Editing Wernher von Braun (section)

==Early life==
Wernher von Braun was born on 23 March 1912, in the small town of [[Wirsitz]] in the [[Province of Posen]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], then [[German Empire]] and now Poland.<ref>{{cite book |last=Magill |first=Frank N. |author-link=Frank Magill |title=The 20th Century A–GI. Dictionary of World Biography |volume=7 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |page=440 |isbn=978-1136593345 |date=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nq1GU6I5umQC}}</ref>

His father, [[Magnus von Braun (senior)|Magnus Freiherr von Braun]] (1878–1972), was a civil servant and conservative politician; he served as Minister of Agriculture in the federal government during the [[Weimar Republic]]. His mother, Emmy von Quistorp (1886–1959), traced her ancestry through both parents to medieval European [[Royal family|royalty]] and was a descendant of [[Philip III of France]], [[Valdemar I of Denmark]], [[Robert III of Scotland]], and [[Edward III of England]].<ref>{{cite web |title="Von Braun, Wernher" |website=Erratik Institut |url=http://www.erratik-institut.de/7.5.6_O33.14_vonbraun/_O33.14_vonbraun.html |access-date=4 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719000053/http://www.erratik-institut.de/7.5.6_O33.14_vonbraun/_O33.14_vonbraun.html |archive-date=19 July 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://parsek.yf.ttu.ee/~mars/publikatsioonid/vonBraun.pdf "Dr. Wernher von Braun'i mälestuseks"], Füüsikainstituut. Retrieved 4 February 2011</ref> He had an older brother, the West German diplomat [[Sigismund von Braun]], who served as Secretary of State in the Foreign Office in the 1970s, and a younger brother, [[Magnus von Braun]], who was a rocket scientist and later a senior executive with [[Chrysler]].<ref name="mag8"/>

The family moved to [[Berlin]], [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]], in 1915, where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior. After his [[Confirmation (Lutheran Church)|Confirmation]], his mother gave him a [[telescope]], and he developed a passion for [[astronomy]].<ref>Magnus Freiherr von Braun, ''Von Ostpreußen bis Texas. Erlebnisse und zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen eines Ostdeutschen''. Stollhamm 1955</ref> Von Braun learned to play both the cello and the piano at an early age and at one time wanted to become a composer. He took lessons from the composer [[Paul Hindemith]]. The few pieces of von Braun's youthful compositions that exist are reminiscent of Hindemith's style.<ref name="Ward 2005">{{cite book |last=Ward |first=Bob |title=Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1591149262 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8jIeqqCkDHQC}}</ref>{{rp|11}} He could play piano pieces of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] and [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] from memory. Beginning in 1925, he attended a boarding school at [[Ettersburg]] Castle near [[Weimar]], [[Free State of Thuringia]], where he did not do well in physics and mathematics. There he acquired a copy of ''[[Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen]]'' (1923, ''By Rocket into Planetary Space'')<ref>''Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' by [[Hermann Oberth]], R. Oldenbourg 1923 {{OCLC|6026491}}{{failed verification|date=May 2020|reason=Source say nothing about von Braun}}</ref> by rocket pioneer [[Hermann Oberth]]. In 1928, his parents moved him to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat (also a residential school) on the [[East Frisia]]n [[North Sea]] island of [[Spiekeroog]]. Space travel had always fascinated him, and from then on he applied himself to [[physics]] and mathematics to pursue his interest in rocket engineering.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Biddle |first1=Wayne |title=Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher Von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race |publisher=W.W. Norton |date=2009 |isbn=978-0393059106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ee9j-00nT3YC |access-date=10 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-19 |title=Wernher von Braun {{!}} Biography, Quotes, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wernher-von-Braun |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 1928 the ''Raketenrummel'' or "Rocket Rumble" fad  initiated by [[Fritz von Opel]] and [[Max Valier]] was highly influential on von Braun as a teenage space enthusiast. He was so enthusiastic after seeing one of the public [[Opel-RAK]] rocket car demonstrations, that he constructed his own homemade toy rocket car and caused a disruption in a crowded sidewalk by launching the toy wagon, to which he had attached the largest firework rockets he could purchase. He was later taken in for questioning by the local police, until released to his father for disciplinary action. The incident highlighted the young von Braun's determination to "dedicate his life to space travel".{{r|Space Engineer|p=62-64}}

In 1930, von Braun attended the [[Technische Universität Berlin|Technische Hochschule Berlin]], where he joined the Spaceflight Society ([[Verein für Raumschiffahrt]] or VfR), co-founded by Valier, and worked with [[Willy Ley]] in his liquid-fueled rocket motor tests in conjunction with others such as [[Rolf Engel]], [[Rudolf Nebel]], Hermann Oberth or [[Paul Ehmayr]].<ref>Various sources such as [https://books.google.com/books?id=SnAMx8A7k68C The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War] ({{ISBN|0811733874}} pp. 5–8) list the young Wernher von Braun as joining the VfR as an apprentice to Willy Ley, one of the three founders. Later when Ley fled Germany because he was a Jew, von Braun took over the leadership of the ''Verein'' and changed its activity to military development.</ref> In spring 1932, he graduated with a diploma in mechanical engineering.<ref name="biography.com">{{cite web |title=Wernher von Braun biography |publisher=Biography.com |url=https://www.biography.com/scientists/wernher-von-braun |access-date=1 March 2014}}</ref> His early exposure to rocketry convinced him that the exploration of space would require far more than applications of the current engineering technology. Wanting to learn more about physics, chemistry, and astronomy, von Braun entered the [[University of Berlin|Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin]] for doctoral studies and graduated with a doctorate in physics in 1934.<ref name="recoll"/> He also studied at [[ETH Zürich]] for a term from June to October 1931.<ref name="recoll"/>