Figure 1.-- Dr. Wernher von Braun was the most important German scientist brought to america as part of Opperation Paper Clip. He is pictured with the Little League team of the Huntsville, Alabama Boys Club. The U.S. Army's missle program was located at Huntsville. The image looks like an idlic piece of Americana. Dr. von Braunat the time was the Director of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and chairman of the 1961 United Givers Fund (UGF) drive at MSFC. He was taking time out from the issues of sending a man to the Moon to talk baseball with 11-year-old Randy Smith at the Huntsville Boys Club Little League team. One can not help of thinking abour Von Braun's activiies before he got to America. He created the V-2 missle apable of dstroying an entire city block, was an SS officer, spebt time in jail because the NAZIsid not thonk himufficently committed to the war, and was aware of the horific conditions at Mittelwerk-Dora where the V-2 was built.

Werner von Braun and other German rocket scientists after the War were brought to the United States through Operation Paper Clip. Both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union scoured Germany after the War for German scientists. The rocket scientists were some of the most sought after. It always has been an embarrassing subject to have used the knowledge and expertise of German sientists. Operation Space Clip was kept secret for many years. The German and NAZI connections of the Von Braun team may have been a factor in President Euisenhower's selection of the Navy program to launch the first American satellite. The connection of these scientists with the NAZIs is a matter of conjecture among historians. Some charge that they were committed NAZIs. Others that they were primarily focused on rocketry and space and only the German military offered the funding needed to persue their work. The V-2s in particular were built by slave laborers working in horrific conditions in underground facilities. A reader writes, "I think it shameful that the inventors (rocket scientists von Braun and his team) immediately after the war in 1945 were brought to the United States to be enployed in further development and research of the American space program." Another reader writes, "As far as the Nazi rocket scientists are concerned I think that they could have done something to improve the condition of the slave laborers , because had they protested, Hitler would have given in, since he needed these scientists more than ever to win the war. Von Braun perhaps tried, I don't know, because he was arrested and jailed for a while (I think also on account of his aristocratic background, after all most of the officers in the plot to kill Hitler on July 20 1944 were noblemen). You are right, history is full of examples where enemies and dangerous people have been used for the common good as in the case of Nazi Germany and Japan, but when I think that I as an immigrant to the U.S. had to fill out forms to declare that I was no nazi or communist (in 1961), while members of the Nazi party who had developed weapons to enventually destroy the United States were brought to this country in 1945, leaving the rubbles of Europe behind, and were given houses, cars and citizenship in no time, then I cannot help to say that there is something wrong with this. I call it hypocricy."

German Scientific Accomplishments

Germany before World War II were still world leaders in many scientific fields. This can be tracked by tallying Nobel Prizes. Attacking the Jews meant losing some of that leadership, not only in nuclear physics, byut other areas as ell. Still there was a trmendous reservoir of talent from Imperial days that Germany still was at the forefront of science. And much of this capability was turned to military research by the NAZIs. The result was some of the best weapons systemof the War, rickets, huides missles, cruise missles, balistic missels and much more. A lot of this was furyristic wepns that had little impact on the War, because it came to late, but other wapons helped a badly outnumbered and undesupplied Whermacht hold up against the immense power of the Soviet Union and Western Allies. The best known scientists were Werner von Braun and other German rocket scientists. After the War were brought to the United States through Operation Paper Clip. Both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union scoured Germany after the War for German scientists. The rocket scientists were some of the most sought after.

Competition

Largely unknown to the American public was the fact that the Soviet Union was a co-belgernt and not an ally. And the Soviet NKVD was only slightly less ruthless than the SS. The basic difference being the NAZI race mania. Many Americans, especially the military, understood that the Soviet Union was a danger. Thus American did its best to find important German scientists and enlst their services. The British did the same, but n a smaller scale. The British Labour Party which won the 1945 Geeral Election was more interested in nationaizing existing industry than in helping British companies develop new technologies. The Americans and British allowed the scientists to bring their families if they so desired. [Jaconsen] The Soviets also wanted these men and Stalin had begun the Cold War in Poland even before the NAZIs surrendered. The Soviet approach was different. The NKVD arrested the men and ordered them to work in Soviet laboratories. Those who declined or did not cooperate were shot. Unlike the American and British effort, their familie were not brought with them. The American and British effort was designed not only to gain technical capability, but to ensure that the Soviets did not. [Jacobsen]

American effort

The American effort to find and secure the services of German scienists was overseen by the Pentagon;'s Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency. The american agents sought out specialists in various areas, especilly rocketry, jet technology, chemical warfare, and doctors. By far the best known are the rovket scientists. The outcome of the Cold War was strongly affected by Werner Von Braun's decesion at the end of the War to surrender to the Americans. This required a dangerous move without authorization from wht would be the Soviet occupatuion zone south to Bavaria. He packed up boxes of scientific papers and he and his team headed south in a convoy. Without orders they coukd have been shot at SS roadblocks, but as an SS officer, Von Braun managed to bluff his way through. And he finally suceeded in surrendering to the Americans. The American at the end of the War had reached areas that wouy\uld be part of the Soviet occupation zone. Among these was Nordhousen. This included underground V-2 production facilities at Mittelwerk. They rapidly removed V-2s and components, working rapidly before the Soviets took control. Colonel Gervaise Trichel of the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Department’s Rocket Development Branch coordinated Operation Backfire (July 1945). They set out to identify and capture some 350 German scientists who had worked on the V-2 program. Trichel was able to offer them work at the U.S. Army White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico. They were not forced to do so, but many agreed to do so voluntarily. As a result of a security breach, the codename was changed to Paperclip (March 1946). The program eventually brought 1,600 German cientists, engineers, and medical specialists to America. Ths was in addition to the Jewish scientists, technicians, and cultural leaders that Hitler drove from Germany in the 1930s. This was part of emergence of the United states from an industrial giant to a high-tech powerhouse. The result can be seen in Nobel Prize awards.

British effort

The British conducted a parallel British research project. It was headed by Sir Alwyn Crow at the Ministry of Supply. The Americans allowed the British to collect V-2 material at Mittelwerk before the Soviets moved in to occupy it. As a result, they assembled eight V2s. There were problems with missing parts. The British looked all over Germany for parts abnd scientists. One report indicates that about 400 railway box cars and 70 Lancaster flights were part of a British effort to transport 0.25 million parts and 60 purpose-built vehicles to Cuxhaven. The hardest items to find were the batteries to operate the V-2 internal guidance gyros. The United States assisted, turning over some of the tail assemblies they had taken from Mittelwerk. The British test-fired weapons at a range outside Cuxhaven. The British wee, however, bankruptted by the war even with american Lend Lease assitance. They had verylimited resources to finance major weapons programs. They did, however, continue their jet program, hoping for commercial applications in commercial aviation. The Labour Party's priorities were, however on social welfare. Not understanding the importance of the privatesector, however, living standards in Britain declined and actually fell below the major continntal countries, including Germany which had been leveled by the War. Unlike Germany, there would be no post-War economic miracle in Britain. And the economic decline meant that World War II rationing would be continued into the 1950s, long after rationing ended France, Italy and West Germany. The poor economic recovery also affected Britain's ability to use the technology acuired from the Germans and to finnce major weapons system.

Soviet effort

The Soviets organized Trophy Brigades that followed the frontline Red Army troops into the Reich. The were part of stalin's determinations to obtain reparations from the defeated Germans. They were after factories and facilities that could shipped east to help rebuild Soviet industry. They were also interested in military technology and scientists. Some of the prority areas were nuclear, rocketry, jet avition, and submarines. Many of the big names were picked up by the americans because of the fear of the Soviets. Thus most but not all scienists headed west. Some stayed in the east because of where their homes and families were located. A few had left-wing sympathies. The Soviets found a few lesser rocket scientists. They were arrested and essentially made slave workers. There was a long tradition of this in the Soviet Gulag. [Solzhenitsyn} Most were taken to newly-constructed and isolated facilities. Many rocket scientists were taken to Gorodomiya Island on a lake northwest of Moscow. They were housed along with Soviet scientists and techniciams. The conditions of their living arrangements were fairly comfortable, at least by Soviet standards. They generally were not involved in research. The Soviets did not want them to expand ther technical expertise. They were assigned tasks like writing papers on what they knew. The Germans were not generlly involved in the actual research efforts. The Soviets mostly relied on their theoretical experise. Their purpose was basically to educate Soviet experts working in various technical areas. They learned very little about the Soviet technical advances. Over time, their technological expertise fell behind that of the Soviet scientists. This continued for about 10 years. Stalin's death was a turning point (1953). By this time the Soviet effort had extracted the important expertise that the German scientists possessed. As they had been kept isolated and not informed of Soviet advanced, after Stalin's death they were generally no longer seen as a threat to the Soviet Union. The more enlightened atmosphere of Khruschev's Destalinization program made it possible for them to return to Germany. Most were forced to settle in East Germany, although we do not yet have full details on this. The experience of Manfred von Ardenne who was involved in the German atomic orogram is a good example of the Soviet program. He decided against working with the Americans and did not understand the character of the Soviet state. He was soon arrested by the Soviets and trasported to the Moscow. It was there he was brought before the infamous Lavrenty Beria who Stalin had put in charge of the Soviet atomic program. The Soviets had their own Alsos program, because their espionage program in America had penetrated the Manhattan Project. Beria was chairing a commission of Siviet scientits. According to von Ardenne who now had second thoughts about not working with the Americans, Beria made a thinly veiled threat to kill him if he did not assist the Soviet atmomic program. He thus agreed to cooperate. His assignment was to work on electromagnetic procedures to purify Uranium 235, which he had worked on as part of the German atomic program. He worked with the Soviet nuclear program for 9 years. He was allowed to leave and settle in East Germany (1954). [Ardenne] One interesting apect of the Sovet program was that while it did prove useful in developing advanced weaponry, there was virtually no carry over into consumer products and the cuvilian economy. The result is that Russia's economy today is largely centered on exporting raw mteria (especially energy) and not producing high-tech mnufactred goods.

Secrecy

It always has been an embarrassing subject to have used the knowledge and expertise of German sientists. Operation Space Clip was kept secret for many years. The military was understanably concerned about the publivc reaction. [Jacobson] The German and NAZI connections of the Von Braun team may have been a factor in President Euisenhower's selection of the Navy program to launch the first American satellite.

NAZI Connection

The connection of these scientists with the NAZIs is a matter of conjecture among historians. Some charge that they were committed NAZIs. Others that they were primarily focused on rocketry and space and only the German military offered the funding needed to pursue their work. It was not possible for scientists, not just rocket scuentists, to work in NAZI Germany unless they involved themselves in some way in the NAZI war effort or other NAZI Party effort.

Mittelwerk-Dora Facility

The V-2s in particular were built by slave laborers working in horrific conditions in underground facilities at Mittelwerk near Nordhausen. Prioners from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp were used as workers. Dora-Mittelbau was a labor camp set up on the outskirts of Nordhausen. The Dora-Mittelbau camp was one of the last important concentration camps openedby the SS. It was here after the Allied air attack on Peenamunde that the SS set up fabrication facilities for the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory in the Kohnstein tunnels. It appears to have been opened as an subcamp of Buchenwald (around August 1943). A year later it was operating as a major concentration camp with 23 subcamps, most of them close to Nordhausen. The SS made this a restricted military area. The work was done in tunnels impervious to Allied bombing. Conditions at the camp might be likened to Dante's Inferno. The prisoners were worked to death. There was little food and no medical care. Prisoners thought not working hard enough were hung from the ceeilings and left there as an example to the other prisoners. The town of Nordhausen was virtually obliterated by the RAF (April 3 and 4, 1945). About 8,800 people were killed, including 1.500 sick inmates at the Norhausen sub-camp (Boelcke Kaserne barracks). The Americans occupied the town (April 11). Norhausen waa located in the Soviet occupation zone. The Red Army moved in (July 2). The Soviets set up the Institute Rabe to advance Soviet rocket technology using the German work on the advanced V2s (May 1946). Rabe was incorporated into a new Institute Nordhausen, under a greatly enlarged research program within the Soviet occupation zone. This included a a new Institute Berlin. The Soviets then carried out aurprise operaton--Operation Osoaviakhim October 22, 1946). The NKVD arrested some 10,000-15,000 German scientists, engineers and their families and deported them to secure research facilities deep in the Soviet Union. Included in the group were about 300 people from Nordhausen. Theu were deported with their equipment. Many remained there until aftyer Stalin died (1950s). Individuals who complined and demanded to return to Germany were shot.

War Criminals

The most notable German scientists recruited by the Americans were the rocket scentists. The Best known is certainly Wernher Von Braun. Slave labor became a major component of the German rocket program after the Allied strategic bombing program intensified and more and more German workers were drafted for military service. The complicity of von Braun and the other rocket scientists with slave labor is murky. Vn Braun certainly knew about the Mittelwerk-Dora facility and the conditions there. But he did not set up or manage the facility. It is not clear what he could have done about it. He was already in trouble for being too interested in space and not committed to the war effort. He was in fact arrested and might have been committed to a concentration camp had it not been for the priority given to the V-2 program by Hitler. Others German scientists were more clearly connected with war crimes. One author claims that included in the Paper Clip group were doctors who were involved in human experiments with concentation camp inmates, mostly Jews. [Jaconsen] If true this is not as murky as the rocketry group and a clear moral outrage that we would deal with such people. The United States struck a deal with the Japanese researchers involved with human experimntation, so it may well be true.

Reader Comments

A reader writes, "I think it shameful that the inventors (rocket scientists von Braun and his team) immediately after the war in 1945 were brought to the United States to be enployed in further development and research of the American space program." Another reader writes, "As far as the Nazi rocket scientists are concerned I think that they could have done something to improve the condition of the slave laborers , because had they protested, Hitler would have given in, since he needed these scientists more than ever to win the war. Von Braun perhaps tried, I don't know, because he was arrested and jailed for a while (I think also on account of his aristocratic background, after all most of the officers in the plot to kill Hitler on July 20 1944 were noblemen). You are right, history is full of examples where enemies and dangerous people have been used for the common good as in the case of Nazi Germany and Japan, but when I think that I as an immigrant to the U.S. had to fill out forms to declare that I was no nazi or communist (in 1961), while members of the Nazi party who had developed weapons to enventually destroy the United States were brought to this country in 1945, leaving the rubbles of Europe behind, and were given houses, cars and citizenship in no time, then I cannot help to say that there is something wrong with this. I call it hypocricy."

Sources

(von) Ardenne, Manfred. Mein Leben für Forschung und Fortschritt.

Jacobsen, Annie. Operation Paprtclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America (2013), 576p.

Solzhenitsyn. Aleksandr. First Circle.

Created: 10:32 PM 4/9/2011
Last updated: 5:52 PM 8/26/2016