Minneapolis – How could intelligent, well-respected, professional German’s turn their backs on Concentration Camps and torture?

It’s troubling, but this duality of conscience isn’t just a German problem, it’s a deep seeded pathology of the human condition. No individual encompasses the moral dilemma of Groupthink more than the story of Wernher Von Braun.

Educators in America admired Braun, a Nazi living in the United States until his death in 1972. Braun was a mass murderer who had buildings named after him that still display his name today.

The homage was not tongue-in-cheek; the complexities of history were shown through our collective whimsy of space exploration. His scientific achievements created character contradictions, while articulating the power of GroupThink. 

Von Braun is a comically evil villain. From tinkering with rocket engines to evading Allied spies with bizarre inventions.The character’s origins are as convoluted as his escapades. In this universe, Von Braun began his career as a hapless scientist in a sleepy Bavarian village, where his inventions—like a cuckoo clock that doubles as a rocket launcher—earn him the dubious title of “Village Mad Scientist.” 

Little does he know that his penchant for eccentric experiments will soon catapult him into history. Von Braun, the evil genius, once launched a stowaway cat into orbit, catching the attention of both Nazi officials and Allied spies. Dubbed “Operation Meow-naut,” this mishap leads Von Braun into the heart of wartime Germany—and straight into the clutches of the Nazi war machine.

Taking liberties with history, Von Braun’s adventures in a top-secret Nazi lab, where his attempts to build a rocket-powered beer stein ends in predictable chaos, but also would lead to the creation of rockets that murdered thousands of Britians, and also take America to the moon after his capture. 

Allied forces captured him during a botched escape attempt, involving a rocket-propelled human, from a submarine called a Sea Tueffel. 

Forced to atone for his past through a series of community service missions, the United States captured Von Braun and he finds himself reluctantly drafted into the space program—a move that will change his life forever.

As Von Braun clumsily navigates the complexities of Cold War politics and the intricacies of rocket science, his character arc explores the theme of redemption.

But underneath his achievments and eccentricities, there’s a man who shares responsibility for the Nazi’s success, until their eventual defeat by the allies.

Educators celebrate Von Braun, the NASA founder and accidental hero in the space race to the moon. His cartoonish evil was ignored and he received honors like his crimes never happened. A heartbreaking indictment of the GroupThink that infects the human condition.

In an era where history is often overshadowed by headlines and controversy, Von Braun’s contributions have been whitewashed with the soap of education.