'48 NAZI HUNT BARRED JEWS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120014-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 25, 2011
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: July 21, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

_ll III III ~ HUI L _LII
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/25: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120014-5
ART4r1 , ^F ABED
~N WI.S HINGTON POST
21 July 1985
'48 Nazi Hunt Barred Jews
STAT
. U.S. Officers Said to fear `Lung-Ho' Outlook Would Aid Soviets
By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES-The U.S. military command in Eu-
rope in 1948 barred immigrant American Jews, steeped
in German language and culture, from further partic-
ipation in the allied hunt for World War II, Nazi sympa-
thizers, according to a secret U.S. memorandum ac-
quired by Holocaust researchers.
The memo, made, available to the Simon Wiesenthal
Cen er here an Austrian-born American- who was a
postwar Army investi for "in effect eliminated some
of our best intelligence operatives from key posts in
Europe . . even as criminals like aus Barbie were
going onto our rote igence payrolls," said Rabbi ra-
am Cooper. the center's
Cooper said he has asked House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-NJ.) to investigate
the hitherto unreported postwar policy. He said it sheds
new light on the recent conclusion by the congressional
General Accounting Office that many Nazi collaborators
escaped detection because U.S. investigators "were.
inexperienced and lacked necessary skills." .
Labeled "civilian personnel memorandum no. 21" and.
dated March 22, 1948, the document said that any
American civilians henceforth hired as intelligence
agents, criminal investigators or other "sensitive" po
sitions "will be required to have had a minimum of 10
years U.S. citizenship.'
Walter R. Bass; 73; a retired fashion designer living
here, said he recently came upon the memo in his, files
and turned it over to Cooper. No other official from the
period could be reached to confirm its authenticity. He
said the policy appeared to have been aimed at many
Jews who, like himself, immigrated from Europe to es-
cape Hitler in the late 1930s and-returned as U.S. cit-
izens to fight in the war, then helped in de-Nazification
.when the war ended in 1945.
"We thought it was very unjust," Bass said of the
1948 memo. His contract as a civilian investigator with
the military government in Germany was not renewed
because of the policy. There were no overt protests at
the time, Bass said.
He noted that even he did not realize the severe con-
sequences the policy might have had until he read re=.
cent reports of several Nazis wanted for war crimes
reaching the United States and, like Barbie,. even work-
ing with U.S. forces after the war.
The memo, signed by Lt. Gen. C.R. Huebner, based
the policy on a requirement that "personnel who occupy
intelligence, investigative and certain other sensitive
positions be impartial and objective in their service, and
above criticism as to their loyalty to the government of
the United States."
Bass said he and others. "who made sincere and
strong efforts to produce a real de-Nazification encoun-_._
tered a lot of criticism and obstruction from other mil-
itary government personnel." He said those who were
"the most eager and sincere in their work .. were.
called 'too gung-ho.' "
The problem, Bass said, was the emerging Cold War
and "a competition between the Russians and ourselves
for the hearts of the Germans." Whenever the Soviets
exempted certain classes of former Nazis from postwar
penalties in their sector of Germany, the Americans
would try to follow suit, Bass said.
_,, T Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/25: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120014-5