Operation Paperclip

Jonathan Patterson The Frankfort Christian Academy (7th Grade) 112 Creekside Drive, Georgetown, KY, 40324 Words: 600

On September, 1946, President Harry Truman authorized a project code-named Operation Paperclip. Carried out near the end of the Second World War, this project sent American Special Forces to find and extract German scientists and other technological discoveries. However, Truman stipulated that anyone found to have been a member of the Nazi party and more than a nominal participant in its activities, or an active support of Nazism militarism be left out. The scientists crimes were covered up and they were brought to America. Germany attempted to hide their technological advancements, but they were unable to do so. Among these technologies were the V-1 Flying Bomb, the V-2 rocket, the Messerschmitt-2 Jet Fighter, and an experimental particle beam weapon. When Germany surrendered, America, Great Britain, and Russia hurried to claim all of the secrets hoarded in the former Nazi country. However, no Allied scientist could fully understand how to operate these advanced machines. America managed to recover nearly 500 German scientists. The majority of these people had expertise in rocket technology, chemical weapons, reactor technology, and medicine. The most distinguished figure, perhaps, was Doctor Wernher von Braun. Von Braun created the Vergeltungswaffe 2- known as the V-2 Rocket- that was used by the Nazis to bomb London on September 7, 1944. In 1945, he and his 500 fellow rocket scientists surrendered to American forces, in the town of Peenemunde. Once take out of Germany, they were sent to White Sand Proving Ground, New Mexico, Fort Bliss, Texas, and Huntsville, Alabama to research missile technology. Working for the United States of America, von Braun later was largely responsible for the famous Apollo missions, including Apollo 11. He also designed the Jupiter-C, the F-1 engines, and the first American satellite, the Explorer I. Another German scientist recovered was Arthur Rudolph. Before being hired by America, he assisted Wernher von Braun in creating the V-2 missiles. Rudolph later used the

blueprints from the V-2 Rocket to produce the Saturn V rocket that landed Americans on the moon. One other of von Brauns acquaintances was the father of space medicine, Hubertus Strughold. He later used his knowledge of temperature and pressure extremes tolerable by the human body to create the life support systems of modern spacecraft and deep-sea diving equipment. The outcomes of Operation Paperclip have been extraordinary, to say the least. These scientists and technologies set Americans on the moon, allowed scientists to create deep-sea diving suits, and sired the B-2 stealth bomber. However, these highly accomplished German scientists came to us with a nefarious past. Wernher von Braun, for example, worked at a slave labor factory, called Mittelwerk, and tested his new technology on its inmates. These inmates also comprised the primary work force for developing von Brauns technologies. Twenty thousand laborers died- under the supervision of von Braun and Arthur Rudolph- building the V2 missiles. During the bombing of London, these missiles killed 10,113 people. Hubertus Strughold researched at two concentration camps, Dachau and Auschwitz. He conducted experiments, like slowly freezing people alive, to further his medical data and research. He also subjected them to low-pressure chambers to note these effects. All of these men were war criminals. However, their offenses were pardoned and forgotten. Instead of justly punishing them, the government elevated them to hero statuses. The United States government allowed the German scientists who performed heinous acts in the name of science to work and further Americas standing in the Cold War. The moral controversy surrounding Operation Paperclip is very disturbing: the American space ventures are built on the graves and toiling backs of a tortured and subjugated people.

Reference

Operation Paperclip: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Paperclip

Operation Paperclip Casefile: New World Order and Nazi Germany http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/project_paperclip.htm

Welcome to Operation Paperclip http://www.operationpaperclip.info/

Project Paperclip: Dark Side of the Moon http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4443934.stm

Operation Paperclip http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/Paperclip.html