I must apologize here. In one fell swoop I have managed to offend Sid 2 ways. It was simply a lack of consideration on my part.
Besides mentioning that bstrd- it bothers Sid that Germany was stripped of so many things in reparations. This is something that almost all Americans are totally ignorant of.
I was thinking maybe it would be a good piece of shared trivia.
I know you didn't meant no harm with that, as far as I'm concerned we're good!
I've been to a number of forums where I encountered a bad prejudice like
"oh look a german, must be a nazi", and you know that really hurts one's feelings.
So yeah, I get pretty sensitive along those lines;
I do like racism as much as the next guy.
So having me, my family and firends associated with a person that died long before my dad even knew my mom makes me mad.
Again Doug, we're good.
So on a brighter subject.. the beetle;
or to be precise the FACTORY (not the company, nor the cars) were confiscated by the Americans in post war germany, since they didn't wanted to move the factory over to the states they kindly offered the equipment to british car companies including Rootes and Morris, they turned it down.
Then the british army in germany got hold of it (and left it where it was),
after they demonstrated some wartime volkswagen to the british rhine army group headquarters, they ordered 20,000 similar cars that very same year (1945)
It took a loong time to make that many cars in post war germany though.
Anyways, the man that saved Volkswagen was an Englishman, namely Ivan Hirst
guardian.com said:
Ivan Hirst was the man who got production going. He organised the clearance of bomb damage and had the buildings repaired; he re-commissioned machine tools, body presses and assembly jigs; he concerned himself with improving the quality of the car, with setting up a sales and service network and with starting exports - the first went to Holland in 1947.
He became a great enthusiast for the Volkswagen, which he was always ready to defend, even against the interference of the British authorities. His view was that the factory belonged to the German people, and it was his task to see that they got it.
He died in 2000 at the age of 84.
Oh, btw I'm not bothered that germany was stripped, that's how it goes...
the one who looses a war gets stripped.
I'm bothered that after WWI the germans were dumb enough to start WWII.
The only thing that somehow is annoying, is that -mostly Americans- don't know that it was a German that made the space age happen (well actually several germans
see "operation paperclip")
let alone that the "intellectual reparations" taken by the U.S. and the UK amounted to close to $10 billion.
(according to John Gimbel in his book "Science Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany", stanfort university press 1990)
That most of the 'things' some americans are so proud of are actually 'german things'
Anyways, looong time ago...
I wasn't affected by any of that.
Nothing was stolen (confiscated) from me or my family back then (well the house was bombed *shrugs* shirt happens, new house was much bigger
)
And my grandma actually liked the G.I.s that were around, especially the ones she referred to as "die Schwatten" (the black ones; no that's not politically correct; sorry) since they were always the kindest and most helpful.
Personally I think she secretely fell in love with one, but she never admitted so
Where were we?
Oh yes.. so the beetle was at least to some degree correct?
Good
Now, how many lines then?
'sid
