The files to be uploaded in this page document the dramatic interruption of Wilhelm Reich’s research and Work on behalf of life. Operation “OROP Desert” was the last major research operation he was able to conduct before he was forced to confront the courts following the actions taken against him by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), accompanied by intense media attention and public controversy.

The documents preserved here provide a primary-source record of the legal proceedings that followed and of the circumstances surrounding the abrupt halt of Wilhelm Reich’s Scientific Work.

They also stand as part of the historical record of Wilhelm Reich’s determination to defend Truth, even when confronted by the power of the United States government. He maintained that the freedom to conduct basic research was a fundamental and primordial right of human beings — the capacity to investigate nature and to seek knowledge without governmental prohibition.

Wilhelm Reich referred to those whom he regarded as abusing governmental authority as the “HIG” — “hoodlums in government.” Whatever one’s assessment of Wilhelm Reich’s Work, these documents allow the historical record to be examined directly and independently.

The purpose of this collection is therefore to preserve these primary sources and make them available for historical, legal, scientific, and scholarly examination.

Further files will be uploaded