Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1, German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe , between and ; several were confirmed to be former members of the Nazi Party , including the SS or the SA.
The effort began in earnest in , as the Allies advanced into Germany and discovered a wealth of scientific talent and advanced research that had contributed to Germany's wartime technological advancements. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff officially established Operation Overcast operations "Overcast" and "Paperclip" were related, and the terms are often used interchangeably on July 20, , with the dual aims of leveraging German expertise for the ongoing war effort against Japan and to bolster US postwar military research.
The Soviet Union in the following year conducted a similar program, called Operation Osoaviakhim , that emphasized many of the same fields of research. The operation, characterized by the recruitment of German specialists and their families, relocated more than experts to the US. Recruits included such notable figures as Wernher von Braun , a leading rocket-technology scientist.
Those recruited were instrumental in the development of the US space program and military technology during the Cold War. Despite its contributions to American scientific advances, Operation Paperclip has been controversial because of the Nazi affiliations of many recruits, and the ethics of assimilating individuals associated with war crimes into American society. The operation was not solely focused on rocketry; efforts were directed toward synthetic fuels, medicine, and other fields of research.
Notable advances in aeronautics fostered rocket and space-flight technologies pivotal in the Space Race. Operation Paperclip was part of a broader strategy by the US to harness German scientific talent in the face of emerging Cold War tensions, and ensuring this expertise did not fall into the hands of the Soviet Union or other nations. The operation's legacy has remained controversial in subsequent decades.
