EDITORS' NOTE TO THE READER: This is the official hagiography, therefore it may include some elements which are either redacted, incomplete when not utterly misleading or incorrect (e.g. on the role of the family during the Nazi regime). Also note that the fundamental role of financial backers like Adolf Rosenberger and senior Porsche staff (e.g. Erwin Komenda) had always been downplayed for internal "political" and marketing reason. Please use your best judgement.

Loosely translated from the original German

What Porsche understands by a Volkswagen is what he wrote on January 17, 1934 in his "Exposé concerning the construction of a German Volkswagen." On page 3, it says: "A Volkswagen must not be a small car with reduced dimensions at the expense of its driving characteristics and durability, but with a relatively high weight, but rather a utility vehicle with normal dimensions but with a relatively low weight, which could be achieved through fundamentally new measures." On behalf of the Reich Association of the German Automobile Industry, Porsche and his team set about developing "the" Volkswagen according to this principle. This was not new territory for the design office in Stuttgart's Kronenstrasse. Porsche had already developed small cars for Zündapp and NSU, among others. The experience gained in this process flowed into the development of the Beetle, as the basic similarity of the photos shows. The first VW prototypes hit the streets in late 1935, and in 1936 Porsche was commissioned to plan and build a factory for the production of the Volkswagen. The following years until the outbreak of the Second World War were years of concentration for Porsche on the Volkswagen.

But other design orders were also piling up alongside the major Volkswagen order. Porsche had no choice but to expand. In June 1938 the design office moved from Kronenstrasse 24 in Stuttgart city center to Spitalwaldstrasse 2 in Zuffenhausen. It soon had its own small factory there where prototypes could be developed.

Incidentally, it is a mistake to believe that Porsche only worked on automobiles. Long before the Second World War Small tractor designs were developed during the war with the aim of developing a kind of people's tractor. The tractors that were built after the war under Porsche licenses and Porsche supervision essentially go back to the prototypes that were already being tested on the wheels at the time. As with the Volkswagen, this was also an air-cooled engine - Porsche can be considered one of the pioneers of air cooling.

Designs for aircraft engines were developed, but also designs and designs for wind turbines - large wind turbines with automatic blade adjustment that supplied electricity via generators.

During the war, Ferdinand Porsche, who had meanwhile been awarded the title of professor, was appointed to important technical offices, but his views were not able to prevail in either the Armaments Ministry or the Armaments Council of the Reich. He was too inconvenient because he was a man who did not accept compromises and who unconditionally contradicted where he thought it appropriate. With his help, a number of tanks and tractors were built that were technically perfect and also proved their worth in action.

After the war, he was initially interned and interrogated by the Americans, but was treated well. Then, at the request of the French, he went to Baden-Baden to negotiate the possible construction of a Volkswagen. But on his second visit there, he was arrested, along with his son Ferry and his son-in-law Dr. Anton Piëch. He himself was soon taken prisoner by the French with Dr. Piëch to Paris and later to Dijon. He was imprisoned for twenty-two months. And it was only when the Porsche office, which had started working again, raised a very high bail under difficult circumstances that Professor Porsche and his brother-in-law Dr. Piëch were released in 1947; Professor Porsche's health had broken.

In the autumn of 1944, the Porsche company was relocated to Gmünd in bomb-proof Carinthia under pressure from the authorities.

There, Ferry Porsche, the professor's son, gathered old employees around him after returning from internment in 1946. There were no development orders at first, but there was plenty of work. For example, cars were repaired, not least of their own development: VW jeeps, which were now no longer driven by military personnel but by civilians. But non-automobile items were also manufactured: for example, mower fingers, ski bindings and barrack fittings. Above all, Ferry Porsche and his chief designer Karl Rabe worked in the barracks in Gemünd on their favorite idea: a sports car. They developed the famous Porsche 356 based on the VW Beetle.

In the same year, two former Austrian employees who had meanwhile moved to Italy also appeared in Gemünd: Rudolf Hruschka and Karl Abarth. They gave Porsche the contract to build the most modern formula racing car in the world, and the famous 4-wheel drive Cisitalia was created. Due to an unexpected change in the formula, the Cisitalia was never used, but the money paid for its development was enough to cover the bail that France demanded for the release of the imprisoned Professor Porsche.

Content

• The beginning
• The Volkswagen is created
• The 356 makes progress
• At Le Mans for 30 years
• The new Porsche generation