Many captured germans after the war worked in the USSR to restore what they had destroyed. But it never occurred to the Soviet leadership to appoint a nazi as the head of a space project.
The USSR was a sufficiently developed country to have its own scientist for this purpose - Korolev.
You mean the Korolev who was denounced and sentenced to Hard Labor for ten years during the purges? The man who wasn’t allowed to use his name while he was alive? The Chief Designer?
Whereas Von Braun was in charge of the effort to build the rockets to go to the moon. Others were in charge of NASA. However unlike the Soviets, we accepted Von Braun into society and allowed him the same freedoms once he was a citizen including the right to speak out against Government Policy.
We didn’t hide his history. We told everyone where he had come from, and what he had done. You see, Americans in that era, were willing to forgive, and we understood that to survive in the Nazi system you had to be a part of the Party.
Similar to your beloved Soviet nation. We had defectors come over, people seeking freedom. And we accepted that they had been Communists. Since anyone who wasn’t a Communist was summarily executed or sent to hard labor in the Gulags.
However, I have to thank you and your Soviet history. In California, the Police conducted an illegal search, and the defense attorney in seeking to get the evidence collected during that search suppressed read the lies the Soviets put out. He read the rights of a Soviet Citizen. And when the Judge interrupted him asking what he was doing, he explained it was easy to write down that an individual had rights, and was protected. However it was another matter entirely to actually enforce those rights. The Soviets wrote them, but never once enforced them.
The evidence was thrown out, and a man walked free. Because the Soviets wrote many lies about the glorious Soviet Union, but never could stop being what they were, Bullies who changed the rules to suit them.
I heard that story as a boy and it inspired me. It was part of the decision to join the Army. Later the Airborne. So I could fight and defend the rights of Americans from the totalitarian regime of the Soviets. The Soviet Union collapsed while I was in the Army, and I like many others celebrated.
We had Russian Officers come to visit us at Fort Bragg, and they refused to believe that our enlisted personnel were entrusted with Maps, and even taught how to read them. They thought we had placed officers in Enlisted Man’s uniforms to trick them.
Today, we see the same attitudes in the New Russian Army. Troops denied knowledge, and only the Officers having any clear idea what is going on, if they even know.
So Tovarich, what did your awesome Soviet Leaders tell you about Chernobyl? Did they tell you that the design had a fatal flaw? Did they tell you that the Soviets hoping to save money didn’t bother building a containment building around the reactor to prevent Radiation from escaping? I doubt it. Truth is one of those things the Soviets, and Russians today are not big fans of.
The Great Patriotic War? That is a good thing to mention. Because defenders in Stalingrad were sent forward to fight without rifles. Much as your troops today are being sent out without proper equipment. Turning your men into little more than sacrificial lambs. Hoping that the deaths of tens of thousands will cause the enemy to run out of ammo.
Enjoy the pain over the next several decades. Because your leaders are the ones who did this, and they are the ones who have condemned Russia and its people to suffering.
There was nothing good in the Soviet Union. It is a shame that the return of the old ways have returned. It isn’t good for the world, and it is especially bad for you and your fellow citizens. But this is what you want, so don’t complain when you get it.
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