I figured I'd start a new post for this since it didn't really belong under the oil prices thread and draeco was getting all uptight about it.


I think it's rather crazy to believe that they were all just simply men devoted to their science. Many of the scientists brought over in operation Paperclip were, in fact, ardent Nazi's. Many originally had their visa's denied when first trying to get into the US due to this but the denial was eventually reversed since we needed their expertise.

After the war, you had John J McCloy, who at the time was Assistant Secretary of War, shelter the butcher Klaus Barbie from prosecution and assisted in getting him to South America.

You had Albert Speer, a Nazi scientist who was eventually prosecuted for war crimes, live out his days comfortably in England. He did do a stint in jail but for a while it looked unlikely he was going to get prosecuted. Immediately after the war, he traveled around Europe briefing many military officials on the inner workings of Hitler's military programs. What's curious about Speer is that transcripts of his interrogation by Allied officials are sealed until 2020, an exception to the standard 30 year rule.

You have Dr. Hubertus Strughold, who is considered "the father of US space medicine" smuggled to the US immediately after WWII. This man was involved in barbaric experiments at the Dachau concentration camp and was also sought for prosecution at Nuremberg.

Then there's Hans Kammler, the man who built Auschwits and Nordhouse. There are no official records that the US ever spoke or even sought out Kammler at the end of the war, which is a very suspicious oversight on the part of the US. Unfortunately, he magically disappeared in 1945 and it's likely he was smuggled off to South America.

As you said, BB, it's likely there's far more people that we don't know about who were guilty of war crimes and that escaped prosecution thanks to the quick actions of some Allied officials.

It's well documented that Nazi's helped our Government with their missile and space programs. Anybody who say's that the Nazi's did'nt have any type of involvement with our governement after the war are either ignorant,stupid, or are liars.

Stone, that represents a bare handful of persons complicit in the Nazi atrocities. The vast majority of those brought over in Operation Paperclip were not at all involved in the genocidal atrocities of World War II. While its easy for us to sit here in the 21st century and look back and make a judgement, I think our government at the time was right and proper to exploit the knowledge developed in Nazi Germany. If it meant accepting a few really bad apples or looking the other way while they escaped, so be it. Far better that than to allow our enemies to supplant us .

You say many had their visas denied, but that the denial was reversed, but do not give any names. The examples that you gave were not persons that came here under Operation Paperclip--the operation that sought out and brought in selected technical people.

Your first example was Klaus Barbie, who didn't come here, he ended up in S. America.

Your second example was Albert Speer who, as you said, lived out his days in England.

Your third example was (medical) Dr. Hubertus Strughold, who you said was "smuggled to the US": that implies that he was not brought in under Operation Paperclip. Who smuggled him in?

Your fourth example was Hans Kammler. But you say that there are no official records that the US ever spoke to or even sought him out.

Who, among the German scientists brought to this country, had any participation in the holocaust? They were all thoroughly investigated, starting with von Braun himself. An investigation does not constitute guilt.

The fact is that in Germany during the Hitler regime, you HAD to be a member of the Nazi party. So suggesting that the German scientists brought here after the war were active in supporting Nazi philosophy may or may not be correct.

In Iraq America made the mistake of throwing out all of the Baathists, not realizing that in order to achieve anything under the reign of Saddam you pretty much HAD to be a Baathist. It was a serious mistake on our part.

However, people like Speer were not involved in the worst elements of Nazi despotism. Barbie was, but eventually paid for it.

The true developers and implimenters of the genocide were almost all dead, or tried and sentenced at Nuremberg. Speer did do some jail time, then wrote a best selling book.

When one lives in a dictatorship, one has to be a member of the dictator's party to survive, thus many many Germans who carried Nazi party cards were not of the same stripe as the leaders.