Is Elon Musk Heir to Nazi Dream of World Conquest? Why Mars?

👉2nd Segment, Courtesy of Tom Hartmann Program, January 7, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/@thomhartmann

💭 TRANSCRIPT

Thom: Your article about Elon just blew my mind. It was a piece of history I had no idea about, and I wanted you to come on and share it with our viewers and listeners. Let’s start in 1948. Operation Paperclip

Jim: A classified program that the U.S. intelligence services executed at the end of World War II and for years afterward. It brought over at least 1,600 Nazi engineers, scientists, and others to the United States to help fight the Cold War. One of those Nazis was a man named Wernher von Braun.

Thom: Wernher von Braun?

Jim: Yes, and von Braun invented the V-2 rocket, otherwise known as the "Vengeance rocket," which terrorized London and Antwerp at the end of World War II. This man, who created the V-2 rocket, was part of Operation Paperclip. He’s relevant, it seems, to the richest man's life in surprising ways.

Thom: Right. So, von Braun comes to America, and while he’s here, he writes a book called Mars Project in German at Fort Bliss, Texas, which was published in English in 1952. Tell us about this science fiction novel von Braun wrote.

Jim: Yes, it’s a science fiction novel, but it’s a very technical one. The entire last third of the book consists of technical drawings and other details—true rocket science from one of the most famous rocket scientists in history. He was a Nazi, but also a legitimate rocket scientist. In the book, there’s a figure on Earth who demands that humanity become multiplanetary—a theme Elon Musk frequently emphasizes.

Thom: That’s interesting.

Jim: In the book, humanity goes to Mars, where they discover a colony already exists. The leader of this colony is called “the Elon.”

Thom: Wait, in the novel?

Jim: Yes, in the novel—not breaking news here! The leader of the Mars colony is called “the Elon.” When I first heard this story, I thought it might be apocryphal. Then, I listened to Errol Musk, Elon Musk’s father, who openly stated that as a child growing up in apartheid South Africa, he read these science fiction books. He was a huge Wernher von Braun fan and confirmed that Elon was named after “the Elon.”

Thom: So, Elon Musk is named after the ruler of Mars in a novel written by a Nazi rocket scientist?

Jim: Yes, and to make it even stranger, the colony in the novel does not live on the surface. Instead, they inhabit underground tunnels because the surface is too hostile.

Thom: That’s wild. It also reminds me of Elon’s company, The Boring Company, which drills tunnels.

Jim: Exactly. There’s another parallel with Elon’s Hyperloop project—a high-speed transportation system in tunnels. In the novel, the underground Martian society uses similar tunnels because surface living is impossible.

Thom: Fascinating. What else can you tell us about the Martian society in the novel?

Jim: The society on Mars is a technocracy. The Elon is essentially a dictator, but his advisors and court consist of technocrats—engineers and scientists—because he believes only they are equipped to handle such challenges. It’s a kind of benevolent dictatorship.

Thom: And Elon Musk’s maternal grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, was the leader of a pro-Hitler fascist movement in the 1930s and 1940s called Technocracy Inc., which promoted a society ruled by technocrats.

Jim: Exactly. This connection is eerie. Musk even lists himself as the “Technoking of Tesla” in SEC filings, reflecting how he sees himself—as a benevolent dictator.