The US came out over the weekend and kinda admitted that after World War II....it kinda took in all these Nazis. It wasn't totally clear on the actual number and I suspect no one has a true tally because lots of folks had different ways of handling this issue of entering the US.
Reasons why? Frankly, if you were a German Nazi of high standing in Germany....you just couldn't stay in Germany after the war. Folks were going to ask questions and various degrees of legal detention were going to be brought up. It'd be safe to admit that Chile, Argentina and Latin America was a major place to hide out....but if you had something of value...from technology or information....it made sense to negotiate with the US on a entry permit.
So, should any of us really be shocked? I suspect that certain groups will say it's ethically wrong....but you weren't standing there in 1945 and didn't have the prospective that we have today. I would also imagine that we probably would have seen political Nazis differently from German military leaders.
So it's done. Are we going to punish anyone from the 1945 era for this "crime"? No. Anyone for putting someone in jail for this episode? I doubt it. Historians will center their vision on this topic for a year or two....and then put it down for a decade. Frankly, you reach a point where there's a brief flame and then it's gone. You can't rewrite a vast amount of history on this topic.
As for a defense of this whole thing? Maybe these were the good Nazis. We are always bombarded with this German label on Americans of the "bad Americans" and "good Americans".....so maybe that logic existed then. It would be curious to know where they ended up and if they built up mega empires of wealth or technology. If there was a part two to this story....maybe that's what the New York Times ought to work on next.
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