Dark past…

Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) was an Austro-Bohemian automotive engineer and founder of Porsche GmbH (later Porsche AG). He is best known for creating the Volkswagen Beetle (although his paternity of this project is contested), the Auto-Union racing cars and Porsche automobiles.

Picture above: Ferdinand Porsche at the wheel of an Auto-Union in 1934. Between 1935 and 1937, Auto Unions won 25 races driven by Ernst von Delius, Tazio Nuvolari, Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi.

An important contributor to the German war effort during World War II, Porsche was involved in the production of advanced tanks, as well as other weapon systems, including the V1-flying bomb. Porsche was a member of the Nazi Party and an officer of the terrible SS.

J.O. Joest wrote: “The Auto-Union Grand Prix started as a project from Rumpler, bought by Porsche and sold to Auto-Union. Most of the early crew were Jews, they were expelled as the nazis came into power.”

Another reader adds: “Porsche was a nazi. In 1937 he joined the Nazi Party (becoming member no. 5,643,287) as well as the SS. By 1938, he was using the SS as security personnel and drivers at his factory, and later set up a special unit called SS Sturmwerk Volkswagen. In 1942, he reached the rank of SS-Oberfuhrer, and during the war, he was further decorated with the SS-Ehrenring and awarded the War Merit Cross…

Dark past in dark times: Ferdinand Porsche presenting his Volkswagen Beetle project to Hitler and other nazi dignitaries, picture below. Nevertheless, Porsche AG will later become one of the most admirable automotive constructor with a real passion for racing.