Helmut Gröttrup
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Helmut Gröttrup (born 1916, died 1981) was a German rocket engineer and assistant of Wernher von Braun in the V-2 rocket-project. Gröttrup was responsible for the guidance system.
After World War II, Gröttrup first lived in the western occupation zones. He refused to work for the Americans because he didn't want to be separated from his family. In that situation, an offer from the Soviets seemed to be right, who offered him not only a lot of money, but also the opportunity to continue his work in Germany and to stay with his family. He was the most important rocket specialist the Soviet Union could get and an important contributor to an early Soviet space program.
From September 9, 1945 through October 22, 1946, Gröttrup worked under the supervision of Sergey Korolyov in the Soviet Occupation Zone. Then, all scientists and engineers working for the SU were kidnapped and brought to the USSR by train along with their families.
Through November 13, 1947, eleven missions were launched from Gorodomlya Island, of which five succeeded. From then on, milked of all their expertise, the Germans were of no further use to the Soviets and so they were withdrawn from the project. But they had to remain in the SU because of their first-hand knowledge about the rocket program, which they developed.
On November 22, 1955, Gröttrup was allowed to return to Germany.
Back in Germany, Gröttrup worked for SEL (Standard Elektrik Lorenz) in Stuttgart (1955-1958). Later he became an inventor and developed the chip card together with Jürgen Dethloff, a patent applied in 1968 and granted in 1982. From 1970, he worked for Giesecke & Devrient for chip cards and banknote processing systems.
