The issue that always amazes me
 

is whether Hitler was ignorant or chose to ignore the fact that his favorite cars were named after the granddaughter of a prominent Budapest rabbi.

Hitler was indeed born an Austrian citizen, from the same German-Bohemian dialect region as Ferdinand Porsche (and my mother's parents), but he proclaimed himself "German" after WWI and made much of his drive to unify all "Germans," in which group he included Austrians, Tyroleans, Alsatians -- anyone who spoke any form of German, including sometimes even the Dutch, Danes and Scandinavians. Meanwhile, my ancestors had to flee because a Jesuit member of the family at the University of Prague, just before the Munich conference, gave some anti-Nazi sermons (based on very conservative "Only the Catholic heirs of the Holy Roman Empire are willed by God to rule any union of German speakers" arguments). Actually, what he probably found objectionable about National Socialism was the "Socialism" part, not the "Nationalism."

I once confronted the Dean of Admissions of the school at which I teach with this issue: "Do you realize how much different the history of the 20th century might have been if that Austrian teenager had been admitted to rather than rejected by the program he wanted to pursue at a certain Vienna art school?" She didn't really try to answer that one.

Fit,

It appears that your ancestors had very good instincts.

When in Europe, when you cross from Germany to Austria or Austria to Germany, you just really can't at all tell the difference. I expect that this was true in the twenties and thirties as well.

Have a great day,

The same is true on the North Sea coast --
 

My Father-in-Law's mother came to Minnesota from a rural area between Hamburg and the Dutch border, and in 1944-45, my Father-in-Law often found it easier to understand the Dutch farmers than the German POWs he was sometimes expected to interrogate.

Most of the parade cars were 770 Grossers...
 

half a dozen at least were made available to Hitler (in the same way that Pierce-Arrow, Packard, and Lincoln became official presidental cars on company-sponsored loan in the US).

The Star had an article on these cars sometime over the past two years. Also Frank Barrett's "Mercedes Benz Buyers Guide" gives details and specs. There were both open and closed Grossers, and all were heavily armored after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. Also presented as state gifts to Span and USSR.

The big six-wheel job is a G4, and a Mercedes. I'm sure Maybachs, Horches, and many other fine cars were appropriated for Nazi use. The '60s movie "Night of The Generals" shows a lovely Maybach Zeppelin convertible sedan, as well as an Hispano-Suiza town car being used as Nazi staff cars.

I've seen one "Hitler Mercedes" at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. At least one "Hitler's Car" flogged on the carny cirucuit was evidently an open Duesenberg, about as American as you can get.