Operation Paperclip: Nazis Welcomed Into America

After WWII ended, the United States and the Soviet Union began a new international rivalry. These former allies saw tensions rise, driven by the threat of nuclear weapons.

During WWII,Third Reich military technology surpassed the Allies in jet propulsion and rocket science. These Third Reich scientists also developed chemical and nuclear weapons, making them attractive recruits for the post-war superpowers.Allies needed Third Reich scientists in jet propulsion and rocket science. These scientists also developed chemical and nuclear weapons. This made them attractive recruits for the main post-war powers. Thus, the United States started Operation Paperclip to bring these WWII German minds to America, including high-ranking party members of the racist, fascist regime.

The United States actually got a list of these valuable scientists from the Germans. After Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union failed, they recalled scientists and technical experts from combat for military research. An engineer named Werner Osenberg compiled this list.Werner Osenberg compiled a list.In March 1945, a Polish laboratory technician found the Osenberg list torn up in a toilet. This list reached the US military. The US military used this list to identify scientists for kidnapping, interrogation, and transport to the US.

A war with the Soviet Union could motivate the program.an increasing concern for American generals after WWII ended. While the US discussed territory, the Soviets seemed set to install communist governments in liberated areas. This caused US-Russia relations to sour, and American leaders predicted a war was coming.American generals worried about a war with the Soviet Union after WWII ended. While the US discussed controlling German-occupied territory, the Soviets seemed set to install communist governments in liberated areas. This caused US-Russia relations to worsen. American leaders predicted the two countries would soon fight.

American generals thought the US needed to advance its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapon programs to be fully prepared.The US needed to advance its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapon programs.The US sought help for these programs, even though those brought in showed violence toward Jewish people in the concentration camps.Those brought in were violent toward Jewish people in the concentration camps.

Dr. Heinz Schlicke was one scientist recruited by America. The US Navy captured him as a POW in May 1945 while he traveled to Japan as the war ended in Europe. Schlicke carried research, nuclear weapons materials, and plans for German military hardware, including the V-2 rocket and Me262 jet fighter plane. Eventually,Schlicke aided the Americans by designing the fuses for an atomic bomb.The US found Schlicke's wife and children in the Soviet Zone and returned them to him. He worked for the US government until he died.

WWII German scientists made everyday goods, not just weapons. They invented things like synthetic rubber for tires, non-running hosiery, the ear thermometer, electromagnetic tape, and small electrical parts. Operation Paperclip brought both military and consumer and economic gains.

Major General Dr. Walter Schreiber joined the scientists brought to the United States. Schreiber was theSurgeon General of the Third Reich.US officials brought him because they thought he worked on aThe vaccine program concerned Hitler-controlled Germany.This was allegedly a cover-up. The public learned Schreiber committed war crimes.Schreiber committed war crimes.He committed war crimes at concentration camps during WWII.

When Schreiber's record became public, the United States quickly moved Schreiber and his family to Argentina..

Wernher von Braun.Wernher von Braun is likely the most known scientist brought to the United States in Operation Paperclip. This rocket scientist, a Third Reich party member, and an SS officer was best known for developing the V-1 and V-2 missiles, which killedHe developed the V-1 and V-2 missiles, which killed over 2,500 people.The missiles killed more than 2,500 people.These missiles killed more than 2,500 people in London alone during the war.

In 1945, as the Allies invaded Germany, von Braun and scientists fled Soviet troops. They feared Russian punishment if captured. He surrendered to the US Army and moved to America to teach rocketry. He later joined NASA and built the Saturn V rocket, which sent astronauts to the moon.

Wernher von Braun had some plausible deniability regarding slave laborers in the rocket program.Arthur Rudolph.Rudolph made no such claims. He directed Nordhausen. Under his direction, 20,000 slave laborers died making V-2 rockets. Operation Paperclip whitewashed Rudolph's record. He led the Saturn V rocket development team. The US allowed him to work despite his Hitler commitment and danger to America.

Operation Paperclip continued. It challenged President Harry S. Truman's order excluding anyone implementing the Third Reich's agenda.Hubertus Strughold.Strughold's assistants ran human experiments at Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps during WWII. He moved to the US and developed life support systems for NASA's Apollo missions.

A 2006 US Justice Department report shows the government knew about and hid the past of former Hitler followers brought to the US by Operation Paperclip. The report states the CIA and other agencies made plans for former Nazis if they faced past crimes. The intelligence agency also hid war criminal evidence from the Justice Department to protect national defense.

WWII ended. American intelligence officers saw the German war machine's scope. They realized the US lagged behind Germany in chemical and biological weapons. So, American leaders sought to recruit chemical and biological weapons scientists.

One scientist the US wanted was Dr. Eugen Haagen, who created a Yellow Fever vaccine. As a doctor and Hitler follower, Haagen experimented on humans while making biological weapons. He was one of hundreds of chemists and doctors the US sought to bring to America to build weapons for a possible war against the Soviet Union.

Haagen worked in the US for five years through Operation Paperclip as a "germ weapons" researcher; however, French authorities eventually caught up with Haagen, and he faced a war crimes trial.

Operation Paperclip brought Third Reich technology to the US for further development, not just scientists. One tech advance was an aircraft that became the B-2 Stealth Bomber. Originally developed in WWII Germany as the Horten Ho 229, the bomber flew long distances and might have dropped nuclear weapons on the United States.

US government awarded honors to those brought over during Operation Paperclip. They also named moon craters after these men.

Wernher von Braun designed rockets used in terror bombings of British civilians. The moon named after him recognized his work on the Apollo missions. Besides von Braun, Kurt Debus became the director of the Saturn rocket program that sent astronauts to the moon. This happened despite his past role in killing civilians with unmanned rockets during WWII. Instead of serving time for his war crimes, Debus got a moon crater named after him.