They failed to say the ‘ironically-named’ John German.
Like.
Iron John?
That aside, the “People’s Car” has come nearly full circle. Originally created as a bait-and-switch of the Third Reich, Hitler graciously took down payments on the promised automobile “for the common folk”, but failed to deliver more than a very few before the Second World War came crashing down upon the world. The Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg was mostly a smoldering ruin when it was rescued and a plan put into operation to get German industry up and running, with Marshall Plan dollars. Always a joint state-owned and some private capital enterprise, the revitalized and ubiquitous “Beetle” began to put first Germany, then all of Europe, back on wheels, even penetrating the US market to great effect. Surpassing in popularity even Ford’s Model T, and with an even longer production run, the descendants of the original prewar “Beetle” created VAST revenue for the German State of Lower Saxony and Wolfsburg, the original beneficiaries of the investment by the Third Reich.
Volkswagen is STILL a partially state-funded and owned enterprise, not an unusual business arrangement in most European countries, but one that was always regarded as anathema in the United States (until, of course, General Motors became Government Motors). That the various governments now come crashing down on the enterprise is a little ironic, considering the origins of the company.
Yeah, well, German Chocolate Cake has the same problem. “German” was the last name of a mid-19th century employee of a American baking products company that developed a chocolate, and a century later, a housewife created the cake using that chocolate.
Is he from the family of Germans who bombed Pearl Harbor?