GERMAN rocket genius Wernher von Braun鈥榮 reputation underwent an enduring rehabilitation in the decades that followed the second world war. The consensus arose that he was as much an unwilling victim of the Nazi war machine as those killed by his V2 rockets. His cause was obviously aided when, after the war, he was headhunted by the 鈥渞ight side鈥�, avoiding retribution in Europe by being deployed on the US鈥檚 space programme.
So it鈥檚 fascinating to read 鈥榮 deconstruction of this aura of acceptability. This is a man, the author points out, who was the son of a Prussian aristocrat, a prime candidate for the SS of which he was a member, and happy for slave labour to be used in his Nazi missile programme. Significantly, he never displayed public regret for his actions. Readers will draw their own conclusions, but any rose-tinted spectacles worn these past six decades will likely slip.
W. W. Norton