{"id":301832,"date":"2025-06-19T10:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T10:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-june-19-2025-american-nazis-wernher-von-braun\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T10:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T10:28:07","slug":"americanstudies-june-19-2025-american-nazis-wernher-von-braun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=301832","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: June 19, 2025: American Nazis: Wernher von Braun"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[In the summer
\nof 1945<\/a>, Nazi scientists began arriving in the United States, recruited to
\nwork in the US government and eventually
\nits space program<\/a> as part of Operation
\nPaperclip<\/a>. But they weren\u2019t the first American Nazis by any means, and this
\nweek I\u2019ll AmericanStudy a handful of others, leading up to a weekend post on an
\ninteresting and fraught recent cultural representation of Paperclip.]<\/p>\n

On three
\nstriking lines from <\/span>Tom
\nLehrer\u2019s satirical song<\/span><\/a> about the <\/span>Nazi-turned-American<\/span><\/a>
\nscientist.<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cCall him a Nazi, he won\u2019t even frown\/\u2018Ha,
\nNazi, Schmazi,\u2019 says Wernher von Braun\u201d: As I\u2019ll discuss at greater length in
\nthe weekend post, what was perhaps most striking about Operation Paperclip
\nwasn\u2019t that it brought Nazi scientists to America, but that it did so so
\nquickly and openly. Von Braun, the scientist single-handedly responsible for
\nthe <\/span>V2 rocket<\/span><\/a> that
\nkilled a great many Londoners in the final year of the Blitz (among other work
\nhe did for Hitler\u2019s Nazi regime), was among those initial arrivals in the
\nUnited States in late September 1945, less than 5 months after <\/span>V-E Day<\/span><\/a>. He would
\ngo on to be a prominent <\/span>public spokesperson<\/span><\/a> as well
\nas scientist for NASA and the Space Program, appearing for example on three <\/span>Walt Disney Man in Space<\/i><\/span><\/a> TV shows. Clearly von Braun was able to immediately
\nand consistently laugh away his service to Nazi Germany, and so, it seems was
\nthe US government. <\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cLike the widows and cripples in old London
\ntown\/Who owe their large pension to Wernher von Braun\u201d: But not all Americans
\nwere as willing or able to laugh that history away, as Lehrer\u2019s early 1960s
\nsong illustrates. There\u2019s no shortage of contenders for the song\u2019s most biting
\ncouplet, but I would have to go with this one, especially as it follows \u201cBut
\nsome think our attitude\/Should be one of gratitude.\u201d Obviously those who have
\nbeen permanently and fatally affected by von Braun\u2019s rockets would show him no
\ngratitude\u2014and Lehrer here links \u201cus\u201d and \u201cour attitude\u201d to those London
\ncasualties. The first line in this verse, \u201cSome have harsh words for this man
\nof renown,\u201d really drives home the point\u2014after all, in 1945 what von Braun was
\nrenowned for was designing killing machines, and it was then that the US
\ndecided to not just spare him from post-war trials and punishments, but to
\nbring him to America and make him an integral, acclaimed part of our own Cold
\nWar efforts. <\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cGood old Americans like Dr. Wernher von
\nBraun!\u201d: All of this adds a great deal more to Lehrer\u2019s spoken introduction to
\nthe song, which asks \u201cwhat is it\u201d that helped America advanced in both the
\nnuclear and space races. \u201cWell,\u201d Lehrer replies, \u201cit was good old American know
\nhow, that\u2019s what, as provided by good old Americans like\u201d von Braun. While of
\ncourse immigrants to the US are indeed American, von Braun\u2019s immigration took
\nplace, again, just a few months after he was employed by and making weapons for
\nthe US\u2019s wartime adversary. Yet while on that level Lehrer\u2019s description of him
\nas a \u201cgood old American\u201d could be read as ridiculous, I would say that the true
\nsatire lies deeper\u2014that our willingness to abandon morality or ethics in
\npursuit of scientific and Cold War \u201cvictories\u201d was and is, indeed, all too
\ndefining and foundational of an American trait. <\/span><\/p>\n

Last
\nNaziStudying tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What
\ndo you think? Other histories or stories you\u2019d highlight?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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