Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

92 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
In addition to frst and second generation Germans in huntsville, I
interviewed members of the african american and Jewish communities and
World War II veterans, as well as former coworkers, neighbors, and friends of the
German rocket engineers and their families. as the following exploration will
illustrate, not surprisingly, those who historically wielded little power and had
practically no voice in the huntsville community have a very diferent perspective
on the impact of the Germans on huntsville than those who considered themselves
to be equals.perhaps less expected is how this marginalized narrative in huntsville
seems to echo larger national and international narratives.
When asked about the impact of the German rocket engineers and their
families on huntsville, practically every interviewee, regardless of personal
background, mentions music, specifcally the huntsville Symphony Orchestra.
after that, they usually attribute the frst Lutheran Church in town and Uah,
the U.S. Space & rocket Center, Broadway theatre League, and the Ballet
Company to eforts of the German team. the word “culture” is prominent
among most of the responses, and those who grew up alongside the children of
the rocket engineers emphasize how “smart” the children were, often outdoing
locals in school, which was typically linked directly to the father’s reputation as
“rocket scientists.” 6
With the space program came signifcant economic development for
the formerly small cotton town in Northern alabama that many huntsville
residents link directly to the arrival of the German rocket experts from Fort Bliss,
texas, in 1950, despite the simultaneous arrival of many american engineers,
scientists, and technicians and their families. 7 the town’s population increased
6. the term “rocket scientist” is a misnomer used by the media and in popular culture and
applied to a majority of engineers and technicians who worked on the development of
rockets with von Braun. It refects a cultural evaluation of the immense accomplishments
of the team but is nevertheless incorrect. For an explanation of why a distinction should
be made between scientists and these engineers, see Michael J. Neufeld’s latest publication,
Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (New York, NY: alfred a. Knopf in association
with the National air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, 2007): “a Note On the
Name and On terms.”
7. the notion that the Germans were the main cause for the town’s rapid development is a
popular myth in huntsville, most likely derived from the German team’s later success and
prominence. It distorts the fact that the approximately 120 German rocket engineers were
part of a larger army transfer that included the move of approximately 500 military personnel,
65 civilian personnel, and 102 General electric (Ge) employees in addition to the German
specialists. By 1955, employment at redstone arsenal had increased from 699 in June 1949
to 6,442. For more information, see “Fort Bliss, texas, rocket Ofce to Be Moved to
redstone arsenal,” Huntsville Times, November 4, 1949. “Quarters: Of Guided Missile area
Set up at redstone arsenal,” Huntsville Times, april 16, 1950, “150 redstone Families here,
Others Coming,” Huntsville Times, July 9, 1950. “Move Scheduled by Ge employes [sic],”
Huntsville Times, april 3, 1950. helen Brents Joiner and elizabeth C. Jollif, The Redstone
Arsenal Complex in Its Second Decade, 1950-1960, ed. historical Division (redstone arsenal,
aL: U.S. army Missile Command, 1969).