''Deutsche Wirtschaftsbetriebe'' (german: for 'German Economic Enterprises'), abbreviated DWB, was a project launched by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in World War II. Organised and managed by the

Allgemeine SS The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autum ...

, its aim was to profit from the use of slave labour extracted from the Nazi concentration camp inmates.

Holding company for SS industries

In July 1940, Oswald Pohl (acting on the advice of and ) set up DWB as a holding company for the majority of SS-owned enterprises in order to offset the profits of other SS companies with the losses of

German Earth and Stone Works German Earth and Stone Works (german: Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH, ) was an SS-owned company created to procure and manufacture building materials for state construction projects in Nazi Germany. DEST was a subsidiary company of ''Amtsgru ...

's unsuccessful brickworks at Oranienburg I (

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

), reducing the taxes due. DWB was a holding company for more than 25 SS industries. Oswald Pohl, the head of the

SS Main Economic and Administrative Office The SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (german: SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt; SS-WVHA) was a Nazi organization responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects of the (a main branch of the ; SS). It ...

(known by its German initials as WVHA) was also the chief officer of DWB.

Georg Lörner Georg Nikolaus Lörner (18 February 1899 – 21 April 1959) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He served as Deputy Chief under Oswald Pohl, of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Concentration camps The SS Main Econom ...

, another high WVHA official, was another incorporator. Through stock ownership DWB controlled a wide variety of enterprises, such as stone quarries, brick manufacturing plants, cement mills, pharmaceutical factories, real estate, housing, building materials, book printing and binding, porcelain and ceramics, mineral water and fruit juices, furniture, foodstuffs, and textiles and leather. Some of these businesses and properties had previously been seized or otherwise expropriated from their rightful owners. The following companies were part of the holding (sorted in groups): Group Construction materials, Ceramics und Porzellan * Deutschen Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH (DEST) * Ostindustrie GmbH (OSTI) *Pragobau AG *Golleschauer Portlandzementfabrik AG *Ostdeutschebaustoffwerke GmbH *Zettlitzer Kaolinwerke AG *Schlackenwerk Linz GmbH *

Porzellanmanufaktur Allach Allach porcelain (pronounced 'alak') a.k.a. Porzellan Manufaktur Allach was produced in Germany between 1935 and 1945. After its first year of operation, the enterprise was run by the SS with forced labor provided by the Dachau concentration camp ...

*Porzellanfabrik Victoria GmbH *Tonwerke Großes Werder GmbH *Essin GmbH *Porag Porzellan-Radiatorenwerk GmbH *Bohemia Keramische Werke AG *Deutsche Torfverwertung GmbH *Klinker-Zement GmbH Group Food and Beverages *Deutsche Lebensmittel GmbH *Selchwaren- und Konservenfabrik AG *Salami und Nahrungsmittelfabrik AG *Freudentaler Getränke GmbH *F. Kunerle ohG *Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Ernährung und Verpflegung GmbH *Societä Anonima Prodotti Agricoli Vitaminici Apuania *Lesnoplod Orava Sojka a Spol * Mattoni (Mineralwasser) * Apollinaris (Mineralwasser) * Sudetenquell GmbH Group Paper, Printing and Publishing *Papierfabrik Neudeck AG *SS-Druckschriftenversand GmbH *Forschungsanstalt für das Deutsche Buchwesen GmbH *Lumbeck-Gesellschaft für das deutsche Buchwesen mbH *SS-Vordruck-Verlag GmbH *Völkischer Kunstverlag GmbH *Großdeutscher Bilderdienst GmbH *Friedrich Franz Bauer GmbH *Deutsche Briefkasten-Reklame GmbH * Nordland-Verlag Group Settlement and Infrastructure *Gesellschaft für technisch-wirtschaftliche Entwicklung mbH (Getewent) *Siedler Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Zamosc GmbH *Allod Eigenheim-und Kleinsiedlungs GmbH *Erste Gemeinnützige Baugesellschaft für Kleinwohnungen GmbH *Haus-und Grundbesitz GmbH *Gemeinnützige Wohnungs- und Heimstättengesellschaft mbH (Dachau) Group Textil and Glas * Gesellschaft für Textil- und Lederverwertung mbH (Texled) *Rheinahr-Glasfabrik GmbH Group Furniture and Interior *Deutsches Sperrholz- und Fournierwerk GmbH *Verkaufsstelle Berliner Möbelwerkstätten eGmbH * Deutschen Ausrüstungswerke GmbH (DAW) *Deutsche Meisterwerkstätten GmbH *Deutsche Heimgestaltung GmbH *Deutsche Edelmöbel GmbH Groupe other Enterprises *Gesellschaft für Seuchenbekämpfung mbH *Asid GmbH *Deutsche Heilmittel GmbH * Anton Loibl GmbH *Deutsche Schieferöl GmbH, siehe auch Unternehmen Wüste

Role in war crimes

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the surviving chief officers of WVHA were on trial for crimes against humanity in what became known as Pohl trial. Most of them were found guilty. Both Pohl and

were sentenced to death by hanging, although Lörner managed to get his sentence commuted to a prison term. The war crimes tribunal placed particular emphasis on the role the defendants had played in four DWB subsidiaries: *

, known as DEST, which operated five granite quarries, six brick and tile plants, and a stone-cutting plant; * The Klinker-Zement, manufacturing brick and cinder block, fireproof products, ceramics, lime, and chalk. This company had large subsidiaries at Golleschau,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Lvov Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

, and

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

; *

Ostindustrie Ostindustrie GmbH ("East Industry", abbreviated as Osti) was one of many industrial projects set up by the Nazi German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) using Jewish and Polish forced labor during World War II. Founded in March 1943 in German-occupied P ...

, or OSTI, organized in March 1943 and dissolved a year later, which, using forced Jewish labor operated all confiscated Jewish industries in

German-occupied Poland German-occupied Poland during World War II consisted of two major parts with different types of administration. The Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany following the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II—nearly a quarter of the ...

, including foundries, textile plants, quarries, glass works, and others. * The

German Equipment Works German Equipment Works (, ) was a Nazi German defense contractor with headquarters in Berlin during World War II, owned and operated by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). It consisted of a network of requisitioned factories and camp workshops across Germa ...

or DAW, which operated various industries in seven concentration camps. DEST in particular became notorious for exploitation under brutal conditions of the labor of concentration camp inmates at

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern Germa ...

in Austria.

Holding company for SS industries

Role in war crimes

Notes

Works cited

Further reading