Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Destructive Impact on Our Domestic and Foreign Policy

by Christopher Simpson, Mark Crispin Miller (Editor)

Blowback is the fullest, most authoritative account ever written of the USA's collaboration with Nazis after WWII, & of the long-range effect this has had on the nation's domestic & foreign policy. Drawing on extensive 1sthand research & a wealth of documents previously classified or never before made public, Christopher Simpson has written a major & often startling work about the extensive connection between high-ranking US officials & ex-Nazis & collaborators, & about the effect this relationship has had on American society & the cold war.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Germany, American History, The United States Of America, World War II

628 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Christopher Simpson is a veteran reporter, historian, and analyst who teaches at American University's School of Communication in Washington, DC. His work has won national awards for investigative journalism, history, and literature, and has been published in more than a dozen languages. Current study includes technology, democracy, revolution, and peer learning.

Reviews

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is extremely well-researched, an in-depth journalism project that used hundreds of sources to document CIA and diplomatic involvement with Nazi war criminals following WWII.
The basic story: at the end of the war, policy wonks in the US gave a collective gasp--what if Stalin, who killed more Soviets than Hitler, decided to continue the war and occupy western Europe? The US began to prepare for a war with the USSR, and looking around for intelligence on Soviet capabilities and intentions, they found Nazis who had been spying and plotting against Stalin for a decade. And so the don't-ask-don't-tell relationship was born, the US reasoning it was more important to protect the US and western Europe than to worry about things in the past, such as who was a mass murderer.
Aside from the moral outrage, the author argues the US shaped its policy based on the attitude of their new Nazi partners: The Nazis hated the Soviets, believed Slavs were subhuman, and believed Stalin's motives were all bad.
The author argues, by implication, that had we relaxed and cut Stalin some slack, Stalin might have gone back to isolationist world where he only threatened his own people. All though the Nazi recruits may have upped the hysteria--their freedom and success depended on tension--I think Stalin was well able to scare western Europe without the Nazis' help.
This book is not particularly readable or enjoyable. It presents the facts clearly and with full support, but it's more of a reference book than a narrative.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read by Simpson and maybe the third about the connivance of agencies of the federal government with Nazi war criminals. Although previous study had prepared me for the general themes taken up by the author, none of the others had so impressed upon me the extent of such cooperation, both in terms of the numbers involved and the numbers, the victims, affected. Additionally, no other such book has made such a strong case against the CIA and cooperating agencies for effectively harming the interests of the USA in both the short and long term.

This book was written in the aftermath of the Iran-Contra scandal. Although the text focuses on the period from 1945 to 1959, connections are drawn to events from that period to the actions of the Republican Party and the Reagan administration in the eighties.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall an excellent, thorough exposé of the history of US use of Nazis and Nazi collaborators in the wake of WW2. Docked a point for repeating a lot of lukewarm pieces of Cold War "common knowledge" about the Soviets in a "both sides" manner, but still a very good work. Descriptions of the US' collaboration with figures like Klaus Barbie, Otto Skorzeny, and scores of Eastern European fascists are meticulously sourced from primary documents. A fascinating look at the consequences of the US alliance with "ex" fascists.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Blowback by Christopher Simpson made me ill and very angry - and convinced me that every American should read this book. Even better, it should be a text book in High School and College U.S. History courses.

Blowback refers to the unintended adverse results of a political action. In this case, employment by the United States Intelligence Services of tens of thousands of former Nazis - members of the SS, German Army, and Nazi government who were directly linked to the killings of millions of individuals.

Immediately after V-E day, the U.S. became obsessed with the USSR and the fear that Communism was going to spread rapidly. Many in the government became convinced that WWIII, complete with the use of the new A-Bombs, would start within six months and plans needed to be ready immediately. They figured that former Nazi scientists, military personnel, propaganda experts, and secret police could be used to prepare ourselves for this conflict. Secretly, and often illegally, intelligence organizations, including the newly formed OSS/CIA, recruited tens of thousands of "former" Nazis. Many were secreted away from the Nuremberg Commission and British and Russian war crime boards and brought, surreptitiously, into the United States.

Bankrolled via government funds funneled through Radio Free Europe and other "private" organizations, intelligence groups, political committees, and military units were formed. The famous Green Berets owes their existence, and head gear, to these groups. Assassination squads, guerrilla warfare groups, and propaganda machines were setup, all with the goal of destabilizing the USSR and stopping Communism. Joe McCarthy was just a "drop in the bucket" compared to the secret organizing done using Nazis in the name of democracy. And, even more alarming, organizations formed by these groups are alive and well influencing our current government's foreign and domestic policy.

Christopher Simpson is not some conspiracy theorist. In fact, nearly half of this 398 page book is devoted to footnotes and source notes. He uses Freedom of Information files and personal interviews to support every point made. This book will inform and infuriate you, as it should.

[sologdin · Rating 4 out of 5]

fine bit of dragging the waters. details paperclip, bloodstone, and other operations. explains how the gehlen group was folded into the early CIA. points out that a number of persons who should've hanged were hired. US cold war policy as virtual continuation of NSDAP eastern front doctrine.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to...umm I forget and so does just everybody else...that or they haven't read the books like this. Intriguing read that could would be an eye opener to the average American or just another shake of the head in disgust by the more educated.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the books that comprise the “Forbidden Bookshelf” edited by Mark Crispin Miller for Open Road Media. There are six or seven books in the series, each of which is purported to be a book that the ‘Government’ would rather keep out of continued publication. This would be great if it were true, but if the US government is afraid of this book, anyone who is part of that type of work should be sent to run the US AID library in Kabul or Bagdad.

Keeping in mind that this book was first published in 1988, much of what is in this book is so dated as to be ‘forgotten history’. You could learn more about what is in this book by watching old episodes of “60 minutes”. It mostly exposes the CIA and State Department use of ex-Nazis, Nazi collaborators and other ‘fellow travelers’ in the 50s and 60s to run and fund anti-communist groups in Eastern Europe. Not only as spies but also as recruiters to work in the ‘captive nations’; to cause problems for the new communist governments and the Soviet Union.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who realized that this is what we have done all over the world since the end of the Second World War. Much of the underground movements that we have backed during and after the Cold War, were members of local fascist type or anyone who claimed to be anti-communists. This can now be confirmed by our one time backing of Muamar Khadafi, Sadaam Hussein, Anwar Sadat, the ISI (the secret military police in Pakistan) and the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan.

All of this traces back to the Dulles brothers before during and after WW2. John Foster Dulles (Secretary of State) and Allen Dulles (co-Head of OSS, and then the CIA) were the spearhead of American conservatives during the early Cold War. Both of them were super-patriots and felt that anything they did was for the betterment of the country. They didn’t care who they worked with or what they did as long as it helped ‘national security’. So backing a few sadists, murderers and psychopaths was par for the course.

If you wonder if this works, look at what happened in Iraq when we decided that all of the Iraqi Officer Corp and the leadership and management of the Baath Party would be purged from the Iraqi government. Many of the ‘terrorists’ who are Taliban and ISIS and other guerilla leaders can be traced back to these men who were purged. So even if they are ‘scum’, it would appear that it’s better if they are ‘our scum’ then sent off to be independent contractors to the nearest rebels. Read it as an historical document.

Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meticulously researched but dreadfully dull

Blowback recounts America’s post-World War 2 recruitment of German Nazis and Axis powers fascists for US intelligence networks against the Soviets. The book offers many examples of how mostly the CIA secretly recruited known Nazis, many of whom were accused or convicted of war crimes or crimes against humanities. These spies were thought to be strong anti-communists as was the US. Their recruitment was justified by the CIA with the concept, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. As a result, numerous Nazi war criminals were brought into the US and became citizens through official US government actions to secretly bring them in. One cannot help but wonder while reading this about the ethical questions of how this could be justified at the time. My conclusion is that at the time in the late 40s and 50s, the Cold War evolved, with genuine fear of communism. So it was felt that any means justified defeating communism, before it defeated America. Today we know the outcome of that war, but at the time, the result was far from certain. Now we may question the ethical issues involved in using Nazis to gather intelligence against the Soviets and then bringing them into the US. But it wasn’t seen that way then. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

This book was meticulously researched. No doubt. But this book was often dreadfully dull. What should have been a powerfully interesting subject with vivid stories, was instead presented in such an abysmally dry way. Truthfully, I can’t recommend this book much unless you just really want to learn more about this topic. I would suggest instead reading, The Nazi Next Door by Eric Lichtblau as a much better example showing how and why the American government brought former Nazis into the US.

[Mark Singer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressing yet necessary look at the American use of Nazi collaborators during the Cold War and its disastrous effects on both foreign and domestic policy.

[Sandra D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, but it made me so angry that I wasn't able to finish reading it.

[Mark]

Instructive, particularly as we seem unwilling or unable to learn from the mistakes which it thorougly and carefully documents.

[Cyrus Alderwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will find the kinds of nefarious and sinister people our government worked with to fight the Cold War to be shocking! If even half of this book is true it is frightening.

[Zella Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but difficult read on how American intelligence actively recruited and sheltered Nazi war criminals in the wake of WWII because of Cold War fears about the USSR. These war criminals--which included both long-time German SS men and collaborators from across Europe--exerted an astonishing amount of power in the realm of American-Soviet relations due to the often faulty and self-serving intel they provided.

Simpson is a good writer who has done an incredible amount of research, though it's pretty dense reading. I'd like to think I'm pretty well-read on WWII, but I didn't know most of the material in this book. I ultimately was more interested in the Gehlen Organization and its sinister hold on both American and German intelligence after the war--including the one former German Nazi who provided intelligence to numerous countries but cited himself as a source to all his clients to bolster the perceived credibility of his report (seriously, what the hell?)--than the recruitment and use of fascist collaborators from places like Latvia, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia, though that information was not uninteresting or disturbing in its own right.

[Tom Motko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly documented and readable account, using FOIA materials as well as other primary sources and contemporaneous accounts of the US Army Counterintelligence Corps/OSS/CIA recruitment and protection of thousands of Nazis, Nazi collaborators and quislings from Nazi-occupied countries, including war criminals and those who committed other crimes against humanity between 1945 and the mid-to-late 1950s in the name of fighting "communism". The book was published in 1988, so a little knowledge of history prior to the collapse of the USSR could be helpful.

[Colleen Fuller]

This is an exceptional book about how deeply entrenched in and allied these recruited Nazis were with American right wing Cold Warriors. These tactics are still evident in the anti-communist framework that continues to shape and form US foreign policy.

[Mohammed Hindash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book brought light to the controversial US policy. It proves, in my opinion, how imperialistic USA is.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

No new info post 1975, but informative and in depth nonetheless.

[Robert Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know what I get out of reading these sorts of books other than an extremely niche knowledge of why the world is how it is and depression.
But it's crack to me, so 5 stars.

[Hardcoverhomie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reference book first and foremost. The facts are well reported and documented, but the prose is matter-of-fact and a bit dull. War crimes are interesting, but a lot of what’s covered in the book is the bureaucratic efforts of the US and its Allie’s to capture NAZI spies and informants that could help bring down the USSR and communists. The parts about the Nazi sympathizes was interesting because several groups like the Ukrainian OUN still exist today and influence that country and US foreign policy in the region.

[Avanti Victoire Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read if you want to understand how the US upped its game with the help of war criminals

[Dogsandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extensive notes on UnCSocC cards. DPL 331.62s