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U.S. Was Duped Into Recruiting Nazis, Researcher Says

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ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Features Editor

S

ecret files filled with
information about
former Nazis was
hidden for years in U.S.
government vaults in
Washington, D.C. Then by
chance, John Loftus stumbl-
ed across the files, which
were labeled classified until
2015.
Following President
_or
Jimmy Carter's creation in
1979 of the Office of Special
Investigation, Loftus was
named coordinator of an in-
quiry into U.S. intelligence
agencies' recruitment of
Nazis. He described his work
• on this project during a
breakfast meeting last week
r sponsored by the Jewish
Welfare Federation and the
Young Leadership Cabinet
of the United Jewish Appeal.
In the files, Loftus found
II ■ documents showing that
President Franklin
Roosevelt knew by 1942 of
Hitler's Final Solution. Lof-
lab tus uncovered papers stating
that Roosevelt wanted to ap-
peal to the Nazi leader to
release the Jews but was
stopped by British and
Soviet leaders who said
there would be no place to
► put them; that U.S. politi-
cians repeatedly discouraged
or President Harry Truman
from supporting the estab-
lishment of Israel because,
they said, it would become a
Communist country; and
0 that the U.S. Justice
Department and Congress
or lobbied to pass a bill requir-
ing immigrants to have an
agricultural background.
This virtually excluded
Jewish refugees.
He also came across a post-
war plan by the British
secret service to recruit
Nazis to fight communism.
► The plan was orchestrated
by double-agent Har "Kim"
Philby, who was responsible
for "selling these 'freedom
■
fighters' to every Western
,—..- nation gullible enough to
take them in," Loftus said..
In addition to Great
Britain, the United States,
•
Canada and Australia
agreed to participate in the
recruitment of former Nazis.
Loftus, who is Catholic,
•
said he first considered ig-
noring this information.
Then he came across the
,, testimony of a survivor
named Solomon.
Solomon lived in Borissow,
a small town outside Minsk.
01 Stanislaw Stankievich, the
leader of the town, was a

►
--

John Loftus:
"I would be the last American
to see these vaults while
the Nazis were still alive."

virulent anti-Semite, Loftus
said. To save ammunition,
Stankievich ordered Jewish
babies buried alive. He
reduced from 50,000 to 5,000
the number of Jews living in
Borissow, Loftus said.
Solomon survived
Stankievich's murderous at-
tacks but lost all of his fami-
ly. Confined to a concentra-
tion camp, Solomon led his
fellow Jews in a revolt. A
number of the men, in-
cluding Solomon, escaped.
He later became the head of
a group of resistance
fighters.
After the war, Solomon
settled in the United States,
where he wrote a full report
about Stainslaw
Stankievich. "Then the
State Department put those
memoirs in the vault, where
they stayed for 30 years un-
til I stumbled across them,"
Loftus said.
Stankievich, meanwhile,
had been placed in charge of
a U.S. refugee camp abroad.
Arrested by the American
Army after information
about his past became
known, Stankievich readily
confessed his Nazi
background.
Yet the State Department,
working with the British
secret service, insisted on
Stankievich's release, Loftus
said. The department later
found him a job with Radio
Liberty.
Loftus was moved by
Solomon's story. Realizing
he would "be the last
American to see these vaults
while the Nazis were still
alive" and wondering how
he would answer his
daughter if, one day, she
asked, "How could you have
known this and done

nothing?" Loftus decided to
act.
Loftus said he "scoured the
world for information about
Stankievich." He finally
discovered him and began
prosecuting. Two weeks
before the trial, Stankievich
died.
Upon returning to work,
Loftus was told to "forget
what I had seen and get back
to work." He quit his job.
Despite his disagreements
with his superiors, Loftus
praised the U.S. government
for granting him clearance
to publish his book The
Belarus Secret, which
describes a White Russian
Nazi group in New England
that included Stankievich.
During his visit to Detroit,
Loftus stressed that the U.S.

government was ignorant
rather than evil in its deal-
ings with the Nazis. Though
American leaders were con-
vinced the men would be
valuable in the fight against
Communism, only about 1
percent of the Nazis actually
became involved in anti-
Communist activities after
they settled in the United
States, he said.
Even once the Nazis have
been located, prosecuting
them is difficult, Loftus said.
Trials often take seven
years, and defendants may
appeal up to the Supreme
Court.
Loftus discussed his in-
vestigations on 60 Minutes
after which he received a
call from Solomon, whose
memoirs had inspired Lof-

tus' work. Now living in
New Jersey, Solomon at-
tended a high school lecture
at which Loftus described
the horrors of the Holocaust.
"But these kids weren't
buying it," Loftus said.
Despite the many reports he
showed the audience, "they
didn't want paper; they
wanted a witness."
Then Solomon stood up
and called to Loftus, "Tell
them who I an." Then coop-
erating in the investigation
of Nazis, Solomon placed
himself at risk with this ac-
tion, Loftus said. "Yet he
gave up his identity to tell
the truth.
"And now I tell my
daughter that there are still
heroes in the world. Her
father met one." ❑

Seminar To Examine Zionism

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

M

ore than 41 years
after Israel was
created, some
historians are re-
examinining and revising
the history about those years
before statehood was
granted.
About 200 professors,
historians and others from
the United States and Israel
are expected to further
discuss the topic on Nov. 19
at Temple Beth El during
the fifth annual Max
Kapustin Memorial Sym-
posium.
The symposium is called
"The Challenges to Zionism
in the Pre-State Era," and
organizers from Wayne
State University's Center
for Judaic Studies hope it
will provide a balanced view
of what happened before
Israel became a state in
1948.
Because revisionists are
already at work reexamin-
ing the events prior to 1948,
scholars must focus on this
period and rediscover just
what did happen, said Jacob
Lassner, director of WSU's
Center for Judaic Studies.
Although the symposium
will be rooted in the history
prior to statehood, the future
of Zionism relates to its past,
Lassner said.
The symposium will begin
at 8 p.m. when Professor
David Vital speaks about
the challenges to modern
Zionism that faced Jews
earlier this century. Vital is
a professor of Jewish

Civilization at Nor-
thwestern University and
Tel-Aviv University.
The event will continue at
9 a.m. Nov. 20 at the
McGregor Memorial Con-
ference Center at Wayne
State University when
Jehuda Reinharz, Brandis
University professor of
modern Jewish history
speaks about Zionism and
anti-Zionism in Europe in
the early years. Later in the
morning, Columbia Univer-
sity professor Arye Goren
will speak about Zionism

and Anti-Zionism in
America.
Zionist debates about
statehood will be discussed
from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m..
Emory University*Professor
Kenneth Stein will speak
about the Jewish National
Fund in the early 1940s and
Oxford University Professor
Selwyn Troen will discuss
the conflict in visions of
Jewish settlement.
The symposium, which is
free, is co-hosted by the
B'nai B'rith Hillel Founda-
tion. ❑

AJCommittee To Cite
Richard Van Dusen

The Institute of Human
Relations of the American
Jewish Committee will pre-
sent its Learned Hand Award
to Richard C. Van Dusen,
chairman of Dickinson,
Wright, Moon, VanDusen &
Freeman, on Nov. 28, at
theWestin. This is the first
presentation of the organiza-
tion's national award in
Detroit.
Dinner co-chairmen are:
Eugene Driker, Fred W.
Freeman, Richard D. Rohr,
and Alan E. Schwartz.
The speakers will be Robert
S. Rifkind, partner of
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
and a national vice president
of the AJC, and L. William
Seidman, chairman of the
Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation.
Van Dusen is a trustee of
the Detroit Bar Association
Foundation and is currently a

Richard Van Dusen

member of the Michigan Law
Revision Commission and the
Board of Governors of Wayne
State University. He is a
trustee of the Kresge Founda-
tion and serves on numerous
civic, governmental and cor-
porate boards.

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I, A

: OMMU N IT

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