CIA's Support to the Nazi War Criminal Investigations

The story of escaped Nazis after the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945 has long gripped novelists and Holly wood screenwriters and provided the grist for such box office hits as The Boys From Brazil and The ODESSA File. Since the 1970s, the topic has also provided steady fare for history fans and journalists anxious to explore supposed cabals between American intelligence agencies and such personalities as Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death at Auschwitz, and former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, a German intelligence officer in the Balkans during World War II. Separating fact from fiction about the alleged postwar relationships between American intelligence and its former German enemies and collaborators is both difficult and confusing. The General Accounting Office GAO, at the request of the US Congress, has conducted two major investigations since 1977 to ascertain whether the US Government assisted in the immigration of these individuals to the United States and later concealed Federal involvement. In addition, the Immigration and Naturalization Service INS and, later, the Department of Justices Office of Special Investigations OSI have proceeded with independent inquiries since the mid-1970s. OSI, dedicated solely to the investigation, denaturalization, and deportation of individuals who violated US immigration laws by covering up illegal activities during World War II, has stripped 52 people of their citizenship and removed another 44 since 1979. In addition, OSI has conducted nearly 1,500 investigations and placed the names of some 60,000 individuals on a watch list that alerts US immigration officials to prevent their entry into the United States.