuminati, the One World Government, the Secret World Government, or the New World Order. Although Occult Theocrasy is not an authoritative work in the strict sense – some sections of it are vastly more informative and candid than others – nevertheless, as a whole, the work was more comprehensive, up-to-date, and revealing in its subject-matter than any other similar work available in the English language at that time. The work contains overt antisemitic elements and attributes much of world history to a conspiracy of Jews. It gives credence to the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and has two chapters that express praise for the mission of the Ku Klux Klan. To its credit, most of the source information for Occult Theocrasy is listed in the book's bibliography. The work also features a brief occult glossary, and a detailed index.
Politico-Occult-Judaeo-Masonry Chart
editFry compiled an elaborate chart called the Politico-Occult-Judaeo-Masonry Chart (1940, by L. Fry),[23][24][25] This presents a summary (in chart form) of all the most important information which was published in Occult Theocrasy. This chart attempts to display the interconnections between all the organizations which Fry and Lady Queenborough claim were/are involved in the alleged Jewish masterplan for world domination. The chart consists of a sheet of paper (measuring approximately 23" X 18"), printed on both sides. On the chart Fry illustrates how the Jewish masterplan is linked to various Judaic, Masonic, Occult, and World-Political organizations, such as the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, founded by Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) on May 1, 1776, and the League of Nations.[11][22]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Her name at death was given as Paquita Deshishmaref in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).[3]
References
edit- ^ "Subversive Activities in America First Committee in California" (PDF). Ajcarchives.com. Retrieved May 10, 2008.
- ^ "Paquita Deshishmare vital record". Ancestry. com. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
- ^ "Deshishmaref's Obituary on GenealogyBank.com". GenealogyBank.com.
- ^ Rosenzweig, Laura B. (September 19, 2017). Hollywood's Spies: The Undercover Surveillance of Nazis in Los Angeles. NYU Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-4798-5517-9.
- ^ "Fry, Leslie (Louise Chandor-Shishmareff)" by Michael Hagemeister, in Handbuch des Antisemitismus 1. A-K (München Saur, 2009), ed. by Wolfgang Benz.
- ^ "In search of evidence of the origin of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". UFO 2009, № 96 Michael Hagemeyster (in Russian). See footnote #3 on page 4 (which refers to information in paragraph #6 on page 1)
- ^ Inhaltsverzeichnis.pdf[permanent dead link]. Degruyter.de. See the entries: (i) Chandor-Shishmareff, Louise – Fry, Leslie (ii) Fry, Leslie (iii) Schischmarjowa, Louise (geb. Chandor) – Fry, Leslie (iv) Shishmareff, Paquita de – Fry, Leslie [dead link]
- ^ "A Tale of Two Continents; Strange Infatuation of a Widow. Painful Developments Growing Out of the Demand for a Reopening of the Settlement of the Dead Banker Ralston's Estate -- The Mystery of the English 'Lord' and his Bear Explained". New York Times (December 5, 1877, based on an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, November 27, 1877)
- ^ June 8, 1906 (New Style).
- ^ August 29, 1876 (New Style).
- ^ a b c d e Glen Jeansonne, Women of the Far Right: The Mothers' Movement and World War II, University of Chicago Press, 1997. p.228.
- ^ The 2 sons were named Kyrill (or Kyril) Feodorovich Shishmarev (Anglicized variously as: Kyrill de Shishmareff, Kyrill DeShishmareff, or Kyrill Feodorovich de Shishmareff) (April 11, 1907 – May 12, 1975) and Misha Feodorovich Shishmarev – aka Michael Theodore Fry de Shismareff (Shishmareff), or simply as Michael Fry (January 17, 1910 – July 29, 1983) (See: Ancestry.com). Kyrill de Shishmareff (who usually spelled his first name "Kyril" rather than "Kyrill") claimed that his full name was Prince Kyril Feodorovich de Vassilchikov-Shismarev, Comte de Rohan-Chandor. He used this form of his name as a member of The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (Knights of Malta). See: "Summary of History – Sosjmalta.org" (see page 5, where Kyrill's supposed full name is given). It also states there that Kyrill de Shishmarev died in Portugal on May 12, 1975, after suffering mortal injuries during civil upheavals. Kyrill held the position of Lieutenant Grand Master in this order from 1971–1975 – see: "Grand Masters of the Order – p. 9 – Sosjmalta.org". Archived from the original on August 13, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) and "Nr. 2060-October 1992 – Sosjmalta.org" (see page 1, right-hand column) and "Green Book" – sosjmalta.org (see page 3) (The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem – The Hereditary Order – Outlines of History [Second Edition, 1987] by K. Vella Haber, Grand Prior International). This order is a chivalric order which claims to be an authentic, legitimate branch of the original Order of St. John of Jerusalem, but many authorities dispute this claim. For some very good accounts of this dispute see: "Cumbo"[usurped] and: Self-Styled "Orders of Saint John" by Guy Stair Sainty ("Self-Styled Orders 1 – Chivalric Orders" Archived June 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine). For the website of the order of which Kyrill de Shishmarev was a member, see: "Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem - the Hereditary Order". Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2011.. By using the name Kyrill Feodorovich de Vassilchikov-Shishmarev, Comte de Rohan-Chandor, clearly Kyrill was claiming that he was a lineal descendant of various noble families besides the Shishmarev family, namely the Vassiltchikov family of Russia (see: "Famille Vassiltchikov" (French Wikipedia), the Rohan family of France and Hungary, and the Chandor (actually Sándor de Szlavnicza?) family of Hungary and Austria; see Famille Sándor: "Famille Sándor" (French Wikipedia). As to his connection with nobility in the Chandor family, Kyrill's mother's paternal grandfather was Count(?) László Fülöp Sándor (Lasslo Philip Chandor) (1815 – October 7, 1894)—see the obituary of Lasslo Chandor's great-grandson Elbert Haring Chandor (April 12, 1921 – December 22, 2003): "Death notice: Chandor E. Haring – New York Times. Lasslo Philip Chandor was born in either Austria or Budapest, Hungary, became an inventor and entrepreneur in the U. S. (he was Director of the Mineral Lighting Company), and had extensive business interests in Russia (especially in St. Petersburg). At the time of his death he was living in London, England, in a house located at 4 Montague Place, Bedford Square, Bloomsbury, St. Giles District, Middlesex County. This house is literally almost directly across the street from the northern end of the British Museum. This wing of the museum houses the King Edward VII Galleries, and it features an entrance to the museum on Montague Place. The probate of Lasslo's estate was handled by his son-in-law Francis William Hastings Medhurst (1844–1914), a mining engineer and inventor who had married Lasslo's daughter Arabella Chandor (1848 - October 21, 1906) in 1869. For more documentation on Lasslo see: "All Tax, Criminal, Land & Wills results for Chandor" – ancestry.com (scroll down to Lasslo Chandor, John Arthur Chandor, and Lasalo Chandor). To get an overview of Lasslo Chandor's activities as an inventor and businessman/entrepreneur, see: "Etienne Lenoir" (Dutch Wikipedia)), "At the Dawn of the Kerosene Era" by Alexander Matviechuk – oilru.com (see subsection titled "Pennsylvanian kerosene in St. Petersburg and Moscow," where Lasslo Chandor's name is spelled "Laszlo Sandor") and Chronological Index of Patents Applied For and Patents Granted For the Year 1867 (London, 1868) (see Patent No. 678: George Glover, of Ranelagh Road, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, for an invention for "Improvements in lamps for burning naptha and like fluids." (a communication to him from abroad by Laslo Chandor, a person resident at Great Stable Street, St. Petersburg)). As to Kyril's connection with the Rohan family, it is believed that Kyril, possibly, was claiming a lineal connection with [François Marie des Neiges] Emanuel de Rohan-Polduc (1725–1797), who was Sovereign Grand Master of the Knights of Malta from 1775–1797. Michael Fry (aka Dr. Michael Fry, Michael Theodore Fry de Shismareff, Misha Feodorovich Shishmarev, and Misha Feodorovich de Shishmareff) was the author of two books: (1) Hitler's Wonderland (London: J. Murray, 1934 – xi + 215 pages) (see: Hitler's Wonderland, Library of Congress) (2) Salute the Sun (Glenford, NY: Sun Press, 1980 – 225 pages) (see: Salute the sun, Library of Congress) - ^ To read an account of Kyril de Shishmarev's memories of his family's life and activities in Russia in the years prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917, see: (1) Guy Richards – The Hunt for the Czar (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970), Chapter XVI ('The English Baby') (2) William Malpas Clarke – The Lost Fortune of the Tsars (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1st U. S. ed., 1995).
- ^ For details on this voyage and the S. S. Goentoer, see the ship manifest at: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco, CA, 1893–1953 (National Archives and Records Administration, microfilm publication M1410). On this ship manifest, Paquita and her sons' names are listed as follows: Pazuite Louis Deschishmareff, Kyriel De Schischmareff, and Miska De Schischmareff. Traveling with the family was a woman named Marie Morin, who is listed as a servant. The S. S. Goentoer left Sourabaya (Soerabaja), Java on July 14, 1917, made stops at several intermediate ports (including, apparently, Vladivostok, Russia, where it is believed Paquita and her sons boarded the ship), and arrived in San Francisco on August 31, 1917.
- ^ At the time of this voyage, the S. S. Goentoer was owned and operated by the Rotterdam Lloyd Line. See: The Ships List – Fleets List: Rotterdam Lloyd/Stoomboot Reederij "Rotterdamsche Lloyd". For additional information see:nl:Rotterdamsche Lloyd.
- ^ Susan Sarah Cohen, Antisemitism: an annotated bibliography, Volume 8, Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, p.444.
- ^ Ross, Steven (2017). Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-62040-564-2.
- ^ Rosenzweig, Laura (2017). Hollywood's Spies: The Undercover Surveillance of Nazis in Los Angeles. New York: NYU Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-4798-5517-9.
- ^ Justine Glinka (Iustinia Dmitrievna Glinka) (July 21, 1836–1916) – In numerous records her first name is erroneously given as "Yuliana", and her birth year is erroneously given as 1844. For documentation supporting her birthdate as July 21, 1836, see: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NZZ3-DXK
- ^ Dmitry Glinka (Dmitry Grigoryevich Glinka) (July 28, 1808 – May 14, 1883)
- ^ Details about Théodore Joseph Schapiro (Schapira, Schapire, Shapira, Shapiro, Szapira, Chapira) (alias Joseph Schorst) can be found in police archives in Paris. See: Archives de la Préfecture de Police (Paris), Dossier Théodore Schapiro (1879–1896), BA926.
- ^ a b Hadassa Ben-Itto, The lie that wouldn't die: the Protocols of the elders of Zion, Vallentine Mitchell, 2005, p. 200.
- ^ "Politico-Occult-Judaeo-Masonry Chart (1940, by L. Fry)". Imgur. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
- ^ Politico-Occult-Judaeo-Masonry Chart (1940), by L. Fry (Michigan State University – MSU Libraries – Arsenal Collection – Special Collection: Radicalism)
- ^ "Omni Christian Book Club – Item #315: Politico-Occult-Masonry Chart, by L. Fry". Archived from the original on January 31, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017..
External links
edit- Waters Flowing Eastward by L. Fry Archived October 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- Photograph of Leslie Fry (Paquita Louise de Shishmareff) - In this photo taken in 1937, Paquita de Shishmareff is shown with some of the members of her trusted inner circle (from left to right in the photo): Henry Douglas Allen (1879-1961), Conrad Chapman (1896-1989), and Ivan Gorin (Gurin, Gourine) (aka John Gorin) (1899 - January 1969). Ivan Gorin was a White Russian agent who was naturalized on February 11, 1944 in Los Angeles, California. His naturalization papers state that he also used the name John Gorin.
- Photograph Source: California State University, Northridge, Oviatt Library, Special Collections and Archives