‘Organisation Todt’

When Adolf Hitler and the “Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei” (NSDAP – Nazi Party) came to power in 1933, they endorsed a cross country highway plan which had been originally conceived during the Weimar period in 1926. This massive project, involving thousands of workers and millions of marks in costs, was given to Fritz Todt, a 42-year-old German engineer and early NSDAP member who Hitler named as the Inspector General of the German roadways.

Hitler had earlier degreed that all unemployed young men and women in the Reich were to serve a mandatory 6-month service in the “Reichsarbeitsdienst” (RAD — National Labor Service). Todt worked in conjunction with the RAD leadership to meet much of his labor requirements, along with contracting commercial German construction companies. Though paying comparatively little to the workers, the “Autobahn” public project gave much needed employment to those men still reeling from the economic disaster of the early 1930s. Five years after beginning, Todt had engineered and administered the building of more than 3,000 km of highway across Germany. For his accomplishment he was given the honor of naming his vast engineering and construction group the “Organisation Todt” (OT).

In 1938, the new OT administration was officially formed and left to operate as a separate governmental division by Hitler’s order. Peacetime projects continued to be constructed across Germany including improved roadways, dams and public buildings, using the RAD and contractors as main labor sources. Following the dark ideals of the Nazi Regime, OT members took part in the engineering and construction of the many concentration camps which sprung up in Germany, and would be added to later in the conquered territories after the war had progressed. In addition to public projects, the OT oversaw the continued construction of the “Siegfried Line” (West Wall): a line of fortifications and obstacles started in 1936 that paralleled France’s Maginot line along the French and German border. As Hitler’s war approached ever closer, construction on the West Wall increased with large concrete bunkers and rows of anti-tank traps built by the conscripted and hired laborers.

By 1940, Fritz Todt was named as the Minister of Armaments in the Third Reich, a position that he would hold until 1942, when he was killed in a plane crash over occupied Poland. There was some speculation at the time that his death was not accidental, but was instead an assassination. This idea came about since he had attempted to convince a reluctant Hitler to stop the war after having toured the Russian Front, and realizing that the German work force could not produce enough war materials to sustain the conflict. Following Todt’s death, 37-year-old Albert Speer, a fellow engineer and personal favorite of Hitler, was appointed the Minister of Armaments and direct head of the OT. In his new capacity, Speer worked closely with the military as Hitler’s illusions of conquest drove the national workforce to produce greater quantities of war materials and structures.

With wartime construction and re-construction increasing, and the labor force decreasing in order to meet military needs, the OT, under Speer’s direction, began to use prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates in their daily operations. These individuals were forced to provide the labor needed for projects such as underground factories, V-2 rocket launching installations, wartime fortifications and urban bomb shelters. More than 1,300,000 workers (in 1944) labored for the OT across Germany and it’s conquered territories, and thousands of slave laborers died in horrid work environments, plagued by a lack of food, medical treatment and constant overwork.

While in official attire, members of the OT wore basic earth brown wool 4-pocket tunics with silver pebbled buttons and either open collars with shirts and ties, or closed button-down collars. These were worn with matching brown pants, black belts with claw or rectangular buckles, and black boots. Structured as a paramilitary group, members had combinations of red “OT”, white wavy lines, pips and oakleaves on their collar tabs to denote rank, along with striped and pipped shoulder boards.

The OT contained 18 ranks, with the lowest being an “Arbeiter”, ascending to that of the “Amtschef Organisation Todt”. Authorized military or NSDAP awards were pinned to the tunic fronts on their respective places, while OT cuff titles or armbands were sewn to the sleeves. The OT wore an NSDAP standard design cloth armband of red field, white circle and canted black swastika which was topped with a gray “Org. Todt” band. Officers wore the same style of uniforms as the enlisted men, but made of finer quality materials. Headgear consisted of brown overseas caps with eagle and swastikas (piped for officers), M43 cloth billed caps, or visored peaked models with leather bills. When in construction zones, many OT men donned working clothes of heavy cotton or wool, and standard German steel helmets if in more dangerous areas. Those assigned to office administration duties could wear a double-breasted brown jacket and black dress pants, a pair of low-cut black shoes, and shirt and tie for the more formal surroundings. During winter months, a long brown double- or single-breasted wool coat with OT armband could be worn to ward off the cold.

The OT also contained a number of “OT Helferinnen” (OT female auxiliaries) women, who served in a variety of capacities, most often as administrative or signals personnel. While many OT women continued to wear their civilian clothes with the addition of an OT armband when in service, those required to wear uniforms wore a dark blue tunic with matching skirt and overseas cap. The jacket had an eagle and swastika and the letters “OT” sewn to the left sleeve, and was worn over either a white or other civilian style blouse. If the women were part of the signal’s corps, then a cloth flash (lightning bolt with downturned arrow) was sewn below the sleeve eagle. A round pinback enamel broach containing the letters “OT” and a flash was worn at the neck closure. The overseas cap featured an eagle and swastika sewn to the front, with white piping along the crown.

By the spring of 1945, the Nazi regime came to its bloody end, and like most other entities of the Third Reich, so did the Organization Todt. Though Speer was tried as a war criminal for his use of slave labor, and served 20 years in prison, other members of the OT were not accused of crimes against humanity, and faced no punishment. They would go on to work in a peaceful Germany, or emigrate to other countries to help rebuild the devastation caused by Hitler and his Axis partners during WWII.