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HISTORY
Vladimir Sulc
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Info Eduard - April 2011
The East German Trabant is a beautiful example of various viewpoints on
a given item in different historical eras. In the case of the Trabant, this ambi-
guity is underscored by its longevity. The rst Trabants hit the roads of Europe
at the end of the fties and is still seen on them today, and not only
as restored relics.
At the initiation of production, the Trabant was the
answer to the motorization of East Germany. In the
sixties, the Trabant represented for millions of east
Germans and hundreds of thousands of Eastern Euro-
peans the chance to own their own automobile, which is
in stark contrast to today, or to Western Europe back
then - to say nothing of America.
In the seventies it became a symbol of the stag-
nation of the communist economic system. At the time,
it was a decidedly outdated type, but one with very
few alternatives. Furthermore, the waiting times for de-
livery could be measured in decades in East Germany,
and that was a tad inconvenient. Today, these waiting
times are virtually unimaginable. By the eighties, this
symbol developed into one of communist inabilities,
including with respect to competitiveness, and tens,
if not hundreds of abandoned Trabants in Prague and
Budapest in the fall of 1989 were a blunt message to
the communist leadership - thanks, but we’re leaving,
stick your Bakelite miracle where the sun don’t shine!
Twenty years later, it’s a different situation again. The
despised Bakelite contraption has entered into the re-
alm of a legend and has become the centrepoint of
German nostalgia. In the Czech Republic, Slovakia and
Hungary, this situation is
not too different.
Somehow, the Tra-
bant belonged to East
Germany, and for my
generation it was clear
that here it was, always
and forever, much like
communist timelessness.
Bet where did it come
from? It did not fall
from the heavens, and
it has an interesting and
surprising history. If we take it from the Big Bang, as
is in our industry common, we have to go back to Mr.
August Horch. He, armed with his expertise from his
days with Benz, opened an automotive repair shop in
1899 in Cologne. By the following year, he built his rst
automobile, and in 1904 he moved his business, alrea-
dy known as Horch A.G., to Zwickau, in Saxony. In the
following years, the rm of Horch had achieved some
successes in sporting vehicles, but sporting meets were
also a characteristic of the conict between Horch A.G.
and the Executive Board. The Board saw any sporting
connections as a waste of funds. What a conicting
and pragmatic view of the world! The animosity cul-
minated in 1909, when Horch left the company bea-
ring his name, or more accurately, was ‘persuaded’ to
leave, and in the immediate neighborhood of his for-
mer plant formed a new one, which he hardheadedly
called ‘Horch’. This was naturally not allowed by the
courts, and so the name became ‘Audi’, which is Latin
for the German ‘Horch’ - to ‘hear’.
During the crisis of 1932, the companies of Audi,
Horch, DKW and Wanderer merged and created Auto
Union. Within this merger, automobiles under the Horch
name were the prestigious ones, while those from Audi
and Wanderer represented more of a middle class
of vehicle. The label DKW subscribed to the idea of
German automotive thinking along the lines of a ‘pe-
oples’ car’. This has been typically applied to the la-
ter Volkswagen Beetle, but this is only one of several
designs that came out of this concept in Germany. The
strength of the cars made under the DKW label during
the immediate pre-war and early war years was the
genius of the simple construction using a two cylinder,
two stroke engine, and a ‘peoples’ price’. These cars
were built by Audi in Zwickau, while the manufacture
of Audi vehicles was moved to Horch......and you know
what? Let’s just leave that there!
The main point to be made here
for our writeup is the wartime re-
strictions on the supplies of strate-
gic materials, mainly steel plating,
that was used in military produc-
tion. True, this also included auto-
motive production, and as early
as 1937, there was development
in the research arm of Audi in
Chemnitz concerning new plastic
materials based in phenolic resins,
later Bakelite. During the war, de-
velopment and testing continued on plastic frames. But
the curtain was coming down in the form of the app-
roaching mess that steamrolled over Germany like an
unstoppable piston.
In 1945, Zwickau was occupied by the Americans,
but according to the Yalta Accords, the town was in
the Soviet occupational zone. This determined its fate
for the next 44 years. The equipment in the Audi plant
was carted off by the Soviets, as was the typical for
the time, but by 1946, the institution known as IFA,
Industrieverwaltung Fahrzeugbau was formed in the
Soviet Occupation Zone. From 1948, IFA ofcially
sanctioned the East German Industry Nationalization
August Horch (1868-1951), the founder of Horch
and Audi, later a member of the executive board
of the Auto Union.
Post-war IFA F-8 was virtually identical to its
predeccesor.
: IFA F-8 with a plastic hood. It was built through
to the mid fties.
Pre-war DKW F-8 Meisterklasse.