Washington, DC - CIA Covered Up Nazi War Criminals During Cold War

Washington, DC - Determined to win the Cold War, the CIA kept quiet about the whereabouts of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in the 1950s for fear he might expose undercover anticommunist efforts in West Germany, according to new documents released.

In a March 19, 1958, memo to the CIA, West German intelligence officials wrote that they knew where Eichmann was hiding. "He is reported to have lived in Argentina under the alias 'Clemens' since 1952," authorities wrote.
But neither side acted on that information because they worried what he might say about Hans Globke, a highly placed former Nazi and a chief adviser in West Germany helping the U.S. coordinate anticommunist initiatives in that country.

The documents were among the latest released under a 1999 law -- resisted by the CIA -- that called for disclosure of government records related to war crimes committed by the Nazi and Japanese governments.
Material relating to Japanese war crimes were scheduled to be released later this summer.