| Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945)lays the cornerstone of the Volkswagen (“People’s Car”) factory. 2nd on the right is Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (September 3, 1875 – January 30, 1951), the vehicle’s designer. Note the logo of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF; “German Labor Front”), the swastika inside a gear. After Gleichschaltung (“Coordination”) all trade unions were banned and replaced with the DAF. Volkswagen was an initiative of the Kraft durch Freude (“Strength Through Joy”) the Nazi Party-operated leisure organization. As cars were luxury items in 1930s depression-era Germany, the “People’s Car” would make automobiles affordable. Several manufacturers designed autos for mass market, so the concept was not unique. But Porsche independently developed his “Beetle” concept, combining proven technology with his own ideas. He used torsion bar suspension and a small engine and rounded the vehicle aerodynamically to maximize engine output. This drove the price of a Volkswagen to 990 Reichmarks, or $396 in American dollars, about $8,900 in 2024 dollars. But Porsche’s company could not build a factory for these private cars, and he turned to Hitler for financial support. The Nazi German government, through Kraft durch Freude, created scheme where participants saved 5 marks a week towards a new car. Prototypes of the car, called the KdF-Wagen (“Strength Through Joy Car”) appeared in 1938. The factory was built in a company town, Stadt des KdF-Wagens (“City of Strength Through Joy Cars”) complete with worker housing. But the war intervened, and none of the participants received a car, except Adolf Hitler. He received a Volkswagen Beetle for his birthday on April 20, 1944. During World War II, Stadt des KdF-Wagens instead produced the Type 82 Kubelwagen (“Bucket car”) utility vehicle (VW’s most common wartime model), and the amphibious Schwimmwagen — manufactured for Nazi German forces. As was common with much of the production in Nazi Germany during the war, slave labor was utilized in the Volkswagen plant, from Arbeitsdorf concentration camp. The company would admit in 1998 that it used 15,000 slaves during the war effort. German historians estimated that 80% of Volkswagen’s wartime workforce was slave labor. Buoyed by British postwar contracts, the car and its town changed their 2nd World War-era names to “Volkswagen” and “Wolfsburg” respectively, and production increased. By 1961, the Volkswagen was an icon of post-war West Germany. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0523.jpg |
| Image Size | 816.45 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3000 x 2255 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 26, 1938 |
| Location | |
| City | Fallersleben |
| State or Province | Lower Saxony |
| Country | Germany |
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| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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