Editor's Note

May 8 is the end of the European battlefield of World War II. In recent years, Volkswagen has been committed to exploring the history of World War II and publishing relevant information every year. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, and Volkswagen has released a number of rare photos.

Text/Wei Bo

On May 7, 1945, General Jodl, then Chief of the Operations Division of the High Command of the German Wehrmacht, signed an unconditional surrender in Reims, France.

The letter of surrender stated: "All German troops will cease military operations at 11:01 pm on May 8, 1945, Central European Time." As a result, the European War of World War II officially ended, and May 8 became the Victory Day of World War II in Europe.

On this special day, some workers and laborers who worked in Volkswagen factories in Germany during World War II recalled the whole story of the Volkswagen factories being occupied by the US military in various ways.

It is worth mentioning that all historical information and pictures are provided by Volkswagen of Germany - many of them are made public for the first time. In terms of its attitude towards history, German Volkswagen is always worth learning from all Japanese car companies!

"Wolfsburg" only came into existence after World War II

Before May 25, 1945, the Germans did not have the regional concept of "Wolfsburg" . Because the name "Wolfsburg" appears in black and white letters, it can be traced back to ancient documents from the European Middle Ages in 1302.

In fact, the area from Wolfsburg to the south of the Sino-German Canal prospered because of the Volkswagen company at that time, and was called the "Stadt des KdF-Wagens", which means "Volkswagen" "Auto City", referred to as "KdF".

During World War II, in addition to the automobile production department that provided small military vehicles for commuting and reconnaissance purposes for the Nazi German army, Volkswagen also had an aviation production department and an infantry equipment production department.

The aviation production department mainly produces main wings for the Junkers Ju-87 "Stuka" dive bomber - since the aircraft needs to be pulled up quickly after diving to drop bombs, the Stuka bomber's wing strength and The processing was quite difficult, and at that time only companies such as Volkswagen could complete it.

As for the infantry equipment production department, it mainly produces ammunition and equipment such as anti-tank mines that can be carried by infantry.

The War Diary of a French Laborer

Jean Baudet (1922-present), a native of Nice, France, became a forced laborer at the Volkswagen factory from July 1943 to April 1945. Neindorf experienced liberation. After the war, he donated a copy of his diary to the Volkswagen Museum. This diary records the whole story of Volkswagen being occupied by the US military:

Sunday, April 8: The battle lines are getting closer. One rumor after another. Thick smoke rose from Gifhorn, and it was speculated that the fuel pump might have been damaged. There are fighter jets chasing and entangled in the sky. There were a large number of soldiers on the road in trucks, cars and even on bicycles. My backpack was ready but it only had clothes in it, I needed canned meat, milk, fat, sugar and some biscuits. No matter what happens, I have to be ready to go home before, during, and after the fight.

April 10, the weather was fine: the artillery fired all day long. All the Germans were drunk. Many uninjured but unarmed (German) soldiers passed by in single file. It was complete chaos, and I didn’t know when it would end...

April 10, evening: There was artillery fire nearby, which was impressive. Bombs fell on Brunswick all night. There were always troops rushing by.

April 11, 9 a.m.: I see American bombers flying over the treetops. People say KdF has been overrun. They (US troops) have advanced to Barnstorf, which is said to be behind the forest. As we packed and sang, we heard machine gun fire.

They must be here now because the grenade explosions are getting closer.

April 11, afternoon: quiet and sunny. Peace has been restored, except for a few serious explosions as road bridges are blown up. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a farmer gave us some bacon soup and a piece of bread, but we still had no idea what the fighting situation was nearby. At 3pm we heard a loud siren and we had to evacuate immediately. I decided to hide in the bushes of the woods with Georges Chauvineau, but we were worried that any of the warring parties would mistake us for the enemy hiding in the bushes and be shot in the face. At 3.30pm the alarm was lifted and everyone was happy, we stayed put and got out the cigarettes and footballs. That night was peaceful.

April 12, cloudy day: everything is quiet. Is the war over? Where are they (US military)? What are they (US military) doing? Around 12 noon, the alarm sounded for another five minutes, and fighting started again from all sides. We were surrounded by warring parties and didn't know where to go. Artillery, bombs, anti-tank grenades, machine guns, all firing! They (US troops) are coming! At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the farmers came back and they brought us bags of potatoes. I see everything now! At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I finally saw them (US military)!

The US military "confusedly" occupied the Volkswagen company

According to statistics, a total of about 20,000 people were forced to work at the Volkswagen company during World War II, of which about 5,000 came from concentration camps. In 1944, two-thirds of workers in the factory were working against their will in racially discriminatory conditions. They included Jews, prisoners of war, conscripted laborers, and deportees and displaced persons from European countries under German occupation.

On the day it was occupied by the US military, approximately 9,100 workers were stranded in the factory, of which more than 7,700 were forced laborers from other countries. More than 3,000 of them were from the Soviet Union, mainly Ukrainian prisoners of war. They were Soviet Red Army soldiers captured in the Battle of Kiev in the summer of 1941. At that time, 650,000 Soviet Red Army soldiers were captured in the battle to defend Kiev.

In addition, among these laborers, there were forcibly recruited French workers and even Dutch students, as well as skilled Jews selected from the Jewish concentration camps.

On April 11, the U.S. military advanced from Fallersleben, Germany, along the Sino-German Canal to the front bridge of Hesslingen, and encountered no resistance when passing through the city. Then, the US military continued to attack the Salzwedel and the Elbe River. However, what is interesting is that the map used by the US military did not even mark cities and factories. So for a long time after US tanks rushed into KdF, they did not know where they were occupying. .

Fritz Kuntze, who was the power plant manager of Volkswagen at the time, recalled: “I clearly remember that day was April 10, 1945, when 50 Kübelwagens (VW82 bucket trucks based on Beetle chassis) were assembled. We were waiting for the (Nazi German) military to come and take it over, but we didn’t wait for anyone from the military. Instead, we saw a tank driving past the edge of the factory—it was an American tank, but they had no intention of coming in..."

In fact, the Volkswagen factory at this time had basically been reduced to ruins in the Allied bombing in 1944. These 50 Kübelwagens represented the maximum production capacity of the automobile production department of the Volkswagen factory at that time, and they were also the largest production capacity of the Volkswagen factory. The factory produced the last batch of Kübelwagen for the German army during World War II.

At this point, the number of vehicles produced by Volkswagen during the war was fixed at 66,285 vehicles. These vehicles are basically the Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen (VW166 amphibious vehicle) modified from the Beetle chassis.

Fritz Kuntze refused to obey orders from local Nazi leaders to blow up power plants and bridges.

He called two other engineers who spoke good English, as well as Catholic priest Antonius Holling, who later became a priest, and together they drove to the U.S. military camp in Fallersleben. They convinced U.S. soldiers that "they should demonstrate necessary military presence"...

This kind of "Germans directing U.S. troops to occupy German territory" was not uncommon on the German battlefield at the end of World War II. During the Battle of Itterburg, some German Wehrmacht forces even fought jointly with the U.S. Army to fight against the SS.

Before the arrival of the US military, the SS and Volkswagen's own security forces had already withdrawn, and the militia or reserve "People's Stormtroopers" were disbanded on the spot, which led to the emergence of massacres in the area where Volkswagen is located. A temporary power vacuum. After the suffering of the laborers and prisoners of war, under the dual effects of hunger and long-term unfair treatment, the long-suppressed anger and fear were finally released, resulting in some looting, destruction and violence.

Henk't Hoen (1922-2006), a Dutch student laborer who worked at the Volkswagen factory from May 1943 to April 1945, recalled:

"The first batch of American troops passed through the neighboring When Falesleben arrived, the situation in the KdF was already in chaos. Our students and some French prisoners of war established a temporary picket to stabilize local security. The picket team obtained some weapons and vehicles at the factory and set up firefighting at the factory. Station as its headquarters."

"When the US military advanced directly from Fallersleben to the Elbe River, it completely ignored the KdF at first because it was not marked at all on the map. We had to use various methods to establish with the Americans. After some persuasion, we finally allowed several American tanks to enter the city. When the curfew was enforced, we even drove a Kubelwagen and patrolled in front of the American tanks.

"Soon. Afterwards, the U.S. military established a city command office, we were ordered to surrender all weapons, and the labor pickets were disbanded. Some of the student laborers who first established contact with the US military disappeared soon after, eager to return to the Netherlands themselves, while the official demobilization vehicles arrived later. ”

Volkswagen after the US military occupation

On April 11, 1945, the US military completely occupied KdF. It was not until April 15 that the Americans formed a real understanding of KdF. All taken over.

The US military established the first German local government in Wolfsburg with a municipal administrator and a city council - the "Stadt des KdF-Wagens" in 5. At the first local government meeting on September 25, it was decided to rename the city "Wolfsburg" - a name that previously appeared in ancient documents from the European medieval period in 1302.

At the Volkswagen factory, the U.S. military's logistics department first established a repair shop for their own military vehicles. In the factory and surrounding areas, the U.S. military found a lot of spare parts inventories, and then under the guidance of the rescued workers, they assembled a " "Made by American" Kübelwagen.

By May 1945, some automobile production lines at the Volkswagen factory had resumed production, and the first batch of Kübelwagens off the assembly line were provided to the Allied occupation forces at the time. Authorities. These vehicles were called "Volkswagen Jeeps" to distinguish them from the "American Jeeps" Willys MB in the Allies.

By May 1945, Reports from the U.S. Army's 9th Army Command stated that the Volkswagen factory had resumed assembly of the "Volkswagen Jeep" with only 200 workers on the production line. Initially, the Americans appointed Rudolf Brormann as the manager under extremely dangerous conditions. A total of 133 Kübelwagens were assembled on this production line to meet the mobility needs of the US military. This marked the beginning of Volkswagen's resumption of production and its gradual transformation from a wartime "arms factory" to a real automobile factory.

The Allies completed the occupation and rescue of laborers in two stages in April 1945. Over the next two months, the Americans worked very efficiently to lay the foundation for rebuilding the KdF.

In June 1945, the U.S. military handed over the Volkswagen factory to the British occupying forces. Under the extremely difficult situation of parts supply, the British restarted production of the Volkswagen Type 1 "Beetle" after Christmas in 1945. Production.

The Americans used the suburbs near what is now Wolfsburg's Gifhorn as a collection camp for repatriated laborers and prisoners of war. During April and May 1945, the first train of open freight cars left Wolfsburg station to begin the official repatriation. However, those Soviet prisoners of war who were repatriated did not have an easy life. They were labeled as deserters or collaborators and suffered discrimination and persecution.

Sara Frenkel-Bass (1922-present), a Jewish woman from Poland who now lives in Antwerp, disguised herself as a Catholic nurse during the war and worked at a Volkswagen factory from March 1943 to April 1945 She worked in a labor concentration camp hospital, and her famous words after being deported represent the voice of all war victims - "You have no hometown, you are always looking for what you lost, but it will never be there" Come back. Everything is over..."

This article is from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.