Few cars approximate the social cache of the Volkswagen Beetle. Everyone recognizes the bubbly shape on wheels, with many affectionately referring to it as the “Beetle” or a “Bug.” Kids even have games where they enthusiastically point out the distinct automobile while being carted around. But the origins of the cutesy car are far more sinister, probably in ways you don’t even realize.
If you’re more inclined to study history, you’re likely already sitting back smugly aware the VW Type 1, “The People’s Car,” the Beetle is inextricably tied to the Nazis. Growing up, I was taught in school that Adolf Hitler himself designed the cheap, efficient vehicle.
Later, I learned that story was false and in fact Ferdinand Porsche – yes, that Porsche – was behind the design. That explains why the Porsche 911 and Beetle are shockingly similar, although also obviously different.
However, much later I ran across the history of one Josef Ganz. Born in Budapest, his family later moved to Vienna and then Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Like Hitler, the young Josef fought for his new country in World War I. That and a fascination with cars was about all the two men had in common.
After all, Ganz was Jewish and Hitler is the most notorious exterminator of Jews in modern history.
Ganz later became a mechanical engineer, then launched into a career as an automotive journalist. Living in the Weimar Republic established after the disastrous WWI, he watched as his fellow countrymen struggled to survive in a chaotic, crumbling economy.
The man became obsessed with the idea of designing a small car which could be sold for the same price as a motorcycle, providing some relief to Germans. He lacked the money to build a prototype, but kept sketching out designs, which evolved over time.
Gaining a reputation as a journalist while he attacked established automakers and their expensive, heavy, inefficient vehicles, Ganz finally gained backing to build a prototype and then a production model, called the Standard Superior.
There’s plenty of debate about claims Ganz’s design inspired Porsche when he put pen to paper to create the Volkswagen Beetle, under the direction of Hitler.
What we know for sure is Ganz felt he had been cheated in the whole wartime transaction. The man was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933, then fled the country after he was released. Then he fought legal attacks from former members of the Third Reich while trying to build his own small car in the late 1940s.
Eventually, he gave up and moved to Australia, working as an engineer for GM’s Holden division.
According to different reports I’ve read about the life of Ganz over the years, he was obsessed with getting revenge on those who wronged him, or at least that he perceived to have wronged him. He allegedly didn’t hold such a grudge against Ferdinand Porsche, but he became so consumed with evening the score with those who wrong him that his longtime girlfriend left him.
The man was never able to replicate his previous innovations.
Perhaps had Ganz not obsessed with seeking revenge, he would’ve come up with some revolutionary designs later in his life and had a more noteworthy spot in automotive history. Instead, he suffered medical and financial ailments in Australia and died just weeks before receiving compensation from VW for his previous designs.
I’ve often found Ganz’s life to be a sad tale of a man who obviously was quite gifted but became hobbled with the desire for vengeance. Having suffered plenty of wrongs in my own life, I can understand how consuming such feelings left unchecked can become.
There’s wisdom in God saying repeatedly that vengeance is His. We mere mortals can’t handle it correctly; it will consume us. No matter how egregious the offenses we have suffered at the hands of others, choosing to move forward in life instead of trying to carry a burden that’s God’s to bear is the smart way forward.
Images via Volkswagen
Steven Symes 