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According to Frank Walker’s new book ‘Traitors’, an overwhelming fear of communism saw some of the most reprehensible Nazis helped to resettle in Australia, once World War II had ended.
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Walker said that after the war ended, the intelligence agencies that went out and kidnapped or recruited German and Japanese scientists, ultimately did so to ensure that the Allies had the edge in developing the next generation of warfare, “which started with the atomic bomb.”
Speaking to Defence Connect’s Phillip Tarrant, Walker said that in order to underpin his main theme of the betrayal of the Allied soldiers by their own governments, he was able to draw on a wide range of sources and archives.
“I wanted for the reader to be able to perceive that this was a much wider happening in history than just a few isolated cases,” he said. “But I think the moral of the story, that we can see today, is that we've got to remember what we're fighting for.”
“Why do we have a defence industry [and] why do we have a defence of Australia,” asked Walker, adding: “who are our real enemies?”
Walker also highlighted another pressing – and rather sobering question – around the issue of certain high-profile US companies which had conducted business with Germany in the lead-up to the war, continued to do so “through back doors into Germany.”
“That was all for profit,” he argued. “It wasn't a great ideological war.”
To hear more from Frank Walker, stay tuned for our exclusive podcast.
