Secret Documents

The report appeared in Wednesday's edition of the British daily, The Guardian. Citing batches of foreign ministry files marked "Top Secret," the newspaper reported that the program was carried out to loot Germany's technical and commercial assets.

According to The Guardian, the papers in the British Archive in Kew "make it clear" that for more than two years after the end of the Second World War, the British authorities were subjecting scientists to a program of "enforced evacuation".

A separate but related program also apparently forced German business leaders to travel to Britain to provide trade secrets to their British rivals.

Gestapo methods

The Guardian noted that one memo, written in August 1946 by an unidentified senior civil servant working within the British military government in Germany, explained the system of abductions.

"Usually an NCO (non-commissioned officer) arrives without notice at the house or office of the German and warns that he will be required. He does not give him any details of the reason, nor does he present his credentials. Some time later the German is seized ... and removed under ground.

"This procedure savors very much of the Gestapo methods and, quite apart from causing great and unnecessary inconvenience to the individual and to the industry employing him, it is bound to create feelings of alarm and insecurity.

"I have not been able to get to the bottom of the matter, but there appear to be two bodies which carry out these kidnappings."

According to The Guardian, the two bodies referred to are the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee, and the Field Information Agency (Technical), a joint Anglo-American military intelligence agency, which identified suitable scientists for abduction from the US and French zones, and Berlin.

Germans considered bounty

The newspaper reported that the legality of these actions was never questioned as the 2nd proclamation made by the British military government in Germany declared that Germany would "provide such transport, plant, equipment and materials of all kinds, labor, personnel, and specialist and other services, for use in Germany or elsewhere, as the allied representatives may direct."

According The Guardian, it is not clear how many Germans were forcibly evacuated, but the paper reported that some 1,500 scientists were earmarked as candidates. However, another document uncovered by the paper quotes an official as saying they couldn't cope with more than 600.

The Guardian said the papers show little evidence of industry being concerned about the employment of Nazis.