Resource Policy of the Third Reich in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine: Waste Recycling in 1941-1943

Main Article Content

Abstract

This article explores the assortment and primary methods of waste collection within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine during the occupation by Nazi forces. The Ukrainian occupational press serves as the primary source for this article. It demonstrates that the extraction of various resources and the plundering of material valuables were directed towards supporting the economic and military power of the Third Reich, with waste collection policies being one of its facets. To facilitate this activity in this realm, the Nazis utilized existing infrastructure within the territory of Ukraine, including warehouses, factories, and offices of Soyuzutyl, established on the eve of the Second World War, as well as the infrastructure of the consumer cooperative system. It is shown that the specificity of Ukraine lies in assigning waste collection duties to consumer cooperatives, which transformed into the primary suppliers of various raw materials for the needs of the Third Reich. Local administrations and individual cooperatives actively participated in this endeavor, and special associations were also established. Additionally, the occupying authorities sought to involve schoolchildren and the broader population, developing various incentive systems for this purpose, although the participation of these actors was minimal. The article examines the peculiarities of waste collection propaganda within the territory of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, which was based on ideological motives such as gratitude for liberation from Soviet rule, as well as economic motives related to the need for waste to produce consumer goods for the local population by enterprises of the Nazi regime. It is argued that primary attention was given to collecting scrap black and colored metals, as well as bones, paper, and rags. The author suggests that the scale of economic plundering of Ukraine was much larger than commonly believed, yet acknowledges that this requires further in-depth research involving a wide range of archival sources.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Perga, T. (2024) “Resource Policy of the Third Reich in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine: Waste Recycling in 1941-1943”, Problems of World History, (25), pp. 51–68. doi: 10.46869/2707-6776-2024-25-2.
Section
Articles
Author Biography

Tetyana Perga

Perga Tetyana – Ph.D. in History, Senior Research Fellow, Leading Research Fellow of the State Institution “Institute of World History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine”.

References

Ukrayina v Druhiy svitoviy viyni. (2015). Kyyiv: Ukrayinsʹkyy instytut natsionalʹnoyi pamʺyati. [Online]. Available from: https://old.uinp.gov.ua/sites/default/files/userupload/broshura-ukr-sait.pdf [In Ukrainian].

Kovalʹ, M.V. (1999). Ukrayina v Druhiy svitoviy i Velykiy vitchyznyaniy viynakh (1939-1945 rr.). Kyyiv: Vydavnychyy dim “Alʹternatyvy”. [In Ukrainian].

Shaykan, V. (2010). Povsyudzhennya ukrayintsiv u roky nimetsʹkoyi okupatsiyi. 1941-1944 roky. Kyyiv. [In Ukrainian].

Diter Polʹ. Nimetsʹka okupatsiya Ukrayiny 1941-1944 u konteksti podiy Druhoyi svitovoyi viyny. [Online]. Available from: https://www.historians.in.ua/index.php/uk/doslidzhennya/1547-diter-pol-nimetska-okupatsiia-ukrainy-1941-1944-u-konteksti-podii-druhoi-svitovoi-viiny [In Ukrainian].

Weber, H. (2022). Nazi German waste recovery and the vision of a circular economy: The case of waste paper and rags. Business History, 64(5), pp. 882-903. [Online]. Available from: DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2021.1918105 [In English].

Tooze, A. (2006). The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy. London and New York: Allen Lane for Penguin. [In English].

Berg, A. (2015). The Nazi rag-pickers and their wine: the politics of waste and recycling in Nazi Germany. Social History, 40(4), pp. 446–472. [Online]. Available from: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03071022.2015.1076124 [In English].

Oldenziel, R., Weber, H. (2013). Introduction: Reconsidering Recycling. Contemporary European History, 22.(3), pp. 347–70. [Online]. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43299390 [In English].

Denton, C.B. Weber, H. (2018). Bones of contention: The Nazi recycling project in Germany and France during World War. Coping with Hunger and Shortage under German Occupation in World War II. Springer International Publishing. [Online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77467-1_7 [In English].

Denton, C., Weber, H. (2022). Rethinking waste within business history: A transnational perspective on waste recycling in World War II. Business History, 64(5), pp. 855-881. [Online]. Available from: DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2021.1919092 [In English].

Mędykowski, W.W. (2018). Macht Arbeit Frei?: German Economic Policy and Forced Labor of Jews in the General Government, 1939-1943. Boston: Academic Studies Press. [Online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv75d8v5 [In English].

Mints, I.O. (1932). Kistky. Kharkiv: NarodnyyKomisariattorhivli URSR. [In Ukrainian].

Perga, T. (2022). Waste Recycling in the Early Soviet Union Period: The Success Story of Ukrutilzbir JSC. Scientific Notes of the VDPU named after Mikhail Kotsiubinsky. Series: History, 39, pp. 26-31. [In Ukrainian].

Denton, C. (2013). ‘Récupérez!’ The German Origins of French Wartime Salvage Drives, 1939–1945. Contemporary European History, 22 (3), pp.399-430. [Online]. Available from: DOI:10.1017/S0960777313000210. [In English].

Dobri naslidkyzibrannyatekstovohoutylyu. (1942). Nove ukrayinsʹke slovo, 161. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Vyetrov, I.H. (1995). “Finansova viyna” tretʹoho reykhu na okupovaniy terytoriyi Ukrayiny v 1941 – 1944 rr. UIZH, 3, pp. 96–100. [In Ukrainian].

Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuremberg, October 1946-April (1949). Case 11: U.S. v. von Weizsaecker (Ministries case). U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949. Nuremberg War Crime Trials, Nuremberg, Germany, 1946-1949. [In English].

Metalolom dlya borotʹby z bilʹshovizmom. (1942). Kam'yansʹki visti, 67. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Postanova Kyyivsʹkoyi oblasnoyi upravy. (1941). Vidrodzhennya (Tarashcha), 23. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Postanova Kyyivsʹkoyi oblasnoyi upravy №4. (1941). Ukrayinsʹke slovo (Kyyiv), 63. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Kontora “Zahotutilʹ”. (1942). Vidrodzhennya (Myrhorod), 84. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Zahotovka kontora promyslovoyi syrovyny. (1941). Nove ukrayinsʹke slovo, 5. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Reklama. (1943). Nove ukrayinsʹke slovo, 33. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Pervomaysʹka raykontora iz zahotivelʹ ta zbutu. (1941). Novezhyttya (Pervomaysʹk), 18. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Tovarystvo dlya zahotivli ta pererobky starykh materialiv i vidkhodiv na Ukrayini. (1943). Svitnok, 12. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Tekstylʹni pidpryyemstva Bilostoku. (1943). Vinnytsʹki visti, 3. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Poltavsʹka oblspozhyvspilka. (1943). Holos Poltavshchyny, 239. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Sʹohodni-utylʹ, zavtra-kram! (1943). Holos Dnipra, 87. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Zvernemo y na tse uvahu. (1941). Vilʹna Ukrayina (Dnipropetrovsʹk), 11. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Zbyraty utylʹsyrovynu! (1942). Dnipropetrovsʹka hazeta. 12. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Zbyrayte utylʹsyrovynu! (1943). Virnym shlyakhom. 25. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Reklama. (1942). Kam'yansʹki visti, 55. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Reklama. (1942). Nove ukrayinsʹke slovo, 120. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Zbyrannya starykh rechey. (1943). Novyy chas (Voznesensʹk), 52. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Sʹohodni – utylʹ. Zavtra – kram. (1943). Khabnivsʹki visti, 53. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Sʹohodni-utylʹ, zavtra-kram! (1943). HolosDnipra, 87. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

U shkolakh mista Zaporizhzhya zakinchuyetʹsya navchalʹnyy rik. (1943). Nove Zaporizhzhya, 59. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Uchni zbyrayutʹ metalevyy brukht. (1942). Nove ukrayinsʹke slovo,160. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Hnida, V. Kulʹtura osvity i front pidchas okupatsiyi. Rozdil 3. Po inshyy bik frontu. [Online]. Available from: http://history.org.ua/LiberUA/978-966-00-1063-5/23.pdf [In Ukrainian].

Metalolom dlya borotʹby z bilʹshovizmom. (1942). Kam'yansʹki visti, 67. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Reklama. (1942). Kam'yansʹki visti, 55. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Oholoshennya. (1942). Dzvin (Bila Tserkva), 33. S. 2. [In Ukrainian].

Zbir metalevoho utylyu. (1943). Nove ukrayinsʹke slovo, 153. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Podolyanyn. (1942). Kamʺyanetsʹ-Podilʹsʹkyy, 81. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Kolʹorovi metaly. (1942). Nove ukrayinsʹke slovo, 105. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Po Ukrayini. Zahotivlya vidkhodiv. (1942). Nashe slovo, 51. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Rozdribneni kistky – na korm ptakham. (1943). Pavlohradsʹka hazeta. Oblasni visti, 20. S. 3. [In Ukrainian].

Dlya vyhody hospodyni! Kistky na yushku y spozhyvchi poroshky. (1942). Lʹvivsʹki visti, 282. S. 3. [In Ukrainian].

Kistka – vazhlyva syrovyna. (1943). Dunayevetsʹki visti, 94. S. 4. [In Ukrainian].

Za viynu y staryy papir shcho velyke hospodarsʹke znachennya. (1942). Holos Volyni, 1114. S.3. [In Ukrainian].