12 Facts About Josef Ganz

Josef Ganz was a Jewish-German car designer born in Budapest, Austro-Hungarian Empire .

Josef Ganz was born on 1 July 1898 into a Jewish family living in Budapest, then the second-largest city within Austria-Hungary.

Josef Ganz's father was Hugo Markus Ganz from Mainz in Germany who worked as a political and literary writer and journalist for the Frankfurter Zeitung.

In July 1916, Josef Ganz voluntarily enlisted in the German army and fought in the German navy during the First World War.

In 1923, as a young mechanical engineering student, Josef Ganz made his first auto sketches for a car for the masses.

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Josef Ganz used this magazine as a platform to criticize heavy, unsafe and old-fashioned cars and promote innovative design and his concept of a car for Germany's general population.

In 1929, Josef Ganz started contacting German motorcycle manufacturers Zundapp, Ardie and DKW for collaboration to build a prototype, small people's car.

At Adler, Josef Ganz was assigned as a consultant engineer at Daimler-Benz and BMW where he was involved in the development of the first models with independent wheel suspension: the Mercedes-Benz 170 and BMW AM1 .

Under the new anti-Semitic government Josef Ganz was a target for his enemies from the automotive industry that opposed his writings in Motor-Kritik.

Influence of Josef Ganz on the design of the Volkswagen Beetle is a matter of dispute.

Josef Ganz himself was arrested by the Gestapo in May 1933 based on falsified charges of blackmail of the automotive industry.

Josef Ganz died in obscurity in Australia, residing at Edgewater Towers, St Kilda, Melbourne.