Volkswagen gets a lot of unflattering press these days, but a faction of the automaker’s fan base seems determined to malign its name even more.
A disturbing subculture exists on the fringes of the Volkswagen fanboy community, and it manifests itself in decals and not-so-subtle window stickers that feature Nazi imagery.
Most normal, reasonable people would want to avoid associating themselves with a man who can claim responsibility for causing the deaths of about 70 million people, but there’s weirdos out there, and some of them are really keen on their Volkswagens. Frankly, it’s as depressing as the atmosphere inside the Fuhrerbunker, circa early May, 1945.
The photo above was sent to us today from a reader in Charlotte, North Carolina. Besides being subject to two recalls, this 2010 Volkswagen CC Sport has other problems to deal with.
As the photo shows, some sinister (or just braindead) owners are plastering the Nazi Eagle carrying the Volkswagen logo onto their cars. The design, called the Parteiadler, was the official emblem of the Nazi Party. The cogs encircling the Volkswagen version are the same as those that surrounded the swastika in ceremonies at the original Volkswagen plant in 1939 (and mirror the pre-WWII Â logo). This vehicle and Nazi Germany are intertwined, was the message.
Everyone knows that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler kicked off production of the People’s Car in the late 1930s via nationalized factories and a design sourced from Ferdinand Porsche. The Volkswagen of 2016 can’t help what happened in the past, and makes no historical associations beyond the happy, free-love 1960s.
Pulling this decal stunt means begging for your car to be keyed, or have your ass kicked from here to the Rhineland. These losers should count their lucky stars there’s few remaining WWII vets around to tell them a thing or two.
One year ago, a reddit user from Texasasks how to get the Volkswagen/eagle emblem off of his GTI to avoid any parking lot sucker punches that could be coming his way.
“I feel like I’ve made a huge mistake,” he says, before assuring everyone he’s on the up and up. “Just to be clear I am not a Nazi.”
A post on JaguarForums.com from 2011describes an encounter between a father and a Nazified Volkswagen in a Peterborough, Ontario parking lot:
I have never in my life wanted to put a baseball bat through a persons rear window until today. Both of my grandfathers fought in the war, and were lucky enough to see the end of it. So many didn’t. Some punk a$$ kid puts this sticker on his car. 66 years ago, this kid would have had the snot kicked out of him. And we find this acceptable today? I don’t think so. If I didn’t have my kids with me, I would have had a different story to tell….
A 2008 post from the Volkswagen enthusiast forum VW Vortex asks if anyone has that emblem on their daily driver.
It’s very likely that many people who slapped the eagle on their Volkswagen (or bought one with eagle attached) were ignorant as to the image’s origin, but no one answering this eBay ad from the UKÂ (of all places) would have any doubt as to its Nazi origins.
A quick Google search will turn up tons of hits, with many variations of the eagle/Volkswagen decal being sold through graphics companies and online listings. The Google search also makes it clear where the logo came from.
So, what’s the deal, select Volkswagen owners? Have enough years passed that this has become okay? Is worrying about slave labor and association with concentration camps passé ? Or is it all just a joke, like “nuke the whales” t-shirts or Jesus giving the thumbs-up on the cross?