At the conclusion of WWII, the Nuremberg Trial was held by the Allied Powers (Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the U.S.) in order to preside over the cases of twenty-two major Nazi criminals that were key figures in the Holocaust, mainly business executives that used the concentration camps as slave labor and other prominent Nazis that had direct involvement with the slaying of civilians. Some Nazis, such as Adolf Eichmann, fled to other countries but were brought back to stand trial while others committed suicide to escape their sentencing. However, there were many other Nazi scientists and physicists that were looked at as valuable commodities and were offered a great life in the U.S.

Down the Rabbit Hole

During the war in 1943, a failed conquest into Russia by Nazi Germany left them depleted as the Russians began a counterattack into East Germany. Scientists, engineers, and other Ph. D.s were liberated from combat in an attempt to bolster a German defense against an extended siege from Russia. A list containing the names of men credited with reliable and safe political ideologies was compiled by Werner Osenburg, the head of the Wehrforschungsgemeinschaft (Military Research Association). This list was found and transmitted to the M16 which then transmitted it to U.S. Intelligence where U.S. Army Major Roverts B. Slaver, of the U.S. Army Ordinance Corps, used this to compile his own list of German scientists to be captured and interrogated by the The Office of Strategic Services (OSS)

The OSS was created to perform espionage activities behind enemy lines for the United States Armed Forces. This predecessor to the CIA was interested in technology that Germans had, and at the end of World War II (1945) they created the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA) in order to seek out this technology and the scientists that created it in order to keep top German scientists from being captured by the USSR as well as inhibit Germany from redeveloping its military capabilities. President Harry Truman did not order the execution of Operation Paperclip until August of 1945 and stated that he did not want Nazi Party members or active supporters of Nazi militarism. The JIOA would end up circumventing President Truman's by falsifying employment and political history of the Nazi Party members.

Starting under code name Operation Overcast, Major Staver's intent was to interview the scientists but this quickly changed when he learned about the Nazi's knowledge of the V-2 rocket, a frighteningly accurate and fast rocket. Deciding that the evacuation of German scientists and their families was the most "important for [the] Pacific war". When "Camp Overcast", the name of the scientist's quarters, became known, the program was renamed to Operation Paperclip. Over the period of 1945 to 1990, 1,600 men were imported though this program. Operation Paperclip produced notable scientists such as Wernher von Braun who eventually became known as the father of rocketry and developed the Jupiter-C rocket, or Werner Dahm who made huge contributions into the works of aerothermodynamics, liquid hydrogen propellant systems, and the Saturn V booster rocket. These scientists along with many others are celebrated in NASA's history for helping the U.S. go to the moo. Many held high positions withing NASA for a number of years such as Braun becoming director of the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency or Dahm being promoted to Chief Aerodynamicist at the NASA Center. Other German scientists such as Kurt Heinrich Debus have an award named after them, his recognizing significant aerospace achievements in the State of Florida.

Although these German scientist mentioned above did not have heinous war crimes attached to their pedigree, there were others that were brought that did have more notorious pasts. Take Arthur L. Rudolph, a Nazi scientist that exploited slave laborers at his Mittelwork munitions factory or Otto Von Bolschwing who helped develop the initial plans "to purge Germany of Jews". Von Bolschwing was eventually employed at the CIA. Other cases such as Otto Ambros are more disturbing. Abros discovered sarin gas and was convicted of mass murder at the Nuremberg trial but was granted clemency by John J. McCoy, assistant secretary of war and future member of the Warren Commission. McCoy used his authority to many condemned men and several other convicts of the Nuremburg Trial.

When word in November 1946 that the US smuggled hundreds of Nazis into American (and that 1000 more were coming), a public uproar initiated. The Army used propaganda such as disseminating these scientists engaging with their families in wholesome outdoor activities as well as requiring journalists to submit a pre-publication what interviews would contain, as well as the need for the Army to approve the interview for publication. During the later years, the Justice Department would begin to start to investigate former Operation Paperclip members about possible Nazi ties in an attempt to investigate and possibly charge them for former war crimes. Unfortunately, many of the members that were targeted or known were dead or near deceased. Although seemingly repugnant, the program did help the U.S. secure German intelligence from being used by the USSR in the Cold War since Russian was rounding up their own German scientists after the war as well.

This controversial program highlights severed violations of the Nuremberg Code committed by the U.S. and Nazi scientist eventually permeated to other programs of the government, their research used in other government projects such as MKUltra. Operation Paper Clip historian and researcher, Annie Jacobsen, notes that the process of decision-making was taken away from elected officials and were now managed in the privacy of the American intelligence network. She stated, "The subversion of our political system was achieved in large part through the ability to "classify" documents and to rely on compliant media to distort the historical truth, which was buried in unprecedented governmental bureaucratic secrecy and obfuscation. While serving as president, even Ronald Reagan could not get straight answers or documentation about Otto Ambros's work in American industry." This type of secrecy and subordination leads some to believe that there are powerful individuals in the upper echelons of government, banking, and business that subvert and potentially control the government. These types of theories can lead some down the Rabbit Hole.

Sources

http://theantimedia.org/happy-birthday-cia/
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-58-no-3/operation-paperclip-the-secret-intelligence-program-to-bring-nazi-scientists-to-america.html
https://www.npr.org/2014/02/15/275877755/the-secret-operation-to-bring-nazi-scientists-to-america
http://www.businessinsider.com/nazi-scientists-space-program-2014-2
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html
https://www.ranker.com/list/nazis-who-contributed-to-american-culture/stephanroget
https://nypost.com/2014/02/01/behind-the-secret-plan-to-smuggle-nazi-scientists-to-america/


http://assassinationofjfk.net/operation-paperclip-a-monstrous-distortion-of-history/
https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007722
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/the-weapons-race/94/
http://www.worldwar2facts.org/joint-intelligence-objectives-agency.html
https://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-330-defense-secretary
https://www.thenation.com/article/what-is-the-deep-state/