Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Buried Evil: V2 Rocket (Part 3)
Mar 1, 2024
Wernher von Braun, a prominent German aerospace engineer and architect of the V2 rocket program, discusses the dark past of his creation during World War II. He reveals the horrifying conditions of the enslaved laborers who built the rockets in brutal secrecy. The podcast dives into the moral dilemmas faced by those in power, including von Braun, as they navigated ambition amidst immense human suffering. His dual legacy raises urgent questions about the ethics of innovation when intertwined with historical atrocities.
39:17
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Quick takeaways
- The V2 rocket program utilized enslaved laborers in underground factories, revealing the dark human cost of technological advancement.
- Wernher von Braun, despite fleeing and claiming ignorance, was complicit in utilizing forced labor in the inhumane production of V2 rockets.
Deep dives
V2 Rocket Program and Atrocities at Nordhausen Concentration Camp
American soldiers discovered the horror at Nordhausen as they approached the concentration camp in Germany. They found emaciated prisoners, bodies in beds, and survivors amidst smoldering corpses. Adjacent to the camp were tunnels housing tools for V2 rockets. The V2 program, a technological marvel, drained resources and was militarily counterproductive, killing civilians but not significantly impacting the war. The camp revealed the human cost of V2 production, with thousands of enslaved laborers suffering under monstrous conditions, highlighting the program's true toll.
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