Porsche, WWII
Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:39 am
Not to go too off topic but what do you know about Porsche & WWII? I'm struggling to see much beyond wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Porsche
"In June 1934, Porsche received a contract from Hitler to design a "people's car" (or Volkswagen), following on from his previous designs such as the 1931 Type 12 car designed for Zündapp. The first two prototype cars were completed in 1935. These were followed by several further pre-production batches during 1936 to 1939. The car was similar to the contemporary designs of Hans Ledwinka of Tatra (in particular Tatra V570 and Tatra 97), which resulted in a lawsuit against Porsche based on infringement of Tatra's patents regarding air-cooling of the rear engine. The suit was first stopped by German invasion of Czechoslovakia and later by Volkswagen paying a settlement several years after World War II.
Since being engaged by the Nazi authorities in building the Volksauto, Porsche was praised as the Great German Engineer.[5] Hitler considered Czechs subhuman[11] and Porsche was in 1934 urged to apply for German citizenship.[5] A few days later, Porsche indeed filed a declaration giving up the Czechoslovak citizenship at a Czechoslovak consulate in Stuttgart.[18] In 1937, Porsche joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party[19] (becoming member no. 5,643,287[20]) as well as Schutzstaffel (SS).[21] By 1938, Porsche was using the SS as security members and drivers at his factory, and later set up a special unit called SS Sturmwerk Volkswagen.[20] In 1942, Porsche reached the rank of SS-Oberführer.[22] During the war, Porsche was further decorated with the SS-Ehrenring and awarded the War Merit Cross.[23]
A new city, "Stadt des KdF-Wagens" was founded near Fallersleben for the Volkswagen factory, but wartime production concentrated almost exclusively on the military Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen variants. Mass production of the car, which later became known as the Beetle, began after the end of the war. The city is named Wolfsburg today and is still the headquarters of the Volkswagen Group."
Neil,
I really don't know much about Porsche and WWII; my comment was specific to Benz, and their honesty in admitting the use of slave-labor during the war.
But what you found here makes it clear that saint-hood isn't indicated. Joining the Nazis in '37 means he had to be well aware of the Nuremburg Laws stripping Jews of any "rights". And SS membership wasn't handed out to those who thought Hitler wasn't too bad; you had to show real enthusiasm.
I don't think any of it qualified him as a war criminal, but he certainly had a seat in the cheer-leading section.
BTW, when I was last in Stuttgart, the Porsche Museum hadn't opened. Does it mention WWII at all? At the very least, he was a weapons designer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Porsche
"In June 1934, Porsche received a contract from Hitler to design a "people's car" (or Volkswagen), following on from his previous designs such as the 1931 Type 12 car designed for Zündapp. The first two prototype cars were completed in 1935. These were followed by several further pre-production batches during 1936 to 1939. The car was similar to the contemporary designs of Hans Ledwinka of Tatra (in particular Tatra V570 and Tatra 97), which resulted in a lawsuit against Porsche based on infringement of Tatra's patents regarding air-cooling of the rear engine. The suit was first stopped by German invasion of Czechoslovakia and later by Volkswagen paying a settlement several years after World War II.
Since being engaged by the Nazi authorities in building the Volksauto, Porsche was praised as the Great German Engineer.[5] Hitler considered Czechs subhuman[11] and Porsche was in 1934 urged to apply for German citizenship.[5] A few days later, Porsche indeed filed a declaration giving up the Czechoslovak citizenship at a Czechoslovak consulate in Stuttgart.[18] In 1937, Porsche joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party[19] (becoming member no. 5,643,287[20]) as well as Schutzstaffel (SS).[21] By 1938, Porsche was using the SS as security members and drivers at his factory, and later set up a special unit called SS Sturmwerk Volkswagen.[20] In 1942, Porsche reached the rank of SS-Oberführer.[22] During the war, Porsche was further decorated with the SS-Ehrenring and awarded the War Merit Cross.[23]
A new city, "Stadt des KdF-Wagens" was founded near Fallersleben for the Volkswagen factory, but wartime production concentrated almost exclusively on the military Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen variants. Mass production of the car, which later became known as the Beetle, began after the end of the war. The city is named Wolfsburg today and is still the headquarters of the Volkswagen Group."
Neil,
I really don't know much about Porsche and WWII; my comment was specific to Benz, and their honesty in admitting the use of slave-labor during the war.
But what you found here makes it clear that saint-hood isn't indicated. Joining the Nazis in '37 means he had to be well aware of the Nuremburg Laws stripping Jews of any "rights". And SS membership wasn't handed out to those who thought Hitler wasn't too bad; you had to show real enthusiasm.
I don't think any of it qualified him as a war criminal, but he certainly had a seat in the cheer-leading section.
BTW, when I was last in Stuttgart, the Porsche Museum hadn't opened. Does it mention WWII at all? At the very least, he was a weapons designer.