Page "Schutzstaffel" Paragraph 6

Foreseeing Nazi defeat in the war, a significant number of SS personnel organized their escape to South American nations.

These escapes are said to have been assisted by an organization known as ODESSA, an acronym of the German phrase Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, which translates as the Organization of Former Members of the SS.

Many others were captured and prosecuted by Allied authorities at the Nuremberg Trials for war crimes, and absconding SS criminals were the targets of police forces in various Allied nations, post-war West and East Germany, Austria, and Israel.