Time to talk a bit about animal recycling
within the Wehrmacht.
For this we look at an undated pamphlet, likely
from April/March 1944 based on the other documents
surrounding that it.
Additionally, there is further information
inside to allow us to date it.
And if you are interested in German Pamphlets,
be sure to check out our krautfunding campaign
on the translation of the Sturmgewehr 44 Assault
Platoon Tactics pamphlet.
The introduction on the animal recycling pamphlets
notes that Germany was always short on resources
and as such that even before the war resources
had to imported.
It adds that due to the war overseas imports
are not a possibility, with a note that this
should be obvious.
Finally, it is noted:
"In order to give the units an incentive for
collection activities and to achieve an increase
in deliveries, the following rewards are granted
by the businesses of the Economic Command
208 (Bobruisk):"
So, before we look at the bounties or rewards,
we need to look at what a “Wirtschaftskommando”
literally “economic command” is.
For this, we need to take a short look at
the “Wirtschaftsorganisation Ost” – the
economic organization east, its goal was the
exploitation of the occupied territories in
the Soviet Union, as such it was created during
the planning and preparation of Operation
Barbarossa.
Territorially this organization was organized
in “Wirtschaftsinspektionen” (literally
Economic Inspectorates), a map from March
1941 shows that the Soviet Union was divided
in 4 such inspectorates.
And these Inspectorates themselves were divided
into “Wirtschaftskommandos” that performed
the exploitation.
According to Tessin this particular Wirtschaftskommando
dates back to 1941:
"Wirtschaftskommando 208 established February
1943 at Army Group Center from Wirtschaftskomamando
Bobruisk ([which was] established 9.
June 1941 as Wirtschaftskommando for special
use Bunzlau); dissolved summer 1944.”
So, let us look at the particular rewards
that are outlined in the document.
First are hides and furs:
"For every four hides or furs delivered, one
tanned or dressed sheepskin shall be issued."
Yet, there is more, because it was made clear
that only materials from certain sources were
allowed to be traded in:
"On delivery to Wirtschaftskommando 208, a
certificate from the unit commander must be
presented certifying that the hides and skins
delivered come exclusively from slaughtering
by the civilian population".
It is further noted that hides and furs that
were produced by the Butcher-Companies or
the troops themselves had to be submitted
to different organizations.
The next part was about wool, flax and hemp.
"For every five kilos of wool, a pair of Russian
felt boots (Walinkis) are supplied and for
fly flax or hemp (long fiber) rope goods are
delivered."
Next were waste fasts and animal cadavers:
"For 100 kg of pure fat waste 80 pieces of
soap per 500 grams [...] are delivered."
In contrast, for 100 kg of dead cow one got
40 pieces of soap and for 100 kg of dead horse
only 30 pieces of soap.
Finally, there were also bristles and animal
hair.
"The delivering unit will be supplied with
fur brushes, brushes or paintbrushes as desired."
Finally, it is noted that not only dead animals
and waste qualified for getting soap or soap
powder, but also the other materials as well.
Well, I guess soap was probably in high demand.
The final part of the pamphlet has the heading
“Annahmestellen” literally “Points of
Acceptance”, probably best translated with
Collection Points or Organizations.
It is noted:
"Delivery is to be made after prior notification
to Wirtschaftskommando 208 (Bobruisk), Group
W., Stolypinstraße 45, for
hides, furs and waste fat in the tannery,
Sandstr.
41,
Carcass in the rendering plant Tiowka, house
no.
52 (village exit after on the left),
Wool, fly flax and fly hemp at Ostlandfaser
GmbH, Stolypinstraße 43
Bristles and animal hair in the collar- and
brush factory, Friedhofstraße 23."
This part is really interesting in many ways.
First off, you can see that the process was
– at least on paper – quite organized,
a preliminary notification to the Wirtschaftskommando
literally economic command was required or
at least suggested before the material could
be dropped off.
Now Bobruisk is Babruysk and it is a city
in Belarus.
Yet, the street addresses are in German.
As such, it seems that at least some streets
were renamed and indeed you might have come
across various photos of streets signs or
replacing of such after a city was retaken.
Yet, there is even more: Namely the “Ostlandfaser
GmbH” – which literally means “Eastern
Lands Fibre”, whereas the “GmbH” stands
for “Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung”,
which basically is the German version of a
limited company.
To quote Wikipedia for a change:
“In a limited company, the liability of
members or subscribers of the company is limited
to what they have invested or guaranteed to
the company.“
( Wikipedia: Limited Company, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_company,
last accessed: 10th August 2020)
Some of you might ask, why is this of any
importance.
Well, I am rather certain that this was actually
a private German company, after all it had
a legal designation and remember this company
or at least this office is located within
Belarus in 1944.
If you look at a map, you will notice it is
actually further away from Berlin than from
Moscow.
The involvement of German businesses into
Operation Barbarossa and the exploitation
of occupied territories is a different topic.
Although it is important to keep in mind that:
"Significant representatives of German industry
not only supported the decision of the political-military
leadership to conquer European Russia in 1941
by accepting a war on two fronts, but also
decisively promoted it through their active
participation in organizational preparations.”
Now, finally we look at the header of the
pamphlet itself, since there is a certain
lack of data and also some potential pitfalls.
It starts with:
“The Army Headquarters
Pamphlet for the Troops
Soldiers!
Improve your own Troop Services!“
There are two important parts missing, first
the date and second which Army in particular.
So, we know this pamphlet is from an Army
Headquarters, be careful here, because the
literal translation would be “The Army High
Command”, the problem is that “Heer”
and “Armee” are both translated with “Army”,
whereas Army can be the formation above the
Corps, but also like the “US Army” or
“German Army” a whole branch in the Armed
Forces.
Anyway, the problem is, it is not stated which
Army Headquarters we are dealing with.
Yet, we have several other points of information
to determine it.
First, Wirtschaftskommando 208 is noted and
it also includes a location “Bobruisk”,
which is Babruysk.
We know that Babruysk was retaken by the Red
Army in June 1944.
So, we know this pamphlet was sent out somewhere
before.
Yet, there is more information as well, we
have a collection of files here and this pamphlet
is preceded and succeeded by a lot of files
of the Quartermaster from the formation Korück
532.
So, we need to make a short excursion on what
a “Korück” is.
This is a short cut, the long version is:
Which translates to „Commander Rear Army
Area“.
As the name suggestion this is a rear area
formation:
"It was on duty in the immediate rear area
of the front to supplement the army it belonged
to.
In the spring of 1942, there were 17 Korücks
in the entire German Army, 15 of them on the
soil of the occupied Soviet Union."
These formations had military and occupational
duties to fulfill, their job was to support
the army they were assigned to.
Hartmann lists for Korück 532 a total of
11 tasks, such as securing the rear area of
the army against partisans and defending important
facilities, securing the economic registration,
maintaining roads, propaganda and various
other tasks.
But back to the files of the Korück 532,
they are dated around March and April 1944,
of course, we can’t be certain that these
files were not mixed up or something.
As such, let us look at the German Army that
was stationed near Babruysk in 1944.
Luckily, we see that during Operation Bagration
the 9th Army was encircled at Babruysk.
And if we look at the units that were assigned
to the 9th Army we see that Korück 532 shows
up in July 1943 and stays with it even in
1945.
This means, this was pamphlet was very likely
issued by the 9th Army and that the order
within the other documents is likely also
correct, so around March and April 1944.
Well, I hope you learned something new.
Thank you to Andrew for reviewing the script.
Thank you to all my supporters on Patreon
and Subscribestar.
As always sources are listed in the description.
I hope you enjoyed this episode, thank you
for watching and see you next time.
