1938 Nazi Car Racing Magazine

NAZI CAR RACING MAGAZINE

THE JANUARY 1938 ISSUE OF
ILLUSTRIRTE ZEITUNG
DEVOTED MOSTLY TO
AUTOMOBILE RACING AND WITH A COVER ILLUSTRATION BY
PROFESSOR RICHARD KLEIN
OF MÜNCHEN (MUNICH)

The Illustrirte Zeitung (or Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitung) was Germany’s oldest illustrated weekly publication in January 1938 when issue number 4843 came out prior to the giant Berlin Auto Show. This issue was devoted mostly to a recap of German auto racing successes in the four years from 1934 through 1937.

Mercedes-Benz would have you believe that they set the pace for motor racing in Nazi Germany, but closely examining this big 10-1/2 x 15 inch, 54 page, very heavily illustrated rare magazine will tell you otherwise. From 1934 through 1937 the enormously advanced and powerful machine of Dr. Porsche and Auto-Union driven by legends like Hans Stuck, Bernd Rosemeyer, Achille Varzi, Rudi Hasse, Ernst von Delius, Hermann Müller and others really dominated German auto racing.

There is a spectacular full-page, full-color reproduction of a painting showing Bernd Rosemeyer winning the Vanderbilt Cup in 1937 with a caption that says, “the first occasion on which the swastika flag flew on a victory pole in America”. On the following page there is a chart recapping the previous four years of German 750 kg Formula victories.

Three pages and seven rare photos are devoted to Bernd Rosemeyer’s world records set in special Auto-Union cars on the Reichsautobahn. Several pages and many photos cover Auto-Union success in one and two man motorcycle racing as well. A good deal of space is used in celebration of the completion of the 2000th kilometer of Reichsautobahn in Germany. BMW and Mercedes-Benz racing machines and drivers are also shown in this rare magazine, but in a realistic ratio to their achievements rather than in the usual, Mercedes-Benz windbag ballyhoo.

Final articles in the rare issue of Illustrierte Zeitung cover the life and death of General Erich Ludendorff, amber (Bernstein) mining and manufacturing in East Prussia, and as always, a recap of diplomatic news from around the world.

A very rare and desirable issue of Illustrierte Zeitung in great condition.

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