Science, Technology and National Socialism Edited by Monika Renneberg and Mark Walker Frontmatter More Information

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-40374-0 - Science, Technology and National Socialism Edited by Monika Renneberg and Mark Walker Frontmatter More information

This book provides a survey of the development of scientific disciplines and technical projects under National Socialism in Germany. Each contribution addresses a different, new aspect which is import:l11t for judging the interaction between science, technology and National Socialism. In par• ticular, the personal conduct of individual scientists and engineers as well as the functionality of certain theories and projects are examined. All essays share a common theme: continuity and discontinuity. All authors cover a period that reaches back to the Weimar Republic and forward beyond the end of National Socialism to the post-war period. This unanimity of approach provides answers to major questions about the nature of Hitler's regime and about possible lines of continuity in science and technology which may transcend political upheaval. The book is also the most comprehensive to date on this subject, and includes essays on engineering, geography, biology, psychology, physics, mathematics and science policy. It thus offers something of interest for the specialist, scientist, engineer and historian as well as an unprecedented overview of science and technology before, during and after the Third Reich.

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-40374-0 - Science, Technology and National Socialism Edited by Monika Renneberg and Mark Walker Frontmatter More information

Science, Technology and National Socialism

Edited by Monika Renneberg Assistant Professor in the Institute for the History of Science, Technology and Mathematics, University of Hamburg

and Mark Walker Assistant Professor of the Department of History, Union College, Schenectady

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City

Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521403740

This publication is in copyright. Subject to staturory exception and to the ptovisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place withour the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1994 First paperback edition 2002

A catalogue record for this publication is available foom the British Library

Library o/Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Scientists, engineers, and National Socialism I edited by Monika Renneberg and Mark Walker. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN ° 521 40374 X 1. Science - Germany - History. 2. Engineering - Germany - History. 3. National Socialism and science - History. 4. Fascism - Germany - History. I. Renneburg, Monika. II. Walker, Mark, 1959- Q127·G3S36 1993 509.43'09'04-dc20 92-41633 CIP

ISBN 978-0-521-4°374-0 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-52860-3 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables, and other factual information given in this work is correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter.

This book is dedicated to all those critical voices who have tried to illuminate this ambivalent chapter of history, but were unappreciated, ignored and discouraged.

Contents

List of illustrations page xi List of contributors xiii Acknowledgements xvi List of abbreviations xvii

1 Scientists, Engineers and National Socialism 1 MONIKA RENNEBERG and MARK WALKER 2 Keinerlei Untergang: German Armaments Engineers 30 during the Second World War and in the Service of the Victorious Powers ANDREAS HEINEMANN-GRUDER 3 The Guided Missile and the Third Reich: Peenemiinde 51 and the Forging of a Technological Revolution MICHAELJ.NEUFELD 4 Self-mobilization or Resistance? Aeronautical Research 72 and National Socialism HELMlITH TRISCHLER 5 Military Technology and National Socialist Ideology 88 ULRICH ALBRECHT 6 'Area Research' and 'Spatial Planning' from the Weimar 126 Republic to the German Federal Republic: Creating a Society with a Spatial Order under National Socialism MECHTILD ROSSLER 7 The Ideological Origins of Institutes at the Kaiser 139 Wilhelm Gesellschaft in National Socialist Germany KRISTIE MACRAKIS

x I CONTENTS

8 Biological Research at Universities and Kaiser Wilhelm 160 Institutes in Nazi Germany UTE DEICHMANN and BENNO MULLER-HILL 9 Pedagogy, Professionalism and Politics: Biology 184 Instruction during the Third Reich SHEILA FAITH WEISS 10 The Whole and the Community: Scientific and Political 197 Reasoning in the Holistic psychology of Felix Krueger ULFRIED GEUTER 11 Pascual Jordan: Quantum Mechanics, Psychology, 224 National Socialism M. NORTON WISE 12 The Ideology of Early Particle Accelerators: An 255 Association between Knowledge and Power MARIA OSIETZKI 13 The 'Minerva' Project. The Accelerator Laboratory at 271 the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute/Max Planck Institute of Chemistry: Continuity in Fundamental Research BURGHARD WEISS 14 The Social System of Mathematics and National 291 Socialism: A Survey HERBERT MEHRTENS 15 The Problem of anti-Fascist Resistance of 'Apolitical' 312 German Scholars REINHARD SIEGMUND-SCHULTZE 16 Irresponsible Purity: The Political and Moral Structure of 324 Mathematical Sciences in the National Socialist State HERBERT MEHRTENS

Notes 339 Index 415

Illustrations

3.1 Rudolf Nebel with Willy Ley and Klaus Riedel at the page 55 Raketen{lugplatz, April 1931 3.2 Test stand I at Peenemiinde 58 3.3 The first successful A4 (V-2) is prepared for launch 63 3.4 General Fellgiebel congratulates Colonel Leo Zanssen 64 after the first successful launch 3.5 An American soldier guards a captured and nearly 66 completed A4 3.6 Peenemiinde engineers brought to the United States, 1946 68 3.7 Gen. Holger Toftoy, Dr Ernst Stuhlinger, Hermann 69 Oberth, Dr Wernher von Braun and Dr Robert Lusser at the US Army Redstone Arsenal, c. 1955 5.1 German high-tech projects at the end of the war 99 5.2 Intercontinental bomber project by Daimler-Benz, late 100 1944 5.3 Jet fighter project by BMW. 1944 101 5.4 High-tech at the end of the Third Reich 102 5.5 German combat aircraft projects with pilot in prone 104 position 5.6 Arado AR E 381 mini-fighter, 1944 105 5.7 Bids by German industry for the Emergency Fighter 108 Programme, 1944 5.8 Heinkel He 161 'Volksjiiger' (People's Fighter) 110 5.9 Wernher von Braun's rocket plane, 1939 114 5.10 'Vengeance weapon 1', the V-I 115 5.11 Bachem 'Natter' point defence fighter 117 5.12 Submissions by German industry for the Emergency 118 Fighter Programme, 1944

Xli I LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

5.13 Unpowered combat glider, Blohm & Voss BV40 121 5.14 Messerschmitt's unpowered fighter Me 328 121 8.1 Funding of biologists by the DFG/RFR from 1930 to 1945 167 8.2 Relationship between membership in the NSDAP and 168 funding by the DFG/RFR 8.3 Funding by DFG/RFR of biological research at KWIs in 169 comparison to universities 8.4 Reichsmarshal Goring in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for 178 Breeding Research, 1940 11.1 Vibrating string 230 11.2 Identity and spontaneity 231 13.1 Situation plan, KWI for Chemistry 277 13.2 Construction plan, KWI of Chemistry 278 13.3 (a) Neutron generator (cascade) part 1; (b) neutron 280-281 generator (cascade), part 2 13.4 KWI of Chemistry after air raid 283

Contributors

Ulrich Albrecht is Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Depart• ment of Political Science of the Free University of Berlin. He also holds a degree in aeronautical engineering. His recent books are The History of the Soviet Armaments Industry (1992) and Die Abwicklung der DDR (The Liquidation of the GDR: 1992). Ute Deichmann teaches biology and chemistry at the Georg-Biichner• Gymnasium in Cologne. She has published Biologen unter Hitler- Vertrei• bung, Karrieren, Forschung (1992). Ulfried Geuter is a freelance journalist and scientific author and psycho• therapist in Berlin. He is the author of The Professionalization of Psychol• ogy in Nazi Germany (1984; English edition 1992) and the editor of Data on the History of German Psychology (2 vols., 1986 and 1987) and (with Mitchell G. Ash) of History of German Psychology in 20th Century (1985). Andreas Heinemann-Gruder is Lecturer at the Humboldt University in Berlin. His publications include a book on Soviet policy in the Middle East and a book on the history of the first Soviet atomic bomb (1992). Most recently he has written (as co-author) The Specialists. German Natural Scientists and Technicians in the Soviet Union after 1945 (1992). Kristie Macrakis is Assistant Professor of the History of Science at Michi• gan State University. She is the author of Surviving the Swastika: Scientific Research in Nazi Germany (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). Herbert Mehrtens is professor of history at Technische Universitat Braun• schweig, Germany. He has edited Naturwissenschaft, Technik und NS• Ideologie (1980). His latest book is Moderne - Sprache - Mathematik (1990).

Xlii

XIV I LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Benno Mit"ller-Hill is Professor of Genetics at the University of Cologne. He has written articles in Molecular Biology and Murderous Science. Elimi• nation by Scientific Selection of Jews, Gypsies, and Others. Germany 1933- 1945 (1988). Michael J. Neufeld is a curator in the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institute. He is the author of The Skilled Metalworkers of Nuremberg (1989), The Rocket and the Reich (1994), as well as articles in German social history and history of technology. Maria Osietzki, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, has published on the history of big science in nuclear research. She is coauthor of the book Wissenschaft fit·r Macht und Markt. Her publications include articles about gender in the history of science and technology. She is preparing a book about the history of energy and entropy. Monika Renneberg teaches at the Institute for the History of Science, Mathematics and Technology at the University of Hamburg. She is author of Griindung und Aufbau des GKSS-Forschungscentrums Geesthacht. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Grof5forschungseinrichtungen in der BRD (Ph.D., 1989). Mechtild RO"ssler is a programme specialist in the World Heritage Centre at UNESCO in Paris. She has written a number of articles on the history of geography and spatial planning in Germany, 1918-1945 and has published Wissenschaft und Lebensraum. Geographische Ostforschung im Nation• alsozialismus (Berlin, Hamburg: Dietrich Reimer, Verlag, 1990). Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze is currently Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and visiting scholar at Harvard University. His publications include papers on the history of mathematical ideas and on the social history of mathematics in Nazi Germany in particular, Mathema• tische Berichterstattung in Hitlerdeutschland (1993). Helmuth Trischler is Director of Research at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Munich. His books include Luft- und Raumfahrtforschung in Deutschland 1900-1970. Politi• sche Geschichte einer Wissenschaft (1992). Mark Walker teaches history at Union College in Schenectady, has written German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power 1939-1949 and edited (with Teresa Meade) Science, Medicine, and Cultural Imperialism. Burghard Weiss is Assistant Professor in the History of Science at the Tech• nische Universitiit Berlin and the author of publications on the evolution of Physics and Technology in the 18th and 20th centuries, including Zwischen Physikotheologie und Positivismus (1988).

List of contributors xv

Sheila Faith Weiss is Associate Professor of History at Clarkson University. She is the author of Race Hygiene and National Efficiency (California, 1987). At present she is working on a history of social biology education during the Third Reich. M. Norton Wise is Professor of History at Princeton University where he specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century physics. He is co-author with Crosbie Smith of Energy and Empire: A Biographical Study of Lord Kelvin (1989).

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the University of Texas Press, Campus Verlag, and Springer Verlag respectively for permission to republish the following articles: Herbert Mehrtens, 'The Social System of Mathematics and National Socialism: A Survey'; Herbert Mehrtens, 'Irresponsible Purity: The Political and Moral Structure of Mathematical Sciences in the National Socialist State'; Ulfried Geuter, 'The Whole and the Community: Scientific and Political Thought in the Holistic Psychology of Felix Krueger'. We are also grateful to Philips Company and the Archives of the Max Planck Society for permission to reproduce illustrations.

xvi

Abbreviations

AAW (former) Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic AEG German General Electric Company AQ Die anschauliche Quantentheorie ARGB Archiv fiir Rassen- und Gesellschafts-Biologie AVA Aerodynamic Experimental Centre BAK Federal German Archives, Koblenz BA/MA Federal German Military Archives, Freiburg BDC Berlin Document Centre BSC Bohr Scientific Correspondence, Archives for the History of Quantum Physics (American Institute of Physics) CIOS Combined Intelligence Operations Service DBV German Union of Biologists DFG German Research Foundation DFL German Research Centre for Aviation DFR German Research Council DFW German Aircraft Works DIB German Industrial Bank DMV German Union of Mathematicians DNDS Die neue deutsche Schule DNVP German National People's Party DVL German Experimental Centre for Aviation FHJ Flying Hitler Youth GAMM Society for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics GDR German Democratic Republic

XVll

xviii I ABBREVIA TIONS

HA/DLR Historical Archives of the German Research Centre for Aeronautics HJ Hitler Youth HN Heisenberg Papers, Max Planck Institute for Physics, Munich HU University Archives of the Humboldt University, Berlin HWA Army Ordnance ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile IFZ Institute for Contemporary History IG. I. Physical Institute, University of Gottingen KPD Communist Party of Germany KWG Kaiser Wilhelm Society KWI Kaiser Wilhelm Institute LAB State Archives of Berlin MPG Max Planck Society MPGA Archives of the Max Planck Society MPI Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz MPIA Archives of the Max Planck Institute for Str6mungsforschung MR Reich Union of Mathematicians NASM National Air and Space Museum NKVD Soviet Secret Police NS National Socialist NSBO National Socialist Factory Organization NSDAP National Socialist German Workers Party NSFK National Socialist Teachers Union NSV National Socialist People's Welfare NWM Naturwissenschaftliche Monatshefte fiir den biologischen, chemischen, geographischen und geologischen Unterricht OHI Oral history interview OKW Armed Forces High Command OMGBS Office of Military Government, Berlin Sector OSB Higher School Authorities PD Physikalisches Denken in der neuen Zeit PMS Philips Medizin-Systeme (formerly C. H. F. Miiller), Hamburg PZ Pedagogical Center RAF Royal Air Force RBE Radium-Beryllium-Equivalent R&D Research and Development REM Reich Ministry for Education RFR Reich Research Council

List of abbreviations xix

RLM Reich Aviation Ministry RM Reich Marks SA Storm Troopers SAM Siemens Archives, Munich SB Prussian State Library, Berlin SBZ Soviet Occupation Zone SCI Science Citation Index SED Socialist Unity Party of East Germany SO Suicide (as in SO mission: suicide mission) SPSL Society for the Protection of Science and Learning SRW Siemens Reiniger Werke SS Defense Squadron STA-HH Hamburg State Archives TH Technical University UA Archives of German and Austrian Universities UAM University Archives, Mainz V-I Revenge Weapon 1 V-2 Revenge Weapon 2 VfR Society for Space Travel VTOL Vertical takeoff and landing (plane) WGL Scientific Society for Aviation ZstA (former) Central State Archives, Potsdam