26 May 1938 marked the ceremonial laying of the Volkswagen plant’s foundation stone. With effect from 1 July, the “City of the KdF Car at Fallersleben” was founded by decree of the Governor of Hanover Province. It was built on land belonging to the old village of Heßlingen and the originally independent Wolfsburg estate district, which had been part of it since 1928, as well as to the village of Rothehof/Rothenfelde with parts of the municipalities of Mörse, Sandkamp, Fallersleben and Hattorf.

About two-thirds of the Volkswagen plant was destroyed by the time the Second World War came to an end. The residential districts remained almost completely unscathed by air raids. By resolution of the city council on 25 May, the city was finally named “Wolfsburg” after the castle by the River Aller.

A watershed moment in the city’s history was the initial municipal endowment contract between the city and the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen plant. This contract, dated 21 February, gave the city ownership rights over a large part of the land located within its limits. The millionth Volkswagen rolled off the line. The city granted honorary citizenship to General Director Heinrich Nordhoff. The first town planner of the Volkswagen city, Peter Koller, was put in charge of Wolfsburg’s building authority and urban planning. He geared his planning to a city of around 100,000 inhabitants. On 11 October, Vorsfelde received its town charter to which the community had a right as far back as the 17th century.

The Lower Saxony territorial reorganisation on 1 July led to the incorporation of 20 municipalities into the city of Wolfsburg, including the towns of Fallersleben and Vorsfelde. That meant the young city now had an area of 203 square kilometres and its population had increased to 130,979.