Overview

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (1912-1977) was a German-American aerospace engineer who served as a major in Hitler SS and directed the development of the V-2 ballistic missile using forced labor from the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp, where approximately 20,000 prisoners died from starvation, disease, and execution. Von Braun was an SS-Sturmbannfuhrer (equivalent to major) who personally visited Mittelbau-Dora and handpicked prisoners as slave laborers for his rocket program. When the war ended, U.S. intelligence agents fabricated his background through Operation Paperclip, whitewashing his Nazi party membership, SS rank, and connections to slave labor in order to recruit him. He became the leading figure in American rocketry, directing the development of the Redstone missile, the Jupiter ballistic missile, and ultimately the Saturn V rocket that carried American astronauts to the Moon. His transformation from SS officer to American hero represents one of the most dramatic examples of institutional moral compromise in Cold War history. Despite mounting evidence of his direct involvement in the Dora-Mittelbau atrocities, von Braun received the National Medal of Science and was celebrated as a national hero until his death.

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Related Investigations (2)

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Sources & Documentation

2 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports