It’s time to stop celebrating Nazi war criminals such as Wernher von Braun.

Society has reflected on what is now considered acceptable and movements such as Black Lives Matter have gained momentum and statues of slave traders, confederates and other historical figures have been toppled or removed based on their records of human abuse or their political views. Organisations such as NASA have renamed their Headquarters after the ‘Hidden Figure’ Mary W. Jackson their first African American female engineer.

Unfortunately NASA and other organisations still celebrate figures such as Wernher von Braun who organised the design and construction of the V-2 ballistic missile and was let into the US under Operation Paperclip, where his history was de-Nazified so he wouldn’t break US Immigration rules.

Yes, he contributed in getting man to the moon, but he was also a Nazi, SS Major and V-2’s were constructed in Mittelwerk deep underground (near Nordhausen) in atrocious conditions using forced and slave labour from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp where more than 20,000 people died (it only operated for just over a year).

For background please see The Darker Side of the Moon.

Also please sign the petition.