Association for space travel

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The Space Agency (VfR) was founded in 1927 in Breslau . The association represented a collecting basin and meeting point for many important space enthusiasts and rocket pioneers .

founding

On July 5, 1927, a group around Johannes Winkler and Max Valier , who was seen as the actual initiator, founded the Association for Space Travel in Breslau in the “Goldenes Scepter” restaurant. Winkler became the first chairman. One of the activities of the association was the publication of the magazine Die Rakete . Rudolf Nebel acted as the association's spokesman, took care of donations and negotiated with the Berlin authorities about a suitable test site. In 1929 the rocket was discontinued for lack of money. Hermann Oberth took over the chairmanship , his deputy was the Berlin journalist Willy Ley .

Moved to Berlin in 1929

At the end of 1929 the VfR moved to Berlin, where the patent attorney Erich Wurm made his office available as an office. It was there that Rudolf Nebel and Klaus Riedel founded the Berlin rocket airfield . In Berlin, the researchers developed the Mirak 1 to 3 and Repulsor missiles . One of the successes was reaching a rocket altitude of over 4000 meters.

On April 11, 1930, Winkler gave a lecture in the lecture hall of the main post office in the hope of being able to win over the post office for a rocket project. The organization of an aviation week in the Berlin department store Wertheim made contact with the young student Wernher von Braun . He was elected to the board of the association in 1932.

1930 took over the chairmanship of the VfR Major a. D. Hans Wolf von Dickhut . In 1934 the association was dissolved by the Reich government.

Cooperation with the Reichswehr / Wehrmacht from 1932

Since the researchers were always on the lookout for donors and sometimes even lived on the site of the rocket airfield, the first contact with the Reichswehr came from 1932 . Despite a failed demonstration in front of Colonel Karl Becker, among others, von Braun managed to arouse the interest of the military. While many of the researchers moved to the development facilities in Kummersdorf and later Peenemünde as civil employees , refused u. a. Fog to cooperate with the military.

After the Second World War

The association was re-established after the Second World War. It was entered in the register of associations of the Münster District Court on October 20, 1953 under the number 765: “Name: Association for Space Travel 1927 Münster. Chairman: Leo Sunder-Plassmann, Münster , Deputy Chairman and recorder: Cornelius Schultz. Articles of Association of October 5, 1953, last amended on December 4, 1953. "

On December 7, 1965, the association received the registration number VR 1425. On January 10, 2018, it was officially deleted because it had expired due to the cessation of any pursuit of purpose and the loss of all members.

Members

At times the VfR had over 500 members, including:

The founding members are Max Valier (Munich), Johannes Winkler (Breslau), Georg Lau (Breslau), Theodor Fuhrmann (Breslau), Alfons Jakubowicz (Breslau), Hedwig Bernhard (Breslau), Gerhard Guckel (Breslau), Herbert Fuchs (Nestau b . Suhlendorf, Kr. Uelzen), and Walter Neubert (Munich).

Max Valier was the actual initiator of the association for space travel.

"As Mr. Valier, of whom we reported in detail in the April issue, has just reported, it is the wish of many interested parties that an association for space travel should be founded."

- Article "Association for Space Travel"

“At the suggestion of Mr. Max Valier Munich, the founding meeting of an association for space travel EV took place on July 5, 1927, 6 ½ o'clock in the afternoon, in Breslau in the Goldnen Zepter, Schmiedebrücke 22. Mr. Valier is too overburdened to be able to found the association himself, and has therefore approached the publisher of the rocket with the request to make a merger. "

- Article "Verein für Raumschiffahrt EV"

Max Valier is the first to sign the statutes as a founding member and is also the first to be elected to the board. This is followed by 2. Johannes Winkler, 3. Theodor Fuhrmann, 4. Jakubowicz, 5. Sauer, 6. Walter Neubert.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b "Die Rakete", supplement January – June 1927, p. 28.
  2. ^ Michael J. Neufeld: Wernher von Braun. Visionary of space, engineer of war. Translated from the English by Ilse Strasmann. Siedler, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-88680-912-7 , p. 78 f
  3. ↑ Chronological printout of the register of associations of the Münster / W district court. for the association number VR 1425, electronically accessed on July 31, 2019
  4. ↑ a b c d e “Die Rakete”, July 15, 1927, p. 83f
  5. ^ Michael J. Neufeld: Wernher von Braun. Visionary of space, engineer of war. Translated from the English by Ilse Strasmann. Siedler, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-88680-912-7 , p. 78 f
  6. ↑ Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß :  Ley, Willy. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 425 f. ( Digitized version ).
  7. ↑ "Die Rakete", July 15, 1927, p. 82