Customer Reviews

Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race

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In short, this book is not what I expected. All told, it contains about 240 pages. If we disregard the preliminary pages (Table of Contents, etc.), the brief introduction, the index, the bibliography and the many pages of notes, we are left with 152 pages of main text. At least the first third of this comprises mainly of historical information on Germany during the first half of the twentieth century, as well as some von Braun family history. Wernher von Braun is briefly mentioned here and there, but the mention of events in his life becomes gradually more frequent as the book progresses beyond the first third. The development of rocketry technology is also superficially touched upon routinely, but becomes a bit more prominent in the later parts of the book. The last couple of chapters contain the most information on Wernher von Braun's life and accomplishments. Evidence for von Braun's "darker side" is suggested only in a few paragraphs where the building of rockets in Nazi Germany using slave labour is discussed. The writing style is rather formal, quite authoritative, but at times a bit awkward. This book would likely appeal more to serious history buffs interested in Germany during the first half of the twentieth century than to those interested in Wernher von Braun's life or a detailed history of rocketry.

Having recently read the excellent biography Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, I wondered how much more this book would add. The questions about Von Braun are: How much did Von Braun know about what was going on in Nazi Germany and how much was he a part of it?

The first question is easy, obviously he to some extent knew what the Nazis were doing. The second, and the one this book focuses on, is the harder question to answer. Von Braun was always evasive, at times contradictory, and reluctant to talk about pre-1945.

The reasons may be: 1. He wanted to forget the horrors of the war, 2. He was ashamed that he couldn't or didn't change things at the time, or 3. He was more part of the Reich than he admitted. If #3 is true, perhaps he changed, and perhaps he didn't. He left virtually nothing to answer these questions. Ultimately, Biddle's book doesn't contain any smoking guns, and most of the circumstantial evidence is already known, but it does cause doubt.

Taken as a whole, Biddle's argument seems to point to Von Braun hiding things. But which of the three reasons were behind his evasiveness? Was it really #3? We may never know. However, our acceptance of thousands of Nazis, and the blackout of their pasts (some of which were problems), is a troubling part of our history. How did we choose which Nazis to prosecute and which to protect?

Wayne Biddle attempts to solve some of the lingering questions concerning Wernher von Braun's work during WWII. `Dark side of the Moon' is short, in that there are less than 152 pages written about von Braun. There are almost 70 pages of notes and an index which even includes indexed notes. With so much information and Biddle's statement in the introduction that there is new information since von Braun's death and time elapsed after the war and the opening of especially East Germany, one would think that you would find some of that new information in his work. It seems to be sadly lacking. Biddle bases most of his premise that von Braun was not the innocent rocket scientist in his work at Peenemunde; most of the accusations concern von Braun's knowledge of the use of slave labor. All of this has been brought up before, including the photograph of von Braun in an SS uniform.
Who knows for sure what happened or what is in the heart of a man? What is certain is that von Braun used both the German and US government to satisfy his desire to build rockets, but that is not news either. The Americans wanted to believe his innocence in WWII atrocities and Biddle claims this has been covered up; but seems to present no new evidence. What he does write are many snide comments and innuendos such as commenting on von Braun's arm cast, when he was captured, saying it resembled the `party salute'; he states Redstone Arsenal was well on its' way to resembling Peenemunde and then states Cape Canaveral shows a remarkable resemblance as well.
Biddle dismisses von Braun's arrest during the war as a lucky break...`no one has been inclined to shed light on the story`s factual basis or historical context', even stating the recollections of Albert Speer might not believed concerning this episode where von Braun claimed pressure to join the SS.
I found this book to be sadly lacking any new information and much of what is written becomes contradictory.

This book does an excellent and enlightening job of portraying the social and political environment out of which von Braun emerged, and placing his meteoric career in both Hitler's Germany and the US into far more understandable context that any previously published work that I have encountered. von Braun's split personality and identities is well worth study, but unknown to the general public, partly because of his effectiveness in re-inventing himself to suit dramatically changed and changing socio-political circumstances. None of this gainsays his acknowledged effectiveness in leading extraordinary rocket developments, from the first extra-atomospheric ballistic missle (the V-2) through the Saturn V lunar rocket, the greatest rocket achievement of all time to date. A chapter in my book,REFLECTIONS ON FAME and Some Famous Men, written before DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, includes much of the remarkable, while morally puzzling, aspects of von Braun's careers as a darling of both Hitler and the US Congress.

"Dark Side of the Moon" discusses the life of Wernher von Braun, predominently as it relates to his knowledge about the atrocities of the Third Reich. Having grown up in a privileged family, he got fascinated and entangled in the idea of space travel as a young boy. Even without the meticulously researched interaction of von Braun with the leadership of Nazi Germany, it is inconceivable that he did not know about the crimes against humanity ordered by the highest ranks and executed by the SS and other organizations. Von Braun was a member of the SS, he had repeated contact and presentations to Hitler, Himmler and other senior Nazi leaders and, above all, his research facility was directly connected and depending on the KZ Mittelbau-Dora.

After von Braun emigrated to the United States, the US government was ignorant to his Nazi past. He remained steadfast that he had no knowledge about the dark side of Nazi Germany and both, the administration and the public at large accepted this. While a lot was at stake for the US with the war in the Pacific still not decided and the tension with communist Russia intensifying which eventually led to the Cold War and the space race, about six million Jews died during the Holocaust. This should have prevailed over the usefulness of von Braun to advance the US space program. The author fails to discuss in detail the US government's involvement in the cover up. This would have been more interesting then proofing in great detail that he must have had known about the genocide as this is unquestionable.

The author also questions Wernher von Braun's qualifications. He portraits him predominantly as a gifted communicator with some show star qualifications but the true brain power was with many unnamed young scientist. In principle, the author claims that von Braun took repeatedly credit for work of others. The language used to describe his skill set, or the lack of it, is at times almost personal and it remains unclear why the author displays hostility against his scientific qualifications, in particular as the book is largely fact based. In that context it is interesting to note that the author is not naming the sources who stated to him that von Braun was not the brain behind many of the achievements credited to him. As much as there cannot be a doubt about von Braun's knowledge about the Nazi crimes, it seems unlikely that he was not as skilled as he is publicly known. I find it hard to believe that the US government would have covered his shady past if it would not have been for his exceptional skills as an aerospace scientist."

I agree that Biddle's book is uneven (a bit too much about Von Braun's early days and not enough about his actual duties with the rocket program), but it's a fascinating story nonetheless.

I do have a couple of quibbles: the rocket manufacturing plant is referred to as Dora, but on the included map, Dora is not there. Nordhausen is, and it took me a while to realize that they are the same location. Also, photos in the picture section are not mentioned in the text. This is 2010--can't printers intersperse photos in books instead of binding them in separate sections like they did in 1900?

very good book on a subject i was happy to see someone finally shedding light on, i have no doubt wernher von braun when exactly what the reich was doing as evidenced by several facts none more obvious than him personally requesting jewish labor to build his rockets. He was obviously a man with a dream but no conscience the same may be said for the americans who smuggled him out and washed him clean of his sins allowing him to live out his life with respect and dignity, SHAME ON THEM! the book is a very good fast read of a interesting subject a story that needs to be told

This slim volume seems padded out by seemingly extraneous information about the life of von Braun's father and other relatives. If you are looking for new information about von Braun and bad things he participated in, you will not find much here. Sneering asides about the human space flight program in general make it clear where this author stood going in.

This book is more a protest than a history, written from the perspective of an American liberal academic. Having read several other biographies of Wernher von Braun, there is very little new here, with the only new photo being of von Braun standing aside the Mercedes he drove while at NASA. Biddle does not present a convincing case of his claim that von Braun was of bad character. Instead, it seems to confirm Michael Neufeld's characterization of him in Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War as a raconteur, who can sometimes make a story bigger in the telling than it actually was.

What many are looking for nowadays regarding Wernher von Braun, Peenemeunde, and NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center, is an in-depth technical history, more akin to Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance (Inside Technology) by Donald Mackenzie. But as a 'rocket scientist' myself who has developed weapons for my own country, the USA, the past 30+ years, I find Biddle's "j'accuse" without merit.

Perhaps the reason this book is so short is that it's essentially the prosecution's case against Wernher Von Braun. The charges: 1. He was an unrepentant Nazi, 2. He was a spoiled rich kid who was merely a figurehead/conman for the development of rocketry and the space program.

The author presents a fairly convincing case for the former, though frankly, that's fairly easy to do. Clearly, Von Braun knew what was going on at the Dora camp where most of the V2 production effort was going on. He was also clearly willing to use the military to advance his supposed interest in the peaceful use of rockets.

Much less convincing is the latter charge. The author's contempt for Von Braun is so great that any statement in praise of his brilliance is met with suspicion or downplayed. Part of the problem is that the author decides to end his story not long after Von Braun comes to the US. Certainly, the many still living people involved in the US Space Program who owe Von Braun no particular obligation could tell us exactly how great a genius he was or wasn't. Also peculiar in this, is the lack of focus on the actual development of the A4 (V2). The author takes great delight in telling us about the bumbling of the German rocket enthusiasts (including Von Braun) earlier efforts but doesn't talk much about how they eventually did succeed in delivering a working rocket that while not a great success as a weapon did succeed in becoming the basis of very successful weapons.

The author is further hindered by his own underlying sketicism toward science and technology (in the intro, he finds interest in Von Braun's US work "fetishtic" when of course, that's the whole reason he's still remembered at all). I suspect he has a leftist distrust of science and scientists, one can almost hear Keith Olbermann doing the book on tape and sneering at Von Braun's discussion of space travel.