Klaus Riedel

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Klaus Erhard Riedel (born August 2, 1907 in Wilhelmshaven ; † August 4, 1944 in Zinnowitz ) ("Riedel II") was a German rocket designer and co-founder of the world's first rocket airfield in Berlin.

Life

Klaus Riedel monument in Bernstadt ad Eigen

In 1914 Klaus Riedel attended grammar school in Wilhelmshaven, later the Askanische grammar school in Berlin, and then the secondary school in Wilhelmshaven. His mother died in 1919 and his father in 1921. In 1923 Riedel started an apprenticeship as an electrician at Ludwig Loewe & Co. in Berlin and finished it with a journeyman's certificate . Then from April 1927 to April 1928 he attended “Dr. Heils private school ”in Berlin. From April 1928 to October 1929 he attended general mechanical engineering lectures at the Technical University in Berlin .

The science fiction novel " On two planets " by the German writer Kurd Laßwitz aroused Riedel's enthusiasm for rocket construction as early as 1919. Even as a young person he was convinced that a journey into space was possible. On September 27, 1930 , Rudolf Nebel and Klaus Riedel founded the Berlin rocket airfield on the former Tegel artillery firing range in Berlin-Reinickendorf , where they researched and experimented with Hermann Oberth , Wernher von Braun and Kurt Heinisch (* 1910). In May 1931 the first German liquid rocket was launched and missiles up to 1000 meters high were tested. The so-called minimum rocket (Mirak), mainly designed by Riedel, aroused interest in the German military in the possibility of using rockets as a weapon of war .

In May 1932 Riedel became a founding member of the Panterra Society for international projects of peaceful large-scale research , initiated by Albert Einstein and Friedrich Simon Archenhold . Until it was banned by the National Socialists, he was also a member of the Bund Neues Vaterland , which later became the German League for Human Rights .

In order to continue his education in the field of rocket technology, Riedel joined the company "Siemens Apparate und Maschinen GmbH" as an engineer on October 1, 1934 and worked there until July 31, 1937. Among other things, he developed gyro controls and in August 1936, together with Rudolf Nebel, received the patent for recoil motors with liquid fuel. An emigration plan to the USA was not approved.

From August 1937, Klaus Riedel ("Riedel II") worked at the Peenemünde Army Research Center after the Army Weapons Office did the above. Patent and paid 50,000 Reichsmarks to him and the unemployed Rudolf Nebel and they had passed on part of the proceeds to needy rocket researchers. Riedel was responsible for preparing the unit 4 for use . He also worked on the development of engines for a military ICBM, the unit 9 and the unit 10 . In 1941 he took over the preparation of the organization of the operational use and ground facilities of the unit 4 under war conditions.

Klaus Riedel was arrested by the Gestapo on the night of March 21-22, 1944, together with Wernher von Braun and Helmut Gröttrup, on the instigation of Heinrich Himmler, on charges of treason, sabotage and degradation of military strength . On intervention by Walter Dornberger and Hans Georg Klamroth , Wernher von Braun was released on April 2, 1944, Klaus Riedel on April 8, and Helmut Gröttrup on April 13, 1944, subject to conditions.

Klaus Riedel died in a mysterious car accident on the way home from work in Karlshagen on the road between Bannemin and Zinnowitz on August 4, 1944, leaving behind his wife Irmgard, nee. Kutwin and their 18 month old daughter Henrike.

Others

In 2008, German media reported on a controversy over the naming of a middle school in Bernstadt ad Eigen after Riedel. There is still a monument to him in the city, and the local museum dedicates parts of its exhibition to him.

A crater on the back of the moon was named Riedel in 1970 after Klaus Riedel and Walter Riedel (1902–1968; not related, "Riedel I") in recognition of their contributions to rocket research.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Karl Werner Günzel: 70th anniversary of death - in memory of Klaus Riedel. Förderverein Peenemünde, accessed on January 11, 2020 .
  2. ^ Klaus Schlingmann: Rocket pioneers at the rocket airfield in Berlin. Historical working group Daedalus, accessed on January 13, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Berlin rocket airfield 1930–1934. Oteripedia, accessed January 11, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Bernd Sternal: Conquerors of the sky: Life pictures - German aerospace pioneers . Sternal-Media, Gernrode 2016, ISBN 978-3-7412-6393-4 , p. 172 f . (184 p., Targets were among other things. "Rocket flights with the aim of finding foreign celestial bodies" and "artificial earth satellites with solar mirrors to influence the weather").
  5. ^ Olaf Przybilski: Open letter on the posthumous character assassination of Klaus Riedel. (PDF; 76 kB) February 18, 2008, accessed on November 17, 2019 .
  6. ^ Rudolf Nebel: The fools of Tegel: a pioneer of space travel tells . Droste, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 978-3-7700-0314-3 , p. 147 (180 pp.).
  7. ^ Peter Hall: Organigram Elektromechanische Werke Karlshagen 1944. Accessed on January 11, 2020 .
  8. ^ Michael J. Neufeld: Wernher von Braun. Visionary of space, engineer of war . 1st edition. Siedler, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-88680-912-7 , p. 205-210 (687 pp. American English: Von Braun. Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War . New York 2007. Translated by Ilse Strasman).
  9. ^ Olaf Przybilski: Open letter on the posthumous character assassination of Klaus Riedel. (PDF; 76 kB) February 18, 2008, accessed on November 17, 2019 : “On the morning of August 4, 1944, Klaus Riedel drove himself to death on a tree on a straight road. The exact circumstances have never been clarified. Was it really an assassination attempt by the SS or even suicide? Did he cope with the conditions, the constraints, could he no longer burden his conscience? "
  10. ↑ Alexandra Sillgitt, Jochen Leffers: Rocket Builder of the Nazis is the namesake of a school , Spiegel Online, February 5, 2008
  11. ↑ Lars Gaede: Gunsmith as a model , taz.de, February 4, 2008
  12. ↑ Frederik Obermaier: More than just a dispute over names , Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 3, 2008
  13. ^ Riedel in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature of the IAU (English)
  14. ↑ DH Menzel , M. Minnaert , B. Levin , A. Dollfus , B. Bell: Report on lunar nomenclature by the working group of commission 17 of the IAU , Space Science Reviews 12, June 1971, p. 167 (English)

literature

  • Karl Werner Günzel: Rocket pioneer Klaus Riedel: Test site Bernstadt / Oberlausitz and rocket airfield Berlin . Elbe-Dnjepr-Verlag, Klitzschen 2005, ISBN 3-933395-72-0 .
  • Rudolf Nebel: rocket flight . Elbe-Dnjepr-Verl, Klitzschen 2002, ISBN 3-933395-64-X , (reprint of the Berlin-Reinickendorf edition, Raketenflugverlag, 1932).
  • Rudolf Nebel: The fools of Tegel. , Berlin-Reinickendorf: Raketeflugverl., 1932
  • Volkhard Bode, Gerhard Kaiser: Raketenspuren , Augsburg 1997; ISBN 3-86047-584-3 .
  • Harald Tresp: Peenemünde. People, technology and their heirs . Airplane publication, Illertissen 1992, ISBN 3-927132-07-1 .
  • Olaf Przybilski: Open letter on the posthumous character assassination of Klaus Riedel. (PDF; 76 kB) February 18, 2008, accessed on November 17, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Klaus Riedel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Riedel, Klaus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Riedel, Klaus Erhard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German rocket designer and co-founder of the world's first rocket airfield
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd August 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Wilhelmshaven
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1944
Place of death Zinnowitz