Legal Notice
Legal information, copyright, and acknowledgments.
About This Website
This website is a non-commercial historical archive dedicated to preserving the life and work of Josef Ganz (1898–1967), the Jewish-Hungarian automotive engineer who pioneered the concept that became the Volkswagen Beetle.
The website josefganz.org is created and maintained by Paul Schilperoord (the Netherlands) and Lorenz Schmid (Switzerland).
All content is based on extensive historical research by Paul Schilperoord, as documented in his book "The Extraordinary Life of Josef Ganz: The Jewish Engineer Behind Hitler's Volkswagen" and the documentary "Ganz: How I Lost My Beetle" by award-winning director Suzanne Raes.
Contact Information
For press inquiries, image licensing, exhibition bookings, or general questions, please use our contact form.
Your message will be sent directly to Paul Schilperoord in the Netherlands and Lorenz Schmid in Switzerland.
Website Operators
Contact
Authorized Representatives
Lorenz Schmid
Paul Schilperoord
Content Responsibility
Responsible for content pursuant to §18(2) German State Media Treaty (MStV):
Lorenz Schmid and Paul Schilperoord
Address as above
Liability for Content
The contents of our pages have been created with great care. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the content.
Liability for Links
Our website contains links to external websites. We have no influence on the contents of those websites and therefore cannot assume any liability for them.
Copyright
The content and works created by the site operators are subject to Swiss and international copyright law. Third-party contributions are marked as such.
All text, photographs, images, research materials, and other content published on this website may not be reproduced, distributed, modified, or reused in any form without prior written permission from the copyright holders.
For permission requests, please contact us through our contact form.
Image Credits
Historical photographs are sourced from the Josef Ganz Archive. Work is underway to make the archive publicly available.
Unless otherwise noted, images are copyright of their respective owners and are displayed here for educational and archival purposes with appropriate permissions.
Fair Use & Academic Research
If you wish to cite or reference content from this website in academic publications, please contact us for the correct citation format and to obtain necessary permissions.
Brief quotations for purposes of scholarly review or commentary may be permissible under applicable fair use provisions, provided proper attribution is given.
Thank You
We are deeply grateful to the many authors, researchers, journalists, historians, and family members from all over the world who have contacted us over the years to share their knowledge, memories, and materials related to Josef Ganz.
Your contributions — whether a single photograph, a family anecdote, a newspaper clipping, or an in-depth academic exchange — have been invaluable in piecing together the full story of this remarkable and unjustly forgotten engineer.
This archive would not be what it is today without the generosity and enthusiasm of people across continents who recognized the importance of preserving this history. From Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Australia, the United States, Israel, and many other countries — thank you for helping us ensure that Josef Ganz's legacy will never be forgotten again.
If you have information, materials, or memories related to Josef Ganz that you would like to share, we would love to hear from you. Please reach out through our contact page.
Backed by Evidence
All factual statements on this website are based on documented historical sources cited in Paul Schilperoord's English-language biography of Josef Ganz. These sources include patents, archival records, contemporary publications, and original documents. Work is underway to make the archive publicly available.
Explore All SourcesResearch materials collected by Paul Schilperoord over more than twenty years. Work is underway to make the archive publicly available.
Sources cited in Schilperoord's biography, drawn from archives, newspapers, official records, and historical correspondence.
Documented patent filings attributed to Josef Ganz and recorded in historical patent registers.