DC News Outlet Deletes Article On Famed U.S. Rocket Scientist Wernher von Braun Because He 'Was A Nazi'

As a child growing up in Germany in the 1920s Wernher von Braun had a fascination with space exploration and rocketry. In 1932 he began work on Germany’s liquid-fuel rockets that pounded western Europe in World War II.

“The Treaty of Versailles, which banned German military activity after World War I did not account for rocketry. So the Nazi regime exploited that loophole to develop a robust rocketry program and von Braun was instrumental in helping them achieve those successes,” said John Bisney, co-author of “Picturing Apollo, Rare Views and Undiscovered Moments.”

At the close of World War II, von Braun and his rocket team surrendered into the welcoming arms of the United States, which immediately put them to work in America’s space race against the Soviet Union.

“He was at the top of the allies list of people they really wanted to bring here to help with United States technology development. As a result of von Braun and his team coming to the United States … they laid the foundation for the rocket program that led us to the Apollo program and to the moon,” said Bisney.

As a child growing up in Germany in the 1920s, Wernher von Braun had a fascination with space exploration and rocketry. In 1932 he began work on Germany’s liquid-fuel rockets that pounded western Europe in World War II. He went on to become a member of the Nazi Party.