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N0KFQ > TODAY 07.08.14 15:58l 54 Lines 2497 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 32918_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 7
Path: IZ3LSV<IR1UAW<IQ5KG<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 140807/1500Z 32918@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.60
Aug 7, 1944:
Volkswagen halts production during World War II
On this day in 1944, under the threat of Allied bombing during
World War II, the German car manufacturer Volkswagen halts
production of the "Beetle," as its small, insect-shaped
automobile was dubbed in the international press.
Ten years earlier, the renowned automotive engineer Ferdinand
Porsche had signed a contract with Germany's Third Reich to
develop a prototype of a small, affordable "people's car." The
German chancellor, National Socialist (Nazi) leader Adolf Hitler,
called the car the KdF (Kraft-durch-Freude)-Wagen (or
"Strength-Through-Joy" car), after a Nazi-led movement ostensibly
aimed at helping the working people of Germany. Porsche didn't
like that moniker; he preferred Volkswagen (meaning "people's
car"), the name under which the car had originally been
developed. In 1938, the government built a factory to produce the
car in the city of KdF-stat. The first production-ready Beetle
debuted at the Berlin Motor Show in 1939. Several months later,
Germany invaded Poland, sparking the conflict that would explode
into world war.
During the war years, the German army's need for a lightweight
utility vehicle took precedence over the production of affordable
passenger cars. The result was the Type 62 Kubelwagen, a
convertible vehicle with a modified Beetle chassis, four doors
and 18-inch wheels (compared with the Beetle's 16-inch ones) to
give it better ground clearance. Though production at the
KdF-stat factory was dedicated primarily to the Kubelwagen and
its amphibious counterpart, the Schwimmwagen, the factory did
continue to produce Beetles from 1941 to August 7, 1944, when
production was halted under threat of Allied bombing.
In the war's aftermath, a devastated Germany was divided into
four sectors. Those under British, French and American control
would combine to form West Germany, while the region under Soviet
control became East Germany. KdF-stat (soon renamed Wolfsburg),
which was in the British sector, and its auto factory remained in
relatively good shape for having been a target of Allied bombs.
Volkswagen, then under the control of the British military, began
turning out Beetles again in December 1945. By 1949, the company
(now called Volkswagen GmbH) was back in German hands, and in
1972 the Beetle passed the iconic Ford Model T as the top-selling
car in history.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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