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Adolf the Great

Adolf and the Volkswagen


Early Volkswagen Advert

THE VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE

"It should have the shape of a June bug" - Adolf Hitler


A somewhat faded original sketch by Adolf of what the car he conceived might look like. The sketch was drawn in the "Osteria Baveria" restaurant in Munich for Jacob Werlin, head of the Daimler-Benz agency.
Adolf instructed him: "Take it with you and speak with people who understand more about it than I do. But don't forget it. I want to hear from you soon, about the technical aspects."

 

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Adolf with the first model of the car he conceived

 


VW badge
The name "Volkswagen" was chosen by Adolf Hitler.

"Hitler used to describe how the city folk returned from their Sunday outings in overflowing trains, getting their buttons torn off, their hats crushed, their good mood ruined and every benefit of the relaxation wasted; how different it would be if the city workers could afford their own cars to go on real Sunday outings"
- Schwerin von Krosigk

While in prison, Adolf dreamt of a network of highways spanning the length and breadth of the country. He spoke of a small car that everyday people could afford, which would travel on these roads and open the country to German people.

"It should have the shape of a June bug", Adolf said.
Nature itself suggested the car's aerodynamic line.
That is why the car was later called a "Beetle"

Soon after taking office as German Chancellor, Adolf announced plans to build cheap cars for German families and offered them on low payments.


Early Volkswagen advertisement for the "Strength Through Joy" car.

In those days no workers had cars because they were much too expensive and the roads were primitive and congested. The "Volkswagen" would eventually cost only one-tenth as much as the normal automobile of those times. Because of this many Germans could for the first time explore their own country.

The spinoffs in industry would become one of Germany's most important industries and sources of employment.

Volkswagen <citation>

 

The person that Adolf chose to design the Beetle was that German engineering genius, Professor Ferdinand Porsche.

Below is an advert portraying a "VW" Volkswagen symbol inside an ornate, wheel-like Swastika, with Professor Porsche benevolently viewing his handiwork with a peaceful German family enjoying the benefits of the world's cheapest and most loved car.

 


Model-12  VW prototype

About 336,000 Germans paid money into a savings program initiated by KdF and administered by the Volkswagen company who used the funds to build the largest automobile factory in Europe.
German participants were promised that the first vehicles would be delivered in 1940. Of course the war changed all of this as production was first diverted for military use.
After the war, the savings scheme was honored in full by VW for all Germans west of the Iron Curtain, but it was not politically possible to do so for Germans in Communist East Germany.


During the war, production was diverted for military use.
The "Kuebelwagen" (above) was built around essentially the same Volkswagen Beetle and functioned exceptionally well even in the North African desert.


The Schwimmwagen was also built around the basic VW Beetle and was designed to drive mostly submerged through rivers and other bodies of water that would stop any normal vehicle.


Even after the most popular car of all time stopped production, the allure of the basic shape conceived by Adolf Hitler spawned a new Volkswagen that lives into the next century.

 


Adolf the Great

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Homepage of Adolf Hitler, also known as Adolf the Great or Hitler the Great. This Adolf Hitler site documents why millions loved their leader, Adolf the Great.
 

This Adolf Hitler website is dedicated to the documenting of the life of Adolf the Great and his role in Germany and the National Socialist party (Called "Nazi" by the Allies). Details are not intended to be exhaustive but present a clear and simple portrait of this most unjustly vilified and great man, Adolf Hitler. Therefore the material presented may be interesting background material a school project on Adolf Hitler, or onthe second world war. Details on the Jewish holocaust or on attrocitiescommitted by various beligerents during WWII are not rigorously covered, but links are provided for those who may be interested in these aspects of the war.