VW 2400 Diesel a.k.a. Der Große Totenkäfer

Late in 1948, a large Bubonic plague outbreak started in Berlin, Germany. By the early 1949, hospitals were overflown with diseased, dying and ultimately dead patients.
Bodies started piling up and a safe medical transport from the hospitals to the crematoriums was desperately needed… a people’s car for the dead and dying!
Due to a shortage of available vehicles, Volkswagen engineers quickly developed a new and efficient solution. A VW Beetle Wagon (officially VW Typ 1 2400 Diesel Kombinationskraftwagen).
Radical new design had a MAN-sourced 2.4-liter Diesel engine in front to make room for up to four bodies in the back. The car was soon known as Der Große Totenkäfer, The Big Death-beetle. From 1948 to early 1951 an estimated 1.500 Totenkäfers were built, transporting 320.000 terminally ill patients to the Research Institute for the deceased.
After the Great Berlin Plague Outbreak, all VW Typ 1 2400 D were burned and buried in the marshes around Neustrelitz, 100 km north of Berlin.

Two VW Type 1 2400 Diesels parked in front of the Robert Koch Institut für Infektionsbiologie during the height of  the Berlin Plague Breakout. (Berlin, May 1949)

Two VW Type 1 2400 Diesels parked in front of the Robert Koch Institut für Infektionsbiologie during the height of the Berlin Plague Breakout. (Berlin, May 1949)

Totenkäfers at a safe distance from Forschungsinstitut für Verstorbene (Research Institute for the deceased), where most of the bodies were burned.

Totenkäfers at a safe distance from Forschungsinstitut für Verstorbene (Research Institute for the deceased), where most of the bodies were burned.

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, rear

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, rear

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, mortician

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, mortician

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, front

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, front

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, ambulance

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, ambulance

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, specifications

VW Type 1 2400 Diesel, specifications