Some Call Rocket Scientist ‘Brilliant,’ Others Say He’s Guilty of War Crimes

In Toronto, a Canadian immigration court is considering whether 83-year-old Arthur Rudolph is culpable for slave-labor atrocities committed in a Nazi rocket factory in World War II.

In San Diego, a small group of engineers who worked with Rudolph at San Diego’s Solar Aircraft in the late 1940s is waiting word of his fate.

The San Diegans insist that Rudolph has been treated shamefully by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

“If you believe Arthur Rudolph is guilty of war crimes, you probably also think Mother Theresa is an ax-murderer,” said Bob Magness, 72.

“Arthur Rudolph was railroaded out of the U.S. on phony charges,” said Gordon Prentice, 70.

“Arthur Rudolph was the most brilliant and gentle man I ever met,” said Cy Olberg, 74. “I think it’s a disgrace what this country has done to him.”

Rudolph, one of the most honored figures in the American space program, was forced by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1983 to relinquish his naturalized citizenship and leave the country.

Rudolph had been among those German V-2 rocket scientists and engineers, including Wernher von Braun, who surrendered to the U.S. Army at the end of World War II to avoid capture by the Russians.

For several years after the war, Rudolph, Von Braun and others, still under Army guard, worked for Solar Aircraft (now named Solar Turbine) on Pacific Coast Highway.

After work, the Germans and their new San Diego colleagues would go to the Skyroom at the El Cortez Hotel to appreciate the panoramic view. They talked of a mutual dream: how rocketry could be used to put a man on the moon.

“Von Braun said Solar could become the most important aerospace company in the country,” Magness said. “The Germans loved San Diego and they loved Solar.”

“We were all ready to go to work,” Olberg said.

“It was an inspiring idea,” said Tom Henkel, 72.

It was not to be.

Solar opted for gas turbine work, and the Germans departed for the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala. Rudolph developed the Saturn rocket that put the Apollo astronauts on the moon and received a presidential citation.

In awe of his intellect and hands-on approach to manufacturing, the San Diegans kept in contact with Rudolph.

Magness served as a reference when he applied for citizenship. After his exile, Olberg wrote letters of protest to politicians and newspaper editors, and visited Rudolph in Hamburg.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Special Investigations, assigned to hunt down war criminals, had reopened allegations that Rudolph helped decide which workers at the Mittelwerk rocket factory would be hanged.

The same charges, which Rudolph denies, had been investigated after World War II and found wanting.

Confronted with new but disputed evidence, Rudolph agreed to return to Germany. In exchange, he was allowed to keep his NASA pension.

Recently, he went to Toronto to see his daughter. At the request of Jewish groups and the Department of Justice, the Canadians detained Rudolph and are now deciding whether he should be banned from further visits.

“If there was anything I could do to help Herr Rudolph, I would do it without hesitation,” said Henkel. “We all would.”

Strike a Law, a Ball, a Blow

Hit and miss.

* Words of endearment.

The Oceanside City Council has repealed its ordinance against obscene words and gestures in public. A judge in Vista had suggested it was vague and unenforceable.

The case involved a trucker who hurled the “f” word at an Oceanside cop who was giving him a ticket.

The council decided state law covers public naughtiness so a local ordinance is redundant.

* I hear San Diego swinging.

The public is invited to step into the batters’ box vs. ex-major leaguer Tom Seaver on Thursday (2:30-4 p.m.) at the UCSD baseball field. It’s meant to publicize a baseball art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

* North County bumper sticker: “Never Question Authority.”

* Graffiti in downtown courthouse: “Strike a blow for justice. Punch out an attorney.”