The VW Beetle During World War II

The VW Beetle Was Developed in the Third Reich

Ferdinand Porsche, Adolf Hitler, and Hermann Goering (in a rare use by him of the SS uniform) look at a model of the Beetle in 1935. For anyone who remembers the Beetles of the '60s or '70s, that is just a weird time-tripping kind of photo.

The Volkswagen Beetle became the "hippie car" of the 1960s and was featured in "feel-good" Disney films such as "Herbie the Love Bug." However, many at the time did not realize that its roots extended to the Third Reich in Germany.

Hitler inspects a VW convertible with Ferdinand Porsche. He looks happy.

Adolf Hitler decided that he wanted a cheap car that ordinary people could afford. This was one of those instances where the "Socialist" part of his party's name came into play.

Hitler's sketch of his concept of the "People's Car." One must confess, that is exactly what the final product looked like, though eventually it was shortened.

Hitler was a man of great contradictions, to put it mildly, with many of them being quite notorious. However, one of his lesser-known contradictions is that Hitler was a true "car guy" even though he himself never had a driver's license. Of course, as Fuhrer, Hitler could have driven anywhere he damn well pleased without a license, and for all that we know he did. However, it's not known if Hitler even knew how to drive. Before his incarceration in the 1920s following the abortive Munich Putsch, Hitler was too poor to own a vehicle, and afterward, Hitler was always chauffeured (and being Hitler's chauffeur often led to big things). However, Hitler was obsessed with cars, their engines, their styling... everything. In April 1934, he met with Ferdinand Porsche and directed Porsche to develop a "people's car." Hitler personally sketched out an early concept for this people's car in a meeting with Porsche at a Berlin hotel in 1935.

The Volkswagen of 1941. Compare it to Hitler's 1935 sketch above.

The first two Volkswagen, Type 60 V1, and V2 (no, not that type of V1 and V2) prototypes were completed in 1935. Porsche did not finalize the design until 1938, and modifications continued thereafter just as they always do in the car industry. The Volkswagen production model of 1941 very closely followed Hitler's original 1935 sketch and proved to be quite a practical sedan. The rounded roof drawn by Hitler was available in the hardtop version.

Adolf Hitler - gearhead.

Anyone seeing these early versions would instantly know they were looking at the same car that eventually evolved into Herbie the Love Bug, that is how little the design changed from the early 1940s to the 1960s.

Adolf Hitler appears amused as he finishes a visit to the Volkswagen factory, 1938. Attending are Reich Labor Leader Dr. Ley (in uniform) and Professor Porsche. Visible in the background are newsreel cameras.

Hitler stipulated that the vehicle would have four seats, an air-cooled engine and cost no more than 1,000 Reichsmarks. This would put it within the reach of ordinary workers. These requirements were met.

Hitler with Dr. Porsche, inspecting the new vehicle. Notice how delighted the Fuhrer is, and how bored his flunkies behind him are.

Mr. Porsche, widely considered Germany's greatest car designer of all time, went to work. He produced a lightweight, low-riding vehicle. It became quite fashionable.

Different types of Volkswagens in the Third Reich.

His company also later produced a number of tanks and other things for Hitler, but that is another story. Truth be told, he was a far better car designer than tank designer. But then... he was one of the world's great car designers, and, overall, not a bad tank designer, either (his Ferdinand/Elefant assault gun, though rejected for mass production, served well in the limited quantities produced).

The VW Beetle's official introduction in 1938. June 1938: Adolf Hitler makes a speech during a cornerstone-laying ceremony to mark the start of construction of the Volkswagen factory at Fallersleben. In the foreground is the prototype Volkswagen car designed by Prof Dr. F Porsche and handmade by the Mercedes Benz car factory.

The car went into production. Within three years, it was complete and ready for mass production. As with all things in Third Reich Germany, there was a dark side to the affair: the used of offensive construction practices. But although VW admits to producing military parts and using slave labor, Porsche was never tried for war crimes.

VW Beetles passing through the Brandenburg Gate in 1938, when they were finalized.

The war interrupted production, but it resumed thereafter. Volkswagen Beetle only ceased production in South America in 2013. It became one of the most-produced vehicles of all time. That is a lasting effect on society.

Seven years later in Berlin.

Previous Ideas: Josef Ganz

The car concept that Hitler came up with which turned into the Beetle was not completely original. The idea of a sleek air-cooled coupe had been floating around in German automotive circles for years. It is worth looking at one such possible source for Hitler's idea, though by no means the only one. By providing this alternate explanation for the Beetle, I hope to prove that there is no attempt being made here to glorify Hitler for designing the Volkswagen Beetle. You may draw your own conclusion as to the extent to which Hitler "stole" the idea for the Beetle, though I also will provide my own take on the issue.

Josef Ganz with one of his designs.

Paul Schilperoord claims in his book, "The Extraordinary Life of Josef Ganz - the Jewish engineer behind Hitler's Volkswagen," that Hitler stole the idea from a contemporary Jewish car guy, Josef Ganz. Ganz fled Germany during the pre-war years and died in 1967 - just long enough to see "Herbie the Love Bug." There are some surface and other similarities between Ganz's ideas and the Beetle. If a clear link could be established - Schilperoord would say it has been - then Volkswagen would have some 'splainin' to do about its automotive history. The case basically is made by the accompanying pictures.

Ganz with another of his designs.

So, there is at least a possibility that Josef Ganz was the original source of the Beetle. VW puts the doubt over the car's origins down to the fact that many people at the time were talking about the concept of a small and low-priced car. It claims that through Hitler, Mr. Porsche found the funding that Mr. Ganz lacked and was able to make something real out of what was a popular idea. Let's look at that for a moment.

Nobody these days has any interest in defending Hitler, least of all me. However, there are two sides to every question, and not giving people who deserve it proper credit (even if they are brutal dictators) is as bad as stealing it. It may be true, as author Schilperoord claims, that Hitler saw one of Ganz's designs at a car show in 1932 and that Hitler shut down Ganz's operation not long after Hitler's meeting with Porsche in 1935. A Ganz car also had the interesting name of "May Bug." Those are mighty coincidental facts.

A Ganz drawing of his proposed vehicle. Decide for yourself if that looks like a Volkswagen Beetle.

However, simply seeing a car does not prove design theft - every car designer has seen cars. Some of Ganz's cars had more of a resemblance to the later Beetle than others. There is no evidence that Hitler saw any of Ganz's sketches or design notes. None of his final vehicles looked identical to Hitler's sketch or the final Beetle product. Ganz seemed more interested in designing a roadster, while Hitler had something more utilitarian in mind. Whatever else you might think, it seems clear that Hitler at least added his own input to wherever he may have gotten the larger idea for the car - and that is exactly what a car designer does.

A Ganz technical sketch.

If Hitler indeed shut down the Ganz operation in 1935, that would not have been unusual in Germany of the time. Ganz was Jewish, and sadly that was happening to more and more Jews in those days. The name "May Bug" of the Ganz car certainly sticks out to modern ears, but it is unclear if the VW Beetle ever was called "the Bug" until the hippie generation of the '60s. Sometimes there are just coincidences in life.

A Ganz drawing.

One could analogize it to the development of the computer mouse. There are some people who claim that Steve Jobs stole the mouse idea from Xerox for his Apple computer (including Xerox), which had a similar design in the mid-1970s and to which Jobs may have had access. However, Jobs defenders will quickly point out that the origins of the mouse actually extend decades before Xerox as well. He simply perfected the idea, added a little something to it, and made it his own. That's how design works in the real world.

Let's take one last look. First the early prototype VW Beetles, then the Ganz car. Decide for yourself.

First, Hitler's Beetle is shown below.

Next, the Ganz car.

There certainly are similarities between the Ganz car and the Hitler car. Are they the same? Well, they are very close, but the two designs obviously differ in some very important respects. The truth is that designs build on each other, and no complex technical design springs to life from scratch. Car designers do not re-invent the automobile with each new model. So, even if Hitler did see the Ganz car and it stirred his thoughts, that does not mean he necessarily "stole" the idea of a lightweight, air-cooled car for the people. However, it also can never be proven that he didn't, aside from the differences in the cars themselves.


2019