A-4/V-2 Replica,
Historisch-Technisches Museum,
Peenemünde, Germany
Special thanks: Reiner
Sigmund, Ed Straten, Frank Leuband, and
Thomas Köhler
This A-4/V-2 replica, 1:1 in scale, is
located at the Peenemünde Museum in
Germany. This replica replaced an earlier
small-scale replica that was displayed in
the early 1990s. Construction of the
replica commenced in 1995 on an initiative
of the Förderverein Peenemünde and was
financed with donated funds. This model is
painted to resemble the first successful
V-2 that was launched on October 3, 1942.
The story
of the V-2 replica on the museum
grounds cannot be told without
remembering Reinhold
Krüger. Born in 1930,
Krüger began his apprenticeship as
a turner in metal construction at
Peenemünde North in 1944, in the
final days of the rocket program.
After the war, he remained deeply
connected to the history of the
site. When the Peenemünde
peninsula was opened to the public
in 1990, Krüger—by then one of the
founding members of the Historical
Association—set out to recover
forgotten remains from the ruins.
His sharp memory of the wartime
facilities led to remarkable
discoveries, including the salvage
of an A-4 tail unit in 1990.
Krüger’s dedication
to preserving evidence of the past
helped lay the foundation for the
museum itself, and in 1995, he was
the driving force behind building
the full-scale V-2 replica that
still stands today. Painted to
match the rocket launched
successfully on October 3, 1942,
the model incorporates several
authentic parts, including warhead,
blind tip, and heck
ring.
Built at the Peenewerft
Wolgast shipyard, the replica
launch table and V-2 stand as a
reminder of Peenemünde's turbulent
history. When the research facility was
evacuated in early 1945, only key
personnel and usable equipment were
transferred to Nordhausen. The rest was
abandoned, destroyed, or buried. By the
time the Red Army arrived in May, the site
was already stripped of its most valuable
assets. What remained was dismantled,
shipped east, or demolished under the
Potsdam Agreement. In the late 1940s,
Peenemünde's giant test stands were blown
apart, and its workshops emptied. The
birthplace of the V-2 was reduced to
rubble on the Baltic shore.
For the next
four decades, the area lay
hidden behind military
fences. In the 1950s, the
East German Navy
(Volksmarine) converted
the harbor into a base,
while Karlshagen, once a
bustling settlement of
scientists and workers,
was cleared and left in
fragments. By the early
1960s, Peenemünde West was
reactivated as an East
German Air Force base,
housing MiG fighter
squadrons until their
final flights in 1990.
Meanwhile,
many of the wartime
barracks and worker camps
were demolished, the stone
was reused elsewhere, and
much of the peninsula
disappeared into a closed
military landscape.
Civilians were barred, the
ruins scavenged, and the
history of rocket
development deliberately
ignored in official
accounts. The site existed
only as a strategic
outpost of the German
Democratic Republic (GDR),
its past silenced behind
barbed wire and armed
patrols..
Only after
the fall of the Berlin
Wall and German
reunification in 1990
did Peenemünde step out
of decades of obscurity.
For forty-five years the
peninsula had been
locked away behind
military fences, its
ruins left to crumble in
silence. When the East
German armed forces
finally withdrew, a new
chapter began. Munitions
experts moved in to
clear the grounds,
uncovering forgotten
relics:
shattered concrete,
rusting equipment, and
fragments of the rockets
that once made
Peenemünde a place of
significance. These
discoveries were
complemented by the
memories of surviving
witnesses such as
Reinhold Krüger, whose
firsthand knowledge
helped researchers and
historians make sense of
the landscape. Their
combined efforts ensured
that the site’s history
would not be lost a
second time.
-
In
1991, a modest
exhibition was
established in the
guard bunker of
the old power
plant. Though
small in scale,
this opening
marked the birth
of the Historisch-Technische
Museum
Peenemünde.
What began with a
few rooms of
artifacts and
eyewitness
accounts quickly
grew as interest
swelled, both
among local
residents and
international
visitors eager to
understand the
legacy of the
site. Over the
following years,
the museum
expanded into a
world-class
institution.
Today, it spans
thousands of
square meters,
welcoming well
over a hundred
thousand guests
annually, and is
recognized as one
of Germany’s
leading
technical-historical
museums. From its
humble beginnings
in a single
bunker, Peenemünde
has become a place
of remembrance,
reflection, and
education—an
institution
dedicated to
preserving the
complex history of
both technological
achievement and
human tragedy.
>>
MORE
INFORMATION
1994-1995 REPLICA
CONSTRUCTION
2009 REFURBISHMENT
AND MOVE TO OPEN AIR GROUNDS
PHOTOS THROUGH THE YEARS
The
museum continues to expand its
exhibitions, keeping alive both
the scientific and human history
of the site. Its newest
permanent installation—The
Fragment Rocket—presents a
reconstructed V-2 made entirely
of original components recovered
from the test grounds. Unlike
the pristine modern
replica, this display preserves
the pieces exactly as they were
found—corroded, incomplete, and
scarred by history. The parts
come from different test series,
some never fired, and others
recovered from spent missiles.
Assembled in the form of a
rocket, these fragments embody
both the failures of the wartime
weapons program and the first
steps toward spaceflight.
Together, the replica outside
and the fragment inside invite
visitors to reflect on
Peenemünde's
complex legacy: destruction and
innovation, war and memory,
endings and beginnings.
