Economic inspection

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An Economic Inspection was during the Second World War, a sub-organization of the German Economic Staff East . The main task of the Economic Inspections (WiIn) was initially primarily to supply the Wehrmacht "from the country", later increasingly also the provisional continuation of all companies and production facilities that were considered to be important to the war effort, and finally the taking of measures for one - exclusively oriented towards the needs of the German occupying power - economic rebuilding or reconstruction of the economy in German-occupied Eastern Europe.

The economic inspections were active in the military-administered area of ​​operations of the German Eastern Front and were responsible for all areas of economic exploitation of the occupied country. They were subordinate to the Wehrwirtschafts- und Armaments Office (Wi Rü Amt) at the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW), but were ultimately controlled by the Economic Staff East, and thus by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring , the head of the four-year plan authority, to whom Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler was in charge the economic administration in the occupied Soviet territories (see also: Green Portfolio ).

Territorial jurisdiction

The operational areas of the economic services, which were determined before the war based on economic geography, were aligned with the boundaries of the operational areas of the military units in February 1942. From then on, the area of ​​responsibility of an economic inspection coincided with the area of ​​operations of an army group. The territorial area of ​​responsibility of the economic inspections was the respective rear army area of ​​the army group to which they were assigned.

Material responsibility: tasks and function

The economic inspectors had the following two functions: On the one hand, they were supposed to record the few essential war resources that were left undamaged by the Soviet army when it withdrew, i.e. raw materials or food, machines, weapons, vehicles, production goods, etc., and either the deficit economy in the Reich or pass them on to the German troops for direct supply from the country. In addition to this pure plundering, they should also initiate the restarting of mines in particular (especially in the Donets Basin ) and agriculture. The economic inspections employed a large number of so-called special leaders for this task . They were mostly civilians in special military ranks, including farmers, technicians, accountants, and engineers.

The Wi In in Eastern Europe corresponded to the armaments inspections and armaments commandos in the rest of German-occupied Europe; however, their task was broader:

“What is new for the organization, which is subordinate to the Wi Stab Oldenburg, is that it not only looks after the defense economy, but also covers the entire economy. As a result, all departments are no longer referred to as military or Rü departments, but more generally as economic inspections, economic commands, etc. "

For this purpose, the Wi In were given far-reaching powers. It was part of their decision-making authority to close, cannibalize or rebuild businesses, they had power of disposal over all agricultural products and raw material deposits, they determined the labor input of forced laborers and production.

In view of the first bottlenecks in the supply of troops in the late summer of 1941, the economic inspections were initially instructed to increasingly ensure that the Wehrmacht's immediate needs were met. In November 1941, the economic inspectors were then given the task of advising the commanders of the army groups in economic matters as Heeresgruppenwirtschaftsführer (He Wi Fü). Associated with this was the obligation to cooperate closely with the quartermaster departments of the respective army group in the field of troop supply. A liaison officer between the commander of an army group and the economic inspector assigned to it was supposed to ensure the “establishment of the closest ongoing cooperation and the adoption of uniform measures for the economy and administration vis-à-vis the troops and civilian population”. In the army area, army economists acted as liaison officers of the Eastern Economic Staff to the high command of the armies. On the one hand they were subordinate to these army high command, on the other hand they were bound by the economic directives of the economic inspectors. At the same time they were liaison officers of the Defense Economy and Armaments Office.

Organization and structure

The economic inspections (Wi In) were organized in a very similar way to the economic staff east to which they were subordinate. Similar to the economic staff east, each economic inspection was divided into a management group and several chief groups (chief group), which worked on different departments. The “Chefgr La” was responsible for food, agriculture and the provision of food for the troops. The "Chefgr W" dealt with the areas of economy, trade and raw materials, while the "Gr. M “was supposed to satisfy the troop needs for industrial products and was responsible for the arms industry and economic transport issues. In 1942 there was a further differentiation, in which the groups “F + H” (forest and wood), “A” (work) and “BB” (business support and vocational training) were installed.

In preparation for a later civil administration of the German-occupied territories, war administrators in particular were delegated to the economic inspections by the Reich Ministry for the occupied eastern territories . The responsibility of the WiIn ended with the handover of areas to the administrative authorities of the East Ministry, where arms inspectors took over their tasks as well as most of the personnel located there.

The economic commandos (Wi Kdo) were subordinate to the economic inspections. Structured in a similar way to the economic inspections and intended for long-term use in one place, they were the actual executive organs of land exploitation. Within their geographical area of ​​responsibility, mostly a Soviet oblast (administrative district), their task was the systematic exploitation and utilization of economic resources for German purposes. According to the instructions of the higher-level agencies, they organized the exploration and removal of economic goods, oil and other raw materials, the start of operational production, the labor deployment of compulsory local residents and the deportation of so-called Eastern workers into the German Reich.

The various economic inspections

Five economic inspections were planned, namely:

  • Economic Inspectorate "Holstein" (Economic Inspectorate North)
  • Economic Inspectorate "Baden" (Economic Inspectorate South)
  • Economic Inspectorate "Saxony" (Economic Inspectorate Central)
  • Economic inspection zbV "Hessen" (reserve)

Corresponding to the division of the German Eastern Army into three army groups during the attack on the Soviet Union, initially only three of the five economic inspections, namely the economic inspections North, Central and South, started their work; the economic inspection zbV "Westphalia" and the economic inspection zbV "Hessen" did not move out for the time being.

The Army Group South received the South Economic Inspection (WiIn South; formerly: "Baden Economic Inspectorate"), which was also known as the "Baden Economic Inspectorate" (WiIn Baden) for camouflage. The head of WiIn Süd was initially Lieutenant General Stieler von Heydekampf, who was replaced by General Hans Nagel in July 1942 . As part of the German summer offensive in 1942 , the Army Group South was in the Army Groups A and B split. This was followed by the corresponding division of the WiIn South into the economic inspections A and B. From May 1942 to January 1943, the economic inspection for the special use "Westphalia" was used. Initially, this was subordinate to the Economic Inspectorate South as the "District Economic Inspectorate Donets", in July 1942 it was then converted into an independent Economic Inspectorate A, which joined Army Group A on its advance into the Caucasus . Accordingly, the WiIn A was renamed on September 11, 1942 in "Economic Inspection Caucasus". The management of the WiIn A and the WIn Caucasus took over on September 10, 1942 Major General Günther Niedenführ.

From July to September 1942, the Economic Inspection South was called “Economic Inspection B”, then it was called “Economic Inspection Don-Donets” until it was renamed “Economic Inspection South” in February 1943. WiIn B was subordinated to General Nagel.

For the surgical area of the Army Group North was Economic Inspectorate North ( "Economic Inspection Holstein" formerly Wiin North) have been prepared. Until the turn of the year 1941/42, this was headed by Vice Admiral Heinrich Ancker , who had held the position of military economics inspector in Hamburg since 1937. After that, Colonel of the Luftwaffe Becker became the responsible economic inspector for the north.

The Central Army Group was assigned the Central Economic Inspectorate (WiIn Mitte; formerly: "Economic Inspectorate Saxony"). In 1943 the major general of the Waffen-SS Gustav Krukenberg became chief of the staff of the Central Economic Inspectorate in Belarus. Three weeks before the German attack on the Soviet Union, SS Brigade Leader Richard Wagner took over the management of the Agriculture Inspectorate's chief group. In February 1942, Axel de Vries came to the head of agriculture at the Central Economic Inspectorate under Richard Wagner, where he earned the reputation of a “thought leader”. At the end of 1942 Fritz Hellwig became a war administrator in the Central Economic Inspectorate.

The Central Economic Inspectorate was disbanded on October 31, 1943 parallel to the rear army area and its personnel were transferred to the newly formed "Army Group Economic Leader" (HeWiFü) at the Central Army Group. Its tasks remained more or less the same. On December 1, 1942, its personnel strength was 2,960 men, in the spring of 1944 in the reduced area it was still around 1,000 men.

At the beginning of 1943 the Defense Economic Inspections Ostland and Ukraine were subordinated to the Economic Staff East , which until then had belonged to the subordinate area of ​​the Defense Economic and Armaments Office as the Armaments Inspections Ostland and Ukraine.

resolution

With the withdrawal of the Wehrmacht from 1943, the area of ​​operations of the Economic Organization East and thus the area of ​​operation of the economic inspections decreased. Numerous departments were closed and the staff withdrawn. Many of the responsible persons and experts who were released were put to a new use in occupied Italy or France. After the territory of the Soviet Union had largely been evacuated by German troops in the course of 1944, the official end of the Eastern Economic Staff followed on November 1, 1944, when General Otto Stapf took over the remainder of the former military economy on October 15, 1944 - and Armaments Office, merged both institutions (i.e. the field management office and the economic staff east).

Literature and Sources

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Document 1157-PS: Secret command matter, meeting with the armed forces on Tuesday, April 29, 1941, 10 a.m. Purpose of the meeting: Introduction to the organizational structure of the economic sector of the Barbarossa-Oldenburg company. In: IMT: The Nuremberg Trial of the Major War Criminals ... , fotomech. Reprint Munich 1989, Vol. 27, ISBN 3-7735-2525-7 , pp. 32-38, quoted on p. 33. on the Internet
  2. ↑ Jürgen Kilian: Wehrmacht and Occupation in the Russian Northwest 1941–1944 - Practice and Everyday Life in the Military Administrative Area of ​​Army Group North Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-77613-6, page 141; on the Internet
  3. ↑ Jürgen Kilian, "Wehrmacht, Partisan War and Retreat Crimes on the Northern Eastern Front in Autumn and Winter 1943", in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, VfZ 2/2013, Volume 61, Issue 2, April 2013, pp. 173–199, p. 175, https://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/2013_2.pdf
  4. ↑ Christian Gerlach: Calculated Murders - The German Economic and Extermination Policy in Belarus 1941 to 1944 . Hamburger Edition HIS, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 3-930908-63-8 , p. 146. on the Internet