Re: The Volkswagen Connection: Setting the Stage for a New Era
- From: Frank Kemper <spam-muelleimer@xxxxxx>
- Date: 5 Jul 2005 21:42:07 GMT
"Dori A Schmetterling" <ng@xxxxxxxxxxxx> haute in die Tasten:
> And I always thought that Ferdinand Porsche founded the company.
>
Porsche had contact with Hitler who was responsible for the idea of a
standardized mass production car. At the beginning of the '30s,
Porsche was a celebrity amongst car engineers in Germany, he had
created cars like the Mercedes Benz SSK and SSKL as well as some
"Silberpfeil" race cars for Auto Union. Ferdinand Porsche founded the
tradition of Porsche Engineering: Many companies (Buick,
Citroen, Lada, Seat, even the tank manufacturer Kraus-Maffei) made
contracts with Porsche to help them developing vehicles and engines.
The Volkswagen (translation: People's car) was developed by Porsche
on contract by one of the Nazi's mass organisations "Kraft durch
Freude" (Abbreviation KdF, translation "Power through Joy"). KdF also
ran a fleet of holiday cruising ships and lots of touristic
facilities, most people of that time knew KdF mainly as a
recreational organisation for the masses. The purpose of KdF was to
give the masses the impression that the Nazi regime provides them
with everything they are dreaming of. The car, which later became the
VW Beetle, was always referred to as "KdF-Wagen", the factory in
Wolfsburg was founded by the Nazis. Even Wolfsburg was founded by the
Nazis. Porsche was hired as head of car development and engineering,
which was a fantastic opportunity for him. In order to meet the
technical challenge, Porsche forgot about the terrible working
conditions many workers faced in the factory. He also ignored the
evil plans of the Nazis, which practically made him a Nazi supporter.
The people who wanted to buy a "KdF-Wagen" were betrayed by the
Nazis. The car should cost 1.000 Reichsmark, which was very cheap for
a full size car of that time, but it was quite a big pile of money
for most of the people. They were encouraged to buy KdF coupons and
get their car as soon as they would have enough coupons. The Nazi
regime took the money and used it for war purposes. Before WWII VW
Beetles were made in quite small numbers, and hardly one single VW
Beetle was given to one of the workers who had saved so hard. After
WWII there were long class acts running upon the question wether VW
would have to sell new Beetles to those who had collected coupons.
BTW: The first VW Beetle prototypes were developed at the site of the
Porsche engineering bureau in Stuttgart, which is approximately 500
miles away from Wolfsburg. The first series of 30 VW Beetle pre-
production samples were handmade at the Mercedes Benz factory in
Stuttgart.
Volkswagen was Nazi owned, when they began production in 1939. After
WWII the factory was widely destroyed and later rebuilt under british
administration. Because there was no private owner available (all
Nazi organisations were abandoned after WWII), the factory fell to
the federal state of Lower Saxony. Volkswagen still is partly
government owned. Lower Saxony holds a share of the VW stocks, and by
law the federal state has the right to refuse an aquisition by
another company. The prime minister of Lower Saxony is always a
member of the VW senior board.
Of course all alleged present Nazi connections of the original poster
are BS.
Frank
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