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Sie sind hier: Home > sightseeing & experience > history wolfsburg > history wolfsburg	11. März 2010

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The history of Wolfsburg Besides Salzgitter-Lebenstedt and Eisenhüttenstadt, Wolfsburg is the only city in Germany that was planned in the 20th century. It arose from a 'wild root' like people said in the medieval age, because the villages of the Wolfsburg area are not to be considered as the core, not in construction nor organizational. The location of the city was not chosen because of the resources, like the location of Lebenstedt. For the first time a city was planned and founded just to give the employees of a gigantic new automobile factory a home. The idea of a 'Volkswagen', a well engineered, reliable automobile, that was affordable for everyone was the beginning of Wolfsburg's history. Adolf Hitler adopted the idea after his takeover in 1933 with great enthusiasm. Professor Porsches concept became the propagandistic core of the national socialistic motorization campaign, but none of the 300,000 'Volkswagensavers' (in 1940) had ever seen his car. The factory in Wolfsburg produced solely military vehicles in a major batch size, till 1945. Hitler's original intention, producing the car by the German automobile industry in team work, failed because of the resistance of the leading German automobile companies at this time. It was therefore determined to produce the Volkswagen independently from the automobile industry in the middle of 1936 and to put the project solely under the influence of the government, the NSDAP. In the beginning of 1937, the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF) was ordered to build the factory as constructor and investor in the shortest possible term. The Deutsche Arbeiterfront was the national socialistic organization of employees and employers, which had received the assets of the suspended unions. The organization established the 'Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Volkswagens' (GEZUVOR) on Mai 28th 1937. Professors of the Technische Universität Braunschweig were prompted to make a preliminary draft of the new city in October 1937. The task was not only to settle the necessary workers in the immediate neighborhood of the new factory, but to create an urbanistic manifestation of national socialistic ideals. Hitler himself decided about the look and the way of life of the new settlement in December 1937. He decided that the settlement had to have the look of a city with broad streets. A model national socialistic worker's city should be created. Peter Koller was ordered to do the planning likewise on November 14th 1937. He was the director if the new founded urban construction bureau of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront. The Reichsstelle for town and country planning decided on January 17th 1938 about the location of the Volkswagen factory and the city. The Reichsstelle prioritized the area east of Fallersleben near Wolfsburg against the areas Fürstenwalde/Storkow and Stendal/Tangermünde. The main reasons for this decision were the colonization of the area and the coverage of the whole area, that was agriculturally used until now. The advantageous location based on transportation in the middle of Germany added up. Peter Koller sen. describes further interesting aspects of the location choice, in his essay in the journal 'Der Städtetag' 6/1958: It was crucial for the topographic choice of the location that two large manors with a relatively small rural meadow in between, were lying in a bottleneck of the valley, which had forested and hilly borders. The Graf von der Schulenburg castle, a water castle, which is the north easternmost monument of the Weser renaissance castles was lying in the Allertal. It is besides a small romantic village church, histories only dowry for the new founded city. Wolfsburg could be planned without a bond to existing villages and could be developed as a self contained entity. All connections to the so far passive environment had to be created. An industrial city could be formed like in an isolated labor and all activities observed as if in a test tube. This was a task, whose complexity and difficulty was, when looking back, not foreseeable. It was intended to resolve all questions, that came up with the industrialization, independently from bonds and preconditions, that would have been granted in existing conurbations. The needed number of future workers was not to be found in a single city or area in the time of full employment. They had to be collected from all over Germany. All people that were uprooted from their native places, should find a new satisfying home. Everything should be prearranged, nothing should be left to chance, so that people could find a new home in an existing industrial area or city. The city of Braunschweig is, only 29 kms away, was close enough to serve as a base, but on the other hand was far enough to permit the new city its full development potential. Adolf Hitler laid the foundation stone for the Volkswagen factory on Mai 26th 1938. With effect from Juli 1st 1938 the city was officially founded, by decree of the Oberpräsident of the province of Hannover. It was given the preliminary name 'Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben'. The city counsel meeting that was constituted by the British military government decided in their meeting on June 22nd 1945 to name the city Wolfsburg, after its 16th century renaissance castle. The Oberpräsident of the province of Hannover permitted, that the 'Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben'was renamed in 'Wolfsburg', by decree from June 27th 1945, with approval of the British military government and the city was allowed to bear the city crest. Short History Embedded in two large countrysides, the Harz to the south and the Lüneburger Heide to the northwest, Wolfsburg presents itself as a young, modern city of the 20th century. Its existence is due to the building of the Volkswagen factory. It was Juli 1st in 1938, when the 'Stadt des KdF-Wagens' was founded by decree of the Oberpräsident of Hannover. Its population was about 900 people, that were living in three townships. Because of the unequaled rise of Volkswagen until it became the worlds largest industrial enterprise and automobile company, the city, which is called 'Wolfsburg' only since 1945, was developing. The number of residents was going up from 22,000 in 1948, 50,000 in 1958 to 85,000 in 1963. A land reform with effect from June 1st 1972, added more than 40,000 residents and an area of about 170 km². In Wolfsburg do live about 123.000 people on an area of about 203 km² today.