The Allach porcelain concern is fast becoming a well known facet of the hobby and more and more recognizable in the market place, it is however only one of many projects that fell under the SS and their economic concerns. Both in Germany and conquered territories, the SS would spin a web that would encompass many commercial enterprises and projects geared to the National Socialist mentality and the the SS way of life. The Dachau Herb Gardens or from here on "The Plantation" was one of these projects and makes for an interesting read and offers insight into the extent of the ideology of Himmler and his SS and offers a view of another project that is much lesser known, but certainly worth looking at.

In an article published in 1990 in "Dachau Review History of Nazi Concentration Camps: Studies, Reports, Documents Vol.2" and Authored by Robert Sigel  titled" The Cultivation of Medicinal Herbs in the Concentration Camp The Plantation at Dachau" The Author uses sources of period documentation, correspondence, and witness testimony to sort through the SS entity known as the Plantation.


In February 1942 Himmler decided that, due to the possibility of diplomatic disputes, the planned expedition into the jungles of South America would only be feasible after the end of the war. Sponsored by the  SS foundation "Ancestral Heritage", the aim of this expedition would be to find and collect various miracle plants, the medicinal effects of which had been graphically reported to Himmler by army captain Emmerich Von Moers. In his report Moers described plants capable of completely curing malaria, various herbal remedies for syphilis, plants with infallible healing powers for a variety severe skin diseases as well as a number of plants acting as powerful aphrodisiacs and many more. The validity of these glowing descriptions was noit questioned by Himmler, even though his acquaintance with Moers somewhat eccentric biography provided good cause for skepticism.

Himmler's predilection for so called natural life styles and healing methods of every possible type, while including such obscure schemes as the South American expedition, represented more than merely a personal quirk. Indeed, the use of natural remedies was seen as one of the fundamental elements of a National Socialist medical practice.

The new German medicine, as it was called, was envisaged as a departure from previous scientific orientations in favor of a preventive approach based on the individuals ability to work, an approach which emphasized hygiene and health management and the maintenance of good health as a duty.This rejection of medical practices based on natural sciences, moreover had the advantage of appealing to the preferences and prejudices found among the millions of supporters of a wide range of natural healing methods. As early as 1934 the " Association for Herbal Medicine at the Rudolf Krehl Clinic" was established at Heidelberg University and initiated a range of cultivation projects. Among the association's founding members was R. Lucab, a qualified horticulturalist and later director of medicinal plant and spice cultivation in the central office  of the SS. One year later the leadership of the Reich Doctors Organization founded the "Reich Association for the Herbal Medicine and the Provision of Medicinal Plants".

In 1936 the Heidelberg association constructed a medical herb garden in the leadership school of the German Medical Association in Alt Rehse, and in 1937,  Lucab began the cultivation of plantations for teaching purposes in Schleibheim. One year later the Schleibheim project was merged into the herb garden at the Dachau concentration camp.

Apart from its medical significance in the context of new medicine, the cultivation of medicinal herbs also had a role to play in the National Socialist program of preparation for war and economic self-sufficiency. This point was already made clear in 1935 by Georg Gustav Wegener, director of the Central Office for National Health in the NSDAP national administration in a lecture given at the Institute of German Physicians in Berlin. "The wide use of herbal medicines in war requires an organization which is capable at any given moment of compensating for the loss of foreign drugs and satisfying increased demand. The mobilization of schools in the collection of wild growing medicinal herbs was and remains a stopgap measure. When seen in the framework of military politics, the importance of the acclimatisation of indispensible foreign species of medicinal herbs increases considerably".

The reduction of expenditure on imported drugs by an estimated eighty percent already in peacetime, moreover, would achieve the necessary reductions, thereby releasing monies from more important area's.

All these different motives, Himmler's predilection, his belief in the healing powers of nature, the development  of National Socialist medicine, and economic considerations played a role in the plan t begin the systematic cultivation of medicinal herbs on a large scale and to establish an institute devoted solely to the scientific development of this project.

The extensive cultivation of medicinal herbs, however, particularly in the given climate conditions, was highly labor intensive: such a project under the the prevailing wage conditions was hardly feasible. For the initiators of the project to use concentration camp prisoners was therefore an obvious one. Using a labor force that could be exploited could guarantee the viability of the whole undertaking.

The SS, the authority controlling the concentration camps, had begun both to take control of and to establish its own commercial enterprises in the mid thirties. The number of such enterprises eventually reached some several dozens and included food production, timber processing, building, porcelain manufacture etc. In 1938 All enterprises in the concentration camps, including commercial projects, were placed under the direction of the SS Main Administrative Office (WVHA) later emerged. Its director was Oswald Pohl, future Obergruppenfuhrer (General) who, like Himmler, was a disciple of so-called natural life styles and healing methods.

On January 23, 1939 Pohl founded the "German Research Institute for Nutrition and Food Provision Ltd." The shareholders were the SS concern "German Earth and Stone Works Ltd." and a member of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Although his name is not found in available sources, it can be assumed that the individual concerned was the SS-Standartenfuhrer (Colonel) Dr. Salpeter whose name was recorded as that of a trusted shareholder at the end of 1939. The major aim of the undertaking was the cultivation and study of medicinal plants and spices. Its management was the responsibility of Hauptsturmfuhrer (Captain) Heinrich Vogel in the Office of Economic Administration of the WVHA. According to the partnership agreement the research institute had the following tasks:

a) Systematic research and cultivation of those medicinal herbs native to Germany in the interest of the national economy
b) Supplying German and foreign markets with German drugs.
c) Production of new drugs and new syntheses based on scientific research.
d) Maintenance of laboratories.
e) Acquisition of plots
f) The organization of all commercial and agricultural transactions arising in connection with the enterprise e.g. poultry and animal farms etc.

The plantation at the Dachau concentration camp was the centerpiece of the whole venture which came to include a wide range of assorted projects. While at the end of 1939 there were in total only three in operation (Dachau, Ravensbruck, Bretsteintal in der Steiermark.) by the end of 1944 the "German Research Institute for Nutrition and Food Provisions Ltd" comprised over twenty agricultural enterprises as well as fish hatcheries and the administration and oversight of properties in the occupied territories of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Soviet Union.

The plantation at Dachau and the smaller one at Ravensbruck concentration camp were distinctive in the sense that they were cultivated almost exclusively by prisoners. The other projects, which were spread across Germany an Austria, employed a good deal more civilian workers and were cultivated only in part by prisoners. They were also less labor intensive, being based around experiments with biodynamic cultivation methods in which both Himmler and Pohl were believers as well as cattle and sheep breeding and experimenting with veterinary medicine etc.

When the "German Research Institute for Nutrition and Food Provision Ltd" was established early in 1939, there were already facilities at Dachau for it to take over. In 1935 work had begun on a site opposite the eastern gate of the camp. This area of land required extensive cultivation not only because of the very unfavorable climate. but because of the marshy soil at Dachau was highly unsuitable for the type of cultivation proposed. The labor first had to drain the area with kilometer long trenches, cut peat and fill in ponds and spread a layer of humus over the heavy marsh soil, all done without the use of machinery. In 1938/39 work began on a large scale with the draining of the extensive marshlands. Forced labor whose survival rate was secondary to the project in many cases perished under the severity of the labor and their handlers.

In June 1939 six months  after the founding of the Research Institute the first report for the relevant office stated "The first businesses which were initiated for this undertaking cannot be described as economically successful". At this time, investment in the Dachau plantation had reached one million reichsmarks and was in the red.

In order to ensure the economic viability of the Dachau Plantation, a new director SS-Untersturmfuhrer Emil Vogt was appointed by Oswald Pohl. Vogt had previously run a mill in Banja Luka in Yugoslavia and had been a member of the local NSDAP branch there.

Vogt took up his post there on Sept. 1 1939 and was given power of attorney for the enterprise. Despite continual extension of the cultivation area and construction of drying rooms, more greenhouses, and a range of other equipment, and despite continuous exploitation of forced labor the plantation as a whole was never an economic success. Some profit was made on spice cultivation, not least the pepper-mill where through a particular process involving several plants, a spice similar to pepper known as German pepper was produced. This development was favored by the shortage of foreign spices resulting from the war, and by Himmler's directive to the SS and police to use only German spices. The German army too acquired the bulk of its spices from the Dachau plantation.

In 1942 the capital of the Research Institute for Nutrition and Food Provision amounted to 1,555,000 reichsmarks all of which was in the hands of the SS. The initial capitol had been 35,000 marks with annual turnover of the company during 1942 amounting to 2,607,500 marks. In terms of return however, the German Research Institute remained one of the more problematic of the SS undertakings.

With the spice cultivation on one hand and the Research center on the other, the Dachau complex housed both the most profitable arm of the company as well as that sector of operations which from the outset was regarded as requiring ongoing subvention- although it was hoped that the so-called scientific character of the research would attract subsidies from public funds.

"The Plantation" the ironically appropriate title given to the research institute facilities within the Dachau camp, incorporated in fact a considerable number of other sectors. In total, eight different areas of responsibility were involved: administration, horticulture, herb cultivation, herb processing, the research center, botanical experimental gardens, agriculture workshops. The plantation design was that of Austrian Emmerich Zederbauer, a professor for the Vienna College of Soil Cultivation who had been sent to Dachau following the annexation of Austria. Working  in the research center were civilian doctors, pharmacists, and laboratory technicians along with interpreters selected from the prison population. In total some twelve languages were translated by these inmates whose tasks included the translation of medieval texts bought to Dachau by from the most part cloisters. In addition botanists, agronomists, etc. were also included on the center's staff. Forming part of the scientific center was also a comando of "Botanical Painters" made up of six prisoners whose task it was to illustrate the medicinal herbs in their natural state.

The area under cultivation incorporated four types of soil: marsh, sand, garden soil, and mixed soil. The herbs cultivated included thyme, basil, estragon, rosemary, balm, peppermint, caraway, majoram, sage, and many others. Five hectars were used to grow gladoli for the purpose of obtaining vitamin C. Potatoes, tomatoes, swedes, onions, leeks, cucumbers, etc. were also grown and honey was obtained from the plantations own hives. The agricultural section included a small number of cattle and horses, sheep breeding and compost production. The workshop area included metalwork, carpentry, glasswork, clock making, and basket weaving. Even the bookkeeping for the administration was done by a prisoner.

Early construction of the plantation was done by forced labor consisting of 800-1200 prisoners who worked daily on  80 hectars of cultivation area and this number was increased. Certain types of work were on the plantation were keenly sought after, such as work in the rabbit hutches, plantation huts, greenhouses, experimental areas , and clerical positions. The balance of the work would have been under harsh conditions in, for instance, the drying room, mills, and the herb plantation.

Unlike Allach porcelain where forced labor had been used, the manner of work for this project would be particulary grueling and eyewitness testimony cites low food rations, plague, severe cold, exhaustion, non-access to medical facilities, and a work quota that if unreached could no doubt lead to danger for the sick and the weak.

The plantation had a sales office from which normal citizens from outside the camp could buy seedlings and other products. The sales were conducted by a cleric under the supervision of the SS. Along with the laboratories this office became a coordination point where post could be moved in and out of the camp, where the prisoners doctor, Dr. Blaha obtained illegal medicines for camp prisoners, and where hosts and wine could be smuggled in for services held in secret.

Following liberation the attempt to continue the Dachau project as a trust under government discretion failed and on April, 22 1949, the press under the headline " The End of the SS Plantation" reported the abandonment of the enterprise and the discharge of the last laborers and office workers. The attempt to save it was a failure. Even with currency reform, the enterprise which following the war still employed 280 laborers and 65 office workers operated at a loss. Reductions in personnel and economic measures only slightly delayed the end. In the spring of 1949 unsold herbs worth some 100,000 deutschmarks still lay in stock.

The Dachau Herb Garden