Missiles for the Fatherland

Peenemunde, National Socialism, and the V-2 Missile
Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-521-28340-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 290 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 474 g

Reihe: Cambridge Centennial of Flight

Missiles for the Fatherland tells the story of the scientists and engineers who built the V-2 missile in Hitler's Germany. This 2009 text was the first scholarly history of the culture and society that underpinned missile development at Germany's secret missile base at Peenemünde. Using mainly primary source documents and publicly available oral history interviews, Michael Petersen examines the lives of the men and women who worked at Peenemünde and later at the underground slave labor complex called Mittelbau-Dora, where concentration camp prisoners mass-produced the V-2. His research reveals a complex interaction of professional ambition, internal cultural dynamics, military pressure, and political coercion, which coalesced in daily life at the facility. The interaction of these forces made the rapid development of the V-2 possible but also contributed to an environment in which stunning brutality could be committed against the concentration camp prisoners who manufactured the missile.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Petersen, Michael B.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Ausrüstung & Waffen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte
• Technische Wissenschaften Sonstige Technologien | Angewandte Technik Waffen- und Rüstungstechnik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Help build the spaceship!; 2. At Peenemunde, they have created a paradise; 3. It was a fantastic life!; 4. Production by convicts: no objections; 5. At the limits of existence; 6. We still had a fatherland to fight for; 7. Engineering consent at Peenemunde.