decars1-6, Exercise 2: The KdF savings scheme

Model answer (check the figures):

The scheme: the KdF-Wagen was sold through the Strength through Joy organisation of the German Labour Front. Buyers paid weekly instalments, reported as five Reichsmarks a week, into a savings book, and would receive a car when the full price was saved. Hundreds of thousands took part.

What happened: the factory was built, but the war began in 1939 and production switched to military vehicles. No private buyer received a car under the scheme before the end of the war. The money was not returned in full, and there were legal claims by savers after the war, which were dealt with by the courts and settlements over many years (check the details).

Takeaway: the scheme was real and large, but it did not deliver cars to its savers, so the claim that the Nazis gave ordinary Germans a car does not stand. The details of the legal outcome should be taken from specialist studies.