Ex-Nazis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about former Nazis; for active groups, see: Neo-Nazism.
The title of ex-Nazi refers either to those few who were once Nazis and resigned from the party, or more often to those who belonged to the party at the time when the Nazi party was declared illegal and was disbanded upon the victory of the Allies. Many of the latter group had to go through a process of denazification and some were subjected to the Nuremberg process, while others managed to escape trial, in particular through the ODESSA organization.
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[edit] Status after Party dissolution
During the Nuremberg trials, the leadership corps of the Nazi Party and the SS were ruled to be criminal organizations, making membership in them a crime. However, the Nazi Party, while banned, was neither indicted nor convicted as a criminal organization.
The Cold War broke out shortly after the end of World War II. As a result of the new conflict, many ex-Nazis were absorbed into the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was the precursor to the CIA. Many were used for their military intelligence information about the Russians while others, such as Wernher von Braun, were employed for their technological expertise in jet airplanes and rockets.
German General Reinhard Gehlen was head of the German General Staff's Foreign Armies East Division and was heavily involved in intelligence gathering. His knowledge of Stalinist Russia led him to be recruited by U.S. Army intelligence. He was flown to the United States with three comrades and set up a German intelligence network that eventually became known as the "Gehlen Org". As time went on he managed 4000 undercover agents <ref> "Intelligence" by Peter Kross; Military Heritage, October 2004. pp 26-30 </ref>. The Gehlen Org worked with the ODESSA network, set up by Martin Bormann and Heinrich Himmler. ODESSA helped many Nazis escape after the war, among whom Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, Erich Priebke, Aribert Heim (as of 2006 believed to be in Chile), etc. Simon Wiesenthal was one of the people who helped with the list of wanted criminal Nazis.
On 1 April 1956, the foreign intelligence agency of West Germany, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service, BND), was created from the Gehlen Org, and was transferred to the German government. Reinhard Gehlen remained President of the BND until 1968.
"Democratically enlightened" Nazis were permitted to become members of the Christian Democrats. The Christian Democratic Union placed several ex-Nazis into high positions, with Kurt Georg Kiesinger becoming Chancellor for a period in the 1960s and Hans Filbinger becoming Minister President of Baden-Württemberg. Kurt Waldheim became Secretary-General of the United Nations and President of Austria.
Many Nazis emigrated to South America in the late 1940s, such as Paul Schäfer, who founded Colonia Dignidad in Pinochet's Chile and was recently found, and Joseph Mengele in Paraguay. Richard Baer, the commander of Auschwitz, Dr. Otto Hunsche, Eichmann's juridical adviser, Gustav Richter, former "counsellor for Jewish questions" in Romania, Willi Zöpf, who exerciced the same functions in Amsterdam, SS General Karl Wolff, Franz Novak, Hermann Krumey, Joseph Lechthaler, Wilhelm Koppe, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, former head of the SS and of the police, were also arrested following Adolf Eichmann's 1960 arrest.
Dr. Emanuel Schäfer, Heydrich's protegee, was the head of the security police in Serbia. Judged in Germany after the war, he was sentenced to six years and a half of prison on charges of having murdered by gas 6 280 women and children. General Franz Böhme, who was commander of the region, committed suicide after having been brought before the Hostages Trial in 1947-48, while Staatsrat (State counsellor) Harald Turner, in charge of the civil administration of the military Nazi government of Serbia, was handed over to the Yugoslavian authorities and sentenced to capital punishment.
In Austria, many former Nazis joined the Verband der Unabhängigen (Federation of Independents).
[edit] Prominent ex-NSDAP Members
It must be remembered that under the cult of personality of Nazi Germany, many people joined the Nazi party in order to maintain a certain level of social standing. Thus many influential people became members of the NSDAP, even many who did not believe in Nazi ideals. Having said that, there were a number of politically, culturally, and economically influential post-war personalities who were active Nazis during the Third Reich. The following is a list of influential people who were NSDAP members. Needless to say, the level of some individuals’ party participation is still a matter a controversy.
[edit] West Germany
- Martin Fellenz, former member of the SS, member of the FDP liberal party after the war, arrested in June 1960.
- Friedrich Flick, industrial leader and billionaire.
- Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer and author; member of the SS during the war.
- Martin Heidegger, philosopher.
- Herbert von Karajan, conductor, joined the NSDAP in 1933 in Salzburg, Austria, five years before the Anschluss.
- Kurt Georg Kiesinger, NSDAP later CDU and Chancellor of Germany.
- Alfred Krupp, NSDAP and SS sponsorship, industrialist involved in weapons; steel; and slave labor-sentenced to 12 years and loss of all his property; pardoned by North American High Commissioner John J. McCloy in 1953 and all of Krupp's property restored to him.
- Theodor Maunz, specialist of public law, then minister of Education and Culture in Bavaria.
- Theodor Oberländer, NSDAP member, later became Refugee Minister under Konrad Adenauer.
- Franz Schönhuber, Waffen-SS, later chairman of the right-wing Die Republikaner party.
- Hanns-Martin Schleyer, member of the SS, later employer representative, kidnapped and murdered by Red Army Faction.
- Albert Speer, architect, sentenced to 20 years in prison at Nuremberg, became a noted author on Third Reich history.
- Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, NSDAP member, soprano singer.
- Fritz Thyssen, NSDAP member since 1931, steel industrialist.
[edit] United States of America
- Wernher von Braun, SS Major; NSDAP membership; NSFK; Rocket scientist of both the Nazi rocket Vergeltungswaffen or "revenge weapons" program and later NASA.
- Arthur Rudolph, NSDAP membership; same entry as Wernher Von Braun above-except for SS rank and NSFK membership.
[edit] Members Who Resigned
- Hermann Rauschning, conservative and reactionary who resigned from the NSDAP and fled Germany and became a bitter opponent of Nazism.
- Otto Strasser, politician and left-wing NSDAP member who rejected some of Adolf Hitler's ideas and more moderate economical tendencies. He subsequently attempted to form his own faction within the Nazi Party and ended up living in exile during Hitler's regime.
[edit] Living Nazis
This is a list of NSDAP members that are still alive and presumed/considered war criminals. Due to the fact that there have been many Nazis living as fugitives since that time, the fate of many remain unknown, see below:
[edit] Known to be alive
- Herta Bothe, Aufseherin who served at both Stutthof and Bergen Belsen during the war.
- Luise Danz, Aufseherin at various camps, including Płaszów, Majdanek, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Malchow. Was brought to trial in 1996 but was dismissed due to her age.
- Erich Priebke, Hauptsturmführer of the SS he participated in the Ardeatine massacre in Rome, on March 24, 1944 where he had a hand in the deaths of 335 Italian civilians.
- Søren Kam, Member of the DNASP the Danish Nazi Party, not NSDAP, who fled from Denmark to Germany after the war, and is now a German citizen. On September 21, 2006, Kam was detained in the German town of Kempten. He is wanted in Denmark for the assasination of Danish newspaper editor Carl Henrik Clemmensen in Copenhagen in August 1943.
[edit] Believed to be alive
These people have not been confirmed to be alive, but believed by some to be.
- Alois Brunner - Believed by some to live in Brazil or Syria under alias Dr. Georg Fischer. Responsible for the deaths of 14,000 Jews.
- Lorenz Hackenholt.
- Aribert Heim - Believed to live in Spain until October 2005, at which time he possibly relocated to Denmark. As of May 2006, he was believed to be in Chile.
- Heinrich Müller - Believed to have died in Fuhrerbunker, but subject to many conspiracy theories about his possible survival.
[edit] External links
- http://www.kriegsreisende.de/relikte/org-gehlen.htm (german)
- http://www.wsws.org/de/2001/apr2001/wehr-a21.shtml (german)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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[edit] Bibliography
- Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War, Christopher Simpson
- The Encyclopedia of World War II Spies, Peter Kross, Barricade Books, 2001.
- "CIA's Worst-Kept Secret" Consortiumnews.com, May 16, 2001.
- Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage, Norman Polmar & Thomas Allen, Random House, 1997.
- Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency, W. Thomas Smith, Facts on File, Inc., 2003
