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THE British and US governments used known Nazi war criminals after the Second World War as spies, going to elaborate lengths to protect their identities. Previously classified documents yesterday confirmed that some were even granted American citizenship.
The newly released CIA, FBI and Army records show that at least five associates of the notorious Gestapo leader, Adolf Eichmann, worked for the CIA. In addition, the records show that 23 war criminals or Nazis were approached by the CIA for recruitment.
In other cases, the CIA, and other agencies who saw former Nazi war criminals and sympathisers as useful in fighting the rise of Communism across Europe, thwarted US immigration authorities from deporting or identifying Nazis living in America.
The documents provide an insight into the Cold War obsession with communism and the willingness to take at face value information provided by war criminals. The one thing that stood between them and a war crimes prosecution was their perceived usefulness.
Although the use of Nazis by the US was far more widespread than the British, one UK case revealed yesterday concerned a Gestapo official named Horst Kopkow. He was captured and interrogated by the British, and supplied information about Heinrich Himmler’s movements in the final days of the war
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The newly released CIA, FBI and Army records show that at least five associates of the notorious Gestapo leader, Adolf Eichmann, worked for the CIA. In addition, the records show that 23 war criminals or Nazis were approached by the CIA for recruitment.
In other cases, the CIA, and other agencies who saw former Nazi war criminals and sympathisers as useful in fighting the rise of Communism across Europe, thwarted US immigration authorities from deporting or identifying Nazis living in America.
The documents provide an insight into the Cold War obsession with communism and the willingness to take at face value information provided by war criminals. The one thing that stood between them and a war crimes prosecution was their perceived usefulness.
Although the use of Nazis by the US was far more widespread than the British, one UK case revealed yesterday concerned a Gestapo official named Horst Kopkow. He was captured and interrogated by the British, and supplied information about Heinrich Himmler’s movements in the final days of the war
Times Read More
