Fiasco · Pushkin Industries
From Business History: De-Nazifying the Love Bug: The VW Beetle Story Part II
January 21, 2026·42 min·3 clips
The 'Think Small' Volkswagen ad was so counterintuitive it made Americans tear it out of magazines and pin it on their walls.
As heard by us
A brisk, morally uneasy look at how the Beetle survived its Nazi origins and entered Germany's postwar recovery.
Volkswagen's postwar rescue comes across as a study in how a company with Nazi origins was made usable again, without letting the stain disappear.
Why you'd press play
You get to watch someone decide, in real time, how Nazi was too Nazi to run Volkswagen.
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