Wehrmacht butter dish

Soldiers consume considerably more calories than other professions due to their physically demanding work. If they are fighting in a cold climate, their calorie consumption increases significantly. Especially in war, the higher calorie consumption of soldiers competes with the provision of food for the civilian population.

Fat is a vital part of the diet and high in calories. Wehrmacht soldiers carried a butter dish in addition to their eating utensils and the so-called bread bag. Its design had changed little since the imperial era. It consisted of a metal tin with a screw cap and a glass container inside. Over the course of the war, various models were also made from the relatively new plastic Bakelite. However, the filling of the butter dish posed problems for the National Socialist leadership.

Even before the war, butter and margarine were in short supply in the German Reich, with supply shortages and rationing occurring in 1935. This was also due to the direction of National Socialist economic policy: Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels declared in 1936 that “if necessary, we can get by without butter, but never without cannons”. More than half of the butter and margarine consumed in the Reich had to be imported.

The Allied trade blockade during the war also affected German imports of tran, which was the main ingredient in margarine at the time.

In order to be less dependent on imports, the National Socialists intensified the production of fats in the Reich. But there was also a shortage of workers on the farms. Even before the war, many preferred to switch to the factory for better wages. Additional workers were drafted into the Wehrmacht for the war. Forced laborers who had been deported from the occupied territories worked in the agricultural businesses and on the farms. They also had to be provided for, but their food rations were significantly lower than those of the German workers and in some cases were not enough to survive on. Towards the end of the war, they made up half of the agricultural workforce.

However, the Wehrmacht was only partially supplied with food from the Reich. When planning the war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, the starvation of the civilian population of the occupied territories was deliberately taken into account. Wehrmacht soldiers also “organized” their food by buying, extorting or robbing it from the local population.

Object of the month

(short) stories from the depot

Unfortunately, many objects cannot currently be shown in the exhibition for conservation reasons. Here you will find unusual objects and exciting stories of special pieces from the depot