The Pittsburgh Press (February 19, 1946)
War goes on in Germany –
U.S., British battle Russians in sinister ‘game’ for scientists
Nazi war researchers brought to America; peace project workers go without jobs
By Edward P. Morgan
BERLIN – The United States and Britain for months have been playing a sinister game of hide and seek with Russia for the use of top German scientists in research on war projects, it was learned on excellent authority today. In this operation these nations have behaved far more like enemies than allies.
The Americans and British – and in some instances the French – have collaborated with each other in the exchange of scientific information and the talents of captured scientists. Against this combination the Russians have been playing virtually a lone hand.
There have been occasions in which the four powers occupying Germany have allowed each other’s scientific teams access to their respective zones, but these are the exceptions, not the rule.
‘Score’ not known
The “score” in the game so far cannot be accurately assessed except for the observation that while the Russians have taken much equipment, books and other items from German technical schools and laboratories they have got only a small number of scientific personnel.
The Western Allies nabbed most of the important scientists, including German experts on V-1 and V-2 weapons, the atom bomb and other military materials.
When last summer the Americans withdrew from their forward positions beyond Leipzig and Dresden, important research centers now in the Russian Zone of occupation, they hustled back with them some 1,500 academic and industrial scientists, some technical equipment and many valuable reports.
Many of the scientists’ families were evacuated, too. The bulk of the scientists came voluntarily, but they were given to understand that if they had not wanted to, it would not have made any difference.
Capture atomic experts
Special operations were executed to capture Dr. Otto Hahn, renowned chemist whose reports on cleaving the atom formed the basis for discovery of the atom bomb, and Dr. Werner Heisenberg, atomic physicist. Both are Nobel prize winners.
Taken by the Americans, they were sent secretly to England. They recently were returned to the British Zone in Germany where, presumably, they will be allowed to resume basic research but not on bombs.
In Washington last week Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson revealed that 130 German scientists and technicians had been flown to the United States to work on military projects. Some 140 more will join them soon, Mr. Patterson was quoted as saying.
Nazis ‘encouraged’
What he did not say was that this transplanting was begun under the once highly secret operation code-named “Overcast.” He also {failed to disclose the fact that although many of these men were Nazis, they were encouraged to go with the promise of remuneration (equivalent to their salaries under the Nazis, plus $6 per diem, while in the United States, according to one report), and special compensation in food for their families left behind in Germany.
These revelations came as an interesting sequel to the statement made in Berlin yesterday by Dr. Roger Adams, scientific adviser to the Deputy United States Military Governor, that the Americans were pursuing an unwise policy in dealing with German scientists remaining in the U.S. Occupation Zone.
Hundreds unemployed
Dr. Adams, head of the chemistry department of the University of Illinois and chairman of the board of directors of the American Chemistry Society, told reporters that he was at a loss to explain this fact:
That while the Americans had skimmed the cream of German scientists in war industries and shown them preferential treatment, hundreds of others who might be contributing to peaceable pursuits were unemployed or held in detention camps.
“It seems unfair and illogical to pay a premium for specialists in war research and disregard other leading scientists who did not happen to be important in war work,” Dr. Adams said. “I feel very strongly about that.”
He criticized the American denazification policy. By mandatory arrest of highly-placed civil servants and directors of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (one of Germany’s chief fountains of scientific research) many experts who were not Nazis were arrested.
Hits arbitrary detention
To avoid arbitrary detention, Dr. Adams urged that scientists be treated under Military Government No. 8, which provides for the purge of Nazis from German industries and business. The British, French and Russians, he said, have put leading scientists to work, and the Russians have taken special pains to provide them with extra food and fuel.
In contrast, the Americans, after screening the 1,500 scientists scooped up when zonal boundaries were readjusted, still have several hundred in custody “for further interrogation,” but otherwise are doing nothing.
When they were evacuated, the Army offhandedly promised them jobs, materials and homes, but sometimes gave them only a few hours to pack up and leave before the Russians took over.
The German scientists, themselves, say that they first thought the American Zone would be the best place to work, but now they would much prefer the British, French and Russian zones.
There is no reason to believe, of course, that the Russians would not have bundled off the top talent as the Americans and British did, if they could have got their hands on them. As a matter of fact, they did get some, and two groups of German scientists are supposed to be working under Soviet supervision somewhere along the Black Sea on undisclosed researches.
There have been isolated reports of German scientists disappearing from Berlin and, presumably, being escorted to the USSR on assignment, but there is no suggestion that they have not been treated well.
The Russians were indignant when they found that the Americans had previously combed their western zonal borders for talent. They argued that these men should be returned to Leipzig, Dresden and other places where they “belonged.”
The Americans reportedly took virtually the whole scientific staff of the lens factory in Jena and of a big synthetic oil installation in another locality, for example.
Research at standstill
Scientific research in Germany today is virtually at a standstill except for Allied-sponsored projects industry. In educational institutions it will continue to be small for a couple of years or more due to the lack of equipment, materials, books and, to a certain extent, talent. In the American Zone the universities of Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Marburg and Erlangen are open, but with very limited curricula.
The Allies intend to control all kinds of research in Germany rigidly because of its admitted vital importance to Germany’s war potential. The Allied Control Council is expected soon to approve a law, banning all research in the military field and controlling the remainder.
In addition, applied research will not be permitted in certain industries – such as aluminum – where it could be readily adapted to war purposes. It will provide for the registration of all scientific personnel and call for a periodic inspection of plants and installations.
“In my opinion,” Dr. Adams said, “this law will safeguard against any possibility of research becoming a future war potential in Germany. Its success, however, will depend on the quality of scientific personnel that the military government can get to oversee and control it.”