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Can anyone give a list of famous scientists in the Nazi Party? Is there a complete list?

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The most famous mathematicians who were the members of NSDAP are Ludwig Bieberbach and Oswald Teichmüller.

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The mathematician who would have been famous had he not been a member of the SS / Nazi Party and died in a POW camp is, I think, Gerhard Gentzen. He invented/rigourously described natural deduction and sequent calculus but is well written out of the history

In philosophy circles, in debates between analytic philosophers (logic) and continental philosophers, sometimes there are discussions about who was worse — Heidegger or Frege. Frege died before WW2 so Heidegger is worse. These questions are related to which philosophy — analytical or continental — is the easiest misused for bad goals

But, if Gentzen was known, the question would be between Heidegger or Gentzen and the question could have a different answer.

I have a book on natural deduction (Logic by Paul Tomassi) it mentions lot of people involved in its development, but Gentzen is missing.

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Philip Lenard, who with Stark founded the Deutsche Physik movement.

There are also examples of scientists who claimed to be "nominal members only": Wernher von Braun comes to mind (even if he admitted knowing about the slave labor used to construct the V-2 rockets); he was not only a member of the Nazi party but also of the SS.

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    $\begingroup$ Here is more on "Deutsche Physik". And Pascual Jordan also comes to mind when speaking about famous German physicists in the NSDAP. $\endgroup$
    – Jan Peter Schäfermeyer
    Feb 18, 2017 at 0:27
  • $\begingroup$ Allegedly, his membership cost him the Nobel prize in physics: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascual_Jordan $\endgroup$
    – Jan Peter Schäfermeyer
    Feb 18, 2017 at 15:34
  • $\begingroup$ @JanPeterSchäfermeyer this just proves how the nobel Prize is a political tool. $\endgroup$
    – Hisham
    Jun 10 at 18:49
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After the Second World War, Operation Paperclip was started to bring certain top German scientists to America. Many of these had worked on military applications for the Nazis (developing rockets etc.), and some may have been involved with the Nazis in other capacities as well.

A short list of the more famous scientists includes

Note added by Danu to remove confusion caused by the initial wording of this post: After the war, Operation Paperclip continued for many years, as an effort to bring German scientists to the USA to prevent them from being recruited by the Soviets in the Cold War. In this context, many others were brought to the USA, though there is no direct tie to any possible World War II activities.

Further, there was a list called the Osenberg List. During the war, the Germans needed to recall all PhDs, scientists, etc, from active military service as they needed help developing new weaponry. The identified intellectuals were first politically cleared and then listed on the Osenberg List. I looked around and couldn't seem to find a copy of the Osenberg List, but it seems like that list is what you want.

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He introduced groupoids and did some work on quadratic forms and quaternions, but I don't think he is considered a famous scientist: Heinrich Brandt. However, he was a very active Nazi, being a member of some Nazi organisations and most notably, he was a Förderndes Mitglied der SS. (According to German Wikipedia, referencing Harry Waibel, Diener vieler Herren: Ehemalige NS-Funktionäre in der SBZ/DDR (2011) p. 51.)

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To be really honest, all university professors who remained in office in Germany after 1933 collaborated in one way or another with the regime. This goes for big shots like Planck, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and others.

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm not sure this is entirely correct, at least according to John Cornwell's Hitler's Scientists. $\endgroup$
    – user5245
    Feb 13, 2017 at 0:01
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    $\begingroup$ According to this logic, all Soviet scientists of 1930-1950 collaborated with Stalin?? $\endgroup$
    – Alexandre Eremenko
    Feb 13, 2017 at 20:44
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    $\begingroup$ @AlexandreEremenko: Maybe. In Germany all professors were required to pledge allegiance to Hitler. Otherwise they were sacked. Quite a few retired to avoid giving the oath. $\endgroup$
    – fdb
    Feb 13, 2017 at 22:20
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    $\begingroup$ The question is about NSDAP members, not supporters of Hitler's regime or members of Hitlerjugend (which was mandatory for 'Aryan' youth). Many academicians pledged loyalty, de.wikipedia.org/wiki/…, but even not all of those were or became party members. Notably, the mathematician Helmut Hasse signed the pledge and later applied for party membership, but it was denied to him due to his Jewish ancestry. $\endgroup$
    – Margaret Friedland
    Feb 13, 2017 at 22:37
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    $\begingroup$ Schrödinger certainly did not collaborate with the Nazi regime, nor did Fritz Strassmann who hid a Jewish woman in his flat. $\endgroup$
    – Jan Peter Schäfermeyer
    Feb 22, 2017 at 11:38

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