The biggest scavenger hunt in history -- Occupied Germany 1945
Jun 26, 2016 18:12:13 #
On March 11, 1942, three months after Adolph Hitler declared war on the U.S.A., President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order creating the Office of the Alien Property Custodian. They were directed to seize all enemy-owned business enterprises, ships, trademarks, copyrights, and patents in our nation.
By 1944, the Alien Property Custodian held title to about 46,000 German patents, patent applications, and unpatented inventions. The Custodian became the largest single patent holder in the United States. It didn't stop there.
Well before the Nazi armies surrendered in May, 1945, American and British authorities organized a three-phase military/industrial "scavenger hunt" to seize all Nazi scientific and industrial technology -- physical and intellectual -- within Germany.
The hunt was seperate from the postwar reparations agreement negotiated with Russia at Yalta in February. 1945.
The first phase was a super-empowered military field force distributed among the U.S. and British armies. Known as the 6800 T Force (T for Target), they worked with "black lists" of specified sites to be isolated and protected during and after combat. The Alien Property Custodian was kept informed during this.
The second phase brought in the scavengers, civilian investigators selected from U.S. and British industries. At the start, 117 specialists were "invited" from 17 U.S. industries by the Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee (TIIC) of the Alien Property Custodian Office. President Truman expanded those to 500 teams including some 1,500 specialists, all empowered to find and seize anything they wished. To put it bluntly, we were officially looting.
(In 1947, the Director of the U.S. Commerce Department's Office of Technical Services testified before Congress that "the fundamental justification of this activity is that we won the war and the Germans did not.")
The third phase involved the Field Information Agency - Technical (FIAT), a combined military/civilian operation which coordinated and expedited the removal and shipping of the seized material to the U.S. and Britain.
Some 3,000 planned target sites were examined by the T Force, and another 2,000 were uncovered as well. T Force also had the authority to detain "scientific and industrial personalities" -- both military and civilian -- for interrogation. That's a subject for a future vignette.
The French and Russian Occupation Zones had their own scavenger hunts. Russian hunters focused on factories and machinery, but the Americans and British were especially interested in confiscating intellectual properties (i.e., blueprints, formulae, test and research results, trademarks, etc. -- and particularly patents. The military/industrial complex was positively drooling in anticipation.
The scavenger hunt uncovered thousands of revolutionary inventions and scientific advances, astonishing American and British technology experts across the board. German inventors and researchers lost out on royalties, big time. The value of these "intellectual reparations" to the U.S./British economies was estimated at almost $10 billion.
The I.G. Farben patents alone reportedly advanced the U.S. chemical industry by ten years.
Aside from the jaw-dropping weapons (jet turbine aircraft, huge multi-stage rockets, and submarines), the scavengers brought back magnetic tape recording systems, electron microscopes, infra-red rifle scopes, supersonic wind tunnels, new plastics, biological discoveries, various optical systems, and literally tons of engineering and scientific documents.
In May, 1945, President Harry Truman established the policy of publishing all these and licensing them, via the Alien Property Custodian Office, to U.S. citizens on a royalty-free, non-exclusuve basis for the life of the patent.
This was deemed the best way to ensure that the potential scientific and social benefits would be fairly exploited and distributed for the American public. Our industrial companies didn't do so bad either.
By 1944, the Alien Property Custodian held title to about 46,000 German patents, patent applications, and unpatented inventions. The Custodian became the largest single patent holder in the United States. It didn't stop there.
Well before the Nazi armies surrendered in May, 1945, American and British authorities organized a three-phase military/industrial "scavenger hunt" to seize all Nazi scientific and industrial technology -- physical and intellectual -- within Germany.
The hunt was seperate from the postwar reparations agreement negotiated with Russia at Yalta in February. 1945.
The first phase was a super-empowered military field force distributed among the U.S. and British armies. Known as the 6800 T Force (T for Target), they worked with "black lists" of specified sites to be isolated and protected during and after combat. The Alien Property Custodian was kept informed during this.
The second phase brought in the scavengers, civilian investigators selected from U.S. and British industries. At the start, 117 specialists were "invited" from 17 U.S. industries by the Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee (TIIC) of the Alien Property Custodian Office. President Truman expanded those to 500 teams including some 1,500 specialists, all empowered to find and seize anything they wished. To put it bluntly, we were officially looting.
(In 1947, the Director of the U.S. Commerce Department's Office of Technical Services testified before Congress that "the fundamental justification of this activity is that we won the war and the Germans did not.")
The third phase involved the Field Information Agency - Technical (FIAT), a combined military/civilian operation which coordinated and expedited the removal and shipping of the seized material to the U.S. and Britain.
Some 3,000 planned target sites were examined by the T Force, and another 2,000 were uncovered as well. T Force also had the authority to detain "scientific and industrial personalities" -- both military and civilian -- for interrogation. That's a subject for a future vignette.
The French and Russian Occupation Zones had their own scavenger hunts. Russian hunters focused on factories and machinery, but the Americans and British were especially interested in confiscating intellectual properties (i.e., blueprints, formulae, test and research results, trademarks, etc. -- and particularly patents. The military/industrial complex was positively drooling in anticipation.
The scavenger hunt uncovered thousands of revolutionary inventions and scientific advances, astonishing American and British technology experts across the board. German inventors and researchers lost out on royalties, big time. The value of these "intellectual reparations" to the U.S./British economies was estimated at almost $10 billion.
The I.G. Farben patents alone reportedly advanced the U.S. chemical industry by ten years.
Aside from the jaw-dropping weapons (jet turbine aircraft, huge multi-stage rockets, and submarines), the scavengers brought back magnetic tape recording systems, electron microscopes, infra-red rifle scopes, supersonic wind tunnels, new plastics, biological discoveries, various optical systems, and literally tons of engineering and scientific documents.
In May, 1945, President Harry Truman established the policy of publishing all these and licensing them, via the Alien Property Custodian Office, to U.S. citizens on a royalty-free, non-exclusuve basis for the life of the patent.
This was deemed the best way to ensure that the potential scientific and social benefits would be fairly exploited and distributed for the American public. Our industrial companies didn't do so bad either.
Nazi nuclear reactor prototype being disassembled in April, 1945
Höchst Works of I.G. Farben, a source of chemical secrets in 1945
Diesel engine shop of M.A.N. in Augsburg stripped to the bare walls by 1946
Jun 26, 2016 18:28:52 #
Hi Richard, once again you've done it by teaching me something that I wasn't really aware of. Thank you for sharing it with us and don't ever stop.
Jun 26, 2016 19:18:33 #
Jun 26, 2016 19:18:37 #
Jun 26, 2016 19:49:58 #
Jun 26, 2016 21:42:02 #
[quote=RichardQ]Hi, Burk! Glad you asked.[/quote
Hi, Burk! I screwed up with my response and accidentally terminated the mesage, When I tried to "edit" it to continue, my addition of the references took too long and I ran out of time. I tried four more times and became too flustered, so my arthritic fingers kept hitting an erase key. So I'm sending this apology and resting a bit before I take another stab, because I want you to see these references. Thanks for your interest.
Hi, Burk! I screwed up with my response and accidentally terminated the mesage, When I tried to "edit" it to continue, my addition of the references took too long and I ran out of time. I tried four more times and became too flustered, so my arthritic fingers kept hitting an erase key. So I'm sending this apology and resting a bit before I take another stab, because I want you to see these references. Thanks for your interest.
Jun 26, 2016 22:41:18 #
burkphoto wrote:
Sources?
Hi, Burk -- I hope I succeed this time!
My primary source is "The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany" by Dr. Earl F. Ziemke (1975), pages 314 and 315, published by the Center of Military History, United States Army
"The Work of the Alien Property Custodian", 1945 paper by Paul V. Myron (Assistant to the Alien Property Custodian 1944 and 1945)
"Enemy Patents." 1945 joint paper by Howland H. Sargeant (Chief, Patent Administration, Office of Alien Property Custodian) and Henrietta L. Creamer (Senor Economist, Investigation and Research Division, Office of Alien Property Custodian)
"Science, Technology, and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany", 1990, by John Gimbel
"War Secrets by the Thousands", contemporary article by C. Lester Walker in Harper's Magazine, October 1946.
"T-Force" Wikipedia article
"Field Information Agency; Technical (FIAT)", Wikipedia article
"Allied plans for German industry after World War II", Wikipedia article
"Die amerikanische Besetzung Deutschlands" (The American Occupation of Germany), a history by Klaus-Dietmar Henke, pgs. 753-763
I can read German because my late wife was German (we were married for 61 years) and I spent six years in Germany, three as a TV art director in an ad agency. I hope these sources meet your approval.
Jun 26, 2016 23:34:10 #
Another interesting, informative article Richard and, I have enjoyed every one you've posted. As others have said, keep them coming! 
Jun 27, 2016 06:01:18 #
markeisenbeil wrote:
Hi Richard, once again you've done it by teaching me something that I wasn't really aware of. Thank you for sharing it with us and don't ever stop.
Jun 27, 2016 06:05:59 #
Jun 27, 2016 06:24:37 #
Jun 27, 2016 06:51:11 #
Interesting. To the victors go the spoils. The lessons to be learned are 1) don't lose a war, and 2) that there are no benign governments, including our own.
Thanks for another fascinating post!
Thanks for another fascinating post!
Jun 27, 2016 08:22:23 #
Jun 27, 2016 08:28:20 #
RichardQ wrote:
Hi, Burk -- I hope I succeed this time! br br My ... (show quote)
Of course. I was curious, as my Dad was a WWII vet, and I never encountered this history from him, or in school, or anywhere else. I'm sure it is probably a bit politically incorrect to teach in public schools!
FASCINATING.
Jun 27, 2016 08:31:38 #
jederick wrote:
Another interesting, informative article Richard and, I have enjoyed every one you've posted. As others have said, keep them coming!
Another great article about our history!
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.