| SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt SS-WVHA | |
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 Heinrich Himmler at anSS construction site, 1940. | |
| SS-WVHA overview | |
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| Formed | February 1, 1942[1] |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Dissolved | May 8, 1945 |
| Jurisdiction |  German ReichGerman-occupied Europe |
| Headquarters | Unter den Eichen 125-135,Lichterfelde,Berlin 52°27′5.12″N13°18′35.24″E / 52.4514222°N 13.3097889°E /52.4514222; 13.3097889 |
| Minister responsible |
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| SS-WVHA executive |
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| Parent SS-WVHA |  Allgemeine-SS |
TheSS Main Economic and Administrative Office (German:SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt;SS-WVHA) was aNazi organization responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects of theAllgemeine-SS (a main branch of theSchutzstaffel; SS). It also ran theconcentration camps and was instrumental in the implementation of theFinal Solution through such subsidiary offices as theConcentration Camps Inspectorate andSS camp guards.
In June 1939 SS-ObergruppenführerOswald Pohl became chief of both theVerwaltung und Wirtschaft Hauptamt (VuWHA) and theHauptamt Haushalt und Bauten ("main bureau [for] budget and construction", part of theReich's Ministry of the Interior).[2] He oversaw all SS "construction projects and building enterprises" through these offices.[3] Pohl also worked withWalther Funk, Reich Minister of Economics (German:Reichswirtschaftsminister), to oversee financial aspects of theFinal Solution, the most deadly phase of theHolocaust.[4] Valuables such as gold watches, rings, eventooth fillings, glasses, and currency were taken from the inmates on arrival at thedeath camps. These items were then sent back toBerlin in WVHA-marked crates for processing at theReichsbank, under its directorEmil Puhl.[5][a]
Pohl's administrative staff at the WVHA even created evaluative tables that calculated the value of concentration camp inmates as farmed-out wage earners (minus the depreciation of food and clothing), their profit intake from valuables remaining after their deaths (minus crematoria expenses), and any costs recovered from selling their bones and ashes; in total, the average concentration camp inmate had a life-expectancy of nine-months or less and was valued at 1,630 marks.[8]
TheDeutsche Wirtschaftsbetrieb (German Industrial Concern; GmbH) fell under the jurisdiction of the WVHA;[9] it was designed to unify the massive business interests of Himmler's SS, taking in profits from the slave labour of concentration camp prisoners.[10] Merging operations, the inspectorate of concentration camps was also incorporated into the WVHA on 13 March 1942.[11] In 1942, the WVHA's main remit was to expand the SS's contribution to the war effort by using forced labor in armaments manufacture and construction projects.[12] Slave labour at the camps was part of the effort to maximize economic utility.[3] Expressing his sentiments regarding the use of prisoners for labour in a memo, Pohl wrote, "SS industries [Unternehmen] have the task...to organize a more businesslike (more productive) execution of punishment and adjust it to the overall development of the Reich."[13]SS guards at the camps used murderous brutality to achieve higher quotas from forced labor in itspunitive units.[14] When it came to exploiting the working potential of the Jews, this eventually amounted to "annihilation through labour," according to historian David Cesarani.[15] As a commodity of the WVHA, inmates were deliberately worked to death, even when it conflicted with production.[16] This practice was a compromise between Nazi ideological imperatives and the practical needs of a militant Nazi state.[17]
Concentration camps were constructed atAuschwitz,Lublin (Majdanek), andStutthof to facilitate a "vertically integrated construction and building supply enterprise" under the administrative oversight of the WVHA.[18] Expansion of the concentration camps and the satellite network was so rapid over such a vast area—with camps hastily opening and closing—that even the WVHA had a difficult time keeping count of them.[19] The catalyst for the expansion of SS construction initiatives stemmed fromHitler's megalomania, namely, his plans to erect massive German cities and monuments (masterminded by the young architectAlbert Speer) as the Reich subsumed more and more territory. Himmler was likewise inspired by these plans, which were designed to expand SS production and "boost the status of the SS".[20] To accomplish the job of carrying out the Führer's vision, Pohl expanded the WVHA, creating the East German Building Supply Works (Ost-Deutsche Baustoffwerke GmbH; ODBS) along with the German Noble Furniture Corporation (Deutsche Edelmöbel GmbH) with the aide of Dr.Emil Meyer, an officer in theAllgemeine-SS and prominent figure within theDresdner Bank.[21]
Slave labor for private companies, includedHeinkel andBMW, firms that produced aircraft and aircraft engines;[22] the chemical giant,IG Farben, which manufactured rubber, synthetic fuels, synthetic explosives, pharmaceuticals, and one of its subsidiaries even producedZyklon B;[23]Junkers aircraft;[24]Krupp steel;[22] one of Germany's foremost aircraft manufacturers,Messerschmitt;[25] the metal and tubing firmSalzgitter AG,[26] which was part ofReichswerke Hermann Göring; the electrical engineering company,Siemens-Schuckertwerke;[27]Apollinaris mineral water;[28]Allach porcelain;[29] andDEST (building material and armament),[30] among others. To facilitate this integration, the number of slave laborers the WVHA had available increased steadily from 21,400 in 1939, to upwards of 524,286 by August 1944.[31]
Another enterprise that fell under the purview of the WVHA—and one Albert Speer was keen on as well—was the construction works at Dora-Mittelbau, the underground complex where theV2 rockets were assembled.[32] This enormous subterranean facility nearNordhausen in theHarz Mountains was completed in a mere two months using camp labor supplied by Pohl's WVHA.[33] Work on the prestigious wonder-weapon V1 and V2 projects remained bitterly contested between the SS and Speer's ministry.[34]
During the summer of 1944, control of the concentration camps was removed from Pohl's WVHA and executive power was instead given over to local HSSPF offices, which, according to Pohl, occurred for operational reasons.[35] Speer's armaments ministry took over arms production without the intermediation of the WVHA in the application process for industrial firms seeking business with the Reich.[36] Estimates provided by Pohl indicate that during the second half of 1944, there were upwards of 250,000 slaves working for private firms, another 170,000 working in underground factories and an additional 15,000 clearing rubble from the Allied bombing raids.[37]
In 1947, a detailed description showing the scale of the operation was given at theWVHA trials atNuremberg. Evidence outlined how property and cash worth hundreds of millions ofReichsmarks was taken from the victims ofAktion Reinhard. It was collected from the detailed notes that had passed betweenSS and Police LeaderOdilo Globocnik andReichsführer-SSHeinrich Himmler during the operation to kill most of the Jews in theGeneral Government.[5]
Organizationally, the WVHA was made up of five main departments (German:Ämter or Amtsgruppe):[38]
The WVHA was also put in charge of numerous commercial ventures that theSS had been increasingly engaged in since the mid-1930s.[40]
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From the onset, many of the SS economic enterprises operated by the SS-WVHA were directly linked to the concentration camp system.[41] Some of the commercial ventures and assets owned or operated by them included:[42]
Since the WVHA fell under the administrative jurisdiction of the SS, it was deemed part and parcel to the legal indictments levied against the greater organization. This included the formal declaration of theNuremberg Tribunal, which stated: "The SS was utilised for the purposes which were criminal under the Charter involving the persecution and extermination of the Jews, brutalities and killings in concentration camps, excesses in the administration of occupied territories, the administration of the slave labour programme and the mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war."[43] To that end, the SS and its subordinated entities were officially recognized as a criminal organization in 1946.[44]
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