Ferdinand Porsche (September 3, 1875January 30, 1951) was born in Austria. He was a talented and well-known car designer, especially of race cars. But he always wanted to make a small car useful for a family. Finally Adolf Hitler gave him the opportunity to make the Volkswagen Beetle in 1936. But by the time the car started production, war broke out, and the company started making army vehicles instead. After World War II he was put in a French jail for almost 2 years but never convicted of a crime. He was released, but his health had been damaged and he died not long afterwards. He lived long enough to see his beloved small car being successfully produced by the Volkswagen company, but not to see the great success it eventually became.