War Resource Department

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Poster about the expropriation of metal household items, March 1918

The War Resource Department (KRA) was an authority of the German Empire at the time of the First World War . Their task in the war economy was the procurement, administration and distribution of the raw materials important for industry. Food and liquid fuels were excluded.

Founded in 1914

From the beginning of the First World War in 1914, Germany's opponents of the war hindered the import of raw materials, on which Germany was dependent for supplies and warfare, through blockade measures. As a result, Germany was completely cut off from the raw material markets of the war opponents and from its own colonies and partially cut off from neutral foreign countries.

Walther Rathenau , at that time chairman of the board of AEG , pointed out the expected consequences for the industry very early on and suggested a state resource management. Rathenau said in a lecture on December 20, 1915 about the founding of the KRA:

“Three days after the declaration of war, I could no longer bear the uncertainty of our situation. I reported to Colonel Scheüch, the chief of the General War Department, and received a friendly welcome from him on August 8th in the evening. I explained to him that our country could probably only be supplied with the indispensable materials of the war economy for a limited number of months {...} Very little had happened, and nevertheless a lot happened; because the war ministry's interest was aroused. When I returned home worried and worried, I found a telegram from the Minister of War von Falkenhayn , which ordered me to go to his office for the next morning. It was Sunday, August 9th. {...} At this crucial moment, the bold, responsible decision of the Prussian War Ministry marked the turning point in the area about which I am allowed to speak to you. {...} We had got some things into the country through purchases in neutral states; but soon the British ensured through their counter-organization, through their terrorism on land and at sea, that the supply decreased. {...} You know that the essential explosives of warfare are based on the nitrate compounds, that saltpeter is a nitrogen compound, and thus warfare is in a certain sense a nitrogen problem. "

Rathenau further explains that this danger could only be averted by acting quickly, because two to three months later there would have been a precarious situation in the ammunition supply.

Then the KRA was founded on August 13, 1914, about two weeks after the start of the war. Walther Rathenau himself was entrusted with the construction and management. The retired Colonel Walter Oehme was placed at his side as an experienced military man. Rathenau's AEG colleague Wichard von Moellendorff became head of the chemistry section. So that the main competitor Siemens & Halske did not feel left out, their employee Heinrich von Nürnberg joined them as a banker. For the section wool was Georg Schönenbach responsible has been chairman of the Association of the wool trade.

Expansion until 1915

At the beginning the office only had three work rooms, then 20, soon 60. There were additional rooms in Wilhelmstrasse and then a whole street front in Hedemannstrasse. Rathenau left the KRA in 1915, and Joseph Koeth was his successor as head . At that time, the KRA employed 500 civil servants and was the third largest authority in the country after the War and Railway Ministry.

additional

Initially, the KRA was subordinate to the Prussian War Ministry , from 1916 to the War Office . The KRA consulted experts such as Emil Fischer and Fritz Haber to assess their concepts.

On September 30, 1916, the Weapons and Ammunition Procurement Office (WuMBA) was created, which belonged to the KRA and took over the relevant tasks from it.

Web link

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walther Rathenau: The organization of the distribution of raw materials. Lecture given in the Deutsche Gesellschaft 1914 on December 20, 1915. Shorthand by H. Geitner. Printed in manuscript form.
  2. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Brenner : Walther Rathenau. German and Jew. Piper, Munich / Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-492-04758-0 . Pp. 315-324