Doctoral Dissertation Research: Immigration, Science, and the Cold War: Rehabilitating Nazi Germany's Rocket Engineers in Huntsville, Alabama

这个博士论文项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术和社会项目支持，研究了二战后秘密军事行动“回形针计划”将德国火箭专家带到美国的文化和社会影响。这些德国火箭科学家被认为在为美国陆军将第一颗美国卫星送入轨道和第一批美国人登上月球方面发挥了重要作用。这项研究的重点是这些工程师和他们的家人如何融入阿拉巴马州亨茨维尔的社区，从1950年开始。这项研究探讨了这些人之前为纳粹政权所做的工作是如何被他们自己、他们的家人和他们在亨茨维尔的邻居解读的，以允许顺利的当地融合，并似乎毫无疑问地将这些德国人视为美国英雄。随着时间的推移，通过将不同的地方视角与国家和国际视角进行对比，本研究显示了不断变化的国家和地方焦点如何塑造了对德国火箭工程师的表述和评估。本研究的主要重点是1950年至1970年这段时间，即从德国人到达亨茨维尔到1969年登月。该项目采用了文化人类学、社会学、历史学和传播学等跨学科方法的结合，展示了不同的来源如何为多种历史叙事的构建提供信息。这项研究的核心是从德国家庭成员以及亨茨维尔社区的白人、犹太人和非裔美国人那里收集的口述历史。口述历史与档案材料、报纸文章和回忆录相结合，说明了关于第二次世界大战、大屠杀、吉姆·克劳、冷战时期南方犹太人的经历以及男性和女性视角的记忆如何反映在关于阿拉巴马州亨茨维尔回形针计划意义的叙述中。该项目旨在通过将科学与移民联系起来并分析其对社区的影响，为科学和技术的历史提供一种新的方法。

This doctoral dissertation project, supported by the Science, Technology & Society program at NSF, examines the cultural and social impact of bringing the German rocket experts to the United States under the post-Second World War secret military operation "Project Paperclip." These German rocket scientists are considered instrumental in putting the first American satellite into orbit for the U.S. Army and the first Americans on the moon. This research focuses on how these engineers and their families integrated into the community of Huntsville, Alabama, beginning in 1950. This study explores how the men's previous work for the Nazi regime was interpreted by themselves, their family members, and their neighbors in Huntsville, to allow for smooth local integration and seemingly unquestioned celebration of these Germans as American heroes. By contrasting diverse local perspectives with national and international perspectives over time, this study shows how changing national and local foci shaped representations and evaluations of the German rocket engineers. The primary focus for this study is the time period from 1950 to 1970, i.e., from the Germans' arrival in Huntsville until the moon landing in 1969. The project uses an interdisciplinary combination of methods from cultural anthropology, sociology, history, and communication studies to show how divergent sources inform the construction of multiple historical narratives. Central to the study are oral histories collected from members of the German families and from white, Jewish, and African American members of the Huntsville community. The oral histories are combined with archival material, newspaper articles, and memoirs to illustrate how memories of World War II, the Holocaust, Jim Crow, the experiences of Jews in the Cold War South, and male and female perspectives are reflected in narratives about the meaning of Project Paperclip for Huntsville, Alabama. This project seeks to provide a new approach to the history of science and technology by linking science and immigration and analyzing their impact on communities.