Terry Reilly (University of Alaska, Fairbanks)
Pynchon’s interest in relationships between hard science and the paranormal often includes allusions to, or representations of, real or fictitious weapons systems, from the V-2 in Gravity’s Rainbow to the Kenucky long rifles in Mason & Dixon, to Tesla’s death ray in Against the Day. This paper focuses on the roles of Major-General Dr. Hans Kammler, concentration camp designer and later head of Hitler’s secret weapons programs, both in Pynchon’s text and in broader scope of weapons development from the late 1940’s to the present. Pynchon mentions Kammler several times in Gravity’s Rainbow—once with reference to the construction of the Mittlewerk, (282); once on his work at Blizna, (424); and twice on his decision to dismantle testing and production sites of V-2 rockets and other secret weapons systems near the end of the war (426; 464). Until recently, finding reliable information about Kammler and his work has been very difficult, and most biographies and stories are a mix of speculation, meta-fiction and/or conspiracy theory. In 2000, however, a number of documents relating to the last days of World War II in Germany were declassified and authors such as Nick Cook–editor for Jane’s Defense Weekly (the world’s leading military affairs journal) and author of The Hunt for Zero Point (2002)—have begun to piece together information about Kammler’s life and work in the last days of World War II. Moreover, they have traced the migration and activities of members of the Kammlerstab (Kammler’s staff) after the war to places such as Lockheed/Martin, Bell Labs, General Dynamics, and Boeing. Thus, according to Cook, although Kammler himself disappeared without a trace on April 18, 1945, technical information about secret weapons projects that he had gathered and hidden during the last days of the war began to reappear at various defense contracting companies in the United States in the 1950’s. Reading Gravity’s Rainbow alongside this recently released information suggests not only that Kammler’s presence in Pynchon’s text is more significant that previously acknowledged, but also that while Pynchon was working at Boeing on the Minuteman missile project, he may have been become aware of some of the Kammler documents before they were declassified and included references to them in his text.