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This interdisciplinary study analyses the personality and professional career of the German theoretical physicist, Werner Heisenberg, in the context of the German Reich, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and the post-war era. The focus is primarily on his controversial role during World War II as a leading member of the so-called Uranium Club, a militaristic project seeking to build nuclear reactors and weapons. The article summarises and critically re-evaluates the decades-old legend of the ostensibly peaceful work of German nuclear scientists. Furthermore, based on an analysis of Heisenbergʼs intellectual, political and scientific socialisation, it demonstrates that he and other German scientists were active participants in the scientific and political processes that led to collaboration with a criminal regime, rather than passive victims of circumstances. Thus, the study contributes to the broader debate on the ethics of science and the responsibility of scientists in totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, while also opening up avenues for future research on the collaboration of Czechoslovak scientists.
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