Shlomo Zabludowicz

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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

Notes

  1. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
  2. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
  3. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
  4. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
  5. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
  6. Jeff Gerth, AIDE URGED PENTAGON TO CONSIDER WEAPONS MADE BY FORMER CLIENT, New York Times, 17 April 1983.
  7. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
  8. Jeff Gerth, AIDE URGED PENTAGON TO CONSIDER WEAPONS MADE BY FORMER CLIENT, New York Times, 17 April 1983.
  9. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
  10. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.
  11. Shlomo Zabludowicz, The Times, 24 August 1994.