Volkswagen Beetle History : From Hitler to hippy

The design of this car is the most recognizable and beloved by people around the world. As you may have guessed, this is the Volkswagen Beetle. And everyone at least once, sitting in this car, can confirm that the beetle has a unique aroma of automotive oil, plastic ...

1. Meet a Beetle!

2. Car for the people. As is known, Volkswagen translates as "the car for the people." Although initially, the car had the name "KdF-Wagen", as the prefix KdF - an abbreviation for "Kraft durch Freude", which means "The Power of Joy" - officially authorized organization for the rest of the Third Reich. Adolf Hitler had ordered a Porsche car in late 1930 in order to stimulate the German economy, as well as to cause a new wave of advances in engineering, which would help the Nazis to create a war machine. Only after the Second World War, this machine has become known as the "Beetle" in the world. In the photo: Hitler admiringly looks at a new model of Volkswagen, Ferdinand Porsche and the designer shows that the car engine is behind.

3. Laying corner stone. Hitler and the Nazi ranks higher celebrate laying the foundation of a factory near Fallersleben Volkswagen Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, 1938.

4. A gift to Hitler's birthday. Ferdinand Porsche (left, in dark suit) is a new design gig VW Adolf Hitler to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the birth of Hitler, Berlin, Germany, 1939.

5. Postwar Beetle. New Volkswagen drives past the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

6. Body for the "Beetle". Production of "Zhukov", 1960.

7. "Bugs" out of production. VWs go out clearly a high-tech assembly line.

8. Ideal forms. "Beetles" ready for export at a factory in Wolfsburg.

9. Familiar spaces. Cab "Beetle" with its clean and elegant metallic touches, large and small wheel, as well as the emblem of elegance to lock in Wolfsburg, are hallmarks for the millions of owners of Volkswagen.

10. Convertible. Elegance throughout, with the same inherent "Zhuk" charm.

11. Works of art.

12. Favorite car of hippies. By the end of the 1960 Beetle (as well as from the Volkswagen minivan) became the choice of number 1 among the subcultures. In the photo: "Beetle" is sent to the festival at Woodstock, 1969.

13. Picnic near the "Beetle". Friends sat near the "Beetle" on the road to Woodstock.

14. Participants of the festival at Woodstock rest on his car.

15. Forged "Beetle". Beetle looks great next to the house in Daytona Beach, Florida.

16. Beetle wins Nepal. The owner of "Beetle" from Nepal Satendra Siddhi Barayasha poses for a photo with their favorite car in Kathmandu. Barayasha, a wholesale grocer, first fell in love with the classic design of this car when I saw a tourist traveling on an unusual car in 1970. Nepal is a destination for thousands of travelers and hippies who came to Kathmandu from Istanbul through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and many of them came specifically to "beetles." Upon their arrival, most selling their vehicles wealthy residents to fund further travels, purchase of drugs, the acquisition of antiquities, or the trip home.

17. "Beetles" in Bangladesh. Family shows the victory sign before the start of the Volkswagen Rally in the capital Dhaka, Bangladesh.

18. Brazilian Beetle. Beetle, painted in national colors of Brazil, riding along the beach of Copacabana, after Brazil won the World Cup in 2002.

19. Chair for the people. The model shows a chair made from the hood "Beetle".

20. Hungry Herbie. Herbie, the Volkswagen humanoid, the protagonist of several Disney movies, scary young woman at an auto show in Berlin.

21. Beetle hatred. Beetle with a scratch on him racist slogans during a march for Civil Rights in Alabama, shows that not all owners of "Zhukov" were peace-loving people in the 1960's.

22. The leader of the strikes. Members of the union held a strike Belgium in Brussels, protesting against unemployment, led by "Zhuk", on the roof of which was a speaker.

23. Wet Beetle. Beetle moves a mountain stream on the way from Cusco to Ayacucho in Peru.

24. National Beetle Brazil. Beetle down the hill along the building of the National Congress of Brazil (the architect Oscar Niemeyer, 1961), Brazil.

25. Virtual tour of Queen Beatrix on the "Beetle". Queen Beatrix of Holland during the virtual trip to Mexico in the "Beetle" in the Dutch Architecture Institute in Rotterdam.

26. Adios! Auf Wiedersehen! Musicians accompany the very last Beetle after he stepped off the production line at the VW factory in Puebla, July 30, 2003. Volkswagen ceased production of "Zhukov" after selling more than 21 million of these cars since their launch into production in 1938.