Fri 06 Mar
|PS.Halle
FörderFreunde Lecture: Silver Arrows from Saxony – The Return of the Awtowelo 650 and Its Lost Predecessors
Several Auto Union Silver Arrows were taken to the Soviet Union as reparations after the Second World War. In the 1950s, two V12 single-seaters were built in Chemnitz, which were later believed to be lost. One of these cars resurfaced in Donington and later in Germany.
Time & Location
06 Mar 2026, 19:00 – 20:30
PS.Halle, Tiedexer Tor 3, 37574 Einbeck, Germany
About the event
Silver Arrows from Saxony – The Return of the Awtowelo 650 and Its Lost Predecessors
What happens to legends when they simply disappear after a war?
After 1945, around a dozen Auto Union Silver Arrows with V16 and V12 engines were taken to the Soviet Union as reparations. Later, around 1950, two V12 single-seaters were built in Chemnitz/Karl-Marx-Stadt in the tradition of these Grand Prix cars – and they, too, were transported towards Moscow. For decades, many of these vehicles were believed to be lost.
And then one of them suddenly resurfaced: in Donington in the UK, presented as a supposed “Auto Union Type E”. Today, this car, known as the Awtowelo 650, has reappeared in public and still raises questions: How did this happen? Which traces lead to Moscow, Riga and back to Germany?
Eberhard Kittler, author of numerous books and former head of the Volkswagen AutoMuseum, knows the background to this remarkable story and some of the people involved – including Carl Hahn, the then head of Volkswagen, who played a key role in the secret transfer of the legendary Riga car to Ingolstadt.
Admission to the lecture is €10. FörderFreunde enjoy free admission. Spontaneous guests are welcome, but unfortunately a guaranteed seat cannot be offered without prior booking.