Talk:Wernher von Braun

Confusing wording in section

In the section "Membership in the Allgemeine SS", there are a few strangely worded sentences. Template:Quote I interpret these sentences as saying that a former SS officer told the BBC something in 2002, to which Von Braun responded afterwards. However, this is impossible, considering that he died in 1977.

Citizenship

I notice under the citizenship area it only lists USA citizenship, is there no place to find the citizenship for before USA naturalization? NoneStar (talk) 22:26, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you want. The line above says "Nationality German" (whatever that means), there are long sections of the article, Early life and Career in Germany, which discuss his time in Germany. He was clearly in Germany just prior to arriving in the US. The line "On 15 April 1955, von Braun became a naturalized citizen of the United States" is sourced. I don't think there is any reason to imagine he had any other citizenship. Johnjbarton (talk) 01:53, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

Removing "List of Nazis"

In this edit @Death Editor 2 added a See Also List of Nazis, implying that von Braun is on that list. He is not.

The page List of Nazis says the criteria is "This is a list of notable figures who were active within the party". This page on Wernher von Braun says: "Overall FBI conclusions point to Von Braun's involvement in the Nazi Party to be purely for the advancement of his academic career, or out of fear of imprisonment or execution." This page gives no evidence that von Braun was "active within the party". Johnjbarton (talk) 15:32, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Wernher Von Braun was a member of both the Nazi Party and the SS. He oversaw the deaths of tens of thousands of inmates building his beloved rockets. His reasoning for being apart of the nazi party be damned, the most literal definition of a nazi is someone who was apart of the Nazi Party. Death Editor 2 (talk) 16:12, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

@Death Editor 2 As far as I can tell you are making these assertions based on your own opinions:

• "He oversaw the deaths of tens of thousands of inmates building his beloved rockets."
  • No source supports this claim.
• "the most literal definition of a nazi is someone who was apart of the Nazi Party."
  • The definition in List of Nazis does not agree. The purpose of the list is to guide readers who are learning about the Nazi movement so the entries have activity in the Nazi party.

I know that some people believe that every person in the military is responsible for every action of the organization. However that is not a mainstream concept. Rather each person should be held responsible for their own actions. Johnjbarton (talk) 17:34, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

The seventh source used for the V-2 rocket article claims that 12,000 (forced) labourers were killed building the rockets, so you are wrong. Death Editor 2 (talk) 20:26, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Your claim would put von Braun in Category:Nazi war criminals

Please give the source which shows that von Braun was "active within the party". That is the criteria for the List of Nazis. Johnjbarton (talk) 21:11, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

While I think von Braun may not match the List of Nazis criteria exactly, he was a member of the Nazi party and his work on the V-2 was part of an effort to spread the Nazi movement. He could have, for example, found another job rather than join the Nazi's in order to maintain his position. So I will remove my objection.

Template:Hmbox Johnjbarton (talk) 00:21, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

Actually Wernher von Braun is not on the List of Nazis as it excludes SS personal, which have a separate list and by default are Nazis. Therefore you may want to use List of SS personnel#Sturmbannführer (major) instead, which already has an entry for Wernher von Braun. Ilenart626 (talk) 09:56, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

Absurdities Surrounding von Braun

The article says that von Braun was made a professor by Hitler. The dictator did not have any higher education beyond primary school, did not even speak a foreign language, and promoted a leading scientist to professor.

I once saw a US documentary on the space program and the moon flight. Wernher von Braun´s name was not mentioned at all. Ontologix (talk) 04:16, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

On 7 July 1943, Hitler awarded WvB the title of professor after a meeting in the Wolf's Lair. As a dictator, he did not care whether he had the right to do so. Peenemünde people used the title, as documented in many sources, among them in the movie Prüfstand VII, showing the place-keeping cards of Dornberger and WvB in [1] around 46:43. SchmiAlf (talk) 10:11, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

"Experiments with rocket aircraft"

WHO said, ""Are you with us and will you test the rocket in the air? "

Unqualified to edit this but could somebody correct the ambiguity? Here is the conversation:

QUOTE:

......After he familiarized Warsitz with a test-stand run, showing him the corresponding apparatus in the aircraft, he asked: "Are you with us and will you test the rocket in the air? Then, Warsitz, you will be a famous man. And later we will fly to the Moon – with you at the helm!" 76.102.241.243 (talk) 10:00, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

The source is cited in the article. Johnjbarton (talk) 17:40, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

He renounced the Nazi party.

There's a letter in which he renounces the Nazi party. Calling him a Nazi isn't really accurate. Her was never a Nazi by free will or on American soil. Please correct. 76.198.155.98 (talk) 02:10, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

The section on his Nazi party affiliation is well sourced. If you have alternative sources that discredit or alter the content, please provide them. See WP:Verify. Johnjbarton (talk) 14:33, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

Source quotes help verify edits.

@Wizardman I just want to point out that these quotes bound to references are valuable to editors even if they seem to not to be needed by readers. When edits are made which change the meaning we often need to verify the change against a source. I often add a short quote to avoid having to go through the verification multiple times and to help other editors. I agree that the long quote was excessive but the source quote on the cause of death should remain in my opinion. Johnjbarton (talk) 02:23, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

"Irish"

In this edit, DemocracyDeprivationDisorder asks "Please identify who placed it there in the first place." You can find out such things by using the "Find addition/removal" tool at the top of the Revision History page. You'd find out that it happened here, that it originally read "American English", and that the IP doing it had no other edits. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 20:49, 13 June 2025 (UTC)