History of Rocketry and Astronautics Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth and Twenty-Ninth History Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics Jerusalem, Israel, 1994 Oslo, Nonvay, 1995 Donald C. Elder and Christophe Rothmund, Volume Editors Donald C. Elder, Series Editor AAS History Series, Volume 23 A Supplement to Advances in the Astronautical Sciences lAA History Symposia, Volume 15 C o p y r i g h t 2 0 0 1 b y A M E R I C A N A S T R O N A U T I C A L S O C I E T Y A A S P u b l i c a t i o n s O f f i c e P . O . B o x 2 8 1 3 0 S a n D i e g o , C a l i f o r n i a 9 2 1 9 8 A f f i l i a t e d w i t h t h e A m e r i c a n A s s o c i a t i o n f o r t h e A d v a n c e m e n t o f S c i e n c e M e m b e r o f t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l A s t r o n a u t i c a l F e d e r a t i o n F i r s t P r i n t i n g 2 0 0 1 I S S N 0 7 3 0 - 3 5 6 4 I S B N 0 - 8 7 7 0 3 - 4 7 7 - X ( H a r d C o v e r ) I S B N 0 - 8 7 7 0 3 - 4 7 8 - 8 ( S o f t C o v e r ) P u b l i s h e d f o r t h e A m e r i c a n A s t r o n a u t i c a l S o c i e t y b y U n i v e l t , I n c o r p o r a t e d , P . O . B o x 2 8 1 3 0 , S a n D i e g o , C a l i f o r n i a 9 2 1 9 8 P r i n t e d a n d B o u n d i n t h e U . S . A . I V - Chapter 12 The Excluded: Hermann Oberth and Rudolf Nebel in the Third Reich* Michael J. Neufeldt With the Nazi seizure of power in spring 1933, conditions for Germany's rock try and spacefl ight movement quickly began to deteriorate . The Verein fur Raumsch iffahrt (Society for Space Trave l or VfR), the Raketenflugplatz Berlin, and a handful of other groups-already suffering from the effects of the Great Depression-soon found themselves under subtle or blatant pressure from the new po lice state to restrict the ir activities or disband altogether. The source of th is pressure was Army Ordnance Testing Division, headed by the ball ist ics ex­ pert, Brig. Gen. Dr. -lng. Karl Becker. He and his assistants-most notably Capt. Walter Domberger, later head of Army rocket development-felt that rocketry prov ided the key to devastating new surprise weapons of at least two types: batt le fie ld so lid-fu el proj ect iles carrying poison gas, and long-range liquid-fue l ballistic missiles for attack ing enemy cities and installations. In order to achieve surprise and avoid a lerti ng foreign powers to the potential of the roc ket they fe lt it was imperat ive to impose total secrecy by concentrating all development in Army hands . For a number of rocketee rs, that meant an opportunity would arise-often years later-to apply the ir experience to military missi le development, usually under the di rection of Wemher von Braun, who had begun working for the Ar­ • Presented at the Twenty-Ninth History Symposium of the Internati ona l Academy of Astronautics, Os lo, Norway , 1995 . Copyright L 1995 by the Smithsonian Institution. Publi shed by the American Astronautical Soc iety wi th permission. t National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Wash ington, D.C. , USA. 209 my in late 1932. But others judged by O rdnance not to be useful to its program were barred from any rocket activity for many years, or throughout the short h istory of the "Thousand-Year Rei ch." Often frustrated and bitter, the responses of these, the exc luded, varied. Two or three, like the writer Willy Ley, emi­ grated. At least one, the enthusiast Werner BrUgel, gave up rocketry rather than Jet it be used for weaponry, but ironically worked as an engineer in other mili­ tary deve lopment anyway. A few, like Raketenflugplatz veteran Ro lf Engel, fo ught the Army by work ing from the inside as members th e National Socialist Party and SS . l Others worked agai nst the ir banning from outside the Party and its o rgan izations, but from a position sympathetic to the Nazis. Figure Hermann Oberth during the filming of Frau im Mond at the UFA movie studios near Berlin in 1929 (Smithsonian neg. no. A­ 3894). The latter strategy was the one chosen by the two most prominent surviv­ ing leaders of the Weimar space movemen , Hermann Oberth and Rudolf Nebel. Oberth (Figure 1) was the movement ' s doyen, the man who sparked the enthu si­ asm for liquid-fuel rocketry and space travel in Genll any w ith his groundbreak­ ing 1923 book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen (The Rocket into Interplane­ tary Space).2 The Nazi seizure of power found him in hi s native German-speak­ ing region of Romania, where he had returned in 1930 disgusted at the obstacles 210 to a rap id realization of his ideas. Nebel, on the other hand, made his name as the energetic, if slippery, head of the largest amateur rocket development group, the Raketenfl ugplatz Berl in. During the early months after Ado lf Hi tle r became Chancellor on 30 January 1933, his group continued to operate unhindered by any problems except financial ones. Over the summer, his group launched rock­ ets at Magdeburg and in various parts of Berlin (Figure 2). But he would soon begin to feel the effects of the Arm y's dri ve for a monopoly.3 Figure 2 Rudolf Nebel (second from left, in ~ uit) during the prqmnltiol1s for the launch of the Magdeburg rocket in June 1933 (Smithsonian neg. no. 77-4199) . 211 While Becker and his subordinates in Ordnance could safely ignore O berth, who was remote and inactive until mid-1934, they were determ ined to forc Rudolf Nebel out of the rocket business . Not only was his group the most publicly active, relation with him had been troubled . fn spring 1930, Ordnance had secretly g iven him 5,000 marks (about $1,200) as Oberth 's representative, with the promise that he would organize the launching ofOberth's rocket, which had b en bui lt to promote the movi e Frau im Mond (Woman in th e Moon). Yet that ill- fat d vehicle never got off the ground, and Nebel vi olated confidentiality by openly d iscussing the Army' s ro le. In 1932, Nebel revived contact by touti ng Raketennugplatz' s progress and liquid-fuel rocketry's military applications. Not­ withstanding the spaceflight focus of most pre-1933 enthusiasts, Oberth had d is­ cllssed intercontinental ballistic miss iles w ith chemical warheads in hi s 1929 book , Wege zur Rawl1schiffahrt (Ways to Spaceflight), and Nebel had used jin­ goism to ra ise money fo r that concept and others, such as anti -aircraft missiles. Nebel ' s renewed effolis led to a demonstration launch at the Kummersdorf artil­ lery range outside Berl in on 22 June J932 . The test was a failu re, and Ordnance refused to pay the agreed-upon expenses; the officers fe lt that Nebel had once agai n been a liar. Aftelward Becker lured away one of Nebel ' s as istants. von Braun by offering h im a chance to pursue a doctorate through secret work at Kummersdorf4 Because r have d iscussed elsewhere the Army's campaign to suppress the an atcur rocket group in 1933 -34,5 I will focLi s here only on Nebel ' s response, which reveal s the pattem both be and Oberlh wou ld follow. While Nebel never jo ined the Nazi Party, he was an ultra-national ist and member of the massive veterans group Stahlhe!m (Stee l Helmet). The Stahlhelm had been included in the firs t Hit ler cabinet th rough the appointment of its leader, Dr. Franz Se ldte, as Labor Minister. As po lice harassment of the Raketenflugplatz began to build in fa ll 1933 ebe l turned to Seldte for advice. H is a lly in this effoli was Ro lf< Enge l, who, for reason sti ll unc lear, had al ready been singled out for arrest by the secret pol ice in April 1933, wh ile head ing his own rocket group in Dessau. Seldte adv ised Nebel and Engel to contact Ernst Rohm, the leader of the SA (Sturmabtei lung)- the Storm troopers-since Rohm was a bitter critic of the genera ls and hoped to turn the SA into a truly Nazi fied mass army. Engel, and probably Nebe l too, were brought under the wing of a short-lived SA auxiliary organization, the Deutsche Luftwacht (German Air Guard). Rohm and the SA leadersh ip pr ssed the Army to tolerate rocket activ ities outsi de its jurisdiction, particular ly those of Nebel. Nebel meanwhile assumed the colors of the regime, even if he d id not j o in the party; Ley asserts that he wore "a swastika armlet" and the British space enthusiast Philip C leator, who vi sited Berlin in early 1934, later described Nebel as acting "as befitted a knight of the New Order." Nebel also tried to approach Hitler, the Fore ign Ministry, and other offices to gain support for his work. When the Army stymied the SA initiatiVf:; he used his 212 leth- Seldte connection to have the Post Office Minister ask the Army to all ow hi m to develop mail rockets. That too was thwarted by Ordnance.6 may Nebel's room for maneuver was decisively narrowed on June 30, 1934, JOok when he was briefly arrested during the bloody purge of the SA leadership. iting Rohm and other SA chieftains were shot on Hitler's orders. Nebel was jai led thus because only weeks before he had printed a leaflet Raketen-Torpedos (Rocket Irror Torpedoes), which listed a number of potential military uses for the rocket. The1son SA leadership had intervened on his behalf, but the Army had already de­hich nounced him to the Gestapo (Secret State Police) for violating secrecy. He wasfirst lucky to get out of jail within a day due to the intervention of a friendly police­ man, but found himse lf expelled once-and-for-all from the Raketenflugpl atz-or may so he saysJ With the SA purge, Becker and the Ordnance rock et group fi nally was had the tools to cement their monopo ly over the technology. The Army ' s main rtcd rival had been eliminated as a factor and the secret police now collaborated fully ility in the imposition of total secrecy on rocketry. Soon even second-rank fi gures the like Rolf Engel and Werner BrUgel were harassed into stopp ing all activity8 that Although the Third Reich remained a collection of warring bureaucratic empires par­ held together by Hi tl er' s charismatic leadership, Rudolf ebel wou ld now find it!gns much more di ffic ult to continue any activity in the rocket field. lore During the battles of 1933-34, in which Nebel had been the chief nemesis 10f of the officers in Army Ordnance, Hermann Oberth had remai ned far rem oved and indifferent in Romania. In February 1933 he had emphatically written to de- Otto Wiemer, a German space enthusiast: " I will not work in Germany any )ro­ rn ore."9 He concentrated instead on small-scale experimentation in what time he could spare from hi s job as a high-school physics teacher. Yet he ultimately was unsatisfied with that marginal existence. On 8 J me 1934, j ust w ks before the bloodbath of "The Night of the Long Kn ives," he wrote to or approached the German embassy in Bucharest with a proposal for a ballistic missile. His moti ­ vations appear to have been more than merely technical; although he (like e­ bel ) never joined the Nazi Party. he was. he said. a member f a ""National Soc iali st self-help organization" in Transylvan ia. Like many ethnic Germans in Ea tern Europe, he apparently was enthus iastic for Hitler's new Germany. Army Ordnance, however, brushed off his proposal in September 1934 through inter­ mediaries by dismissing altogether the possibil ity of a miss ile-cven the exist­ ence f the Army program was classified . In December Obel1h tried again by acquiring a representative in Berli n, a Dr. H. Stark, who turned out to be an Italian citizen . Th is proved to be far from wise, because military secrecy pre­ vented all foreign citizens fro m having know ledge of the program . In March 1935, Ordnance init iated a second rejection through the Foreign Ministry. J 0 The reason ing behind Army rocket group's refusal to work with Oberth is clearly revea led in a 28 February 1935 posit ion paper written by Capt Erich Schneider and Leo Zanssen. First, they explained, Oberth had a "very wel l­ versed, imaginat ive mind," but was an impractical theoretician. Secondly, his 213 character was immodest and querulous, which would lead to "a string of con­ flicts" with his super iors-an entire ly justi fied assessment. Finally, he was a Roman ian citi zen and hi s character made it too difficu lt to bring him to Ger­ many and have him naturalized, especially in view of his famous name, which in itse lf might draw attention to the supersecret program. The danger existed, however, that other powers might become interested in hiring him. So a docu­ ment from 4 March, apparently drafted by Wernher von Braun, recommended that any contact w ith Oberth "be handled dilatorily," in order to string him along and thereby prevent a loss of the " lead in armaments" the Army had bu ilt up through its liquid-fuel rocket program at Kuml1lersdorf. Thus Oberth received no reje tion unt il May. When Dr. Stark visi ted Ordnance in June to fin d out why, he was told nothing except that the Army had no interest in rocketry at the moment, but perhaps he cou Id check in at the t:nd of the year. ll In the meantime, Nebel- aston ishingly- had not given up trying to fin d his way back into rocket work; his ego was anchored in his mo ment of glory as head of the Raketentlugplatz. In October 1934 he managed to interest the large engineering fi rm of Borsig in rocket development, but that ini tiative was imme­ diate ly stopped by Army Ordnance. The Ai r Ministry, whi ch had agreed to leave the techno logy to the Army, also collaborated hy quashing an appeal to help Nebel from the city of Magdeburg, which had helped fi nance his launch at­ tempts there in June 1933 . In early 1935, Nebel tried appealing to the aZI Party. Again he was stymied when Theo Croneiss, a senior manager at Messer­ schmitt Ai rcraft who was also an SA (later SS) general responsible for technol­ ogy in the staff of Deputy FUhrer Rudol f H s, found Army Ord nance unwi ll ing to budge. The AmlY was not even wil ling to let Nebel beco me an offi l.:er in the new Luftwa ffe, for which he had volunteered as a World War I I st Lieutenant and figh ter pilot. As Nebe l asserts in his memoi rs, he had been effectivel y blackl isted as a security ri k. By mid-1935 he had litt le choice but to take a routine designer/draftsm an job at the giant electr ica l firm of Siemens. J 2 The next two years brought him somewhat better luck . (n the spring of 193 6 Ordllance once aga in stopped his hi ring first as an officer, then as a civil­ ian in the Air Ministry. (Since 1935, the Luftwaffe had begun to collaborate with the Army in the deve lopment of rocket planes; by 1936, it also began to bu ild an independent capabili ty in this technology). But in July, Nebel ' s at­ tempts to manipu late Nazi organizations from the outside fi nally bore some frui t. He received a letter of endorsement from Dr. Fritz Todt, head of the Party 's techno logy organizat ions but much more famous as chief of autobahn construction. According to Todt's testimoni al, he had met Nebel twice in the preced ing months and had talked to some of Nebel's acquaintances. It is not c lear if this hi gh-level support had any impact on the Reich Patent Office, but only th ree weeks later that body finally issued a patent on a rocket motor for which Nebel had applied ill 193 I, together with the main designer at the Raket­ entlugplatz, Klaus Riedel. 13 214 Th is patent and Todt ' s letter gave Nebel a new credibili ty . He attempted to exp loit it by again approach ing the Propaganda Min istry, to which he had writ­ ten in 1934 and 1935. At the end of 1936 he told the Ministry that he could design a rocket that could fly 1,000 km to an enemy capital , shower it wi th leafl ets and return to Germany! Army Ordnance kil led th is proposal by pointing out its technical absu rdity, as well as Ordnance' s long history of conflicts with Nebel. Nebel al so mad an unsuccessful attempt, he .says, to meet H itler at Ber­ chtesgaden just before New Year's . Early 1937 brought yet another job offer in the Ai r Min istry, which was once again thwarted by the Army, as was an o ffer of employment with the armaments firm Rhe inmetall, which was developing so lid rockets but wou ld not hire him without Ordnance' s permission. But Wern­ her von Braun and Walter Dornberger, head of the Ordnance rocket program since early 1936 decided that they now had to try to purchase Nebel's silence with a patent settlement. When von Braun asked h is old rriend, Klaus R iede l, to suggest a sum in early April, the latter asked for 65,000 marks. To account for fees and taxes it was late r raised to 75,000 and the contra t was signed on 2 July 1937 by Becke r, Nebel and Riedel. It not only transferred the patent rights to the Reich, it also speci fi ed that R iede l, who had been worki ng at S iemens, would become an employee of the Army in order to ensure a transfer of related knowl­ edge . Von Braun needed experienced rocketeers with the open ing of Peene­ mtinde in May and wanted to br ing Riedel on board, a long wi th other Raketen­ flu gpl atz veterans at Si mens--except of course, Nebe I.14 In a private agreement with Riedel , Nebel go t two-thirds of the payment, i. e., 50,000 marks-not an ins ignifi cant sum when 10,000 marks a year 'V as an upper-midd le-class income. Nebel used part of the money to start a business with a partner to bui ld "automatic workers"-assembly- line robots! But what he d id with another part o f his money was revea led b _ one of the most bizarre and comic event in a life already fu ll of them. On 3 January 1938 the border poli ce turned him over to the Gestapo after he crossed back into Germany from Czech­ oslovak ia. He had dri ven past the German border pos t w ithout stopping and had been carrying a copy of the patent settlement and a letter from the Air M inistry, both of them secret. Before leav ing on a skiing vacat ion with a gi rlfriend a er New Year' s in his fancy new car, he claims, he had picked up his mail. In it was a letter from the German Labor Front returni ng both documents. Nebel was he ld in j ail for weeks and suspected of crossing the border to meet Czech agents, but was eventually released for lack of proof. Once aga in, he was very lucky in escaping the consequences of a charge of high treason, wh ich cou ld inc lude the death penalty . Bu t he received a new, sterner warning from the Gestapo that he was forbidden for life to work in rocketry . Although he obviously was not eas ily int im idated, he seems to have taken this warning ser iously-at least for a couple 15 of years. Ironically, as Rudo lf Nebel was being forbidden to ever work 0 11 rocketry in Germany, the Air Ministry was about to bring Hermann Oberth from Roma­ 215 n i a t o d o e x a c t l y t h a t . T h e o r i g i n s o f t h i s s u r p r i s i n g m o v e g o b a c k t o l a t e 1 9 3 6 , w h e n O b e r t h o n c e a g a i n d e c i d e d t h a t r o c k e t r y ' s m i l i t a r y i m p l i c a t i o n s w e r e t o o i m p o r t a n t f o r H i t l e r ' s G e r m a n y t o i g n o r e . I n e a r l y D e c e m b e r , D r . H a n s H e d r i c h , a N a z i m e m b e r o f t h e R o m a n i a n p a r l i a m e n t , c a m e t o B e r l i n o n h i s b e h a l f . T h r o u g h c o n n e c t i o n s H e d r i c h m e t H e r m a n n G o r i n g , w h o d e s i g n a t e d L u f t w a f f e G e n . K e s s e l r i n g t o t a k e c a r e o f t h e m a t t e r . I n J a n u a r y 1 9 3 7 , K e s s e l r i n g s a w D o r n b e r g e r . T h e h e a d o f t h e A r m y r o c k e t p r o g r a m e x p l a i n e d t h a t O r d n a n c e s t i l l f e l t t h a t O b e r t h w a s t o b e e x c l u d e d a s q u e r u l o u s a n d t e c h n i c a l l y n a i v e , w h a t e v e r h i s i m p o r t a n t t h e o r e t i c a l a c c o m p l i s h m e n t s . B u t h e w a s w i l l i n g t o g i v e t h e s a m e e x p l a n a t i o n t o H e d r i c h - a n d d i d s o o n 1 F e b r u a r y . T o t h a t m e e t i n g , H e d r i c h b r o u g h t a b a d l y t y p e d m e m o r a n d u m b y O b e r t h w h i c h c o n f i r m s m a n y o f t h e A r m y ' s a s s e r t i o n s ; t h e s p a c e p i o n e e r a r g u e d t h a t h e c o u l d b u i l d a n i n c r e d i b l y a c c u r a t e m i s s i l e o f u p t o 1 , 0 0 0 t o n ( o n e m i l l i o n k g ) t a k e o f f w e i g h t , b e g i n n i n g o n l y w i t h a h a n d f u l o f a s s i s t a n t s a n d t h o u s a n d s o f m a r k s . Y e t w i t h t h e p r o b a b l e i n t e n t o f k e e p i n g O b e r t h o n t h e h o o k , D o r n b e r g e r t o l d H e d r i c h t h a t h e w a s i n t e r e s t e d i n t r u l y c o n s t r u c t i v e s u g g e s t i o n s a n d w a s w i l l i n g t o m e e t O b e r t h i n 1 6 p e r s o n . T h a t m e e t i n g a p p a r e n t l y t o o k p l a c e o n 6 A p r i l 1 9 3 7 i n B e r l i n ; a n A i r M i n i s t r y o f f i c i a l w a s p r e s e n t . I n t h e m e a n t i m e , t h e h e a d m a s t e r o f O b e r t h ' s h i g h s c h o o l h a d c o n t a c t e d B e r l i n , i n d i c a t i n g t h a t O b e r t h w a s a p a t r i o t i c G e r m a n w h o h a d a l r e a d y t u r n e d d o w n o f f e r s o f e m p l o y m e n t b y t h e S o v i e t U n i o n a n d J a p a n . ( S o v i e t a g e n t s h a d i n d e e d t r i e d t o r e c r u i t h i m f i v e y e a r s e a r l i e r , b o t h i n d i r e c t l y b y m a k i n g a n o f f e r t h r o u g h W i l l y L e y , w h o n a i v e l y u r g e d h i m t o t a k e i t , a n d d i r e c t l y t h r o u g h a v i s i t b y a n a g e n t t o h i s h o u s e i n R o m a n i a . ) T h e o u t c o m e o f t h e A p r i l m e e t i n g w a s a n A i r M i n i s t l y p r o m i s e t o c o n s i d e r e m p l o y i n g t h e G e r ­ m a n - R o m a n i a n p i o n e e r i n a r e s e a r c h c a p a c i t y a t t h e T e c h n i c a l U n i v e r s i t y o f D r e s d e n . O n 7 M a y , W e r n h e r v o n B r a u n , n o w t h e t e c h n i c a l d i r e c t o r o f t h e n e w P e e n e m U n d e A r m y f a c i l i t y , w r o t e a n a s s e s s m e n t o f O b e r t h t h a t w a s f r i e n d l i e r t h a n Z a n s s e n a n d S c h n e i d e r ' s o f 1 9 3 5 , a l t h o u g h i t n o t e d h i s l a c k o f p r a c t i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g a b i l i t y . I t e n d e d w i t h a c o m m e n t a s r e v e a l i n g o f t h e a u t h o r a s t h e s u b j e c t : " R e g a r d i n g h i s c h a r a c t e r I h a v e o n l y g o o d t h i n g s t o s a y . H e [ O b e r t h ] i s k n o w n a s a t h o r o u g h l y n a t i o n a l l y m i n d e d G e r m a n . " ! 7 W h y w a s A r m y O r d n a n c e n o w w i l l i n g t o a l l o w O b e r t h t o w o r k i n G e r ­ m a n y , a l t h o u g h u n d e r L u f t w a f f e s p o n s o r s h i p a n d a t a n n ' s l e n g t h f r o m a n y i n ­ v o l v e m e n t i n , o r e v e n k n o w l e d g e o f , t h e t w o s e r v i c e s ' p r o g r a m s ? I t a p p e a r s t h a t t h e L u f t w a f f e w a s p u s h i n g t h i s i d e a a n d t h a t t h e A r m y m a y h a v e t a k e n s e r i o u s l y o t h e r p o w e r s ' s a t t e m p t s t o r e c r u i t O b e r t h , j u s t i f y i n g a p o l i c y o f p u t t i n g h i m " o n i c e " i n G e r m a n y . T h e a i r s e r v i c e ' s i n t e n t i o n s a r e m o r e d i f f i c u l t t o f a t h o m , e s p e ­ c i a l l y b e c a u s e o f t h e d e s t r u c t i o n o f t h e L u f t w a f f e a r c h i v e a t t h e e n d o f t h e w a r . Y e t t h e c o n d i t i o n s u n d e r w h i c h O b e r t h e v e n t u a l l y w o r k e d i n d i c a t e t h a t t h a t s e r ­ v i c e t o o w i s h e d t o s i d e l i n e h i m . T h e c o n t r a c t f i n a l l y s i g n e d o n 1 D e c e m b e r 1 9 3 7 f o r e s a w t w o y e a r s o f w o r k a t a n u n n a m e d l o c a t i o n u n d e r t h e d i r e c t i o n o f t h e D e u t s c h e V e r s u c h s a n s t a l t f u r L u f t f a h r t ( G e r m a n R e s e a r c h E s t a b l i s h m e n t f o r 2 1 6 a n a v J I t , c t I Av iation) in Berli n. After taking a leave of absence at the end of the school year Oberth moved in the summer 1938 to the echnical University of V ienna, which, w ith the Anschluss, had become a German institution. W ith in months he became completel y fed up by the lack of clear directi on from Berl in for h is rocket research; even his own institute director told him that he had been " put on ice (kaltgestellt). " I 8 Out of fru stration, on 18 March 1939 Oberth composed an impassioned appeal to "Mein Fuhrerl"-Adol f Hit ler. In it, he promi sed to build ballistic missiles of up to 3,000 km range that would be much cheaper than conventional air forces and wou ld have demoral izing effects on an enemy. He could begin working on a missi le immediately by doubling his current two-year budget of 36,000 to 50,000 marks . "W ith God' s help the first projectile could even be launched early in th is year." The letter was diverted from the Re ich Chance llery to Army Ord nance, which was scornful of these assert ions, but asked fo r clarifi ­ cation through a series of deta iled questions . Oberth's answer grandiosely pic­ tured a Saturn V-s ized veh icle, yet he expected to solve all its problems w ith a handfu l of peop le . On 8 August, t he Peenemunde Commandant, Zanssen, de­ scribed this pr posa! as "childish" although it must be said that the Army and Luftwa ffe had done O berth no favors by keepi ng him complete ly innocent of day-to-day engi neering . G iven the character of his proposals, however, it is not surprising that nothing changed during the rest of 1939. N onetheless he passed up an opportunity from the Air M inistry to quit his contract and go homel9 In the spr ing of 1940, matte rs took a turn which would eventually bring Obrth to Peenemi.inde, although he would a lways remai n marg inal to the Army rocket program. Perhaps out of sympathy with Oberth's fru stration at his point­ less and prim it ive experimentation, Dornberger and von Braun agreed at the end of 1939 that he should be given a task use ful to the A-4!V-2 program . In Febru­ ary 1940 , he was sent a request th rough the Air M inistry to design a propellant turbopump. One can only speculate, bu t von Braun may have hoped that O berth had orig inal ideas to offer, although Peenemunde had already contracted tur­ bopump development to a company in that field . At the end of April , he notifi ed Oberth that represen tatives of Ordnance would be in V ienna and wou ld like to meet h im . That meeting took place on May 22 or 23 . From it, O berth not only gleaned some information about the Army rocket program, but a lso heard Wern­ her von Braun- who had met in 1930-promise him a permanent job. Von Braun emphat ically deni ed that he made such a promise, yet Oberth could not now be so easily di scarded-particu larly because he kn ew too much. Since the Luftwaffe did not want to conti nue the contract past its two-year limi t, the An y moved Oberth to the Techn ical University of Dresden in the fa ll of 1940, where he cont in ued h is essent ially poi nt less turbopump deve lopment.20 As he later to ld W illy Ley, at Dresden he rece ived "a great salary (better hush money) ," but by May 1941 was once again completely exasperated with the j ob ' s fut ility. He told the institu te director tl at he wished to go back to 217 R o m a n i a . T h e r e p l y r e p o r t e d l y w a s : " Y o u h a v e o n l y t h e c h o i c e o f e i t h e r b e c o m ­ i n g a G e r m a n c i t i z e n , o r g o i n g t o a c o n c e n t r a t i o n c a m p " - O b e I t h w a s a l r e a d y t o o w e l l i n f o r n l e d a b o u t t h e s u p e r s e c r e t A r m y r o c k e t p r o g r a m . T h e c h o i c e w a s n o t d i f f i c u l t , a n d w i t h i n a s h o r t t i m e h e b e c a m e a c i t i z e n o f t h e " G r e a t e r G e r ­ m a n R e i c h " e l i g i b l e t o w o r k a t P e e n e m i . i n d e . D o r n b e r g e r a n d v o n B r a u n g a v e h i m a j o b , a p p a r e n t l y o u t o f a l a c k o f v i a b l e a l t e r n a t i v e s . H e r e p o l t e d f o r w o r k a t t h e c e n t e r o n I S e p t . 1 9 4 1 , a n d w a s a s s i g n e d t h e t a s k o f i n v e s t i g a t i n g p a t e n t s f r o m G e r m a n y a n d a b r o a d f o r p o s s i b l e e m p l o y m e n t i n t h e p r o g r a m ( F i g u r e 3 ) . W i t h i n s h o r t o r d e r , O b e r t h m a d e h i m s e l f u n p o p u l a r b y c r i t i c i z i n g t h e A - 4 ( V - 2 ) m i s s i l e f o r n u m e r o u s " e r r o r s " i n d e s i g n t h a t h a d s o m e v a l i d i t y t h e o r e t i c a l l y , b u t w e r e n a i v e f r o m t h e s t a n d p o i n t o f p r a c t i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g a n d t h e p r o j e c t ' s h i s ­ t o r y . A l t h o u g h O b e r t h s o o n w r o t e a g r o u n d - b r e a k i n g p a p e r o n o p t i m a l s t a g i n g i n m u l t i - s t a g e v e h i c l e s , h i s t w o - y e a r s t a y a t t h e B a l t i c c o a s t c e n t e r t u r n e d o u t t o b e a n u n c o m f O l t a b l e o n e f o r a l l c o n c e r n e d ; i t w a s i m p o s s i b l e t o r e c o n c i l e t h e g r e a t i m p o r t a n c e o f h i s w o r k i l l t h e t w e n t i e s w i t h h i s i r r e l e v a n c e t o t h e t a s k s a t h a n d . I n 1 9 4 3 , h e w a s s h u n t e d i n t o a j o b a t t h e w i n d t u n n e l e s t a b l i s h m e n t , t h e n a l ­ l o w e d t o l e a v e f o r t h e e x p l o s i v e s c o m p a n y W A S A G , w h e r e h e w a s t o d e v e l o p a s o l i d - p r o p e l l a n t a n t i - a i r c r a f t m i s s i l e . I n p a r t d u e t o a i r r a i d s , h e a c h i e v e d l i t t l e t h e r e t o o . I n s u m , H e r m a n n O b e I t h w a s t h e e x c e p t i o n a m o n g t h e e x c l u d e d , i n t h a t h e j o i n e d t h e A r m y r o c k e t p r o g r a m e v e n t u a l l y , b u t h e r e m a i n e d a n o u t s i d e r 2 1 t o t h e b i t t e r e n d . W h i l e R u d o l f N e b e l n e v e r d i d s e e P e e n e m u n d e , h e t o o f o u n d h i s w a y t o t h e m a r g i n s o f t h e A n n y p r o g r a m - t h r o u g h c o n t r a c t s w i t h t h e c e n t e r a n d w i t h t h e M i t t e l w e r k ( C e n t r a l W o r k s ) , t h e u n d e r g r o u n d s l a v e - l a b o r V - 2 p r o d u c t i o n s i t e i n c e n t r a l G e r m a n y . T h r o u g h o u t t h e w a r , h i s p a It n e r s h i p c o n t i n u e d t o g e t c o n t r a c t s f r o m v a r i o l l S R e i c h a n d P a I t y a u t h o r i t i e s t o d e v e l o p p r o d u c t i o n - l i n e " a u t o m a t i c w o r k e r s . " I t a p p e a r s t h a t t h e y n e v e r f i n i s h e d a w o r k i n g p r o t o t y p e a n d t h a t t h e w h o l e e n t e r p r i s e b o r d e r e d o n f r a u d . Y e t N e b e l c o n t i n u e d t o n l l r s e h i s b i t t e r n e s s a b o u t h i s e x c l u s i o n f r o m r o c k e t r y . I n s p i t e o f t h e G e s t a p o w a r n i n g , w h e n H i t l e r a p p o i n t e d F r i t z T o d t t h e f i r s t A r m a m e n t s M i n i s t e r i n M a r c h 1 9 4 0 , N e b e l i m m e d i a t e l y a p p e a l e d t o h i m . D o r n b e r g e r o n c e a g a i n h a d t o c o u n t e r N e ­ b e l ' s l i t a n y o f p e r s e c u t i o n a n d b e t r a y a l b y O r d n a n c e o f f i c e r s . N e b e l a l s o d i s ­ m i s s e d W e r n h e r v o n B r a u n a s o n l y h i s " c h a u f f e u r " a t t h e R a k e t e n t l u g p l a t z . O n c e a g a i n , N e b e l g o t n o w h e r e . B u t h e d i d h a v e f r i e n d s a t P e e n e m i l n d e - p a r ­ t i c u l a r l y K l a u s R i e d e l - a n d v i s i t e d t h e m o u t s i d e t h e c l o s e d a r e a n o l a t e r t h a n 1 9 3 9 . I n 1 9 4 3 , R i e d e l a p p e a r s t o h a v e h e l p e d h i m g e t a c o n t r a c t f o r s o m e p r o ­ d u c t i o n m a c h i n e r y r e l a t e d t o w e l d i n g . H e l a t e r p u t N e b e l i n t o u c h w i t h M i t ­ t e l w e r k . w h i c h i s s u e d a c o n t r a c t o n 1 2 A u g u s t 1 9 4 4 , s i g n e d b y m a n a g e r s A l b i n S a w a t z k i a n d A r t h u r R u d o l p h , t o b u i l d " 2 0 a u t o m a t i c w o r k e r s f o r t h e a u t o m a t i c a s s e m b l y o f t h e v a n e s e r v o m o t o r [ R u d e r m a s c h i n e ] 8 4 0 1 . " 2 2 I r o n i c a l l y , w h i l e N e b e l w a s b e c o m i n g m a r g i n a l l y i n v o l v e d w i t h t h e V - 2 p r o g r a m , h e w a s d e c l a r e d u n w a n t e d f o r t h e s a m e p r o g r a m b y t h e S S . I n N o v e m ­ b e r 1 9 4 3 a c o u s i n o f H e i n r i c h H i m m l e r , a t t h e b e h e s t o f a P a r t y o f f i c i a l r e s p o n ­ t 2 1 8 sible for inventors, wrote to the Re ichsftihrer-SS about the poor, persecuted Ne­ bel. A background check quickly tumed up the Gestapo order of mid-1938, which led to a new round of surveillance by the secret police. Himmler's head­ quarters a lso consulted Rolf Engel now an SS officer with his own so lid- rocket company. But no one took much interest in the Nebel matter, least of a ll SS­ Genera l Hans Kammler, a fast-r isi ng figure in the V-2 program. In spite of an­ other appeal on Nebel 's behalf, Kamm ler ul timate ly rej ected Nebe l in Septem­ ber 1944 as an "inventor" who had contributed much to rocketry at its outset, but was now of li ttle use. Kammler did not know about the M ittelwerk contract. Meanwhile, because of ai r raids on Berl in, Neb I and his partner moved to a small town, then received production space in the underground plant. By his own admiss ion, he a lso got a hundred concentrat ion-camp prisoners for the work -thus impl icating him, however margi na lly, in that enterprise of unto ld suff, r­ ing and mass death. He c la ims to have had little contact with the pr isoners. The end came in Apri l 1945, with the collapse of the Reich, the murderous evacu­ ations of the prisoners by the SS, and liberation by American troops. ebel remained in what soon became the Sov iet zone of occupation, before final ly moving west in 1948 23 Figure 3 H rmann Oberth talks to Brig. Gen. Wa lter Dornberoer, com­ mander of the Anny Ordnance rocket program, at Peenemtinde, m id­ 1943 (Smithsonian neg. no . 87-2252) . 2\ 9 T h e p a r a l l e l l i v e s o f R u d o l f N e b e l a n d H e r m a n n O b e r t h c o n t i n u e d a f t e r 1 9 4 5 . B o t h l i v e d i n p o v e r t y a f t e r a s e l e c t g r o u p o f r o c k e t e e r s , l e d b y W e r n h e r v o n B r a u n , w e r e t a k e n t o t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . O n c e a g a i n , O b e r t h w a s t h e o n e w h o b e l a t e d l y j o i n e d t h e m , t h i s t i m e t o s p e n d t h r e e y e a r s i n a c o m f o r t a b l e s e m i ­ r e t i r e m e n t i n H u n t s v i l l e , A l a b a m a , b e f o r e g o i n g h o m e . N e b e l w a s l e f t t o h i s o w n d e v i c e s . B u t i t i s t h e i r T h i r d R e i c h c a r e e r s t h a t a r e m o r e i l l u m i n a t i n g : t h e y s h e d l i g h t b o t h o n t h e m o t i v a t i o n s o f O r d n a n c e o f f i c e r s i n b u i l d i n g t h e A r m y r o c k e t p r o g r a m , a n d o n t h e a t t i t u d e s o f t h e W e i m a r p i o n e e r s b e f o r e a n d a f t e r t h e N a z i s e i z u r e o f p o w e r . I n t h e t r a d i t i o n a l h i s t o r i o g r a p h y o f t h i s t o p i c , w h i c h w a s s h a p e d b y v o n B r a u n a n d h i s f o l l o w e r s , t h e W e i m a r r o c k e t e e r s w e r e a p o l i t i c a l e n t h u s i a s t s s o l e l y i n t e r e s t e d i n s p a c e f l i g h t . B e c a u s e o f t h e m o n e y r e q u i r e d t o b u i l d l a r g e r o c k e t v e h i c l e s , h o w e v e r , t h e y w e r e f o r c e d t o m a k e a m i l i t a r y " d e ­ t o u r " t o r e a c h t h e s t a r s . I n a d d i t i o n , t h i s h i s t o r i o g r a p h y s i m u l t a n e o u s l y v a l i d a t e d a n d u n d e r c u t s e r v i c e t o H i t l e r ' s G e r m a n y b y t r e a t i n g i t a s m e r e l y t h e p a t r i o t i c d u t y o f e n g i n e e r s a n d s c i e n t i s t s i n w a r t i m e . Y e t n e i t h e r O b e r t h n o r N e b e l s a w b a l l i s t i c m i s s i l e s a n d o t h e r m i l i t a r y a p p l i c a t i o n s o f r o c k e t r y a s a m e r e " d e t o u r " - t h e y w e r e c r u c i a l t e c h n o l o g i e s t h a t G e r m a n y h a d t o d e v e l o p f i r s t . N e i t h e r w e r e t h e y a p o l i t i c a l , a l t h o u g h t h e y d i d n o t j o i n t h e P a r t y . A s t h e y b o t h l a t e r a d m i t t e d , t h e y w e r e u l t r a - n a t i o n a l i s t s q u i t e w i l l i n g t o o f f e r t h e i r s e r v i c e s t o t h e N a z i s . I n t h e i r a t t e m p t t o m a n i p u l a t e t h e o r g a n s o f t h e T h i r d R e i c h f r o m o u t s i d e , t h e y c a n b e s t b e d e s c r i b e d a s N a z i " f e l l o w t r a v e l l e r s . " O f c o u r s e , B e c k e r a n d D o r n b e r g e r ' s j u s t i f i e d o p i n i o n t h a t t h e y w e r e i l l - s u i t e d t o t h e s e c r e t A r m y r o c k e t p r o g r a m l e d t h e m i n t o e n d l e s s f r u s t r a t i o n a n d , i n t h e c a s e o f N e b e l , e v e n i n t o G e s t a p o a n - e s t . Y e t , w h i l e n e i t h e r t h e i r f a t e a s m e m b e r s o f t h e e x c l u d e d , n o r t h e i r s t r a t e g y f o r d e a l i n g w i t h i t , w e r e e n t i r e l y t y p i c a l o f W e i m a r r o c k e t e e r s , t h e i r c e n t r a l i m p o r t a n c e t o t h e s p a c e m o v e m e n t b e f o r e 1 9 3 3 , a n d t h e i r a c t i o n s a f t e r w a r d , a r e a s t r o n g a r g u m e n t f o r r e t h i n k i n g t h e e a r l y h i s t o r y o f G e r m a n r o c k e t r y a n d s p a c e f l i g h t . A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s T h e a u t h o r w i s h e s t o t h a n k t h e H e r m a n n - O b e r t h - R a u m f a h l t - M u s e u m , p a r ­ t i c u l a r l y M r . K a r l h e i n z R o h r w i l d , f o r a s s i s t a n c e i n r e s e a r c h i n g t h i s a r t i c l e . T e x t a n d p h o t o s a r e c o p y r i g h t e d b y t h e S m i t h s o n i a n I n s t i t u t i o n . R e f e r e n c e N o t e s I B r l i g e l t o R o l f E n g e l , 3 0 D e c . 1 9 4 9 , D a i m l e r - B e n z A e r o s p a c e A G A r c h i v , O t t o b m n n ( h e r e i n a f t e r D A S A ) , R o l f E n g e l P a p e r s ; M i c h a e l 1 . N e u f e l d , " R o l f E n g e l v s . t h e G e r m a n A r m y : A N a z i C a r e e r i n R o c k e t r y a n d R e p r e s s i o n , " H i s t o r y a n d T e c h n o l o g y 1 3 ( 1 9 9 6 ) , 5 3 - 7 2 . 2 M u n i c h : R . O l d e n b o u r g , 1 9 2 3 ( r e p r i n t ; N u r e m b e r g : U n i - V e r l a g , 1 9 6 0 ) . 2 2 0 'Frank H. Winter, PreLude to Ihe Space Age (Washington, DC: Smithso nian In stitution Press, 1983), 40-48; Willy Ley, Rockels, MissiLes and Space TraveL (New York: Viking, 195 I) , 131-62. I ha ve not included Nebel 's Magdeburg project in this article because it is ade­ quately covered in the above sources and it occurred in an environment which had not yet changed much from the late Weimar period, at least for Nebel. 4Michael 1. Neufeld , The Rocket and the Reich (New York: The Free Press, 1995/Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni versity Press, 1996), 5-23 ; H. Oberth, Wege zur RaumschifJahrt (1929; reprint, Bucharest: Kriterion , 1974), 199-200; Nebel, "Raketen-Artillerie," c. mid-1931 , Na­ tional Air and Space Museum Archives, Washington , DC (hereinafter NASM), R. Nebel bio. file; Schneider report, 23 June 1932, and ebel to Bodenschatz, 23 August 1933 , in Imperial War Museum, London (hereinafter IWM), MI 14/80 I (V); Winter, Prelude, 51-54, 174. 5Neufeld, Rocket, 23-32. 60rdnance documents on Nebel, 1933-34, in IWM, MI 14 /801 (V); R. Nebel, Die Narren von TegeL (Dlisseldorf: Droste, 1972), 16; Hans Horei s, cd., Rolf Engel-Rakelenbauer del' er­ sten SIunc!(' (Munich: Lehrstuhl fur RaumfahrttechnikiTU MUnehen, c. 1992), 24, SO-51; Neufeld , "Rolf Engel," 56-58 ; Ley, Rockets, 158; P. E. Cleator, " Matters of No Moment," Journal ofthe British lnterplane lary SOCiety 9 ( 1950), SO. 7Copies of leaflet in DASA, Engel Papers, and in Hermann-Oberth-Raumfahrt-Museum (hereinaf­ ter HORr-'1); Nebel, Nan-en, 139-40; Ordnance documents on l\'cbel, June-July 1914, in IWM, MI 14 /80 I (V) . llerbert Schaefer, a VfR member who emigrated to the United ~(lltes in 1936, states (based on original notebooks) that his last visit to the Raketentlugplatz was on 26 Sept. 1934, \V hich may indicate that Nebel was not evicted immediately alh:r his arrest, although he certainly was by the end of the year. See Schaefer, "Extract from }-'o[<> books" and ansI'. '~l c to questions from Frank Winter, in NASM, Herbert Schaefer bio . tile. Because Ntbel's memoirs are often dishonest, and written evidence is so sketchy, many mysteries about the end of the VfR and the Raketentlugp latz will never be reso lved. xOrdnance documents on Brlige l, June 1934-.Iune 1935 , in NASM, FE microfilm reel 61, FE 366/3; Ne ufeld, Rockel, 31; ·eufeld . "Rolf Engel, " 58-59. 90berth to O. Wi mer, 21 f eh. 1933, in H. Oberth, Briefwechsel, ed. Hans Barth (Buchar(;~;t: Kri erion, 1979), I: 117. IOOrdnance documents on Obcrth, Sept. 1934 - Mar. 1935, Obcrth to Dickhu lh-Harrach, 11 .Ian. 1934 Cnationalsozalistische 'Selbsthilfe'," p. 8) and Oberth to Stark'>, 3 Dec. 1934, ill Run ­ desarchi v/M il ittirarchiv frc iburg (hereinafter BNMA), RH8/v .I226; Tanja .ielnina, Her­ mann Ohcrril lind das HeereslVaJJenamt 1934-1945 (Feucht: Hcrmann-ObCrlh-Raurnfahn­ Museum, 1995 ), 1-2; oral hi story interview of H. Oberth by Martin Ham it and f rank Win ­ ter, 19R7 (German version), 45 , depositecl in the NASM Department of Space [ listory. Oberth and Nebe l's N,l/i records were checked at the Berlin Document Center (here ina fter BOC), now the Berl in-Zehlendor f section of the Bundesarchiv. Microfilm of the NSDAP, SS , SA and other Nazi records of the BDC are being made ava ilab le at the Na tional Ar­ chives (herein afler NA), Co li ge Park, M3I'yland. II Schneider and Zanssen, "G rundsatzlicher Stell ungnahme ... ," 28 Feb. 1935, von Horstig (draft by von Braun ) to \Va I'rw 3, 4 Mar. 1935, and Schneider Aktenvermerk, 18 June 1935, in BA/MA, RH8/v. I226; .klnina, Hermann Oberth , 2-3. 120rdnance documents on Nehel and Nebel- roneiss co rrespondence, 10 Oct. 1934 - 5 June 1935, in IWM, MI 14/80 I (V); Ne he l, Nan-en, 141 ; Cronei ss SS officer file in NA, SOC microfil l1L rec l SSO-132 An in teresting sidelight on Nchel' s World War I record is that, according to Willy Ley's memory, Nebel claimed "cleven enemy planes" to his credit when he introduced himself in 1929 Ley, Rockets , 126. Yet re se arch by Rick Ouiven has shown only two Allied planes shot down by Nebel-on 31 July 1917 and 7 Sep. 1918 . Sec Dui ven to Michael eufeld , 27 June 1996, in NASM, Nebel bio. fil e. 221 1 3 0 r d n a n c e d o c u m e n t s o n N e b e l , 1 6 M a r . - 9 M a y 1 9 3 6 , i n I W M , M I 1 4 / 8 0 1 ( V ) ; p a t e n t , 3 A u g u s t 1 9 3 6 , a n d T o d t l e t t e r , I I J u l y \ 9 3 6 , i n N A , m i c r o f i l m p u b l i c a t i o n T - 1 7 5 ( R e i c h s ­ f U h r e r S S a n d C h i e f o f G e r m a n P o l i c e ) / r . 1 5 5 / f r . 2 6 8 5 7 8 - 8 0 a n d 6 1 7 - I 8 ; N e b e l , N a r r e n , 1 0 3 ­ O S , 1 4 2 ; N e u f e l d , R o c k e t , 4 3 - 4 8 , 5 7 - 6 2 . 1 4 0 r d n a l l c c - N e b e l - P r o p a g a n d a M i n i s t r y d o c u m e n t s , 8 D e c . 1 9 3 6 - 2 7 A p r i l 1 9 3 7 , i n T W M , M I 1 4 / 8 0 1 ( V ) ; M a g d e b u r g O b e r b O r g e r m e i s t e r t o P r o p a g a n d a M i n . , 2 0 A u g . 1 9 3 5 , a n d c o n t r a c t , 2 J u l y 1 9 3 7 , i n N A , T - 1 7 5 / r . 1 5 5 / f r . 2 6 8 5 6 I 0 , 6 1 9 - 2 2 .; , e b e l a n d R i e d e l t o D o r n b e r g e r , I I A p r . 1 9 3 7 , i n N A S M , F E 7 4 9 ; N e b e l , N a r r e n , 1 4 2 - 4 7 ; ' , e b e l t o J u n g k a n d U d e t / A i r M i n . , 9 F e b . 1 9 3 7 , I n g e h a a g c o l l e c t i o n , c o p y f r o m K a r l h e i n z R o h r w i l d , H O R M ; v o n B r a u n t o W i l l y L e y , 3 0 D e c . 1 9 5 I , i n i < A S M , W i l l y L e y C o l l e c t i o n , b o x 9 , f o l d e r 3 0 4 . " N e b e l , N a r r e n , 1 4 7 - 5 0 ; B e c k e r ( W o i k e ) t o G e s t a p o , 7 J a n . a n d W a P r w 1 3 t o A b w e h r , 1 2 J a n . 1 9 3 7 , I W M , M I 1 4 / 8 0 I ( V ) ; B A / M A , R H 8 / v . I 2 2 6 ; c o p y o f H a f t b e f e h l , 1 3 J a n . 1 9 3 8 , f r o m I n g e h a a g c o l l e c t i o n , H O R : v L 16 0 b e r t h t o W i e m e r , I N o v . 1 9 3 6 , i n B A l M A , R H 8 / v . 1 2 2 4 , O b e r t h p r o p o s a l , l a t e 1 9 3 6 , a n d O r d ­ n a n c e d o c u m e n t s o n O b e r t h , 2 5 J a n . - 8 M a r . 1 9 3 7 , i n B A / M A , R H 8 / v . I 2 2 6 ; J e l n i n a , H e r m a n n O b e r t h , 3 - 5 . 1 7 0 1 ' d n a n c e d o c u m e n t s o n O b e r t h , 5 A p r . - 7 M a y 1 9 3 7 , a n d O b e r t h t o D i c k h u t h - H a r r a c h , I I J a n . 1 9 3 4 , i n B A / M A , R H 8 / v . 1 2 2 6 : L e y t o O b e r t h , 2 5 M a y 1 9 3 2 , i n O b e r t h P a p e r s , H O R M ; B o r i s V . R a u s c h e n b a c h , H e r m a n n O b e r t h . · F a t h e r a / S p a c e F l i g h t ( C l a r e n c e , N Y : W e s t - A r t , 1 9 9 5 ) , 8 0 - 8 3 ; . i e l n i n a , H e r m a n n O b e r t h , 5 - 6 . 1 8 D o r n b e r g e r t o L o r e n z , 8 M a y 1 9 3 7 , i n B A / M A , R H 8 / v . 1 2 2 6 ; . I e l n i n a , H e r m a n n O o e r t h , 6 - 8 ; B a r t h , H e r m a n n O b e r t h ( F e u c h t : U n i - V e r l a g , 1 9 8 5 ) , 1 8 5 - 8 6 ; L e y , R o c k e t s , 2 0 4 - 2 0 5 . 1 9 0 b e r t h t o H i t l e r , 1 8 M a r . 1 9 3 9 ( t r a n s c r i p t ) , a n d O r d n a n c e d o c u m e n t s o n O b ' ; r l h , 2 5 A p r . - 2 4 A u g , 1 9 3 9 , i n B A l M A , R I l 8 / v . 1 2 2 6 ; J c l n i n a , H e r m a n n O b e r / h , 8 - 1 5 . 2 0 0 r d n a n c e d o c u m e n t s o n O b e r l h , 3 0 J a n . - 2 4 M a y 1 9 4 0 , i n B A / M A , R H S / v . I 2 2 6 ; J e l n i n a , H e r m a n n O o e r / h , 1 6 - 1 9 ; v o n B r a u n t o O b e r t h , 2 9 A p r . 1 9 4 0 , i n N A S M , F E m i c r o f i l m , F E 7 4 6 . 2 1 R a u s c h e n b a c h , H e r m a n n O o e r t h , I I 1 - 1 2 1 ; B a r t h , H e r m a n n O b e r / h , 1 8 5 - 2 0 I ; 1 e l n i n a , H e r m a n n O o e r / h , 1 9 - 2 5 . F o r O b e r t h a t P e e n e m O n d e i n 1 9 4 3 , s e e a l s o P e t e r P . W e g e n e r , T h e P e e n e ­ m u n d e W i n d T u n n e l s . A M e m o i r ( N e w H a v e n : Y a l e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 9 6 ) , 3 2 - 3 3 , 4 1 - 4 2 , 5 9 . 2 2 0 r d n a n c e d o c u m e n t s o n N e b e l , 2 2 J u n e 1 9 3 8 - 1 4 M a y 1 9 4 0 , i n I W M , M I 1 4 / 8 0 I ( V ) ; N e b e l " D e n k s c h r i f t , " 1 9 4 0 , i n T - 1 7 5 / r . 1 5 5 / f r . 2 6 8 5 5 8 1 - 8 8 ; N e b e l P J p e r s , t i l e N L 0 0 2 ( " A u t o m a t ­ i s c h e A r b e i t e r " ) , D e u t s c h e s M u s e u m A r c h i v e s , M u n i c h ; N e b e l ? t o S a w a t z k i , 1 4 J u l y 1 9 4 4 , i n N A S M , F E m i c r o f i l m , F E 6 9 4 a ; K a r l W e r n e r G u n z e l , D i e f / i e g e n d e n F l i i s s i g k e i t s r a k e t e n . R a k e t e n p i o n e e r K l a u s R i e d e l ( H b x t e r / W e s t f a l e n : p r i v a t e l y p u b l i s h e d , 1 9 8 8 ) , 9 5 . 2 J N e b e l , N a r r e n , 2 5 3 ; S S d o c u m e n t s o n N e b e l , 1 6 N o v e ) 1 9 4 3 - 1 9 S e p . 1 9 4 4 , i n N A , T ­ 1 7 5 / 1 5 5 / 2 6 8 5 5 6 1 - 7 5 ; N e b e l P a p e r s , f i I e N L 0 0 2 ( " A u t o m J t i s c h e A r b e i t e r " ) , D e u t s c h e s M u ­ s e u m A r c h i v e s , M u n i c h . 2 2 2