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Victor Or Villain? Wernher Von Braun and the Space Race
The Social Studies (2011) 102, 59–64 Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0037-7996 print / 2152-405X online DOI: 10.1080/00377996.2010.484444 Victor or Villain? Wernher von Braun and the Space Race JASON L. O’BRIEN1 and CHRISTINE E. SEARS2 1Education Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA 2History Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA Set during the Cold War and space race, this historical role-play focuses on Wernher von Braun’s involvement in and culpability for the use of slave laborers to produce V-2 rockets for Nazi Germany. Students will grapple with two central questions. Should von Braun have been allowed to emigrate to the United States given his affiliation with the Nazis and use of slave laborers? Should the U.S. government and military have put Braun in powerful positions in NASA and military programs? This activity encourages students to hone their critical thinking skills as they consider and debate a complex, multi-layered historical scenario. Students also have opportunity to articulate persuasive arguments either for or against von Braun. Each character sketch includes basic information, but additional references are included for teachers and students who want a more in depth background. Keywords: role-play, Wernher von Braun, Space Race, active learning Victor or Villain? Wernher von Braun and the Space Role-Playing as an Instructional Strategy Race By engaging in historical role-plays, students can explore In 2009, the United States celebrated the fortieth anniver- different viewpoints regarding controversial topics (Clegg sary of the Apollo 11 crew’s landing on the moon. -
PEENEMUENDE, NATIONAL SOCIALISM, and the V-2 MISSILE, 1924-1945 Michael
ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: ENGINEERING CONSENT: PEENEMUENDE, NATIONAL SOCIALISM, AND THE V-2 MISSILE, 1924-1945 Michael Brian Petersen, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation Directed By: Professor Jeffrey Herf Departmen t of History This dissertation is the story of the German scientists and engineers who developed, tested, and produced the V-2 missile, the world’s first liquid -fueled ballistic missile. It examines the social, political, and cultural roots of the prog ram in the Weimar Republic, the professional world of the Peenemünde missile base, and the results of the specialists’ decision to use concentration camp slave labor to produce the missile. Previous studies of this subject have been the domain of either of sensationalistic journalists or the unabashed admirers of the German missile pioneers. Only rarely have historians ventured into this area of inquiry, fruitfully examining the history of the German missile program from the top down while noting its admi nistrative battles and technical development. However, this work has been done at the expense of a detailed examination of the mid and lower -level employees who formed the backbone of the research and production effort. This work addresses that shortcomi ng by investigating the daily lives of these employees and the social, cultural, and political environment in which they existed. It focuses on the key questions of dedication, motivation, and criminality in the Nazi regime by asking “How did Nazi authori ties in charge of the missile program enlist the support of their employees in their effort?” “How did their work translate into political consent for the regime?” “How did these employees come to view slave labor as a viable option for completing their work?” This study is informed by traditions in European intellectual and social history while borrowing from different methods of sociology and anthropology. -
Le V-2 Arme Stratégique
Le V-2 arme stratégique par Gérard Hartmann d’un obus propulsé capable de bombarder La société Verein für l’ennemi à plus de 200 kilomètres (tir balistique hors atmosphère). Mais les travaux Raumschiffahrt de recherche aux résultats douteux et lointains n’intéressaient pas les militaires qui voulaient Dès qu’on sort de notre atmosphère, des solutions immédiates pour se sortir de la l’espace est totalement noir (sans lumière), guerre. Cinq années plus tard, en 1922, Oberth propose de nouveau au ministère de la guerre irrespirable (sans air), désorienté (pesanteur allemand l’étude d’un missile de plus faible), irradié (traversé de particules bombardement à longue portée. Certains cosmiques), glacé (-70°C) et dangereux militaires, en particulier dans l’artillerie, (bombardé de météorites). Mais pourtant, comprennent le principe de la fusée qui l’homme rêve d’y voyager. Adeptes des voyages spatiaux, probablement à la suite de semble établi depuis 1920 par plusieurs la lecture du livre de Jules Verne « De le terre à théoriciens, René Lorin et Robert Esnault- Pelterie (voir plus loin) en France, Robert la Lune », plusieurs jeunes Allemands se Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945) aux Etats-Unis, réunissent dans un club à la tête duquel se Constantin Tsiolkovski (1857-1935) en Russie. trouve un professeur de gymnastique de 33 Mais il n’existe encore aucune réalisation ans, Hermann Oberth (1894-1989). Fondé le 5 pratique d’un obus autopropulsé, d’un moteur juillet 1927 à Standort von Breslau près de Berlin, ce club est une « société pour les fusée à réaction et encore moins d’un missile. -
The German Rocket Jet and the Nuclear Programs of World War II Max Lutze Union College - Schenectady, NY
Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2016 The German Rocket Jet and the Nuclear Programs of World War II Max Lutze Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the European History Commons, German Language and Literature Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Military History Commons, and the Military, War, and Peace Commons Recommended Citation Lutze, Max, "The German Rocket Jet and the Nuclear Programs of World War II" (2016). Honors Theses. 179. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/179 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The German Rocket, Jet, and Nuclear Programs of World War II By Max Lutze * * * * * * * * * Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Department of History UNION COLLEGE March, 2016 2 Abstract German military technology in World War II was among the best of the major warring powers and in many cases it was the groundwork for postwar innovations that permanently changed global warfare. Three of the most important projects undertaken, which were not only German initiatives and therefore perhaps among the most valuable programs for both the major Axis and Allied nations, include the rocket, jet, and nuclear programs. In Germany, each of these technologies was given different levels of attention and met with varying degrees of success in their development and application. -
German Documents Among the War Crimes Records of the Judge Advocate Division, Headquarters, United States Army, Europe
Publication Number: T-1021 Publication Title: German Documents Among the War Crimes Records of the Judge Advocate Division, Headquarters, United States Army, Europe Date Published: 1967 GERMAN DOCUMENTS AMONG THE WAR CRIMES RECORDS OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE DIVISION, HEADQUARTERS, UNITED STATES ARMY, EUROPE Introduction Many German documents from the World War II period are contained in the war crimes case files of Headquarters, United States Army Europe (HQ USAREUR), Judge Advocate Division, dated 1945-58. These files contain transcripts of trial testimony, clemency petitions, affidavits, prosecution exhibits, photographs of concentration camps, etc., as well as original German documents used as evidence in the prosecution of the numerous war crimes cases, excluding the Nuremberg Trials, concerning atrocities in concentration camps, atrocities committed on Allied military personnel and Allied fliers who crash landed in Germany, and other crimes. Only the German documents predating May 8, 1945, have been included in this filming project. A data sheet describing the material in each folder microfilmed is included before the items filmed. The Judge Advocate Division file number has been used to identify each item wherever given. In other instances whatever identifying information is available, such as the case or exhibit number, has been given as the item number. Overall provenance for the records is HQ USAREUR. Judge Advocate Division, as all German documents in the files were made a permanent part of the records of that office; however, the original German provenance of the items filmed is given as the provenance on the data sheets. CONTENTS Roll Description 1 000-50-2, Vol. 1 [No Title] Correspondence, reports, memoranda, scientific theses, and other data exchanged among Dr. -
Intelligence, Reparations, and the US Army Air Forces, 1944-1947
Petrina, S. (2019). “Scientific Ammunition to Fire at Congress:” Intelligence, reparations and the US Army Air Forces, 1944-1947. Journal of Military History, 83(3), 795-829. “Scientific Ammunition to Fire at Congress:” Intelligence, Reparations, and the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1944-1947 "Secrets by the Thousands!" "Nazi Science Secrets!" "A Technological Treasure Hunt!" "All the war secrets, as released, are completely in the public domain." Military intelligence was not quite as accessible as it seemed to journalists in late 1946 and early 1947. This particular bounty of intelligence derived from extensive exploitation strategies hatched by American and British forces in the closing months of World War II (WWII). These efforts anticipated the Potsdam Conference and Agreement of July and August 1945, where Germany and the Nazi economy were carved up for postwar occupation and reparations. The largest was Operation LUSTY (LUftwaffe Secret TechnologY), launched by the United States (US) Army Air Forces (AAF) in 1944. LUSTY was a small army of engineers, scientists, AAF officers, and troops, numbering 3,000 at its peak in the summer of 1945. The task was no mystery, teams scoured the German countryside and cities, crating up over three million documents from Braunschweig targets alone. About 16,280 items and 6,200 tons of miscellaneous materiel and documents were shipped through London and Paris and back to Wright Field and Freeman Field in Ohio and Indiana in the first three of LUSTY's sixteen months of existence. Jets such as the Me-262 and Ju-290 were flown; He-162s, Ho-229s, Me-163s, V-2 rockets, and Ötztal's wind tunnels were shipped.1 For General Henry H. -
Die Deutschen Flakraketen Im Zweiten Weltkrieg1
Karl-Heinz Ludwig Die deutschen Flakraketen im Zweiten Weltkrieg1 In einem 1967 veröffentlichten Sammelband über den Zweiten Weltkrieg wird darauf hingewiesen, daß schätzungsweise rund hunderttausend »beachtenswerte« geschichtswissenschaftliche Beiträge zu diesem, die politische Situation der ganzen Erde umgestaltenden Ereignis veröffentlicht worden sind2. Vergleichsweise wenig ist über die Rüstung geschrieben worden, d. h. über die technisch-wissenschaftliche Entwicklung von Kriegsgerät, seine tedinisch-wirtsdiaftliche Fertigung und die Modalitäten der späteren Anwendung. Aber nicht nur die Probleme der Rüstung und damit der Wirtschaft im Zweiten Weltkrieg sind unzureichend durchdrungen, noch weniger geklärt ist ihr tatsächlicher Zusammenhang mit denen der Strategie. Bis heute läßt sich nidits Endgültiges darüber aussagen, ob das zunächst so ein- gängige Schema stimmt, wonach zu einer deutschen Blitzkriegsstrategie der ersten Kriegsjahre eine konzipierte Breitenrüstung gehört habe und ab Ende 1941 mit dem sich in die Länge ziehenden Krieg eine Phase der Tiefenrüstung begann8. Die Brauchbarkeit dieses Schemas muß stark angezweifelt werden. Die wechselnden strategischen Zielsetzungen in der Zeit bis 1941 haben naturgemäß nur eine Rüstung der Breite ermöglicht. Eine durchgestaltete Rüstung der Tiefe aber, d. h. geplante Forsdiungs-, Konstruktions- und Entwicklungsarbeiten auf längere Sicht, ein langfristiger Ausbau aller Grundindustrien, eine frühzeitige Abstimmung der Geräteendfertigung beispielsweise mit der Treibstoffversorgung usw., -
Place of Remembrance of Forced Labor in the Volkswagen Factory
Place of Remembrance of Forced Labor in the Volkswagen Factory Forced Labor in the Third Reich. An Introduction. Hans Mommsen 3 Room 1 - The ”Volkswagen” Project 11 Room 2 - The Expansion of Armaments Production and Systematic Development of Forced Labor 31 Room 3 - Concentration Camp Prisoners 81 Room 4 - Dispersal of the Volkswagen Plant to Underground and Decentralized Locations 113 Room 5 - Remembrance 143 Room 6 - Confronting the History of the Volkswagen Factory in the Third Reich 157 Appendix: Corridor - Air-Raid Shelters and Bombing of the 171 Volkswagen Factory – the Place of Remembrance at an Historic Location Photographs and Documentation 177 Imprint 178 Color Photos and Diagrams 180 2 3 Forced Labor in the Third Reich. In the years 1943 and 1944, when the use of forced labor An Introduction. reached its peak, forced laborers and foreign workers assig- Hans Mommsen ned to obligatory service (”Dienstverpflichtete”) accounted for more than two thirds of the total workforce and as much as 80 % of all production workers. This put the Volkswagen- werk at the top of the scale in the use of foreign workers, the The use of millions of foreign workers as forced laborers was average use of whom in German armaments factories was a prominent feature of the National Socialist wartime eco n - only 30 %. Under the pressure of circum stances, Volkswa- o my. Far from being an exception in this regard, Volks - genwerk GmbH moved into the vanguard of this develop- wagenwerk GmbH in fact relied on involuntary labor to a ment and strove from early on to find ways and means to disproportionate extent. -
Operation Paperclip and the Contrasting Fates of Wernher Von Braun and Arthur Rudolph
VEIL OF PROTECTION: OPERATION PAPERCLIP AND THE CONTRASTING FATES OF WERNHER VON BRAUN AND ARTHUR RUDOLPH Allison Eldridge-Nelson A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2017 Committee: Walter Grunden, Advisor Benjamin Greene © 2017 Allison Eldridge-Nelson All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Walter Grunden, Advisor Toward the end of World War II, the United States government initiated Operation Paperclip which set out to secretly secure the top rocket scientists from Nazi Germany. To accomplish this, officials manipulated policy procedures, covered their tracks, and years later misrepresented their knowledge of the project’s details. The resulting problematic immigration policy enabled the government to allow former Nazi scientists to travel to the U.S. and be employed by the military well ahead of executive approval, and amidst strong dissent. This thesis will take these arguments a step further by contextualizing it within two personal narratives of participants of Operation Paperclip. The two examined scientists, Wernher von Braun and his colleague Arthur L. Rudolph, became highly regarded in their field and were bestowed with public praise, titles, and awards, yet their fates were drastically different. As this thesis tracks the constantly shifting immigration policy that was shaped by America’s national interests in the immediate post-WWII era, it will explain the unchecked and unstable procedures that resulted in skewed perceptions of von Braun and Rudolph. Although von Braun worked alongside Rudolph, and held powerful positions of authority, his prominence and importance to the U.S. -
Germany's Rocket Development in World War II by Martin Hodapp
University of Hawai‘i at Hilo · Hawai‘i Community College HOHONU 2013 Vol. 11 at the time, Goddard had successfully launched a liquid Germany’s Rocket fueled rocket in 1926. By the late 1920s, space travel Development in World War II had ceased to be a crazy idea on the fringes of society. Martin Hodapp, [email protected] The rigorous theoretical work of Oberth together with History 395 Literature Review, UH Hilo the boisterous attention grabbing of Valier had made the concept acceptable to the German public.1 All of Many important technological innovations came the speculation and excitement about rocketry did not about during World War II as a consequence of each side remain merely a phenomenon of popular culture. trying to gain an advantage over the other. Examples of Lieutenant Colonel Karl Becker of the German this include radar, sonar, the atomic bomb, and ballistic Army Ordnance Offce had taken an interest in rockets. missiles. These missiles in the form of the German V2 In particular, he was interested in the possibility of using were frst deployed on September 7, 1944. This paper solid fuel rockets as a delivery method for chemical will explain the events that led up to the deployment weapons on the battlefeld.2 It is interesting to note that of this new weapon system. This paper will be largely a this idea had actually been discussed by Oberth in the literature review as my research has relied primarily on 1929 version of his book. However, his delivery system Michael Neufeld's The Rocket and the Reich; it covers in consisted of a large intercontinental ballistic missile detail many aspects of my research. -
'Smash the Myth of the Fascist Rocket Baron': East German Attacks On
- I 'Smash the Myth ofthe Fascist Rocket Baron' 107 During the 1950s, von Braun, his associates and the US government had largely neutralized his Nazi problem through a selective use of history and through a 6 conspiracy of silence about his SS officer status and the Y-2 program's exten 'Smash the Myth of the Fascist Rocket sive abuse of concentration camp labor.4 Those were certainly two things that Mader tried to expose; his book became a big seller throughout the Warsaw Pact. Baron': East German Attacks Geheimnis von Huntsville went on to spawn a major East German motion picture, which opened in spring 1967 with the otherwise unnamed 'Rocket Baron' (von on Wernher von Braun in the 1960s Braun was in fact a Pruss ian baron) as one of the central villains. Several months Michael,. Neufeld later, a West-German court opened a trial of three SS men from the Mittelbau Dora concentration camp, which supplied the labor to the underground Y-2 plant. Although this proceeding was not about von Braun, the East-German co·counsel ultimately succeeded in having him called as a witness, presumably with the pri mary intent of embarrassing him. That marked the third East German attempt to Late in 1962, a West Berlin correspondent of Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), undermine the rocket engineer. the world-famous Director of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Yet these attacks ultimately failed to make much of an impression on von Alabama, sent him a series of hostile articles that had just appeared in East Braun's reputation in the West. -
The Story of Rocket Development from 1920S Germany to 1960S America
Abstract WAR, CONTROVERSY, VON BRAUN’S ROCKET The prestige of German technology and engineering remained DEVELOPMENT high during the years of instability following World War I and SPACE prospered under the Weimar Republic. German science made leaps and bounds towards futuristic technologies during these years, including the rocket that came from science fiction novels written by Hermann Oberth. The enthusiasm for futuristic The Story of Rocket Development technologies drove people like Wernher von Braun to research and develop rockets with fellow enthusiasts in the form of from 1920s Germany to 1960s amateur rocket groups. The rise of the Nazi party to power America brought with it the policy of rearming Germany as soon as possible. Army Ordnance looked at these new technologies in order to replace weapons banned by the Treaty of Versailles. Karl Becker of Army Ordnance gave von Braun a small amount of money during the Weimar period to develop rocket technology. When the Nazis came to power, the funds poured in as the different rocket groups were consolidated into a single group at The A4/V2 Kummersdorf and eventually Peenemünde. World War II World’s first ballistic missile provided an opportunity for the technology to be deployed. The struggles of priority and technical issues slowed the program origins - Nazi Germany down from their anticipated deployment in 1941 to 1943, which 1944-1945 was pushed back to 1944 due to the bombing of Peenemünde in August 1943. The delays and bombing of Peenemünde brought the rocket program closer to the SS, which strove to gain control Hermes II over the program.