September 3, 1875 - Ferdinand Porsche

His legacy in automotive engineering is substantial and well-documented, but so is his wartime record — Porsche's design work extended directly into the machinery of the Third Reich, from heavy armor to weapons systems, all while holding SS rank and Nazi Party membership. The factories and programs he supported relied on forced and slave labor drawn from concentration camps and occupied territories. That combination of celebrated innovation and deep institutional complicity with the Nazi war apparatus is what places him here.

From Wikipedia

Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner-Porsche), the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing cars, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, and several other important developments and Porsche automobiles.

An important contributor to the war effort of Nazi Germany during World War II, Porsche was involved in the production of advanced tanks such as the VK 45.01 (P), the Elefant (initially called "Ferdinand") self-propelled gun, and the Panzer VIII Maus super-heavy tank, as well as other weapon systems, including the V-1 flying bomb. Porsche was a member of the Nazi Party and an honorary Oberführer of the Allgemeine SS. He was a recipient of the German National Prize for Art and Science, the SS-Ehrenring and the War Merit Cross.

Porsche was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996 and was named the Car Engineer of the Century in 1999.

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