Herbert Axster (3 November 1899 – 25 May 1991) was a German lawyer connected with

Operation Paperclip Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World Wa ...

. Axster served as chief of staff in the German guided missiles program.

Wartime and Postwar Activities

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Axster served as chief of staff to Walter Dornberger, commander of the Peenemünde Army Research Center. Here, Axster assisted with the development of Germany's

V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed ...

program. Following Nazi Germany's surrender, Axster was sent to the United States in November 1945. In January 1947, he began work for the U.S. Government at

Fort Bliss Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of William Wallace Smith Bliss, LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President ...

, Texas.

OMGUS Investigation

Following his recruitment into Operation Paperclip, Axster was investigated by the

Office of Military Government, United States The Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS; german: Amt der Militärregierung für Deutschland (U.S.)) was the United States military-established government created shortly after the end of hostilities in Allied-occupied Germany, occup ...

(OMGUS) as a possible threat to the United States. The 1948 OMGUS report on Axster included interviews with individuals who had been familiar with Axster during the war. The interviews appeared to describe a sadistic man, said to have used slave labor on his private estate. In addition, the report included mention of Axster's wife, who was an outspoken proponent of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. However, the report concluded by reversing OMGUS's initial position concerning Axster, stating that " xsterwas not a war criminal and was not an ardent Nazi. The record of Herbert Axster as an individual is reasonably clear and as such, it is believed that he constitutes no more of a security threat than do the other Germans who have come to the U.S. with clear records in entirety." Axster was allowed to continue his work for the U.S. government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axster, Herbert 20th-century German lawyers 1899 births 1991 deaths