Shlomo Zabludowicz
Shlomo Zabludowicz (1915-1994) was an Israeli arms manufacturer and industrialist.[1]
Early Life
Zabludowicz was born into a rabbinical family in Lodz, Poland in 1915. His parents and seven sisters and brothers were killed in the Holocaust. After the liberation, he was sent to a rehabilitation camp in Sweden where he met his future wife, Pola. They moved to Israel in 1948, where they married, before returning to Scandinavia a short time later, settling in Tampere, Finland.[2]
Soltam
In the early 1950s, Zabludowicz founded Soltam as a joint venture between the Israeli industrial conglomerate Sollel-Boneh and the Finnish arms manufacturer, Tampella. The Finnish connection enabled the company to trade in markets that were otherwise closed to the Israelis.[3]
By 1958, Zabludowicz had persuaded the German Bundeswehr to buy Israeli-made weaponry, a deal which sparked controversy when it became known in Israel.[4]
Zabludowicz sold mortars to Iran and formed close links to the Shah's regime before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.[5]
According to the New York Times Zabludowicz and his son, Chaim Zabludowicz, became clients of Richard Perle in 1980.
- They paid $90,000 to the Abington Corporation, a consulting company where Mr. Perle worked that was owned by John F. Lehman Jr., later the Secretary of the Navy.
- It was not until January 1982, nine months after Mr. Perle says the Zabludowiczes stopped being his clients, that he settled his financial arrangements with Mr. Lehman and Abington and received a portion of the $90,000 fee from 1980. The $50,000 Mr. Perle received in March 1981 was in addition to his share of the Abington fee.[6]
By 1988, Zabludowicz had succeeded in persuading the US Department of Defence to equip itself with Israeli mortars.[7]
The Zabludowiczes lawyer, Daniel J. Spiegel told the New York Times that Perle had been hired as part of a strategy to win arms contracts from the Pentagon. A particular target was a contract then held by the British, supplying mortars to the US Army.[8]
In the 1980s, Zabludowicz diversified his interests from defence to include factories making saucepans and construction equipment in Scandinavia, and property in the US and Europe.[9]
By 1989, Soltam was jointly owned by Zabludowicz and the Israeli conglomerate Koor, whose differences led to an agreement whereby Zabludowicz left Soltam and acquired ownership of the international marketing firm, Salgad.[10]
Final Years
Zabludowicz died on 8 August 1994.[11]
Afiliations
Connections
- Poju Zabludowicz - Son
Notes
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
- ↑ Jeff Gerth, AIDE URGED PENTAGON TO CONSIDER WEAPONS MADE BY FORMER CLIENT, New York Times, 17 April 1983.
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
- ↑ Jeff Gerth, AIDE URGED PENTAGON TO CONSIDER WEAPONS MADE BY FORMER CLIENT, New York Times, 17 April 1983.
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
- ↑ Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
