U.S. Spy Agencies Used Over 1,000 Nazi Informants In The Cold War

The New York Times has uncovered evidence that U.S. spy agencies such as the CIA, used at least 1,000 ex-Nazi officials as informants against the Russians. The Nazis were so valuable that spy agencies hid the informants from the media, other countries, and even other government agencies. Although many people were aware that Nazi scientists, like the fictional Dr. Strangelove featured above, got jobs from the U.S. government after the war, now it appears that even known war-criminals were employed.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, 38 Nazis who were forced to leave the U.S. still received social security payments from the government. As the AP later reported, after the news broke, the White House officially opposed giving social security money to former Nazis, a move that most would consider “safe” and others might consider a no-brainer.

Now, it turns out that some Nazi officials received even more, being gainfully employed by the U.S. government. The White House may have to once again take a harsh stance against Nazi’s receiving government money, this time in exchange for being used as informants against the Russians in the Cold War.

In the 1970s information began to leak that intelligence agencies like the CIA and FBI were hiring Nazis as spies, what people didn’t know was the shocking extent of the program, or the severity of some of the informants war crimes.

For example, the New York Times revealed that SS officer, Otto von Bolschwing was hired and relocated to New York City by the CIA in 1954. Bolschwing was the mentor of Adolf Eichmann, the man most responsible for creating the “Final Solution” that led to the deaths of millions of Jewish people. Bolschwing also wrote his own policy papers on how best to terrorize Jewish communities.

When Israeli Nazi hunters took out Eichmann, Bolschwing requested and received extra protection. The spy agency was concerned for its own reputation as well, with an official saying that Bolschwing could be named as a “collaborator and fellow conspirator and that the resulting publicity may prove embarrassing to the U.S.” The CIA responded by hiding any connection to Eichmann.

The SS officer’s son Gus von Bolschwing said that the entire thing shouldn’t have happened.

“He never should have been admitted to the United States. It wasn’t consistent with our values as a country.”

Bolschwing’s experience was one of at least 1,000 cases, at a time when the U.S. intelligence community was hungry for Nazi spies to use against the Russian, even if it meant looking the other way on past atrocities against humanity.

To read the full article on the Nazi spies from the New York Times, click here.

[Image Credit: Columbia Pictures]