I have an issue here...

[Angry White Male]

I like to read when I shit, so I'm currently reading the book "Hitler," by Joachim C. Fest, published in 1973.  My Grandfather bought the book.



Now, here's the issue...  This quote:  "And when it was decided to establish the Volkswagen plant, Robert Ley declared, 'We shall name the town Wolfsburg, after you, my Fuhrer.'"



To close associates, Hitler's nick was Wolf.



Now, ANY online source claims the origin of Wolfsburg happened just AFTER the war was over, and that the town was renamed after a nearby castle.



Yet, in this old book, there is reference to this town being named after Hitler, since he initiated VW production there.



So?  Did they re-write history, to keep the name of a town in Germany, originally named after the Fuhrer?  Or not?



The book I'm reading seems pretty fucking legit!

[Harry]

I have that book in epub format.



If anybody wants it, download it from my DropBox at this link:



https://www.dropbox.com/s/w4rehga0m78os1h/Fest%2C%20Joachim%20C%20-%20Hitler%20.epub?dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/s/w4rehga0m78os ... .epub?dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/s/w4rehga0m78os1h/Fest%2C%20Joachim%20C%20-%20Hitler%20.epub?dl=0



Here is the full paragraph that includes the sentence AWM refers to:

Coburg had given him fresh confidence. "From now on I will go my way alone," he declared. Only a short time before he had still thought of himself as a harbinger and dreamed that "one day someone will come along, with an iron cranium and possibly with filthy boots, but with a pure conscience and strong fist, who will put an end to the blabber of these armchair heroes and give the nation deeds." Now, tentatively at first, he began to think of himself as the coming man and actually ended by comparing himself to Napoleon. His army superiors during the war would not promote him to a noncom on the ground that he would be incapable of arousing respect. Now, by his extraordinary and ultimately devastating capacity to evoke loyalty, he demonstrated his talent for leadership. For it was solely for his sake that his followers went to the lengths they did; it was only with eyes on him that they were ready to stake their lives, trample over their own compunctions, and from the very beginning to commit crimes. He liked to be called "Wolf" in his intimate circle; the name, he decided, was the primitive Germanic form of Adolf. It accorded, moreover, with his jungle image of the world and suggested the qualities of strength, aggressiveness, and solitariness. He also used "Wolf" as a pseudonym occasionally and later gave it to the sister who ran his household. And when it was decided to establish the Volkswagen plant, Robert Ley declared: "We shall name the town Wolfsburg, after you, my Führer." 36

Footnote 36 says

36. Communicated to the author by Albert Speer. Speer was present at this scene; "Wolfsburg" was the name of an estate in the vicinity.

Speer is probably a credible witness.



For what it's worth, Jalopnik says this:

So how about the Volkswagen company itself, the company you can buy cars from to this day — wasn't that created by the Nazis, at least? The answer? No, not really.



See, when Hitler decided he wanted a people's car (not his idea), and got Porsche to design it (basing it heavily on the ideas of others), he needed a factory to build it and an organization to run it. The organization was called Kraft durch Freude which sounds scary in German but is even creepier in English: Strength-through-Joy.



Kraft durch Freude (KdF) was the German leisure organization, organizing tourist trips and resorts and probably prostitutes, if you knew who to ask. The people's car was seen as a way to improve the quality of life of German citizens, and so the car was renamed the KdF-Wagen and a savings-stamp scheme was started to let people save up for a car.



A whole town was built, called Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben, which means, "City of the KdF Car at Fallersleben." Catchy! A huge factory was built to build the cars, barracks to house the people, and all that.



So, based on this, you're probably thinking "See, Jason, you dipshit, the Nazis directly started Volkswagen!" But wait — I'm not saying I'm not a dipshit, I'm just asking you to hear me out. Here's the thing: under the KdF name and management, no civilian Beetles were actually ever sold. At all.



A little scuffle called WWII happened and pretty much killed KdF. The factory was converted to produce the VW-derived Kubelwagens and Schwimmwagens and other military hardware. A few Beetle/KdF bodies were made, usually on beefy Kubelwagen chassis, and used as command cars, with a few other variants. But, importantly, no basic passenger cars were ever sold.



After the war, the factory was a mess, but barely functional. Germany was an even worse mess, and the people of the town (soon to be renamed Wolfsburg) were desperate for food and work. It was under the British occupation that the VW factory actually started up again, under the leadership of Major Ivan Hirst.

http://jalopnik.com/the-real-story-behind-the-nazis-and-volkswagen-1733943186">//http://jalopnik.com/the-real-story-behind-the-nazis-and-volkswagen-1733943186



My completely uninformed and spurious guess is that Speer was right, and perhaps the town was informally referred to as Wolfsburg by the Germans, but the official change of name from Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben to Wolfsburg didn't officially happen because of the disruption of WWII. When things settled down after the war the relevant authorities finally got around to processing the change.  Who knows?  It seems as good a take on it as anything.

[Angry White Male]

You seem to know your shit also!  Blurt may call it "Mein Kampf," but you read the same book as I have...



SO!  The question remains!

[Harry]

You seem to know your shit also!  Blurt may call it "Mein Kampf," but you read the same book as I have...



SO!  The question remains!

I should probably also say that the quote attributed to Ley seems a little out of place, chronologically, in Fest's book. The events described by Fest in that chapter of the book generally took place between 1920 and 1923. The first VW prototype wasn't built until 1938.

[Angry White Male]

That quote was made before that plant even existed...  It was Hitler's deal to build the Bug, and as such the plant was planned years before also, but it was built, as was the town, while still under Nazi rule...

[Harry]

That quote was made before that plant even existed...  It was Hitler's deal to build the Bug, and as such the plant was planned years before also, but it was built, as was the town, while still under Nazi rule...

Yes, I get that, though I don't know exactly when the quote was made.  I'm still inclined to think it came down to some bureaucratic delay or snafu, and that the town was probably informally known as Wolfsburg, but not officially gazetted until after the war.   As you say, the question remains!

[Harry]

I just did some digging through another, much more recent book by A E Sanaan, "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848 (published 2013).  The book basically deals with the organized eugenics infrastructure and personnel of the Third Reich, but has this to say about Wolfsburg:

Wolfsburg, the planned city built around the village of Fallersleben specifically to develop the "Volkswagen" project, was literally an industrial colony created to house workers of the production facility.  The city of Wolfsburg was created on July 1, 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben, or in English "City of the KdF Car at Fallersleben".  The City planning was the work of architect Peter Koller, but it was not until 1945 that the city was renamed Wolfsburg after the castle located there.

I would give Speer's recollection of Ley's statement a lot of weight, but the existence of a castle in the area by the name of Wolfsburg as the source of the name is persuasive.  Maybe Ley got the idea from Wolfsburg castle, made a mental connection with Hitler's nickname when he was in his company, and was just sucking up to Hitler when he said he would name the town after him.  Maybe, maybe, maybe...the possibilities are endless.

[Angry White Male]

Seems like this is one mystery that may never be solved!

[Blurt]

I didn't know Hitler talked about VW Bugs in Mein Kampf.



Learn something new every day.  

[Harry]

I didn't know Hitler talked about VW Bugs in Mein Kampf.



Learn something new every day.  

He didn't.



It's all in the OP.

[Blurt]

I know, Harry.



I'm just razzing Mel about the Mein Kampf thing.



I've never read Hitler's Mein Kampf nor Fest's Hitler. I find Nazi Germany is not a draw for me as a reader.



I once tried to slog valiantly through Shirer's Rise & Fall but eventually had to give it up on page 3.

[priscilla1961]

Hi Blurt. ac_hithere

[Angry White Male]

I'm just razzing Mel about the Mein Kampf thing.

I've never read Mein Kampf...

[Blurt]

I know.



You just like to display it on your coffee table.

[Angry White Male]

I know.



You just like to display it on your coffee table.

No.  I don't even own a copy of Mein Kampf.