Wernher von Braun
Marshall Space Flight Center, April 4, 1969
Wernher von Braun Letter Mentioning Apollo 9, Written to a Peenemunde Colleague
TLS

A very scarce typed letter in German on NASA letterhead signed ‘Wernher von Braun' and as Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. One page, 8" x 10.5", Alabama, April 4, 1969. Von Braun writes to his former colleague, Heinz Groesser, with whom he worked at the secret Nazi base Peenemunde. File holes to left margin, otherwise boldly signed and in near fine condition.

Von Braun writes, in part: "…I received a very cheerful birthday letter…from a meeting of a small group of former Peenemunde [members] in Tyrol, at which ‘Suleika' and Dr. [Karl Eugen] Slevogt were present….I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you very much for the congratulations you sent me on the occasion of the successful flight of Apollo 9.
I believe that Mr. Maicher will find answers to many of the questions in his letter…in the book by Klee and Mark, for which I wrote an afterword. We are currently under so much pressure here than we unfortunately cannot respond to all inquiries in detail…".

Apollo 9 launched on March 3, 1969, just a month before this letter, and established its place in history as the third human spaceflight in the NASA program. Its mission was to qualify the Lunar Module for crewed lunar flight and demonstrate, among other things, that it could perform the maneuvers in space needed for a lunar landing, including docking with the CSM (Command and Service Module.)

Through "Operation Paperclip" after World War II, von Braun – along with 125 other scientists from Peenemunde – emigrated to the United States, which sought to utilize their knowledge culled from building the successful V-2. Von Braun worked to distance himself as much as possible from his Nazi past and his own knowledge about the use of slave labor in the projects executed at Peenemunde, but nonetheless remained in contact with his old colleagues who still resided in Germany, such as his correspondent Heinz Groesser and fellow scientist Karl Eugen Slevogt.

Heinz Groesser (1920-2015) was a technical draftsman in the development team at Peenemunde. After the war, he was taken prisoner by the Americans near Erfurt, but was soon released and took up residence in Klein-Krotzenburg in 1947. Unlike von Braun, Groesser never sought to remove his association with "the big Peenemunde family." In fact, he headed the special interest group of the Peenemunde scientists called the IEP, which promoted an unapologetic positive remembrance of the 1930s and 1940s' rocket programs and, according to author Daniel Brandau: "against the explicit objection of Wernher von Braun, the IEP had started celebrating anniversaries in 1972 of the successful 3 October 1942 V-2 launch." However, von Braun warned that, "because of the military and political context of our technological developments, this can quickly lead to an unpleasant reaction in the public and mass media." Although our letter obviously predates the official anniversary celebrations, Grosser's intent is nonetheless evident and von Braun's perfunctory answer to his old friend's letter speaks volumes.

Karl Eugen Slevogt (1912-1976) was a rocket pioneer who also worked under von Braun at Peenemunde in the rocket development group "Control and Guidance." He later founded Wissenschaftlich-Technische Werkstätten GmbH (WTW). He and von Braun remained in contact for decades.

"Suleika" mentioned in this letter refers to Hannelore Brannasch, a young woman who served avon Braun's secretary while at Peenemunde, and whom he referred to as Suleika (Ruth Kraft: "Insel Ohne Leuchtfeuer. Der Erfolgreiche Roman Um Peenemunde Und Hitlers V-Waffen").

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!
8.5" x 11"