The Kriegsrohstoffabteilung (War Raw Materials Department) was an organisation set up in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to facilitate access to raw materials for the German military.

Walther Rathenau Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and liberal politician. During the First World War of 1914–1918 he was involved in the organization of the German war economy. After the war, Rathenau s ...

and Wichard von Moellendorff proposed setting up an organisation to centrally manage all war-essential goods and raw materials. This led the Prussian War Minister

Erich von Falkenhayn General Erich Georg Sebastian Anton von Falkenhayn (11 September 1861 – 8 April 1922) was the second Chief of the German General Staff of the First World War from September 1914 until 29 August 1916. He was removed on 29 August 1916 after t ...

to decree the establishment of the Kriegsrohstoffabteilung (KRA) on 13 August 1914. The KRA reopened factories which had shut down because they were not economically viable. They also promoted the substitution of more readily available materials for scarce materials. One example was the use of the

Haber-Bosch The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is an artificial nitrogen fixation process and is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia today. It is named after its inventors, the German chemists Fritz Haber and C ...

process of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

production, when the Allied Powers' blockaded the importation of

Chilean saltpeter Nitratine or nitratite, also known as cubic niter (UK: nitre), soda niter or Chile saltpeter (UK: Chile saltpetre), is a mineral, the naturally occurring form of sodium nitrate, NaNO3. Chemically it is the sodium analogue of saltpeter. Nitratine ...

. By 1918 it had 2,500 employees. Walther Rathenau was the first president of KRA, a position he held up until his resignation at the end of March 1915. He was replaced by

Joseph Koeth Joseph Koeth (7 July 1870 – 22 May 1936) was a German military officer and politician. During World War I he served as head of the Kriegsrohstoffabteilung (War Raw Materials Department – KRA) of the Prussian Ministry of War created by Walthe ...

References

{{reflist German Empire in World War I Walther Rathenau