Ex-Nazis Got Millions in Social Security

Dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards collected millions of dollars in U.S. Social Security benefits after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation has found. The payments, which were underwritten by American taxpayers, flowed through a legal loophole that gave the Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave the U.S. If they agreed to go, or fled before for deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and U.S. government records. Recipients included SS troops who guarded Nazi camps where millions of Jews perished, a rocket scientist who used slave labor to advance his research, and a Nazi collaborator who engineered the arrest and execution of thousands of Jews in Poland. The AP reported that there are four living beneficiaries.