The whole story is fascinating, if more than a little fucked up.
He and his engineering team decided to seek out US troops to surrender to because he didn’t want the Soviets getting their hands on his rocket tech. The US government got him out of the country, forged documents to get him into the US legally, granted him immunity and shielded him from being prosecuted for war crimes and atrocities he was involved in.
He was sitting poolside at a resort when an US agent came up to him and said essentially “we found you, we also know where your family is. You can come with us and we’ll get you and your family out, or, you can wait for the Russians to find you, which won’t be long, and you can see what they do with you. The choice is yours, but make it right now.”
So he went to the US because he felt his fate was better there. And he wasn’t just a scientist who was being used by the Nazis, he was a hardened nazi. He ran factories with slave labor that had executed corpses hanging from the ceiling. The workers had to go down a hallway to check into work where the bodies of sabotauers were on display and they had to punch them on their way onto the floor. He wasn’t just complicit in that and how things were run, those were his decisions. (I did a humongous project on the V-2 rocket when I was younger. Would have won the national competition in DC if I would have just answered one question the judges were essentially begging me to answer)
You know, I’ve thought of a lot of crazy stuff, but I’ve never once thought about going to a job and having to walk down a hallway where my dead co-workers were hanging for making some mistake and I had to punch them.
yes, and so much more. the americans actually took everything and anything rocket related they could get their hands on, trying to prevent the russians from doing the same.
USSR develops the V2 into the R7, design elements from the R7 are used in the Scud. The Scud is exported to Egypt. North Korea trades Egypt for Scuds and base their rocket systems on it. Iran trades oil for Scud tech and develop their own ballistic missile and space program (Libya is in there somewhere too)
Didn’t we actually steal Wernher von Braun?
The whole story is fascinating, if more than a little fucked up.
He and his engineering team decided to seek out US troops to surrender to because he didn’t want the Soviets getting their hands on his rocket tech. The US government got him out of the country, forged documents to get him into the US legally, granted him immunity and shielded him from being prosecuted for war crimes and atrocities he was involved in.
I think it was more him not wanting to be caught by the Russians because it would be a lot more uncomfortable.
Probably both
He was sitting poolside at a resort when an US agent came up to him and said essentially “we found you, we also know where your family is. You can come with us and we’ll get you and your family out, or, you can wait for the Russians to find you, which won’t be long, and you can see what they do with you. The choice is yours, but make it right now.” So he went to the US because he felt his fate was better there. And he wasn’t just a scientist who was being used by the Nazis, he was a hardened nazi. He ran factories with slave labor that had executed corpses hanging from the ceiling. The workers had to go down a hallway to check into work where the bodies of sabotauers were on display and they had to punch them on their way onto the floor. He wasn’t just complicit in that and how things were run, those were his decisions. (I did a humongous project on the V-2 rocket when I was younger. Would have won the national competition in DC if I would have just answered one question the judges were essentially begging me to answer)
You know, I’ve thought of a lot of crazy stuff, but I’ve never once thought about going to a job and having to walk down a hallway where my dead co-workers were hanging for making some mistake and I had to punch them.
“Have you seen Mark lately?” “He didnt tighten a bolt enough, he’s hanging in the hallway i believe.”
What was the question?
They wanted me to show that I understood that this was the beginning of space travel.
And that kids, is why you should study engineering in college.
So you can be scooped up after the war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip
yes, and so much more. the americans actually took everything and anything rocket related they could get their hands on, trying to prevent the russians from doing the same.
Russians did the same, the Soyous rockets date (with many modernisation) back from stolen nazi V2 motors.
USSR develops the V2 into the R7, design elements from the R7 are used in the Scud. The Scud is exported to Egypt. North Korea trades Egypt for Scuds and base their rocket systems on it. Iran trades oil for Scud tech and develop their own ballistic missile and space program (Libya is in there somewhere too)
The V2 design has legs!
Yep, Saturn IV if I remember correctly