Peenemünde.

The birthplace of the V1 and V2 rockets. History and the politics of memory regarding World War II

Peenemünde is not just one of many charming tourist municipalities on the island of Usedom in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Until the mid-1930s, this small fishing village—known only as the place where Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus (1594–1632) landed to support German Protestants during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648)—is marked by an extraordinarily turbulent history.

Photo 1: Coat of arms of the municipality of Peenemünde

Between 1936 and 1945, the Army Research Center (Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde, officially Peenemünde-East) was located there, laying the foundations for the development of modern civil and military rockets. German scientists, supervised by General Walter Dornberger, head of the rocket department at the Army Ordnance Office (Chef der Raketenabteilung im Heereswaffenamt), and under the technical leadership of Wernher von Braun, built the first “retaliatory weapons” (Vergeltungswaffen), i.e., the V1 and V2 long-range rockets, at this test facility. From 1937, tests of liquid-fueled rockets, remote-controlled missiles, and pulsejet-powered bomb aircraft were conducted there. The latter, later named V1 (technically designated as Fieseler Fi 103), were developed at the Luftwaffe research center (Versuchsstelle der Luftwaffe Peenemünde-West), which had been separated off in 1938. The pioneering flight of the V2 ballistic rocket—more precisely, the Aggregat 4 (A4)—which took place on October 3, 1942, marked the first time in history that a human-made object entered the boundary zone of outer space. For this reason, Peenemünde is also frequently considered the “cradle of astronautics.”

Photo 2: Wernher von Braun surrounded by high-ranking German officers. From the left: Col. Dr. Walter Dornberger, Gen. Friedrich Olbricht, Maj. Heinz Brandt, Wernher von Braun (in a suit, at the time holding the rank of SS-Untersturmführer). The remaining two individuals are unknown. March 21, 1941. Source: [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1978-Anh.030-02,_Peenem%C3%BCnde,_Dornberger,_Olbricht,_Brandt,_v._Braun.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1978-Anh.030-02,_Peenem%C3%BCnde,_Dornberger,_Olbricht,_Brandt,_v._Braun.jpg), Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1978-Anh.030-02 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

As a result of Nazi Germany’s use of the V1 “flying bomb” and the V2 vertical-launch rocket—portrayed in Nazi propaganda as an example of a “wonder weapon” (Wunderwaffe) intended to reverse the regime’s unfavorable fortunes in the war—at least 30,000 victims lost their lives. Among them were concentration camp prisoners and foreign forced laborers ruthlessly exploited for their mass production, as well as the residents of London, Antwerp, Brussels, and other Western European cities who were killed as a result of strikes by these missiles between 1944 and 1945. Nevertheless, in reality, these rockets were of little military significance and could by no means bring about a breakthrough on the fronts in the final years of the war. Undoubtedly, a source of national pride for Poles is the fact that the Home Army intelligence successfully investigated the experimental base on the island of Usedom. The information obtained by the Home Army in the following months enabled the Allies to bomb the facility in August 1943, which forced a temporary suspension of work on the Vergeltungswaffen until January 1944. By the end of the war, nearly 6,000 V2 rockets and 30,000 V1 missiles had been produced.

Photo 3: V-1 flying bomb at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, photo by Matt From London, source: [https://www.flickr.com/photos/57868312@N00/53901086880/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/57868312@N00/53901086880/), CC-BY-SA 2.0

A crashed flying bomb found intact by members of the 9th USAAF in France, 1944 or 1945, source: [https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205196298](https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205196298), FRA 100869, DP

Photo 4: Launch of a V-2 rocket from Test Stand VII in Peenemünde, Germany, first successful flight. The rocket reached an altitude of 84.5 km. Date: October 3, 1942, source: [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Launch_of_a_V-2_rocket_(49775376157).jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Launch_of_a_V-2_rocket_(49775376157).jpg), German Federal Archives/Cygni_18; CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo 5: V-2 rocket on a mobile launcher near Cuxhaven, 1945, source: [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V-2_Rocket_On_Meillerwagen.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V-2_Rocket_On_Meillerwagen.jpg), DP
Photo 6: Ruined flats in Limehouse, East London. Hughes Mansions, Vallance Road, following the explosion of the last German V2 rocket to hit London, March 27, 1945, source: [https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205022153](https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205022153), IWM (HU 88803), DP

A documentary film on the development of the V2 rocket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFTN-YdK_M

Photo 7: Remnants of a V2 rocket fished out of the Bug River by Home Army soldiers, source: (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V-2_Bug.jpg), DP

To erect the huge research facilities, diverse installations, production plants, infrastructure elements, and rocket assembly facilities, German construction companies needed a large workforce. After the outbreak of the war, in addition to the labor force from Germany that had already been forced to work there, Peenemünde also employed forced laborers, concentration camp prisoners, and prisoners of war from all over Europe occupied by the Third Reich. For this purpose, several barrack camps for these workers were established in the northern part of Usedom Island. Between June and October 1943, an external labor commando dispatched from the Ravensbrück concentration camp operated at the military research facility in Peenemünde. The assembly of A4 rockets took place in the production hall of the Peenemünde plant, in the cellars of which over 600 prisoners were accommodated. Subsequently, for a similar purpose, appropriate “qualified” specialists were selected from the Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen concentration camps to carry out this work. They were treated much better than the “racially alien” fellow prisoners in other camps of this type located on the island (Poles, French, Italians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Dutch, Belgians, Czechs). The conditions prevailing there were extremely difficult, virtually fatal. Gnawing hunger, violence, corporal punishment, exhaustion, and a lack of proper medical care were the order of the day, claiming a bloody toll particularly among the foreign workforce.

Supervision over the main labor camp subordinate to the Peenemünde center, named Karlshagen II, was exercised by SS guard units, as well as by the civilian personnel of the armament center, who were fully aware of the criminal exploitation of the prisoners. Wernher von Braun himself was no exception in this regard. Furthermore, there was a second forced labor camp, namely Karlshagen I (under the jurisdiction of the Luftwaffe), a prisoner-of-war camp in Karlshagen, and a camp for Soviet officers located in Wolgast. A camp designated exclusively for Polish forced laborers bordered the Karlshagen camp to the south, and a residential housing estate is currently located on this site. It is estimated that at its peak in 1943, a total of approximately 12,000 people worked for the Peenemünde complex, including several thousand forced laborers, several hundred concentration camp prisoners, and several thousand prisoners of war—primarily Soviet ones, who were treated the worst and forced to perform the heaviest labor. The exact number of victims among the various categories of forced laborers is difficult to determine, but likely even thousands of prisoners died there. Following the heavy British raid in August 1943 (as a result of which over 500 people died, including many foreign workers), part of the rocket production was transferred from Peenemünde to the underground Mittelwerk facilities near Nordhausen in central Germany, which were organically linked to the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, where conditions were far more draconian and the prisoner mortality rate was even higher (totaling over 20,000 victims). Overall, during the war, at least 40,000 forced laborers were engaged in the production of V2 rockets, of whom 15,000 to 20,000 died due to inhumane working conditions.

Photo 8: Karlshagen labor camp, 2019, photo by Global Fish, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KarlshagenLagerWest.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bombing of Karlshagen by RAF aircraft, 1943, photo: RAF, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karlshagen-Lancaster-1944.jpg, DP. Karlshagen after the bombing, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karlshagen-nach_Bombardierung-02.jpg, DP
Fot. 10 Niedersachswerfen k/ Nordhausen, Zakład produkcyjny rakiet V1 i V2, fot. 1 Tech. 4 Walter Victor, US Army, źródło: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mittelwerk_V-2_complex_tunnel.jpg, DP, fot. 2 źródło: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1991-061-16,_Niedersachswerfen,_Produktion_von_V1_-_V2.jpg, CC-BY-SA 3.0, fot. 3 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1991-061-18,_Niedersachswerfen,_Produktion_von_V1_-_V2_(cropped).jpg, CC-BY-SA 3.0, fot. 4 źródło: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1991-061-19,_Niedersachswerfen,_Produktion_von_V1_-_V2_(cropped).jpg, CC-BY-SA 3.0

After the war, the northern part of Usedom Island continued to be used for military purposes, first by the Soviet army and then by the National People’s Army of the GDR. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, the military base in Peenemünde was finally decommissioned. On the initiative of local residents interested in history and the commemoration of the site, the Historical-Technical Information Centre (Historisch-Technische Informationszentrum) was established there. Under the slogan “Cradle of Astronautics,” it attracted many visitors to the island. To avoid an overly simplified picture of Peenemünde’s history, a commission of historians, commissioned by the authorities of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, developed a new, more comprehensive museum concept starting in 1996. This exhibition, operating under the auspices of the Peenemünde Historical-Technical Museum (Historisch-Technisches Museum Peenemünde), opened in the building of the former power plant in 2000. The museum in Peenemünde is an important site of remembrance and a monument against war and violence. Here, one can learn all about the history of the Peenemünde facility and the development of rocket and armament technology during World War II. The museum is housed in various buildings, including the former hall where rockets were tested. Replicas of the V1 and V2 missiles, faithfully recreated according to the originals, are also presented on its grounds. Importantly, the museum honors the memory of the victims—concentration camp prisoners and forced laborers employed at the complex, including those from Poland, who constituted one of the largest national groups exploited for the development of the German rocket program (over 10,000 people). However, at the Memorial of Honor in the nearby Karlshagen cemetery, the victims are commemorated as a whole, without distinction of nationality, which is in line with current, more universalistic trends in German memory politics regarding the National Socialist era.

The issues surrounding Peenemünde touch upon both fundamental ethical questions and the Janus-faced nature of the Third Reich’s scientific achievements, which, despite their extremely destructive and utilitarian nature, brought long-term technological progress to humanity. Following the capitulation of Nazi Germany, some of the scientists from this complex, led by Wernher von Braun, found employment in the American space agency NASA. This former SS officer spent subsequent years working on space exploration strategy, significantly contributing to the construction of the American Saturn V rocket, which made the landing of astronauts on the Moon in 1969 possible. In this view, the armament center in Peenemünde and the work conducted there on new types of weapons can be perceived in the context of the phenomenon of “reactionary modernism” (Jeffrey Herf) characteristic of the Nazi regime, because modern technologies were used there to achieve criminal goals regardless of all consequences and human costs.

Photo 11: Wernher von Braun became director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on July 1, 1960, source: (https://images.nasa.gov/details/6407244), NASA ID: 6407244, DP
Photo 12: President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visit the Marshall Space Flight Center. At the Redstone Arsenal airfield, Center Director Wernher von Braun speaks with the President, September 11, 1962, source: https://images.nasa.gov/details/9801808, NASA ID: 9801808, DP
Photo 13: Wernher von Braun in front of the Saturn V rocket, being prepared for the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, July 1, 1969, source: https://images.nasa.gov/details/6901046, NASA ID: 6901046, DP

For the post-war decades, historical narratives concerning Peenemünde in East and West Germany differed diametrically. In the Federal Republic of Germany, former engineers from Peenemünde enjoyed considerable freedom for a long time in interpreting their activities during the Third Reich. In the 1950s, the memoirs of the military research center’s director, Gen. Walter Dornberger, were particularly popular. An essential characteristic of such apologetic interpretations was that the scientific community considered itself completely apolitical, and technology itself appeared “innocent.” It was not until the 1980s that increasingly critical historiography in the FRG initiated a significant shift in the culture of remembrance and in the publicly disseminated images of former Nazi technical elites, including Wernher von Braun himself. Interestingly, as late as 1972, von Braun—who by that time was already viewed as a symbol of the German rocket program—rejected a proposal to organize a grand celebration in the FRG for the 30th anniversary of the successful launch of the V2 rocket, anticipating a negative tone in press reports.

Meanwhile, in the German Democratic Republic, critical voices predominated in technical and scientific propaganda, especially since the first Sputnik flight in 1957. Against this background, a clear distinction was made between the Soviet space program and “fascist” rocket technology. Extensive works concerning the research centers in Peenemünde and Wernher von Braun portrayed this place as a striking example of imperialist fascism, whose direct continuation was represented by post-war Western (NATO) rocket programs.

The beginning of more in-depth discussions regarding the historical significance of the Peenemünde facility was marked in 1992 by a controversial initiative—organized under the auspices of the German aerospace industry and the Federal Government—to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first V2 flight (October 3, 1942) as a festival celebrating the birth of astronautics, accompanied by a popularizing exhibition. These celebrations were canceled at the last minute due to international protests, including those from Poland. There were even concerns that the planned festivities might signal a new revisionist trend in the FRG. As a result of such massive foreign and domestic criticism of this initiative, the state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania commissioned a scholarly analysis of the history of the former experimental center in Peenemünde, which served as a prelude to the establishment of the aforementioned museum.

The former rocket center in Peenemünde is a place whose history still evokes immense interest, controversy, and lively discussion among both Germans and Poles. This topic also occasionally appears in the context of building a shared culture of memory for future generations on both sides of the Oder River. An example in this regard is the international conference organized in October 2012: “Peenemünde from the Perspective of the Victims. The Responsibility of Science and Society. New Impulses for the Culture of Memory Regarding the Nazi Criminal War Industry,” which was held under the patronage of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, in cooperation with the Polish-German Culture Forum on the Usedom/Wolin Island and the Historical-Technical Museum in Peenemünde. Present at the event were many guests and scholars from Poland, including Włodzimierz Stępiński from the University of Szczecin, Remigiusz Rzepczak, Przemysław Sypniewski, and Ryszard Banaszkiewicz (currently the director of the A. Kaube Regional Museum in Wolin). Participants of the meeting emphasized that issues related to memorial sites should be embedded in the context of the region’s history and that open discussion on forced labor in Peenemünde must constitute a part of Polish-German cooperation in this field.

Established in 2012, the Polish-German Culture Forum on the Usedom/Wolin Island (Polish-German Culture Forum of the Oder Estuary Region) radically opposes the promotion of a distorted, historically apologetic image of the Wehrmacht experimental center, including the downplaying of the responsibility of German ballistic missile designers. In the “Declaration of 2012,” published on the occasion of the centenary of Wernher von Braun’s birth (2012), members of this association warned against creating false legends around this figure, pointing to the shared responsibility of Braun and other scientists and engineers from Peenemünde for the slave labor (and high mortality rate) of foreign workers and concentration camp prisoners, as well as their close cooperation with Adolf Hitler’s regime. It should be noted that in this spirit they also criticized the content of the permanent exhibition at the Historisch-Technisches Museum Peenemünde, where, although the broadly understood role of German engineers is neither hushed up nor whitewashed, it is also not presented in a straightforward and thus unambiguously condemning tone. Rather, the exhibition presents the historical context of their achievements, above all forcing reflection and, consequently, leaving moral evaluation to the visitor. Such an approach is, incidentally, typical of contemporary German memory politics, which frequently avoids unambiguous moral judgments and value assessments.

Photo 14: Historical-Technical Information Center (museum) in Peenemünde, 2026, photo by Adam Makowski

(CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Peenemünde stands as a universal warning of history and a call to always remember the consequences of the criminal rule of National Socialism and the moral compromises of cooperating with a totalitarian system. Today, it is a European memorial site where the victims of the Third Reich from various countries are remembered. At the same time, it shows that national perspectives still play a decisive role in cultivating collective memory. Therefore, in the Polish-German border region, it is necessary to practice with even greater intensity a “dialogue-based culture of memory” that fully takes into account the arguments and sensitivities of both sides and does not shy away from the difficult topics of broadly understood historical reparation.

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Raketen und Zwangsarbeit in Peenemünde: die Verantwortung der Erinnerung, red. Günther Jikeli, Schwerin: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Landesbüro Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2014.

Heinz Dieter Hölsken, Die V-Waffen. Entstehung–Propaganda–Kriegseinsatz, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt: Stuttgart 1984.

Benjamin King, Timothy Kutta, Impact: The History of Germany’s V-Weapons in World War II, Rockville Centre: New York 1998.

Philipp Aumann, Daniel Brandau, Christian Kehrt, Constanze Seifert, Projektbericht. Forschung im Museum Peenemünde als Erinnerungsort und Technikmythos, https://www.academia.edu/35398956/Forschung_im_Museum_Peenem%C3%BCnde_als_Erinnerungsort_und_Technikmythos

Günther Jikeli, Peenemünde aus Opferperspektive. Verantwortung von Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft. Neue Impulse für eine Erinnerungskultur an die verbrecherische Kriegsindustrie der Nationalsozialisten, https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/fdkn-123173

Wojciech Wichert