“As I see it today, Hitler and Goebbels were in fact molded by the mob itself, guided by its yearnings and its daydreams. Of course, Goebbels and Hitler knew how to penetrate through to the instincts of their audiences; but in the deeper sense they derived their whole existence from these audiences. Certainly the masses roared to the beat set by Hitler’s and Goebbels’ baton; yet they were not the true conductors. The mob determined the theme. To compensate for misery, insecurity, unemployment, and hopelessness, this anonymous assemblage wallowed for hours at a time in obsessions, savagery and license. The personal unhappiness caused by the breakdown of the economy was replaced by a frenzy that demanded victims. By lashing out at their opponents and vilifying the Jews, they gave expression and direction to fierce primal passions.”
― Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich

von Braun made it all happen, through his superb talents as an engineer, administrator and politician. He played the Nazis just like he played us, telling us what we both wanted to hear and making promises he probably wasn’t sure he could keep. He was a man obsessed, and more than any one other person, he made it happen. Without him, we would probably still be working up our way to Sputnik and Apollo.

No one can say for sure WvB knew about the slave labor that went into the V-weapons. I suspect he did, but I don’t know. Still, I don’t particularly think he was cruel, or a racist, or an anti-Semite. He might not even have been a fascist. I just think he didn’t care. I don’t think he was an ideologue at all. What really mattered for him was space travel, and nothing else. If he had been captured by the Soviets, he would have worked just as hard and skillfully for them as he did for us and for the Nazis.

All he ever cared about was going to the stars, the end justified the means.

Werner von Braun reminds me a lot of Albert Speer. And like Speer, he succeeded very well in covering his tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDEsGZLbio