Speaker

TC in

TC out

Text

Voice Over

00:00:37

00:01:07

The Beetle.

The most popular car of all time.

A car with character, a timeless car, a people’s car.

A car designed in the heart of Hitler’s Reich.

A car that won people’s hearts all over the world.

This is the story of Josef Ganz, the forgotten father of the Beetle.

A Jewish engineer whose name was erased from history, swept away by the very powers that made his dream come true.

Gerd

00:01:53

00:01:54

Hello.

Lorenz

00:01:54

00:01:54

Hello.

Gerd

00:01:55

00:01:56

Are you here for the Ganz car?

Lorenz

00:01:57

00:01:57

Yes.

Paul

00:01:59

00:01:60

Hi, Gerd.

Gerd

00:01:59

00:01:59

Hi, Paul

Lorenz

00:02:00

00:02:17

Hi, Lorenz. Nice to meet you.

Paul

00:02:03

00:02:06

This is the first time we'll see a Standard Superior.

Gerd

00:02:08

00:02:24

It's amazing that the car managed to survive so well in the GDR. Many parts of the car are still original. Like the fenders..

Paul

00:02:24

00:02:25

Yes, the fenders.

Gerd

00:02:26

00:02:29

The side panels, the wheels, the headlights..

Gerd

00:02:18

00:02:42

The Volkswagen Beetle is built on the same principle, customized for mass production. But all the construction elements are there, as you can see.

Lorenz

00:02:47

00:02:50

What would we need to do to start the engine?

Gerd

00:02:51

00:02:57

Install a battery, pour petrol in the tank, connect the throttle linkage, and then it should run.

Lorenz

00:02:57

00:02:58

Okay.

Paul

00:03:00

00:03:08

So here we have the original Standard Superior brochure. What’s interesting is that Joseph Ganz is mentioned here.

Gerd

00:03:10

00:03:16

That shows that he was a very famous and reputable craftsman at the time.

Paul

00:03:16

0:03:20

And of that model – the very first model. As far as I know, no complete cars exist.

Lorenz

00:03:20

00:03:21

Okay.

Paul

00:03:25

00:04:10

Even as a child I was somehow fascinated with the Beetle. This small, round car with an engine in the back and a very characteristic sound. I kind of knew the story of Porsche and Hitler who launched it on the market. But when I started looking into the story, I came across the name Josef Ganz in an article. I had never heard of him. A Jewish engineer, no less, who had played a key role in the development of the Volkswagen, which I knew to be a Nazi project.

It moved me to see this picture of Ganz, an old man living in Australia. Reason enough for me to start researching Ganz' story.

Gerd

00:04:24

00:04:26

A little bit to the right.

Lorenz

00:04:26

00:04:26

Yes, to the right.

Gerd

00:04:27

00:04:33

Slowly. It’s come off here too.

Voice Over

00:04:46

00:04:49

In the beginning, people thought the first automobiles were a miracle.

Voice Over

00:04:52

00:04:58

Born in 1898 and growing up in Vienna, Josef Ganz was fascinated by this extraordinary new invention.

Voice Over

00:05:00

00:05:08

Ferdinand Porsche had just launched an innovative electric car. As a 12-year-old Ganz was already dreaming of becoming an engineer himself.

Voice Over

00:05:10

00:05:18

Crossing the busy boulevards of Vienna, he might have walked past a certain Adolf Hitler, a frustrated artist, who would later come to ruin his life.

Lorenz

00:05:27

00:06:22

I have always been a petrol head. In 2005, I was the chief editor of model car magazines. And at a family party, someone showed me a newspaper article about Josef Ganz. That was so special: a man from my family who was involved with cars. And with Porsche and the beginning of the automotive industry.

I thought the journalist Paul Schilperoord would be an old man, but he was young, around the same age as me. This car was modified a bit during the GDR era. We will try to bring it back to its original state so we can tell the story of Josef Ganz. Because his story doesn’t feature in the official history. Josef Ganz’ story is missing.

Paul

00:06:30

00:06:50

In Australia Josef Ganz put all of his documents on microfilm, and it was all kept by his lawyer. And I tracked the family of the lawyer, and I found out that they kept it all these years. And they agreed to send it to me. So one day the first box arrived, like this. I opened it, this is all microfilms.

Lorenz

00:06:50

00:06:51

Can I take it out?

Paul

00:06:51

00:06:58

Yeah, you can take it out, just hold it at the edges. And in some of these I found really interesting documents.

Lorenz

00:07:02

00:07:04

I think I see a car or something?

Paul

00:07:08

00:07:15

In here, this is the oldest thing I found about Josef Ganz, it’s the only picture of him actually as a child.

Lorenz

00:07:17

00:07:32

Josef Ganz, a 12 year-old grammar school student from Vienna invented a protection device for electric trams. The young technician promises to become a famous man one day.

Voice Over

00:07:37

00:07:54

A promising future lay ahead of him. His father was a well-known journalist writing for the Frankfurter Zeitung. Their home was a meeting place for members of state, famous scientists and prominent artists. Josef and his sister Margit were brought up as free spirits.

Maja

00:08:05

00:08:39

Josef Ganz was my great-uncle. He had no children of his own and my father was his godchild. He was an amazing figure in our family, even though he was in fact absent. My father always solemnly stated: ‘Never forget that Josef Ganz was the developer of the Volkswagen Beetle. The most beautiful car in the world.’

Maja

00:08:54

00:09:09

As my father is no longer alive, I’m left with many questions. And the story of this Volkswagen… in a way, it was always a bit too big for me to handle.

Voice Over

00:09:19

00:09:27

In July 1916, Ganz voluntarily enlisted in the German army. He was Jewish, but he felt German above all else.

Voice Over

00:09:33

00:09:40

He was stationed at the Warnemünde airbase during the war. He learned that aerodynamics and curved edges can greatly improve speed.

Voice Over

00:09:49

00:10:01

Immediately after the war Ganz studied engineering in Darmstadt, where he met the love of his life, Madeleine, his landlord’s niece. She was as crazy about cars as he was.

Paul

00:10:04

00:10:13

And this came also with the boxes from Australia. The original driving license, it’s full of stamps.

Lorenz

00:10:14

00:10:15

How old was he? At the time…

Paul

00:10:16

00:10:24

Here he was 21 or 22. I think you look a little bit like Josef Ganz.

Voice Over

00:10:30

00:10:33

Josef and Madeleine didn’t have a car yet. They were too expensive for ordinary people.

Voice Over

00:10:37

00:10:48

In America, Ford had given the masses an affordable car, the model T. But in Europe the car industry was still dominated by luxurious, impractical cars.

Voice Over

00:10:52

00:11:09

Ganz was a regular at the races and wrote enthusiastically about all the technical innovations. But the German automotive industry was slow to keep up. Ganz thought their designs were too old fashioned: no better than carriages without horses! 

Voice Over

00:11:14

00:11:21

Already in 1923, Ganz dreamt of a lightweight car, affordable for everyone. A people’s car.

Paul

00:11:23

00:11:44

My bond with Josef Ganz has grown stronger over the years. It feels like it’s my mission to tell his story. New things keep happening. I came into contact with the artist Rémy Markowitsch. He wants to create an artwork about Josef Ganz from my photo archives.

Rémy

00:11:46

00:12:17

I had never even heard of Josef Ganz. I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that the car industry and the early stages of mass production were influenced a great deal by Nazis and their sympathizers. And I wanted to do something about this relationship for Wolfsburg Art Museum. But thanks to your research, my project has completely changed.

Paul

00:12:22

00:12:49

When this first arrived by mail it was just incredible. You know, big box like that. I opened this and it was just completely stuffed with photo negatives. So for me it was really quite fascinating to get a glimpse how he looked of course. He made so many photographs, his sense of humor in it. He made some really funny photographs sometimes. Some are even difficult to analyse, you know, why he took a certain picture. He’s not often in the photographs, but here for example he is after his car accident. 

Voice Over

00:12:50

00:13:22

Driving cars as often as he did, Ganz soon had a serious accident. After his recovery, he carried his camera around with him everywhere. He carefully studied and recorded all the failings of the current car designs. Big carriages lying in ditches, victims of their high centres of gravity. Their rigid axles.

Voice Over

00:13:53

00:14:27

But building a car takes more than just a dream. It needs investment, time and money. Ganz didn’t have the resources to create his perfect car. Instead he became the chief editor of Motor Kritik, which became one of the most influential magazines in the German auto industry. His girlfriend Madeleine was hired as his editorial secretary and they moved in together above the magazine’s office in Frankfurt.

Voice Over

00:14:32

00:14:59

Ganz lived and worked by the motto: No innovation without criticism. He tested every new car himself. On steps, rough terrain and alpine passes. There was no better place to get to know a car than a hairpin bend. He uncovered faults in new models. Not for the sake of criticism, but for progress. To move forward.

Voice Over

00:15:01

00:15:22

Within a few years, circulation reached 13,000 subscribers. But the industry was not amused by his magazine’s critical reviews. Ganz got threats from car manufactures. Advertisement boycotts. They feared their car sales would drop because of the magazine.

Paul

00:15:36

00:15:36

Can I try?

Lorenz

00:15:37

00:15:37

Yeah.

Paul

00:16:00

00:16:01

This was running nicely.

Voice Over

00:16:17

00:17:09

No car company was brave enough to invest in small cars. Finally, Ganz got a chance to put his knowledge into practice. He built a first prototype of his people’s car at The Ardie motorcycle factory. This small, lightweight car featured a central backbone chassis, independent all-round suspension and a mid-mounted engine. An economical, streamlined and comfortable car that hugged the road. He named the car ‘The Ardie Ganz’ and put himself on the front page of the magazine. His Ardie-Ganz was inspired by nature: no hard edges but round shapes and flexible joints.

A good car, Ganz believed, should move naturally like an animal, and as fluidly as his favourite creature of all, the May Beetle.

Paul

00:17:15

00:17:24

This is the original photo album by Josef Ganz. And it’s all really photos of prototypes, some family photo’s but a lot of…

Paul

00:17:28

00:17:29

The birth of the May Beetle.

Lorenz

00:17:33

00:17:35

You really have many, many pictures.

Voice Over

00:17:42

00:17:57

Ganz became the sensation of Frankfurt. People loved his car. They wanted to reach out and touch it. Children posed proudly behind its wheel. He even made it into the cinema.

Archive

00:17:58

00:18:13

This car only weighs 260 kilos. In the streets of Frankfurt am Main, where it was built. In the front: Axle-less suspended wheels. In the back: swing axles. It can take on any obstacle.

Voice Over

00:18:22

00:19:10

Ganz was happy. His years of hard work were starting to pay off. Finally Germany was becoming a centre for automotive innovation and progress. New models rolled off the assembly line. Ganz was held in high regard, thanks to his brilliant engineering work and critical journalism. At the Ford Factory in Cologne he admired the efficiency with which the cars rolled off the belt. They were still shaped like square tin cans, but the scale and ambition was impressive. Finally carmakers realized the potential of his ideas. He was hired by no less than three car manufacturers to be their technical advisor: Adler, Mercedes and BMW.

Rémy

00:19:12

00:19:28

So here we have this Chaplinesque depiction. You see him torn between his two clients, big industrial companies. He had the naive hope that his critical contribution would ensure a place for him.

Paul

00:19:40

00:20:01

You see Swastikas appearing, like right here for example. But it’s more by chance. What I find quite fascinating is this photograph. Where everybody is giving the salute. And it makes you wonder, is Ganz taking the photograph as a sort of excuse not to make the salute, or…

Voice Over

00:20:04

00:20:41

And yet he was bothered by the troublemakers that were becoming a more permanent fixture, with their flags and uniforms. Soon they targeted Ganz himself. The National Front, a Nazi magazine, called Ganz a danger to German industry, Jewish vermin. He refused to let it go. He threatened with a lawsuit, prepared his case and collected multiple statements of support. The magazine was forced to make a statement in which they withdrew their allegations. It was 1932, and this time Ganz won, but the feud was far from over.

Voice Over

00:20:45

00:21:05

Spring had come and Ganz did further test runs with his May Beetle. The Standard car company wanted to put a people’s car designed from his prototype into production. Hundreds of the Standard Superiors would make it onto the road. The car was produced in two colours and branded a ‘Volkswagen’.

Paul

00:21:13

00:21:37

These are all magazines from the early 1930’s when the Standard Superior was introduced. In all these magazines, Ganz is praised for what he had accomplished. The whole article is about the Berlin Car Show.

The showpiece of the Car Show comes from Mr. Ganz from Motor Kritik.

Archive

00:21:37

00:21:40

The big car show in Berlin!

Voice Over

00:21:41

00:21:58

One of the first things Hitler did after coming into power in 1933 was to open the auto show in Berlin. Ganz saw him, lingering at his Standard Superior. Hitler was passionate about the idea of a Volkswagen to motorize the German people.

Paul

00:22:01

00:22:10

That looks like Hitler and Göring walking on this floor of the show. He was really, directly behind Hitler.

Voice Over

00:22:11

00:22:18

With the country still recovering from the Great Depression, the new Autobahn that Hitler was so proud of gave the German economy a major boost.

Archive

00:22:20

00:22:20

Attention!

Voice Over

00:22:21

00:22:32

Ganz appealed to his readers: let’s help our government achieve its goals. To make Germany a fully motorized country.

Andrei

00:22:51

00:23:16

So, we took off the old bodywork. We dismantled all the parts, and sandblasted, primed and painted them. In order to replace the bodywork on this original chassis, they took two doors off a car from the GDR.

Paul

00:23:16

00:23:17

Yes.

Andrei

00:23:17

00:23:19

And around this door…

Lorenz

00:23:19

00:23:22

You have built the entire…

Andrei

00:23:22

00:23:35

They built the entire body. And that’s why this bodywork is very different from the original shape of the Standard Model 1.

Paul

00:23:35

00:23:37

So is anything still original?

Andrei

00:23:37

00:23:44

No. There is nothing original at all in this wooden construction. Everything is fake.

Lorenz

00:23:52

00:23:54

It is still more work than I expected.

Paul

00:23:54

00:23:55

Yeah.

Lorenz

00:23:56

00:24:01

Yeah. It’s just a huge work. Probably we were a bit naive.

Rémy

00:24:07

00:24:34

He knew the Nazis were coming. But for a long time, he still believed that there was a way. The small car was his baby and Hitler wanted the same thing. He had this naive faith in progress and refused to think about the rest. He stuck his head in the sand. Many people, including many Jews, simply did not think that such things could really happen.

Voice Over

00:24:39

00:25:02

Hitler’s support of his lifelong dream blinded Ganz to the dark sides of the Nazi regime. In May 1933 he was arrested by the Gestapo and falsely accused of blackmailing the German car industry. They interrogated him for days. Weeks went by without a charge. After a month, he was released thanks to some influential friends.

Paul

00:25:08

00:25:21

The curve is not completely correct yet but... It’s based on the curve from front to back. I took the original rims.

Lorenz

00:25:23

00:25:27

So if they can rebuild it like that… That will be awesome.

Voice Over

00:25:32

00:25:43

As soon as he was out of prison, Ganz started working on a second model of the Standard Superior. Slightly bigger, with a more fluid line and a back window.

Archive

00:25:48

00:26:11

It is the people who are at home both nowhere and everywhere, but who don’t have any roots. They feel at home everywhere. [Jews!] They are the ones who can be addressed as international elements because they conduct their business everywhere.

Voice Over

00:26:15

00:26:35

By 1934, the Nazis had completely banned Ganz from working. The Gestapo forced Ganz out of his position as editor-in-chief of Motor-Kritik. He lost his job as consulting engineer at Daimler-Benz and BMW. The letters from his employers were courteous and full of regret.

Paul

00:26:37

00:26:45

Dear Mr Ganz, unfortunately we have no choice but to end our contractual relationship with you as soon as possible.

Paul

00:26:50

00:26:58

After March 1934, the name Josef Ganz suddenly disappears. He is no longer mentioned in car magazines and there’s no explanation as to what happened to him.

Voice Over

00:27:08

00:27:18

Ganz was bereft. He couldn’t eat or sleep. Madeleine convinced him to go to Switzerland: a holiday from which they would never return.

Paul

00:27:21

00:27:35

In 1936 Josef Ganz received quite a clear warning for both his patents and life that they were both endangered. And the letter comes from an acquaintance from the technical industry. At the bottom he writes…

Lorenz

00:27:36

00:28:13

The main reason for this letter is to inform you that the German patents of Mr. G. are in danger as long as they are in his hands. I do not think that the Germans would waste any time taking action if the production of the so-called Volkswagen were to be blocked by the patents of a Jewish emigrant. Even if he is as beloved as Mr. G. Geese cackle, as the saying goes, but when they get too loud, people will try to strangle them.

Voice Over

00:28:21

00:28:29

Ganz had no choice but to start a new life in Switzerland. He wanted to save his patents and documents from the clutches of the Nazis at all costs.

Voice Over

00:28:37

00:29:19

He planned his secret journey on the day he knew all Nazis would be busy: The Nazi rally in Nuremberg. His car broke down on the way. But a platoon of SA soldiers offered him a push-start. Much was still the same in Frankfurt. He had tea with colleagues in the garden of his house. The place where his life had flourished. He took a final picture of his house. It would not make it through the war. Ganz loaded up his car with papers, patents and drawings and left Germany.

Voice Over

00:29:23

00:29:39

He drove on backroads. Arriving at the Swiss border crossing, Ganz was met by a single soldier who waved him through. Back in Zurich, he went to the annual Paris motor show.

Paul

00:29:43

00:30:04

He somehow obtained his passport in 1935 at the embassy of Honduras in Paris. He was of course looking for a new country. He couldn’t return to Germany. And he used this to travel all around Europe. When he was stateless so he couldn’t stay anywhere. He had no country anymore to live in.

Voice Over

00:30:07

00:30:14

In 1938, his German citizenship was taken away from him and with it, all his claims to German patents.

Archive

00:30:17

00:30:33

I am glad that our engineers have succeeded in making the preliminary designs for a car for the German people. The first model should be ready towards the middle of this year.

Voice Over

00:30:34

00:30:51

Hitler had given Ferdinand Porsche the contract to develop a people's car to be sold for a thousand Reichsmarks. Hitler himself made a sketch, very similar to Ganz’s own publications. It was the drop shape that he had been promoting for over 10 years.

Archive

00:30:55

00:30:59

The constructor of the car, Prof. Dr. Porsche, explains the chassis to the Führer.

Voice Over

00:31:01

00:30:16

Porsche was developing an identical concept to the one Ganz had been testing. An engine in the back, backbone tube chassis, swinging axles and a streamlined look. A savings scheme allowed people to save up for their own car.

Voice Over

00:31:21

00:31:29

After more than a year of roaming through Europe, Ganz finally made his home in Zurich, with Madeleine, her sister and little cousin Dieter.

Dieter

00:31:34

00:31:49

I was born in 1930. From 1937 onwards, I shared a house with Josef Ganz. A household of two women, one man and one child.

Maja

00:32:02

00:32:05

Did you live here?

Dieter

00:32:05

00:32:08

Yes, there were two garages.

Maja

00:32:08

00:32:09

Okay.

Dieter

00:32:10

00:32:29

One of the garages was ours. That picture was taken over there.

This was the time he was building the Swiss people’s car.

Maja

00:32:30

00:32:37

Do you think Josef Ganz was happy while he was living in this house?

Dieter

00:32:37

00:32:44

Yes. It was all very harmonious. It was a really good time.

Voice Over

00:32:53

00:33:22

At the same time as Porsche developed his Volkswagen in Germany, Ganz was now working on a Swiss Volkswagen. Ganz considered this perhaps his greatest design. He drove around in an aluminium prototype. He called it his Silverfish. In 1939 he signed license agreements for the production of 25,000 Swiss Volkswagens. But yet again… his hopes were dashed before he could reap the benefits of his design.

Voice Over

00:33:34

00:33:48

Europe was plunged into a state of war. In Germany the glistening new Volkswagen factory immediately switched to producing military vehicles that Porsche developed based on the design of Volkswagen.

Archive

00:33:49

00:33:52

New Volkswagen for Colonel-General Rommel’s tank army.

Voice Over

00:33:53

00:33:56

Ganz’s Beetle was turned into a war machine.

Archive

00:33:57

00:34:04

A division of the SS, equipped with special Volkswagen.

The small vehicles are very fast and nimble.

Norbert

00:34:20

00:34:20

Hey.

Lorenz

00:34:21

00:34:23

Ciao Norbert. Hallo.

Norbert

00:34:23

00:34:24

How are you?

Lorenz

00:34:24

00:34:26

Good. Good.

Norbert

00:34:26

00:34:48

During the war, in 1941, the Germans were planning to attack and occupy Switzerland. We were incredibly scared. We already knew about the concentration camps. As a child, you pick up on that fear.

Voice Over

00:35:00

00:35:12

Ganz was constantly threatened with deportation because corrupt Swiss officials were trying to claim the Swiss Volkswagen project as their own. Ganz found refuge with his uncle Alfred in Luzern.

Woman

00:35:16

00:35:17

His name is Barry. Come on in, he doesn’t bite.

Voice Over

00:35:20

00:35:25

His house was filled with family and friends. Together they shared the horrible news from Germany.

Voice Over

00:35:37

00:35:42

Ganz’s niece Elisabeth was killed in Auschwitz. His aunt Regina died in Theresienstadt.

Lorenz

00:35:52

00:36:00

I heard that your mother made preparations in case they came to take you away.

Norbert

00:36:01

00:36:02

She had poison ready.

Archive

00:36:17

00:36:26

In Europe, the guns finally fell silent. Do you remember the joy we felt on that day? The war had barely touched us here. The danger vanished.

Voice Over

00:36:33

00:36:57

Ragged and starved, Ganz and his family celebrated the end of the war. Germany was in ruins and occupied by the Allied forces. But Ganz was confident that he would be making cars once more now that the war was over. Not everything had been totally destroyed. The Beetle would soon be back on the road again.

Archive

00:36:58

00:37:04

The Germans, so long committed to war production, today are turning their energy into peacetime channels.

Voice Over

00:37:08

00:37:24

As early as 1946, with English management, the first Beetles were back in production. Who would have thought that this car would help Germany recover so fast? That the Beetle would become a symbol of German resurrection.

Paul

00:37:39

0:37:47

Wolfsburg is really the heart of Volkswagen. And everything in this city is connected to this huge factory. And there is a big art museum in the center.

Ralf Beil

00:37:51

00:38:11

We are now in the Rémy Markowitsch Hall and the name of the installation is ‘Nudnik. Forgetting Josef Ganz’. Nudnik is Yiddish for troublemaker. And ‘Forgetting Josef Ganz’ mean the exact opposite, of course: To bring back this long forgotten Josef Ganz. Rémy?

Rémy

00:38:12

00:38:20

In the middle of the room, we see the design for a monument for Josef Ganz.

Paul

00:38:27

00:38:37

I was invited by Volkswagen’s historian. The idea behind this symposium is to see who influenced the design of the Volkswagen.

Paul

00:38:38

00:38:50

The Ardie and the May Beetle, they are quite simple. They are very simple cars but the design is very innovative. So I think for his designs and also his patents he did inspire the final design of the Beetle.

Volkswagen historian

00:38:52

00:38:53

Okay. Thank you. Mr. Landenberger?

Porsche historian

00:38:54

00:39:13

Josef Ganz caused a lot of trouble in the media. He was very bothersome. The young guns of Motor Kritik repeatedly attacked the renowned designers and the automotive industry. To me, his technical role is overrated.

Man

00:39:14

00:39:24

I don’t see any similarities between the so-called May Beetle and the Porsche Volkswagen.

Paul

00:39:25

00:39:48

The atmosphere was quite strange. Whatever I said, whatever I showed, it was all trivialized. ‘It’s not all that special. It’s only a small car.’ ‘The name May Beetle is just a coincidence.’ They did everything to show that Josef Ganz wasn’t all that important.

Volkswagen historian

00:39:48

00:40:02

What we refer to as the May Beetle… it’s just a name, as it were. It’s a small car. I think here we should ask ourselves if we shouldn’t avoid comparing apples and oranges.

Lorenz

00:40:04

00:40:09

They don’t really see his achievements, or they don’t want to see.

Paul

00:40:10

00:40:21

Yeah, it’s quite surprising after all this time there’s still almost a hostile feeling towards him. Why is it so difficult for them to recognize the work that he did?

Norbert

00:40:25

00:40:43

Ferdinand Porsche can say that he made the Volkswagen, that’s correct. But when you look at what’s inside. The streamlined shape, the rear engine and a swing axle. The most important components all come from Seppel Ganz.

Voice Over

00:40:49

00:41:00

But Ganz’s attempts to resume his work were overshadowed by new accusations of defamation. His tireless efforts to fight injustice eventually gave him a reputation as a trouble maker.

Paul

00:41:03

00:41:05

He had so much evidence he had to give.

Lorenz

00:41:05

00:41:08

He wanted to really prove, he was right.

Paul

00:41:09

00:41:19

There was one journalist who wrote that the Ganz cases alone, the Ganz cases could paralyze the whole Swiss legal system. At one point there were 10 cases at the same time going on.

Voice Over

00:41:21

00:41:27

The court cases had put him under so much strain that it also cost him his relationship with Madeleine.

Norbert

00:41:28

00:41:44

It wasn’t acceptable to fight publicly, even if you were right. That was the problem. The family said, ‘Don’t fight. In God’s name, no trial.’

Lorenz

00:42:01

00:42:01

I think it’s over there.

Paul

00:42:07

00:42:07

Good morning.

Lorenz

00:42:15

00:42:17

They’ve done a great job.

Paul

00:42:27

00:42:28

Model 1 doesn’t have a rear window.

Andrei

00:42:28

00:42:32

No? Did you tell us that, or no?

Paul

00:42:33

00:42:36

There is no rear window in my 3D model.

Andrei

00:42:38

00:42:40

There was no window in our drawing?

Paul

00:42:40

00:42:40

No.

Andrei

00:42:42

00:42:44

But you didn’t do a drawing of the rear.

Lorenz

00:42:47

00:42:49

You think this is maybe too short? It should come…

Paul

00:42:50

00:42:52

I think this should be lower, but-

Lorenz

00:42:53

00:42:54

Lower, like…

Paul

00:42:54

00:42:57

Yeah that it stops more or less here, and not here.

Andrei

00:42:57

00:42:58

Like this?

Paul

00:42:58

00:43:01

Yes. And then bend it a little.

Rémy

00:43:10

00:43:27

Here we see Josef Ganz, looking very charming and mischievous. This is in St. Moritz. Because the bobsleigh team had asked him to improve the system.

Archive

00:43:30

00:43:36

The Swiss got first and second place. The US came in third, Belgium fourth and the UK in fifth place.

Rémy

00:43:40

00:44:00

It was so schizophrenic. On the one hand, the Swiss win gold and silver with Josef Ganz’ inventions. But in the end, he lost everything. He got arrested for working in Switzerland without a work permit. 24 hours later he was kicked out of the country.

Voice Over

00:44:07

00:44:24

In 1951, disillusioned, Ganz immigrated to Australia. Leaving everything and everyone he loved behind. His departure took place at the same time his Beetle was shipped all over the world.

Radio ABC

00:44:35

00:45:06

You are going to hear an astonishing story, a little part of our history that has been completely lost, until now. After World War II, an engineer escaping from post-World War II Europe, settled here in Melbourne and started a new career. The remarkable story of Josef Ganz will be told by Dutch journalist and industrial designer Paul Schilperoord. He’s been researching it for years.

Paul

00:45:08

00:45:15

He lived here from 1951 up until his death in 1967. So I think he must have met tons of people.

Radio ABC

00:45:16

00:45:22

So if there are people listening who have a connection to Ganz or have some contribution to make you can give us a call at the radio station…

Suzanne

00:45:24

00:45:32

So that was our apartment there, on the third floor. Where the balcony goes  in. And then Joe’s apartment was down the back on the same floor.

Paul

00:45:34

00:45:35

So where were you in? Which one?

Suzanne

00:45:35

00:45:41

We were in 3A, that one. And Josef was in 3H, that was his.

Paul

00:45:42

00:45:45

So these are still the original letterboxes.

Suzanne

00:45:45

00:45:47

They are the original. Yep, that’s them.

Paul

00:45:47

00:45:48

Ah, nice view.

Suzanne

00:45:48

00:45:49

Beautiful view.

Suzanne

00:45:51

00:46:02

I remember the day he gave my dad a wad of paperwork. Joe was sitting in the chair there, I was there. My dad was here. And I remember him putting down all the paperwork in front of me on the coffee table. And the photos.

Paul

00:46:03

00:46:07

You don’t know why Joe gave those documents and those photos to your father?

Suzanne

00:46:06

00:46:15

I think he just wanted him to tell the story one day. But my dad passed away in ’85 and no one was still interested then. So, you’ve done that job.

Voice Over

00:46:18

00:46:33

Ganz found a job at the engineering department of General Motors. He kept thinking about the possibility of developing a cheap car: an Australian Volkswagen. But his plan yielded nothing but a newspaper article.

Voice Over

00:46:40

00:47:01

He missed his old friends, his family, and Madeleine. His letterbox became his lifeline. Madeleine kept sending books and articles about the Beetle’s enormous success. Director Nordhoff was celebrated, the genius Ferdinand Porsche was honoured, but Ganz’s name was absent.

Archive

00:47:02

00:47:10

This is how Wolfsburg celebrated the day which has no long since passed, marking the one-millionth post-war VW to roll off the assembly line.

Voice Over

00:47:12

00:47:26

Ganz wasn’t invited to this celebration.

Only a few years later, when the fifth millionth Beetle rolled off the production line, the famous director of Volkswagen, Heinrich Nordhoff, wrote him a letter.

Lorenz

00:47:29

00:47:51

Dear Mr Ganz, after getting hold of your address by a stroke of good fortune, and following a recent meeting with mutual friends from Zurich, I am now able to write you this letter to ask you if you are interested in helping us out a bit at the Volkswagen factory.

Voice Over

00:47:52

00:48:19

He replied saying that he would be very pleased to work at Nordhoff’s factory, the one that gave birth to the very idea of the May Beetle. It could have been such a happy ending, Ganz working at the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg. But tragedy struck again. Before he could pack his suitcase, Ganz had a heart attack.

Paul

00:48:23

00:48:23

Hello, Doctor Wright?

Dr. Wright

00:48:23

00:48:24

Yes.

Paul

00:48:24

00:48:25

Hello.

Dr. Wright

00:48:25

00:48:28

Come in. [Paul: I’m Paul Schilperoord] Hello, Paul, please come in.

Paul

00:48:32

00:48:48

I actually found your name during my research. Since the end of 1961 he has been an invalid and unable to work due to a heart condition. As well as his heart condition, Dr. Ganz suffers psychoid manic depressive mental illness.

Dr. Wright

00:48:49

00:49:01

He had that sort of resentment that he had been badly treated. He was not a happy, healthy man. He was old for his age.

Voice Over

00:49:07

00:49:14

Ganz hardly left his apartment anymore; his neighbours brought him food. He never completely recovered.

Voice Over

00:49:25

00:49:50

Meanwhile, the Beetle had become a symbol of hippie counterculture, driven by young people with long hair celebrating freedom. In 1965, he got in touch with an Australian car magazine to tell his life story:

Ganz’ last attempt to get recognition.

Dr. Wright

00:49:57

00:50:15

Before he passed away, he did tell me that Volkswagen had actually given him a small pension. Not quite the recognition he wanted, but he felt there was some degree of recognition of his past work.

Suzanne

00:50:17

00:50:19

I am not sure he lived long enough to receive it.

Paul

00:50:20

00:50:27

Yeah that’s what I wondered because… Do you remember anything that his position changed? That he somehow at one point received more money?

Suzanne

00:50:27

00:50:28

No. I don’t remember that. No.

Paul

00:50:30

00:50:33

So your parents were still bringing him meals right up to the end of his life

Suzanne

00:50:34

00:50:34

Yes.

Suzanne

00:50:39

00:51:05

My family had been out somewhere and as my dad was putting the key in the door, mom yelled: Oh, Joe’s collapsed. And we all had looked down the hallway obviously. And his legs, only his legs were sticking out into the hallway. He obviously collapsed literally in the doorway of his apartment. And obviously my father went rushing down there and… I know he died while the ambulance was being called in my dad’s arms.

Paul

00:51:14

00:51:20

I’m looking for the last resting place of a man who was cremated here in the late 1960’s.

Reception

00:51:21

00:52:29

Okay, I can show you the Garden of No Distant Place where all our scatterings take place. It’s actually located… here.

Paul

00:51:37

00:52:45

It’s so strange, there’s nothing there. There’s not even a grave or a memorial plaque or anything.

Maja

00:51:53

00:52:42

Dear little Maja. If this letter somehow happens to survive, then someone will have to tell you who wrote it. A great-uncle, an engineer like your dad, who ended up on the other side of the world because he intervened in the history of technology, which led to a lot of bad blood. I wish from the bottom of my heart that you will live in a time that is truly worth living. A time ruled not by violence but by justice. Warmest greetings, your Great-Uncle Joe.

Car event

00:52:51

00:53:00

Today we have a special highlight: the Standard Superior. It is the car’s first public appearance after over a year of restoration work.

Paul

00:53:02

00:53:02

One more try?

Car event

00:53:21

00:53:25

This car is the absolute forerunner of the Volkswagen.

Car event

00:53:44

00:53:51

Yes! Well done guys. Paul and Lorenz, well done, excellent.