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Posted: 1/19/2015 8:58:48 PM EDT
[#1]
My neighbor worked with von Braun for many years - thought the world of him. I'll defer to my neighbor's personal judgment.
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:01:58 PM EDT
[#2]
I don't know if he did or did not and I understand the controversy around him. However, FWIW, my grandfather (who is the most honest, God-fearing man I have ever known) personally worked with him at NASA and told me Von Braun was a good, decent man that he (my grandfather) respected.
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:03:41 PM EDT
[#3]
I don't thnk he cared given the times.
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:05:36 PM EDT
[#4]
It didn't matter what he wanted. He had to do what the SS wanted him. He had already been in trouble for mouthing off once.
There isn't any evidence that von Braun was a Nazi. He wanted to make rockets and lived in Germany at the time. Working for the Nazi was the only game in town/ With out him we would not have made it to the moon when we did. |
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:06:11 PM EDT
[#5]
My grandfather used to work with him. Said he was a stand-up man.
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:13:14 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I don't know if he did or did not and I understand the controversy around him. However, FWIW, my grandfather (who is the most honest, God-fearing man I have ever known) personally worked with him at NASA and told me Von Braun was a good, decent man that he (my grandfather) respected. Quote HistoryQuoted:
I don't know if he did or did not and I understand the controversy around him. However, FWIW, my grandfather (who is the most honest, God-fearing man I have ever known) personally worked with him at NASA and told me Von Braun was a good, decent man that he (my grandfather) respected. Cognitive dissonance: In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values. Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance focuses on how humans strive for internal consistency. When inconsistency (dissonance) is experienced, individuals tend to become psychologically uncomfortable and they are motivated to attempt to reduce this dissonance, as well as actively avoiding situations and information which are likely to increase it. Wernher Von Braun was important for the Cold War effort against the Soviets. For this reason, his Nazi past was psychologically whitewashed by people who worked with him, "the ends justify the means" if you will. It's a psychological defense mechanism. Many former SS/Nazis worked for the U.S. after the war. I'm not judging what the U.S. did, but let's not delude ourselves. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:14:03 PM EDT
[#7]
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:21:38 PM EDT
[#8]
He began to become ostracized after the slave labor allegations started surfacing again in the mid to late 60's, by the general public, IIRC
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:22:26 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
It didn't matter what he wanted. He had to do what the SS wanted him. He had already been in trouble for mouthing off once. There isn't any evidence that von Braun was a Nazi. He wanted to make rockets and lived in Germany at the time. Working for the Nazi was the only game in town/ With out him we would not have made it to the moon when we did. False. He made a choice. He could have left Nazi Germany but chose to stay. Some Germans chose to fight Hitler head-on. I'm not condemning him for that as 99%+ of the population did not resist tyranny.
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:23:37 PM EDT
[#10]
Well he personally wrote requests for slaves when he needed more to finish before deadlines, so whether he approved or not he helped propagate the system.
As the author of the Nazi officers wife wrote "there were no innocents" No matter what he accomplished for NASA later. He would have gotten a long prison sentence but for his rocket knowledge. |
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:23:57 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
My neighbor worked with von Braun for many years - thought the world of him. I'll defer to my neighbor's personal judgment. My old boss worked with him. Ask the neighbor about Johann Tschinkel ... he was the combustion guy, and he's dead now. |
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:24:13 PM EDT
[#12]
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:27:17 PM EDT
[#13]
Von Braun wasn't in the chain of command to approve or disapprove of the use of slave labor. That was Speer and Karl-Otto Saur's role. He certainly knew that slave labor was being used in the assembly of V-1 and V-2 weapons however. And if he had any moral qualms about the use of slave labor in these programs they were insufficient to overcome his desire to have state support for his rocket development.
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Posted: 1/19/2015 9:31:38 PM EDT
[#14]
He was a nice man.
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Posted: 1/20/2015 3:13:07 AM EDT
[#15]
Gather round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun, A man whose allegiance Is ruled by expedience. Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown. "Ha, Nazi Schmazi," says Wernher von Braun. Don't say that he's hypocritical, Say rather that he's apolitical. "Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun. Some have harsh words for this man of renown, But some think our attitude Should be one of gratitude, Like the widows and cripples in old London town Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun. You too may be a big hero, Once you've learned to count backwards to zero. "In German oder English I know how to count down, Und I'm learning Chinese," says Wernher von Braun. |
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Posted: 1/20/2015 3:47:09 AM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I don't know if he did or did not and I understand the controversy around him. However, FWIW, my grandfather (who is the most honest, God-fearing man I have ever known) personally worked with him at NASA and told me Von Braun was a good, decent man that he (my grandfather) respected. lots of people who have been involved in genocide seem normal and decent. |
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Posted: 1/20/2015 3:55:34 AM EDT
[#17]
What makes you think a top research man would have anything to do with the labor involved in building launch sites etc.?
It is likely he never witnessed any of that. Of course he would have known of the atrocities by the end of the war that shit had to be common knowledge among the intellectuals.
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Posted: 1/20/2015 3:58:49 AM EDT
[#18]
Apparently, every third Arfcommer has a second hand connection to the Rocket Natzie. Say what you will about him. The man got around.
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Posted: 1/20/2015 4:21:37 AM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Apparently, every third Arfcommer has a second hand connection to the Rocket Natzie. Say what you will about him. The man got around. |
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Posted: 1/20/2015 9:56:19 AM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Apparently, every third Arfcommer has a second hand connection to the Rocket Natzie. Say what you will about him. The man got around. That's because there are really only 500 people in the whole world. Haven't you ever heard that? |
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Posted: 1/20/2015 9:58:52 AM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Apparently, every third Arfcommer has a second hand connection to the Rocket Natzie. Say what you will about him. The man got around. I was just going to post this same observation 
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Posted: 1/20/2015 10:02:59 AM EDT
[#22]
Everything in Huntsville is named after him.
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Posted: 1/20/2015 10:14:49 AM EDT
[#23]
Simply put he went along to get along. Joined the Nazi party in 1937 or 1939 depending on who is writing about him. Member of the SS as a second lt at the urging of Himmler. Promoted to major by war's end. Seen in at least one photo with Hitler while wearing his SS uniform and was reported to wear the SS uniform on official occasions. Worked around and knew about the conditions his slave labor worked under. Under SD surveillance starting in 1943 due to a sometimes "defeatist" attitude. Detained by the Gestapo in 1944 and held in a cell for two weeks. Speer talked Hitler into releasing him. |
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Posted: 1/20/2015 10:20:37 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Apparently, every third Arfcommer has a second hand connection to the Rocket Natzie. Say what you will about him. The man got around. you want some peanut butter to go with your jelly? My dad cut Von Braun's grass as a kid. He never ever met Von Braun but said his wife always offered him something cold to drink while he was working in the yard. |
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