A Nazi-hunter is a private individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, SS

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

 members and Nazi collaborators involved in the Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

, typically for use at trial on charges of war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s and crimes against humanity

Crime against humanity

Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...

. Prominent Nazi-hunters include Simon Wiesenthal

Simon Wiesenthal

Simon Wiesenthal KBE was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter....

, Tuviah Friedman, Serge and Beate Klarsfeld

Serge and Beate Klarsfeld

Serge and Beate Klarsfeld are activists known for engaging in Holocaust documentation and anti-Nazi activism...

, Ian Sayer

Ian Sayer

Ian K. T. Sayer is an entrepreneur, noted World War II historian, best-selling author and investigative journalist. His Sayer Transport Group became the foundation stone for the British and European overnight door to door express parcels delivery industry.He is a noted World War II historian and...

, Yaron Svoray

Yaron Svoray

Yaron Svoray is an Israeli author and investigative journalist whose six-month infiltration of Germany’s neo-Nazi groups was documented in his book In Hitler’s Shadow, co-written with Nick Taylor...

, Elliot Welles

Elliot Welles

Elliot Welles whose original name was Kurt Sauerquell was a Holocaust survivor who for more than two decades until his retirement in 2003, directed the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League's task force on Nazi war criminals...

, and Efraim Zuroff

Efraim Zuroff

Efraim Zuroff is an Israeli historian of American origin, who has played a role in bringing Nazis indicted for war crimes to trial...

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With the onset of the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, both the Western Allies and the USSR sought out former Nazi scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

s and operatives for programs such as Operation Paperclip

Operation Paperclip

Operation Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II...

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