Operation Paperclip

<p>(Final Statements by the Defendants: Krauch). Krauch’s lawyer had

also said, ‘I have to harp again on the old subject: that is, did not other countries and other peoples

act in the same way? Replace IG by I.C.I. (Imperial Chemical Industries) for England, or du Pont for

America, Montecatini for Italy, and at once the similarity will become clear to you’: at 921 (Closing

Statements for Defendant Krauch). &nbsp;(Enclossed)</p>

<p>

&nbsp;</p>

<p>

Operation Paperclip was the America

n attempt to get a head

start on the inevitable arms race by scooping up as many formerly Nazi scientists as possible. &nbsp;

The individuals’ research ranged from rocket and jet propulsion to medical technologies (spurred

on during the war as a result of unshac

kled human testing in the concentration camps) to

chemical warfare technology. &nbsp;The program suggested a certain level of brain drain; the Joint

Chiefs of Staff hoped to nullify Germany’s appetite for war.

164

Prisoners of interest were

rounded up almost imme

diately. &nbsp;Mostly scientists and engineers, these men were separated from

the typical German POWs into internment camps in Garmisch

-

Partenkirchen in the Bavarian

Alps, in Heidenheim north of Munich, Zell am See in Austria and others across Western Europe. &nbsp;

The question as to what to do with the hundreds of individuals whose minds produced some of

the most frightening new arms of the world war loomed on the minds of Allied High Command. &nbsp;

164

Jacobsen, Annie.

Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program to Bring Nazi Scientists to America

.

Pg.

87

82

General

Dwight

Eisenhower, knowing very well the importance of these in

dividuals, had

to request instructions as to what to do with these dangerous, yet obviously useful characters. &nbsp;

The men who “harnessed the chariot of destruction” were to find employment in the United

States and England.

165

Werner von Braun, the rocket scie

ntist, Dr. Georg Weltz

,

who

experimented with high altitude medical studies, the various minds behind sarin and tabun gases,

all were taken under the wings of the American and put to work refining their discoveries with

the intent of keeping them from the

Soviets.

166

Many of the world’s most terrifying weapons,

including bioweapons, virus bombs, and poison gases beyond compare were the plunder to be

reaped from Germany’s vaults. &nbsp;Additionally, some of the most sickening human testing

occurred under the watch

ful eyes of the men now employed by Paperclip. &nbsp;These tests included

human vivisection to determine salt water’s effect when drank in an emergency, the freezing of

human subjects to determine the effects of frostbite, and the intentional inoculation of ind

ividuals

with plague. &nbsp;Such experiments only came to pass because the Nazis allowed for such

unrestrained testing. &nbsp;Autocracy had allowed the most inhuman of ideas to be unleashed on

innocent political prisoners, Jews, and POWs. &nbsp;The United States looked t

o benefit from this

research without having to reproduce such deadly experimentation at home. &nbsp;Instead, in

preparation for the future, the

U.S.

would have to settle for those ex

-

Nazis of “national

interest”.

167

Project Paperclip is evidence of how signifi

cant weird research and development,

especially in the field of arms, was and still is as a political and martial issue. &nbsp;The continued

proliferation of unconventional arms would be directed by very high powered individuals in

165

Farren, W.S. quoted in Jacobsen, Pg. 85

166

Jacobsen, Pgs. 274

-

75, 313

167

Bower, Tom. The Paperclip Conspiracy: The Hunt for the Nazi Scien

tists. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.

Pg. 176

83

secret. &nbsp;The great minds pard

oned and given employment by Paperclip would, however, be

reined in in their projects. &nbsp;No more would they have access to unlimited slave labor, or test

subjects for whom mortality was not an issue. &nbsp;The projects that Paperclip sponsored scientists

would b

e responsible for during the Cold War built upon their World War Two tests, this time

with supervision from the

U.S.

Army or Air Force.

Post

-

war research improved upon the lessons taught and learned during the conflict. &nbsp;

This seems to repeat the example

of the interwar period ten or so years before. &nbsp;Weapons

development post

-

war was in response to pressures created by the Cold War and the various

“hot” conflicts that spiraled off from it. &nbsp;The ex

-

Nazi scientists employed at this time helped

build upon the

developments made in Allied nations during the war, but in peacetime, ideas

moved slowly; the urgency of combat and the economic stresses of war no longer were factors in

determining what would receive attention or funding. &nbsp;Crazier projects would be torp

edoed,

whereas those with real potential like jet aircraft and chemical weapons were refined and adopted

ubiquitously.

168

Project Paperclip was the logical byproduct of the Western desire to keep arms

out of the hands of the Germans and Soviets, while simul

taneously increasing their weapons

capabilities in future wars. &nbsp;It came about as a result of the attention that some of the weirdest

creations of the war generation.</p>

<p>

<a href="https://honors.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/2778">https://honors.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/2778</a> (enclosed)</p>