Wernher von Braun was born in Germany in 1912. As an adult, he joined the Nazi party and the SS. He worked as an aerospace engineer and is credited with inventing the V-2 rocket which was used extensively to bomb civilians during the Battle of Britain. The Nazi aerospace factories used a fair amount of Jewish slave labor. Von Braun later in his life said he was against it but there is also evidence that he went to Buchenwald to personally pick out new slaves.

Unlike other Nazis who changed their names and moved to South America after the war, von Braun was scooped up by the Americans and was set to work at NASA. He became quite popular because he was a major factor in getting astronauts on the moon. Wernher von Braun was put on the cover to Time magazine, appeared on television specials produced by Disney, and there’s even a crater on the moon named after him.