According to Ferdinand Porsche's biography by Richard von Frankenberg, in 1932 the engineer was approached by a delegation of three Russian engineers, who invited him to the Soviet Union to see firsthand the progress of Soviet industry.
Porsche travelled to Moscow by train, and "went to Kiev, Kursk, Nijni-Novgorod and to Odessa. They took him down to the Caucasus and as far as the Krim. He saw motor car works and foundries, turbines and tanks, tractors and aircraft, works and yet more engineering works... He was even taken as far as the secret industrial centres behind the Ural." Porsche was liberally wined and dined every night at state expense.
The reason for the trip? The Soviets wanted Porsche to come to design technology for the Workers' State. At the end of the trip he was submitted a contract. "If he would sign it, all of Russia was before him. The motor vehicle industry, tank production, electrical works and the productive power of millions of Russians. From the day his signature would be State Designer of Russia...he would find at the Bank of Moscow a blank cheque for any research work he cared to name."
In the end, Porsche decided to stay in Germany, mostly because of his family and friends and a wish not to be uprooted, says von Frankenberg.
Let's assume for a moment the writer is telling the truth. What if, in 1932, Ferdinand Porsche, for reasons unfathomable, would have accepted a Soviet offer like the one described above?
How could have this affected Soviet industry and development of different vehicles? What would have been the fate of the man himself? What about German technology? What effects for the Second World War?
Opinions?
Porsche travelled to Moscow by train, and "went to Kiev, Kursk, Nijni-Novgorod and to Odessa. They took him down to the Caucasus and as far as the Krim. He saw motor car works and foundries, turbines and tanks, tractors and aircraft, works and yet more engineering works... He was even taken as far as the secret industrial centres behind the Ural." Porsche was liberally wined and dined every night at state expense.
The reason for the trip? The Soviets wanted Porsche to come to design technology for the Workers' State. At the end of the trip he was submitted a contract. "If he would sign it, all of Russia was before him. The motor vehicle industry, tank production, electrical works and the productive power of millions of Russians. From the day his signature would be State Designer of Russia...he would find at the Bank of Moscow a blank cheque for any research work he cared to name."
In the end, Porsche decided to stay in Germany, mostly because of his family and friends and a wish not to be uprooted, says von Frankenberg.
Let's assume for a moment the writer is telling the truth. What if, in 1932, Ferdinand Porsche, for reasons unfathomable, would have accepted a Soviet offer like the one described above?
How could have this affected Soviet industry and development of different vehicles? What would have been the fate of the man himself? What about German technology? What effects for the Second World War?
Opinions?
