1949 volkswagen documentary: kleiner Wagen grosse Liebe

This 55 minute ’infomercial’ was shot in Germany in 1949. Even for the standards of those days the qalitiy of photographic is poor. The storyline is very thin and a bit staged. But realize that this movie was made only 4 years after the traumatic war.. In the ruins of Germany this motion picture was an amazing display of positivity and hope for the future. The Volkswagen factory in Wolfburg was responsible for 25% of Germany’s production. In 1949 many former slave labourers worked in the factory. They decided to stay after the end of the war. The first minutes of the film sounds like a wartime ’deutsche Wochenschau’. The powerful bombastic music amplifies that atmosphere. The film was a collaboration between Esso and the Wolfsburg volkswagen plant. This was only 4 years after the war. Only few could affort to drive a car. Amazing is to see the early split window car playing a main role in the film: Kleiner Wagen, grosse Liebe. The pretty lady in this clip is Hilde Hildebra