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Two years later, Ganz presented his ‘German Volkswagen’ before Chancellor Adolf Hitler at the 1933 Berlin motor show – but as a Jew, he was soon arrested by the Gestapo and any connection between him and what soon became “Hitler’s Volkswagen project” was erased from the pages of history… until today.
- The Jewish ‘People’S Car’
- A Nazi-Backed Car
- Overlooked by History
Born in Budapest in 1908, Ganz became what Schilperoord called a central figure of the German auto industry in the late 1920s and early 1930s. A mechanical engineer, Ganz was also editor-in-chief of the magazine Motor-Kritik — “the most influential magazine in the German auto industry and also abroad,” Schilperoord said. “He really analyzed cars, a...
Not all Germans turned against him, Schilperoord said. But Hitler was backing the creation of a people’s car and, Schilperoord said, “[the] government did not want a Jewish engineer to be linked so closely [with the Volkswagen].” “Hitler wanted to make it,” Bennett said. “He chose a few designs. He wanted Dr. Porsche to headline a government car, a...
In 1950, Switzerland did not renew Ganz’s residency permit. When his Swiss girlfriend emigrated to Australia, “it seems Ganz followed her to Australia to start a new life,” Schilperoord said. Ganz continued to work with cars, this time for GM – Holden. He died unmarried and childless. By then, the car he had once helped create was enjoying success ...
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Arrest. Josef Ganz himself was arrested by the Gestapo in May 1933 based on falsified charges of blackmail of the automotive industry. He was eventually released. He fled Germany in June 1934 – the month Adolf Hitler assigned Ferdinand Porsche to design a mass-producible auto for a consumer price of 1,000 Reichsmark.
May 2, 2024 · Who has heard of Josef Ganz? No one, or almost no one. His name is forgotten, just as his work is forgotten. Yet without him, several generations would have
Sep 25, 2018 · Ganz was written out of history by the Nazis, but now, the only surviving example of a car he designed —a car that’s most like a proto-Beetle—has been restored. And it’s fascinating.
Josef Ganz himself was arrested by the Gestapo in May 1933 based on falsified charges of blackmail of the automotive industry. He was eventually released. He fled Germany in June 1934 - the month Adolf Hitler assigned Ferdinand Porsche to design a mass-producible auto for a consumer price of 1,000 Reichsmark.
