Hitler stole idea for iconic Volkswagen Beetle from a Jewish engineer, historian claims

By Emma Reynolds

Last updated at 5:32 PM on 14th January 2012

Adolf Hitler stole the idea for the iconic Volkswagen Beetle from a Jewish engineer and had him written out of history, a historian has sensationally claimed.
The Nazi leader has always been given credit for sketching out the early concept for the car in a meeting with car designer Ferdinand Porsche in 1935.
His idea for the Volkswagen - or 'people's car' - is seen by many as one of the only worthwhile achievements of the genocidal dictator.

Bug's life: Josef Ganz in his 'May Bug', which Adolf Hitler saw at a car show in 1933, not long before he made his sketches for Ferdinand Porsche

'People's car': Mr Ganz and his design that author Paul Schilperoord says is an early Volkswagen prototype

But Paul Schilperoord's book, The Extraordinary Life of Josef Ganz - the Jewish engineer behind Hitler's Volkswagen, may change that forever.
Hitler stipulated that the vehicle would have four seats, an air-cooled engine and cost no more than 1,000 Reichsmarks - the exact price that Mr Ganz said the car would cost.

 

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Three years before Hitler described 'his idea' to Mr Porsche in a Berlin hotel, Mr Ganz was driving a car he had designed called the Maikaefer, or May Bug.
The lightweight, low-riding vehicle looked very like the Beetle that was later developed by Mr Porsche, who is still considered the foremost car designer in German history.
Jewish inventor Mr Ganz had been exploring the idea for an affordable car since 1928 and made many drawings of a Beetle-like vehicle.

Lightweight and low-cost: Mr Ganz's earliest sketches for the idea from 1923

'Inspiration': More of the evidence from Mr Ganz's extensive drawings, which were apparently written out of history

'Lies': Hitler's sketches for the Volkswagen were previously considered one of his rare successes

Hitler saw the May Bug at a car show in 1933 and made sketches.
Within days of the meeting between Hitler and Mr Porsche in 1935, Mr Ganz's car magazine was shut down and he was in trouble with the Gestapo.
The journalist and inventor left for Switzerland and died in Australia in 1967.
He is not mentioned in VW's first corporate history or in the Story of Volkswagen exhibition in Wolfsburg.
'So many things were the same in Hitler's sketches,' said Mr Schilperoord.
'Hitler definitely saw his prototype and I'm quite sure he must have read Ganz's magazine.
'It's quite clear Ganz had a big influence on how the idea was developed by the Nazis.
'Ferdinand Porsche drove Ganz's prototype in 1931. I found a lot of evidence that all similar rear engines in the 1930s can be traced by to Ganz.
'Even the price was the same. Porsche said doing this for 1,000 Reichsmarks was not possible but was forced to make it happen by the Nazis.'

Meanwhile, Porsche's image is at stake, with some critics claiming he was a war criminal.
But although VW admits to producing military parts and using slave labour, Porsche was never tried for war crimes.
But 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.

'Stolen': The sketch that Adolf Hitler was said to have given to Ferdinand Porsche in 1934

Popular design: Early Beetles in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate in 1938

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