Transformation of the evaluation of Heisenberg's activities in the German uranium club in 1941-1945 in the works of native and foreign researchers

The present article examines the changing views of foreign researchers on Heisenberg's participation in the German uranium program “Uranverein” during the Nazi years. On the basis of ideographic and chronological methods, aspects of Heisenberg’s biography and personality are investigated, and the interpretation of his activity in the “Uranverein” project by various authors from the postwar period to the present day is presented. For the first time the work uses a comprehensive methodology of analysis of scientific materials, archival documents, memoirs; the conclusions of domestic and foreign researchers are reconsidered, demonstrating their attitude of scientists to the activities of W. Heisenberg. It states that one should be critical of the position of researchers trying to prove Heisenberg’s anti-fascist position due to the presence of multiple contradictions with documentary materials. In conclusion, for all the ambiguity of this historical figure, his merits as a nuclear scientist are beyond question.