Organisation Todt

Organisation Todt (OT) was a Nazi construction and engineering group during the years of the Third Reich, which enslaved over 1.5 million men and boys from countries occupied by Nazi Germany. Organized by Fritz Todt, the Reichsminister für Rüstung- und Kriegsproduktion, it was attached to the military and was active during WWII.

Related Topics:
Nazi - Third Reich - Occupied - Fritz Todt - Military - WWII

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The main role of the group was to build communications links and defensive structures. Almost all large scale WWII German military structures were built by the group, including armaments factories and concentration camps. The group was responsible for the Atlantic Wall, the submarine pens, and German defences in Italy such as the Gustav Line.

Related Topics:
Factories - Concentration camp - Atlantic Wall - Submarine - Italy - Gustav Line

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The group was made up of a small number of technical advisors and engineers and an enormous number of foreign workers (1.5 million by 1944), many of whom were forced to live in horrific conditions. The Todt Organization's compulsory labour program for foreign workers was run by Fritz Sauckel. In addition to their use in military supervised construction, custody of slave laborers kidnapped from Nazi-occupied lands was often transferred to private German and collaborating French employers who had had received military production contracts.

Related Topics:
1944 - Fritz Sauckel

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In 1942, following the death of Todt in an air crash, the group was removed from military control and became part of the central government under the Central Planning Board and Albert Speer.

Related Topics:
1942 - Albert Speer

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