VW Books - History and Models

Volkswagen - From Nazi People's Car to New Beetle (Hitler's Chariots)

The exciting, fascinating saga of the creation of the world's most popular car, the famed Volkswagen Beetle, under the Nazi regime of German dictator Adolf Hitler, who played a pivotal role in its design, construction, and marketing during 1933-38.
It is also the story of the two Drs. Porsches who created it - Ferdinand, Sr., and his son, Ferry - as well as Dr. Robert Ley's German Labor Front that built it, and Adolf Huhnlein's Nazi Motor Corps that helped popularize driving and made motoring a reality in the Third Reich.

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The Extraordinary Life of Josef Ganz: The Jewish Engineer Behind Hitler's Volkswagen

The astonishing biography of Josef Ganz, a Jewish designer from Frankfurt, who in May 1931 created a revolutionary small car: the Maikäfer (German for May bug).
The Nazis not only "took" the concept of Ganz's family car - their production model even ended up bearing the same nickname. The Beetle incorporated many of the features of Ganz's original Maikäfer, yet until recently Ganz received no recognition for his pioneering work.

The Nazis did all they could to keep the Jewish godfather of the German compact car out of the history books. Now Paul Schilperoord sets the record straight. In a biography that reads like a spy thriller, he tells how Ganz was imprisoned by the Gestapo, until an influential friend with connections to Göring helped secure his release.
Soon afterwards he was forced to flee Germany while Porsche created the Volkswagen for Hitler using many of his groundbreaking ideas. Ganz was hunted by the Nazis even beyond Germany's borders and narrowly escaped assassination.

After the war Ganz moved to Australia, where he died in 1967. This biography is a great read for anyone interested in World War II, Jewish history, the evolution of car design or simply the life stories of extraordinary individuals.

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Das grosse VW-Cabrio-Buch - Käfer, Karmann-Ghia, Golf I, Golf III, Exoten (Reprint)

Open Volkswagens! They were and are more popular than all other convertibles, were built more often and have made more history and stories than anything else that moves "topless" on four wheels.
The original convertible is definitely the open Beetle in its various versions. It and its brother, the Karmann-Ghia convertible, are particularly associated with concepts such as youth, student days, freedom and leisure.
The successor series, the Golf convertible, catapulted the topic of open Volkswagens into the modern era and was therefore laughed at for a long time - but the success of the Golf proved the Wolfsburg-based company right.

The big VW convertible book tells the story of all open VWs, from the Beetle to the Karmann Ghia to the Golf I and the Golf III. It presents all the exotics, studies and experiments that have been carried out on the various VW convertibles.
With all the technical data, many rare pictures and detailed descriptions. Here you can find out everything you want to know about these cars - in a competent and entertaining way.

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Traumauto Volkswagen - Wie Käfer, Golf und Bulli in die DDR kamen

The VW Golf was officially available in the GDR in small numbers at the end of the 1970s, which made it popular, but only a few were lucky enough to get their hands on one. In the following years, other cult models such as the Beetle and the T1 Bulli conquered East Germany. But at what price?
The Volkswagen cars were considered absolute dream cars in the socialist workers' and farmers' state. It was only during the fall of the Berlin Wall that modern four-stroke engines replaced the gas-guzzling two-stroke engines in the Trabant and Wartburg.

Eberhard Kittler, an expert on the GDR and VW, has researched the history of this unique connection using numerous previously undiscovered documents and illustrated them with exclusive, largely unpublished images.

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Volkswagen - Personenwagen seit 1973 (Typenkompass)

This reference book chronologically presents all Volkswagen cars manufactured since 1973.

Presents the Golf, Polo, Passat, Scirocco, Phaeton and Beetle as well as other VW models. Each type is presented with a photo, a historical description and a technical sheet.

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Volkswagen - Tradition mit Zukunft

Volkswagen made headlines even before its founding: as Hitler's favorite project, during the difficult postwar period, and through its rapid rise in the economic boom years.

Even severe crises have been used by the company to reinvent itself. The diesel scandal and heavy fines will not stop VW from shaping the future of mobility.

In this book, Joachim Kuch presents a current and comprehensive model chronicle of all vehicles that have shaped the streets - from the Beetle, Golf, and Tiguan to the Passat and Bulli.

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