Nazis

The second conspiracy theory for Operation Paperclip is the involvement of Nazis in Operation Paperclip. Many different sources have different answers for the exact number of Nazi scientists allowed into the country. For example “About 1,600 German scientists and their families were transferred to the United States via Operation Paperclip” (Perry, Holly R. 7). In another source “This project's mandate was to bring 350 "chosen, rare minds" from Germany to help the war effort against Japan” (Neufeld, Michael J. 198). America was not the only country using and collecting Nazi research. Russia also laid claim to “at least 3,500 "specialists…35 percent are estimated to have come from aviation, about twice as many as from rocketry” (199). With these specialists Russian made many advancements. For instance “The Soviets…had no significant jet programs and thus gained proportionately more from the seizure of aircraft industries and experts in their zone” (200). Armed with this knowledge Russia began its rise to becoming a bigger world power with the ability to cause mass destruction. One key difference between the United States and the Russians and the involvement of Nazi ideas was their treatment of them. According to HR Perry “Soviets treated German scientists that they got as 2nd class citizens, while the United States treated them great and gave them leadership positions” (Perry, Holly R. 21). The “Soviets didn't care for Germans after the war, so they drained them of information and then sent them back to Germany” (21). Both countries gained an incredible amount of knowledge from the Nazis. The use of Nazis in rocketry and aerospace medicine is in itself a paradox. What the Nazis did to gain that knowledge was grotesque, but had the Nazis not experimented in those ways the technology available today would not have come around until much later.