Editing Peenemünde Army Research Center (section)

==Post-war==
The last V-2 launch at Peenemünde happened in February 1945, and on May 5, 1945, the soldiers of the Soviet [[2nd Belorussian Front]] under General [[Konstantin Rokossovsky]] captured the seaport of [[Świnoujście|Swinemünde]] and all of Usedom Island. Soviet infantrymen under the command of [[Vavilov|Major Anatole Vavilov]] stormed the installations at Peenemünde and found "75 percent wreckage". All of the research buildings and rocket test stands had been demolished.<ref name="Ley">{{cite book |last=Ley |first=Willy |author-link=Willy Ley |title=Rockets, Missiles and Space Travel |orig-date=1944 |year=1958 |publisher=The Viking Press |location=New York |page=243 }}</ref>

End of April 1945, a group of more than 450 important rocket scientists from Peenemünde were captured by the U.S. Army in [[Oberammergau]] while [[Wernher von Braun]], [[Walter Dornberger]] and several others surrendered in [[Reutte]] on May 2, 1945. As part of [[Operation Paperclip]], a group of 127 engineers was eventually contracted for the continuation of the work at the [[White Sands Missile Range|White Sands Proving Grounds]] in the USA.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGovern |first=James |title=Crossbow & Overcast |publisher=W. Morrow |year=1964 |pages=93–196 |asin=B0006D7M16 }}</ref><ref name="Michels">{{Cite book |last1=Michels |first1=Jürgen |title=Peenemünde und seine Erben in Ost und West: Entwicklung und Weg deutscher Geheimwaffen |last2=Przybilski |first2=Olaf |year=1997 |isbn=3-7637-5960-3 |location=Municj |language=de |trans-title=Peenemünde and its heirs in East and West: Development and Traces of Secret German Weapons }}</ref>{{rp|p. 202-221}} Only a few members of the previous HVP staff, such as [[Helmut Gröttrup]] and [[Erich Apel]], signed a contract with the Soviets and were forcibly transferred to the USSR as part of [[Operation Osoaviakhim]] in October 1946.<ref name=Michels/>{{rp|p. 222-253}}

Although rumors spread that the [[Soviet space program]] revived Peenemünde as a test range,<ref name="ley195910">{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1959-10/Galaxy_1959_10#page/n71/mode/2up |title=For Your Information |work=Galaxy |date=October 1959 |access-date=June 14, 2014 |author=Ley, Willy |page=73 }}</ref> more destruction of the technical facilities of Peenemünde took place between 1948 and 1961. Only the power station, the airport, and the railroad link to [[Zinnowitz]] remained functional. The gas plant for the production of [[liquid oxygen]] still lies in ruins at the entrance to Peenemünde. Very little remains of most of the other Nazi German facilities there.

The [[Historical Technical Museum, Peenemünde|Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum]] opened in 1992 in the shelter control room and the area of the former [[power station]] and is an anchor point of ERIH, the [[European Route of Industrial Heritage]].

The main turbine hall of the [[Historical Technical Museum, Peenemünde|Peenemünde]] plant has been used a concert venue, including a 2022 performance by the New York Philharmonic orchestra and the [[Baltic Sea Philharmonic]] as part of the [[Usedom]] Classical Music Festival. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Apthorp |first=Shirley |date=May 23, 2022 |title=New York Philharmonic on German island: first review |url=https://slippedisc.com/2022/05/new-york-philharmonic-on-german-island-first-review/ |website=Slipped Disc}}</ref>