Porsche has grown over the years to become one of the most famed sports car brands around. Models like the 911 have become synonymous with being the ‘sports car to beat’, and Porsche has continued to go from success to success in recent years through the introduction of more practical cars like the Cayenne and Macan.
But like many German companies established in and around the world wars, it has a lesser-known history that is only now being explored – even by Porsche itself.
While Porsche didn’t produce its first proper car until 1948 with the 356, its history actually started 17 years earlier in 1931 when the firm was founded. It was initially established to take on vehicle development and consulting work, however, one of its first assignments came from Adolf Hitler to design a ‘car for the people’ in Nazi Germany.
The result was the Volkswagen Beetle, a car with a rather controversial beginning owing to its roots, but one which would go on to be one of the most popular cars ever made, with production running up to 2003 – a remarkable 65 years.
The sports car marque is known to have been founded by Ferdinand Porsche, along with Dr Anton Piëch – Ferdinand’s son-in-law. However, there was a third founding member that’s often forgotten – Adolf Rosenberger.
Rosenberger was a wealthy businessman who was a racing driver at Mercedes-Benz in Germany at the time, and helped fund Porsche initially, holding a 10 per cent stake in the company.
While Porsche acknowledges Rosenberger as one of its founders, his name is often left out of or scarcely mentioned in the history of the firm. His descendants are now looking to change that, and along with Porsche itself, have commissioned Prof. Dr Joachim Scholtyseck to conduct research on Rosenberger and his role in founding the sports car giant.
The research project started in October 2022, with Porsche saying it would ‘last 18 months’, meaning the findings are due to be announced this spring.
The non-profit organisation Adolf Rosenberger was founded by Sandra Esslinger, second cousin of the founder, according to the Financial Times, after the family considered a previous study on the company and its early start was considered to be ‘incomplete’.
Rosenberger, who was Jewish, left Porsche as a managing director in 1933 and as a partner in 1935 – a time when the Nazi party took over and increasingly exerted its authority on the German population. Hitler, along with his party, are renowned for their brutality and ferocity against the Jewish population.
This forced Rosenberger to flee Germany, emigrating to the US in 1938 and starting a new life under the name Alan A. Robert, where he would stay until his death in Los Angeles in 1967.
Esslinger told the Financial Times that her family was “not unique”, with many Jewish German business owners that escaped Nazi Germany and the Holocaust staying overseas while their former companies thrived.
The non-profit organisation and Porsche are now investigating the circumstances surrounding Rosenberger transferring his shares to Ferdinand Porsche’s son, Ferry, at well below their full value in 1935, as well as postwar correspondence with Porsche’s founders.
Porsche says there are ‘lines of enquiry’ on 19 points surrounding Rosenberger and Porsche, and that the results of the study will be a ‘future benchmark’.
The sports car firm has also said it ‘acknowledges the past of its predecessor companies’ and that it welcomes the ‘examination of its history as a continuously ongoing commitment’.
The full findings from the academic study are due to be published in book form to the public in both English and Germany later this year.
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