PLANT BREEDING AND AGRARIAN RESEARCH IN KAISER-WILHELM-INSTITUTES

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1 PLANT BREEDING AND AGRARIAN RESEARCH IN KAISER-WILHELM-INSTITUTES

2 BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Editors ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University JÜRGEN RENN, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science KOSTAS GAVROGLU, University of Athens Editorial Advisory Board THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University ADOLF GRÜNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKY, (Editor ) VOLUME 260

3 PLANT BREEDING AND AGRARIAN RESEARCH IN KAISER- WILHELM-INSTITUTES CALORIES, CAOUTCHOUC, CAREERS SUSANNE HEIM 123

4 Susanne Heim c Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2003 Originally published Kalorien, Kautschuk, Karrieren. Pflanzenzüchtung und landwirtschaftliche Forschung in Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituten , Wallstein (Göttingen), 2003, translator: Sorcha O Hagan ISBN: e-isbn: Library of Congress Control Number: c 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper springer.com

5 Contents Introduction: Politics and Agricultural Research... 1 Sources and Literature Calories Agricultural Research, the Food Economy and War Herbert Backe and Science Policy Research on Plant and Animal Breeding Foreign Currencies, Genetics and the Fodder Gap Autochthonous Animal Species and Artificial Insemination The Four-Year Plan, Greater Europe, and Substitute Substances HydrobiologyandLimnologyfortheFour-YearPlan Institute Projects in South-Eastern Europe Research on Native Textile Plants Productivization of People The Science of Agricultural Work Work Physiology and Nutritional Science Résumé: War as Opportunity Caoutchouc A Vital War Reserve TheDevelopmentofaResearchProgramme Dependence on Natural Rubber The Kok-Sagyz Network Slave Labour for Science Kok-Sagyz Cultivation in German-Occupied Europe Plant Breeding Research in Auschwitz Résumé: Scientific Productivity and Terror Careers Hans Stubbe and Klaus von Rosenstiel Two Breeding Researchers ThePureAirofScientificResearch The Seamy Side of Academic Life The Advance of Science WildPlantsasaGeneticResource Research Organisation in the Occupied East v

6 vi Contents Post-WarCareers Résumé: Creators, Experts, Servants Conclusions Science, Nazi Rule and War Bibliography Illustrations Index Sources...219

7 Acknowledgements This study was completed as part of the research programme History of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in the National Socialist Era, which was initially developed under the leadership of Doris Kaufmann and then continued by Carola Sachse. My colleagues in the research programme have helped in the creation of this book over a number of years, with discussions, criticism and much useful information. I am particularly indebted to them. During my literature research, the staff of the library of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science assisted me with admirable competence and enthusiasm. I owe thanks to them and to Axel Hüntelmann and Anke Pötzscher, without whose help on a variety of details the book could not have been produced in its current form. Christine Rüter edited the manuscript in an extremely professional, careful and meticulous manner and improved it in all manner of ways. Thank you! I am grateful to Simone Floersheim, Maria Ossowski, Eva Tichauer and Brigitte Ullrich, who agreed to be interviewed and who patiently answered all my subsequent questions. I would also like to thank Brigitte Ullrich for providing a great deal of expert information on the breeding of rubber plants. The Presidential Commission of the Max Planck Society supported my work most generously. I owe heartfelt thanks to the Commission in general and in particular to its Chairman, Reinhard Rürup, who contributed valuable ideas during the final editing phase. A number of personal friends read the manuscript of this study at various phases of its development, in full and in part, and helped with criticisms, suggestions and encouragement. They know, as do I, how much I owe them. vii

8 Abbreviations AdBBAW Archive of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences Amt W Amt Wirtschaft (part of the WVHA (see below)) AOK Armeeoberkommando (Army Headquarters) Aufbaustab K Aufbaustab Kaukasus (a spy organisation) BA Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive) BDC Berlin Document Center BdK Bevollmächtigter für das Kraftfahrwesen (Plenipotentiary General for Automotive Affairs) BStU Bundesbeauftragter für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen DDR (Federal Commissioner for the Records of the National Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic) Chefgruppe La Chefgruppe Landwirtschaft (the Agriculture Group of Göring s Economic Staff East, under Herbert Backe) Chefgruppe W Chefgruppe Wirtschaft (the Economics Group of Göring s Economic Staff East) DAF Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labour Front) DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) ERR Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (the special task force set up to seize cultural assets in the occupied territories) GBChem Generalbevollmächtigter für Fragen der chemischen Erzeugung (the Plenipotentiary General for Special Issues of Chemicals Production) HJ Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) HSSPF Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer (Higher SS and Police Führer) IMG/IMT Internationaler Militärgerichtshof (International Military Tribunal) KfG Kopiensammlung für Grieger (archival note) KVR Kriegsverwaltungsrat (a civilian SS officer) KWS Kaiser Wilhelm Society KWI Kaiser Wilhelm Institute MPS Max Planck Society MPI Max Planck Institute MWT Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftstag (Central European Economic Conference) ix

9 x NA NL NSD NSV OKH OKW LG PA PA AA RA REM RFR RFSS RK RKF RMEL RMfbO RMIn RWM SBZ SD SS-Ogruf. StA TG uk USHMM VoMi V-Waffe WiIn WiStab WVHA ZfO ZK ZStL Abbreviations National Archives Nachlaß (unpublished works/literary estate) Nationalsozialistischer Dozentenbund (National Socialist Lecturers Association) Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (NS People s Welfare Organization) Oberkommando des Heeres (High Command of the Army) Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces) Landgericht (district court) Personalakte (Human resources file) Politisches Archiv, Auswärtiges Amt (Political archive of the German Foreign Office) Reichsamt (Reich Office) Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erzieung und Volksbildung (Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Popular Culture) Reichsforschungsrat (Reich Research Council) Reichsführer SS (i.e. Himmler) Reichskommisariat (Reich Commissariat) Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums (Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of German Nationhood) Reichsministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture) Reichsministerim für die besetzten Ostgebiete (Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories) Reichsministerium des Innern (Reich Ministry of the Interior) Reichsministerium für Wirtschaft (Reich Ministry of Economic Affairs) Sowietische Besatzungszone (the Soviet-occupied zone which later formed the GDR) Sicherheitsdienst SS-Obergruppenführer Staatsanwaltschaft (public prosecutor s office) Technische Gutsberatung (Technical Land Management) unabkömmlich (indispensable, i.e. released from military service) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (Office for the Repatriation of Ethnic Germans) Vergeltungswaffe ( vengeance weapon ) Wirtschaftsinspektion (Economic Inspectorate) Wirtschaftsstab (Economic Staff) Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt (SS Economic and Administrative Main Office) Zentrale für Ostforschung (Centre for Research on the East) Zentralkommittee (Central Committee) Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklärung von NS-Verbrechen in Ludwigsburg