Ex-Nazi Party members

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This article is about former members of the Nazi Party; for active groups, see: Neo-Nazism.

In the context of this article, the term ex-Nazi, or more correctly ex-Nazi Party member refers either to those few who were once Nazis and resigned from the party (the NSDAP), or more often to those who belonged to the party at the time when it 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. In the mid-1950s, most condemned during these trials were amnestied and subsequently released. This article is not about the ideology of the individuals listed, simply about their past membership in the NSDAP. In this sense, an "ex-Nazi" may have continued to be a convinced Nazi, just as a Communist may have remained so after his party was disbanded and forbidden to operate in Germany or, conversely, the person may have been a member of the party for expedient reasons and never held the ideology.

Famous Nazi hunters such as Simon Wiesenthal have tried to bring all accused of crimes to justice. However, only a few of them, famous figures such as Adolf Eichmann (judged and hanged in Jerusalem in 1962), have been found. Many others (Josef Mengele, Aribert Heim, Walter Rauff, etc.) escaped justice, finding refuge in Franquist Spain (e.g. Otto Skorzeny), South America (especially Juan Peron's Argentina, Augusto Pinochet's Chile, Alfredo Stroessner's Paraguay, Brazil, etc.) and also in some Arab states. Some former Nazis even managed to obtain very important positions in West Germany after the war (e.g. Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Chancellor of West Germany from 1966 to 1969, Hans Globke, who was Konrad Adenauer's national security adviser in 1960, etc.). Furthermore, a number of former Nazis were recruited by the CIA after the war (e.g. Otto Albrecht von Bolsching, assistant of Eichmann [1]), as part of the Gehlen Organization predecessor of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). Many Nazi scientists were also recruited by the US under the code-named Operation Paperclip.

The Eastern bloc was equally keen to employ ex-Nazis notwithstanding the official anti-fascist rhetoric: the Soviet Union produced their first atomic bomb courtesy of German scientists captured in 1945. The National Democratic Party of Germany acted as an organisation for former members of the NSDAP and the Wehrmacht. It was part of the ruling National Front of Democratic Germany, but in practice it was subject to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). Similar to the FRG, some of the GDR's (East Germany) major officials, such as Erich Apel (Chairman of the GDR State Planning Commission and Deputy Prime Minister until 1964), Horst Kaminsky (President of the State Bank of the GDR during the Honecker years), likewise had Nazi backgrounds. It is documented during the late Walter Ulbricht years in the late 1960s, six SED sitting Politburo members and at least four SED Politburo candidates had previous NSDAP memberships [2]. The Stasi, the GDR's intelligence service, had employed several chief informers and agents who were former SS and Gestapo operatives[3].

Contents

[edit] Nazis judged during the Nuremberg Trials

Further information: Nuremberg Trials

[edit] Nazis judged during the Doctors' Trial (1946–47)

Further information: Doctors' Trial

This list includes only, for obvious reasons, those who were not executed after the trial.

  • Hermann Becker-Freyseng. Stabsarzt in the Luftwaffe (Captain, Medical Service of the Air Force); and Chief of the Department for Aviation Medicine of the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. 20 years imprisonment commuted to ten years.
  • Wilhelm Beiglböck (1905–1963). NSDAP and SA member, Nazi medical researcher responsible for seawater experiments in Dachau concentration camp. 15 years imprisonment commuted to ten years. Became the chief physician of the Hospital of Buxtehude from 1952 to his death in 1963.
  • Kurt Blome. Charged of euthanasia and human experimentation. Acquitted and exfiltrated through Operation Paperclip (see below), and subsequently hired in 1951 by the US Army Chemical Corps to work on chemical warfare.
  • Fritz Fischer (1912–). Condemned to life imprisonment on charges of human experimentation, was subsequently released in 1954 and then worked, until retiring, for Boehringer-Ingelheim pharmaceutical company.
  • Karl Genzken (1885–1957). Chief of the medical office of the SS, charged of human experimentation, condemned in 1947 to life imprisonment, released in 1954.
  • Siegfried Handloser (1895–1954) . Chief of the German Armed Forces Medical Service, condemned to life sentence in 1947, released in 1954, and died shortly afterwards of a cancer.
  • Herta Oberheuser (1911–1978). Doctor at Ravensbrück concentration camp, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for human experimentation. Released in 1952, became a family doctor before being recognized by a Ravensbrück survivor in 1956, and subsequently losing her medical licence two years afterwards.
  • Helmut Poppendick (1902–1994). Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police, sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for human experiments carried on in Ravensbrück. Released in 1951.
  • Gerhard Rose. Generalarzt of the Luftwaffe (Brigadier General, Medical Service of the Air Force); Vice President, Chief of the Department for Tropical Medicine, and Professor of the Robert Koch Institute; and Hygienic Adviser for Tropical Medicine to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. Judged guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, sentenced to life imprisonment, later commuted to 20 years.
  • Paul Rostock (1892–1956). Chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research (Amtschef der Dienststelle Medizinische Wissenschaft und Forschung) under Third Reich Commissioner Karl Brandt and a Full Professor, Medical Doctorate, Medical Superintendent of the University of Berlin Surgical Clinic. Charged of human experimentation during the Doctors' Trial, acquitted. Then worked as medical supervisor of Versorgungs Hospital in Bayreuth, from 1953 to his death at age 64 in Bad Tölz.

[edit] Subsequent Nuremberg Trials

Further information: Subsequent Nuremberg Trials
  • Erhard Milch (1892–1972). Generalfeldmarschall, worked under Albert Speer. Life sentence during the Milch Trial, released in 1954 and then lived until his death in Düsseldorf.
  • Franz Schlegelberger (1876–1970). State Secretary in the German Reich Ministry of Justice (RMJ) and served awhile as Justice Minister during the Third Reich. He was the highest-ranking defendant at the Judges' Trial. Received life sentence for conspiracy to perpetrate war crimes and crimes against humanity. Released in 1950 owing to incapacity. For years afterward, he drew a monthly pension of DM 2,894 (for comparison, the average monthly income in Germany at that time was DM 535) and lived in Flensburg. Ernst Lauz and Curt Rothenberg also received pensions after their release in the mid-1950s. 16 German jurists and lawyers were then judged, all convicted, and most released in the mid-1950s.
  • Friedrich Flick (1883–1972). Judged in the Flick trial, sentenced to 7 years. Pardoned and released by John J. McCloy.
  • Otto Steinbrinck (1888–1949). Sentenced to six years imprisonment during the Flick Trial, died in custody before the wave of general amnesty in the mid-1950s.
  • Wilhelm List (1891–1971). Field marshall. Sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Hostages Trial. Released in 1952 because of poor health.
  • Maximilian von Weichs (1881–1954). General Field Marshall. Accused of war crimes, he escaped judgment at the Hostages Trial because of his health. He died at Burg Rötsberg near Bonn.
  • Lothar Rendulic (1887–1971). Austrian Colonel General of the Wehrmacht. Sentenced to 20 years imprisonment during the Hostages Trial, released in 1951 and subsequently started writing.
  • Werner Lorenz (1891–1974). Sentenced to 20 years imprisonment at the RuSHA Trial, released in 1955.
  • Otto Hofmann (1896–1982). Sentenced to 25 years imprisonment on charges of war crimes at the RuSHA trial, released in 1954.
  • Franz Six (1909–1965). Sentenced to 20 years imprisonment at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, released in 1952.
  • Alfried Krupp (1907–1967). Sentenced to 12 years plus forfeiture of property at the Krupp Trial, his sentence was finally overturned by John J. McCloy, High Commissioner of the American Zone of Occupation; released in January 1951 and all his property restored to him.
  • Ernst von Weizsäcker (1882–1951). Ambassador to the Vatican. Sentenced to 7 years imprisonment at the Ministries Trial, released in October 1950, taking advantage of one of the first amnesty.
  • Ernst Wilhelm Bohle (1903–1960). Leader of the Foreign Organisation of the NSDAP. Sentenced to 5 years imprisonment at the Ministries Trial, pardoned in 1949 by John J. McCloy. Merchant after the war, he gave impulse to the refoundation of an organisation for the development of German interstate commerce with South Africa. Through some stages, to whom belonged so called Südafrikanische Studiengesellschaften (English: South-African Study Societies) in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich and Düsseldorf since the beginning of 1950 (the Düsseldorf Circle was led by Third Reich's Press Chief Otto Dietrich) the Deutsch-Südafrikanischen Gesellschaft (DSAG) arose again in 1965.
  • Otto Dietrich (1897–1952). Press Chief of the Third Reich. 7 years imprisonment, released in 1951.
  • Hans Lammers (1879–1962). Head of the Reich Chancellery. Sentenced to 20 years during the Ministries Trial, released in 1952.
  • Wilhelm Stuckart (1902–1953). Secretary of State in the Interior Minister. Freed after the Ministries Trial after being sentenced three years, which he had already served. Died in 1953 of a car crash. Some have speculated that he was assassinated by Nazi hunters.
  • Richard Walther Darré (1895–1953). Minister for Food and Agriculture (1933–42). Sentenced to 7 years during the Ministries Trial, released in 1950, died three years later of cancer of the liver.
  • Otto Meissner (1880–1953). Head of the Presidential Chancellery. Acquitted during the Ministries' Trial.
  • Gottlob Berger (1896–1975). Chief of Staff of the SS. Co-author of Heinrich Himmler's pamphlet, Der Untermensch. Sentenced to 25 years during the Ministries' Trial, released in 1951.
  • Walter Schellenberg (1910–1952). Head of Foreign Intelligence. Sentenced to 7 years during the Ministries' Trial. Released in 1951, lived hereafter in Verbania (Italy).
  • Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (1887–1977). Finance Minister. Sentenced to 10 years at the Ministries' Trial. Released in 1951. Then wrote his memoirs and books on economic policy, before quietly dying in Essen, aged 89.
  • Paul Pleiger (1889–1985). Head of the Hermann-Göring-Werke (confiscated steel plants employing slave laborers). Sentenced to 15 years at the Ministries' Trial. Released in 1951.

[edit] Prominent ex-NSDAP Members

The following is a list of influential people who were NSDAP members.

[edit] Austria

[edit] East Germany

  • Wilhelm Adam (1893-1978), participated in the Beerhall Putsch and became SA Oberscharführer, later rose to the rank of major. Captured in 1943 at Stalingrad. In 1948 returned to the Soviet Occupational Zone and co-founded the NDPD and became Volkskammer member. Instrumental in early days of GDR military, first in Kasernierte Volkspolizei ("Barracked People's Police", a military police force, KVP) with the rank of colonel, then commander of NVA (National People's Army) – Officers' College.
  • Heinz Barth (1920-2007), lived under a false identity in East Germany. Finally judged in 1983 for his involvement in the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre. Released in 1997, died in August 2007.
  • Josef Settnik, Gestapo operative based at Auschwitz. Became a Stasi spy among GDR church circles in 1964.
  • Hans Sommer, SS Untersturmführer instrumental in the bombing of seven synagogues in Paris in October 1941. Later posted as spy for the GDR's Stasi surveilling right-wing politicians in West Germany (under the disguise of working for the Gehlen Organisation) and later in Italy.
  • Willy Läritz, Gestapo member from Leipzig. Became senior interrogator with the Stasi.
  • Rudolf Arzinger, Professor for International Law at the Karl-Marx University (present day Leipzig University) in Leipzig.
  • Helmut Faulstich, Director of the Central Institute for Nuclear Research in Rossendorf.
  • Egbert von Frankenberg and Proschlitz, military-political commentator at the East German national radio and Chairman of the Circle of former officers.
  • Ernst Melsheimer, a district court judge in the Volksgerichtshof. Became the GDR's Generalstaatsanwalt (chief public prosecutor).
  • Herbert Kröger, a high-ranking SS officer. Become the Director of the Institute for International Relations at the Academy for Judicial Sciences in Potsdam-Batelsberg.
  • Erich Apel, helped organize slave labor to produce V2 rockets for Wernher von Braun (see below). Became the GDR's Chairman of the State Planning Commission with the rank of Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime Minister). Died in 1964 over disagreements with Walter Ulbricht over state economic planning directions. Death officially listed as suicide.
  • Manfred Ewald, President of the German Gymnasts' and Sports' Club. One time SED Politburo member.
  • Horst Heinze, Secretary for Work Productivity and Wages at the Executive Board of the Trade Unions. One time SED Politburo member.
  • Hans Jackel, Director of the Mathematics' Institute at the Machine Construction School in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz). One time SED Politburo member.
  • Heinz Matthes, Minister and Chairman of the Workers' and Farmers' Inspectorate. One time SED Politburo member.
  • Erich Rubensam, Director of the Institute for Field and Plant Development in Müncheberg. One time SED Politburo member.
  • Herbert Weiz, State Secretary for Research and Technology. One time SED Politburo member.
  • Horst Kaminsky, President of Staatsbank der DDR (State Bank of the GDR), 1974-1990.

[edit] West Germany

[edit] Great Britain

  • Mychailo Fostun, former member of the 14th SS Division Galicia (rank Corporal) and guard at the Trawniki camp, and general secretary of the Association of Ukrainian Former Combatants in Great Britain (old comrades group of the 14th SS Division Galicia) [6].
  • See also Rimini List [7].
  • William Payne

[edit] Middle East

  • Alois Brunner. {b.1912}. Head of Drancy internment camp near Paris, worked for the Gehlen Org before escaping to Syria through a ratline organised by Catholic bishop Alois Hudal. Thought to be living in Syria, he has been condemned in 2001 by a French court, in absentia, to a life sentence for crimes against humanity.

[edit] South America

[edit] USSR

  • Hugo Schmeisser. In October 1945 Hugo Schmeisser was forced to work for the Red Army and instructed to continue development of new weapons.
  • Hermann Weber DE, RU
  • Hundreds of scientists.

[edit] United States of America

Over 1,500 German and other foreign scientists, technicians, and engineers were brought to the United States under Project Paperclip and similar programs [8]. A non-exhaustive list includes:

  • Kurt Blome. Judged during the Doctors' Trial, hired in 1951 by the US Army Chemical Corps to work on chemical warfare. Eventually, Blome was arrested by French authorities, convicted of war crimes, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.(See above).
  • Wernher von Braun, {1912-1977} SS Major; NSDAP membership; NSFK; Rocket scientist of both the Nazi rocket Vergeltungswaffen or "retaliation weapons" program and later NASA.
  • Arthur Rudolph, {1906-1996} NSDAP member, Rocket scientist of the Nazi rocket Vergeltungswaffen (V2) and later NASA. According to the US government, he left the US in 1984 following the Department of Justice's discovery of his role in the persecution of prisoners at the Nordhausen factory [8]
  • Bernhard Tessmann (1912–1998)
  • Georg Rickhey, a former official at the Nordhausen underground V-2 rocket factory who arrived in 1946 but who left the United States in 1947 when he was tried (and acquitted) for war crimes by a U.S. military tribunal [8]
  • Walter Schreiber (1893–1952?), who had been instrumental in medical experiments on concentration camp inmates and who fled the United States to Argentina in 1952 after the appearance of a newspaper column about his activities [8]
  • Alexander Lippisch (1894–1976)
  • Hans von Ohain (1911–1998) One of the inventors of jet propulsion he became director of the US Air Force Aeronautical Research Laboratory and by 1975 he was the Chief Scientist of the Aero Propulsion Laboratory there.
  • Kurt Lehovec (one of the physicists responsible for the invention of the integrated circuit)
  • Hubertus Strughold (1898-1987) (father of US space medicine)
  • Felix Jeager (1903–1977)
  • John Porrini (1920-1981)

[edit] Nazis and /or Nazi collaborators who worked for the US secret services after the war

[edit] Nazis or/and Nazi collaborators who worked for the British secret services after the war

[edit] Spain

[edit] Members Who Resigned

[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 remains unknown, see below:

[edit] Known to be alive

[edit] Believed to be alive

These people have not been confirmed to be alive, but believed by some to be.

[edit] Non-NSDAP members of significant postwar influence

Many well-recognized and instrumental figures in the military and economic establishment of the Third Reich were not NSDAP members. Some of them obtained significant positions of influence in the West German government, or in the service of various intelligence agencies. For the purpose of historial clarification (and to avoid mistaken biographical attributions that they were NSDAP members) they are listed here.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Why Israel's capture of Eichmann caused panic at the CIA, The Guardian, June 8, 2006
  2. ^ Former National Socialists Still Active in East Germany, Radio Free Europe, 1967-3-15
  3. ^ Book Claims Stasi Employed Nazis as Spies, Deutsche Welle, 31.10.2005
  4. ^ CIA Ties With Ex-Nazis Shown, The Washington Post, June 7, 2006
  5. ^ AGI, La strage nazista di San Polo - il tribunale militare di la spezia assolve Handsk, 27 February 2007 [1] (Italian)
  6. ^ Daniel Foggo, London man denies role in SS massacres, The Telegraph, 25 January 2003 (English)
  7. ^ Daniel Foggo, Police to use NHS records to find Nazi war criminals, The Telegraph, 22 June 2003 (English)
  8. ^ a b c d Foreign Scientist Case Files 1945–1958, on the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) website
  9. ^ (Spanish) Martinez, Félix; Nando Garcia. "A la caza del ultimo Nazi", El Mundo, 2005-10-30. Retrieved on 2006-07-06. 

[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
  • Nazi Criminals and the State Security Service: The Secret Policies of the GDR in Dealing with the Past, Henry Leide, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2nd Rev Feb 2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links