What happened to the thousands of Nazis spread across occupied Europe after WWII?

Question

They were of all ages and ranks, and were loathed by the occupied peoples. Since the Reich was defeated, it is unlikely they just hitchhiked home. I would think that there would have been massive reprisals against most of them all through out Europe, but have never read anything about it.

What happened to them?

Answer 1

They either took off their uniforms and put on civilian clothing and did attempt to get home or they blended...or, if they were higher up, they flew to Argentina.

Answer 2

Gee they don't teach history anymore??
Many on the eastern Front Were held by the Soviets Long after the war. Many Like Eric Hartman The top scoring Luftwaffe ace was held till 1955!!! 10 years after the war. Many in great 6th Army at Stalingrad Never came back. Of something like 100,000 men, only 10,000 came back.
In the West most just went home or If you were a rocket scienist bought to the USA. These ex Nazi's Helped form the back bone of the NASA's space progam. Some like Adolf Echman fled to Argentina.

Answer 3

I suspect they were returned to Germany when they surrendered, where they magically morphed into 'good gernans.' The allies were in firm control of Europe at that point, and had logistics in place to keep thier war machine running - moving a large number of defeated soldiers around would not have been a big challenge. I'm sure there must have been some that were the victims of reprisals, but I haven't heard much about it.

French collaborators, OTOH, faced reprisals from thier countrymen...

Answer 4

I met one in 1975. He showed us 2 pictures. In the first he was wearing his SS uniform. Said he was a Captain. In the 2nd picture he was sitting next to President Kennedy. The guy was working as a KP on Fleigerhorst Kaserne. The President paid a visit on his way to Berlin. Evidently several photos were staged to make it look like they were eating with the President. It was a group photo with 5 guys on either side. Guess they were not all charged.

On the other hand my Dad was with the 317th IR when they arrived at Buchenwald in Apr 45. The SS guards there tossed uniforms and some blended into the concentration camp side others just ran. There were 15,000 Russian POWs that went looking for them many were killed vigilante style. 2 Russian Officers were allowed to continue on with the 317th. They were used to deal with SS and other less than clean jobs.

Answer 5

Some of them actually bought that bill of goods and stuck to the belief. The rest were only doing what they were doing during and up to the war to stay alive, so they didnt mind seeing the regime come to an end and probably went on with their lives. The smartest, or perhaps the most fortunate ones knew to run west.

Answer 6

When the war is over :
1. Many of them being captured & being tortured by USSR
2. Some is lucky enough to get chance to surrender to USA & not to be given over to USSR
3. Some who is lucky get the chance to get out & escape from the country to live & blend in another nation as a commoner people
4. Some who truly very lucky get the chance to escape with all the treasure they had successfuly collected during the war to Argentina & many America nation to live happily forever or work under that nation government
Exp : Skorzeny, the commander of Germany daring commando in Battle of Bulge & Mussolini rescue mission successfully escaped to Argentina & live as a rich man & even work for Argentinian military department too

There are rumor that in Argentina, there is a organization named Odesa that being created by CIA or somebody to help the a lof of important Nazi officers to escape & give this officer a fake & new identity to start a new life in USA or any major country in change for revealing the Nazi treasure saving place for USA
Its being rumoured that Nazi treasure is worth more than $ 6 B in this day currency

Its being rumoured too that CIA secretly helped this Nazi officer escape to help the USA combat the communism cuz many of this Nazi officer apparently know how to weakened the communism (cuz from the start, one of Hitler goals is to demolish & destroy all about communism) so CIA thought that Nazi had many ways to stall & destroy communism power
Some who had the critical capability to help the CIA are even recruited to help CIA too

Who knows its right or not but its just a history in the past eh ?

Answer 7

Most of the actual Nazis either came here or went to South America! There were many German soldiers that were not Nazis at all, they were not members of the Nazi party, they were just like our troops, guys drafted to go to war, like it or not; many did not like it, in fact, hated it! It would have been criminal to have made them pay a price for something they never had a choice of doing or not doing. Our actions after the war were correct. The real criminals, the Nazi party members, the ones that were caught, we tried in a court of law & they paid the demanded price for their actions.

Answer 8

The SS uniform was complete destroyed and none were found. Hollywood had to make uniforms from photographs for the war movies. Surrender is peace.. They went home just soldiers. Many of the prisoners in the US were educated learned english and werre kept in the us for almost 3 years all over the 48...

Answer 9

Some went to South America, some came to America or they worked jobs just like anyone else after the war. One of my best friends dad was in a POW camp here in the States. When he was sent back to Germany, he came right back to the states and has lived here ever since.

Answer 10

There were some reprisals in a few places but most of them resumed normal lives.