What Was Organization Todt?

Fritz Todt was Hitler’s construction engineer. He met Hitler when both joined the Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s Party as early as 1922, making him one of the “Old Guard.” Hitler appointed Todt in 1933 as Inspector General for German Roadways. One of his first projects resulted in the Autobahns. As a senior Nazi, he founded Organization Todt, or OT, in 1938, which directed first the Westwall (Siegfried Line) facing France. That success led to Hitler making Todt the Reich Minister of Armaments and Production in 1940. Fritz Todt died in a plane crash in 1942, returning to Germany from the Eastern Front.

The OT officially didn’t gain its name until 1938, first being the Ministry of Roadways. The OT allocated work to different construction or engineering companies. Until the war started, the OT used conscripted labor or “forced labor,” but only from Germany. The unequaled German success after 1939 expanded the OT into conquered territories. Todt created administrative offices and private companies within OT to provide the expertise needed for different projects and a Labor Service. This last office located the required manpower for assigned projects. The OT’s successful building of the Siegfried Line in 1940 landed Todt’s appointment as a Reich Minister, becoming part of Hitler’s inner circle.

The OT’s upper ranks consisted of qualified engineers and construction managers. If other staff became needed with specialist skills, they were brought in. Members got a uniform, depending on rank. In countries like France, OT hired local companies with an OT officer running the project. The hierarchy organized itself along German army lines, from colonel down to private. OT managers were well educated; half had a university education or came highly experienced in their trades or professions. Albert Speer, Fritz Todt’s successor, recruited more after 1942.

From its start, OT staff also were Nazi Party members, joining or being original members in the 1920s. Like most hardcore Nazis, they possessed the same viciousness and ruthless efficiency. Completion of the goal became paramount, not the human cost. 

Organization Todt Projects

OT continued to build roads but took on more after 1940. As Reich Minister and with vast conquered territories, the OT staff followed the armies. The Nazis sought all manner of goods and raw materials, especially oil, a markedly scarce commodity needed for their war machine. OT built infrastructure or operated any concern that benefitted the Reich economically. A surviving example is the Autobahn. OT also ran bauxite and copper mines in southern Europe, built railroads in Norway and the Normandy Beach defenses. The OT created shale extraction factories to produce much-needed oil. 

In 1943, the new Reich Armaments Minister, Albert Speer, ordered the creation of Mittelverk, an underground V1 and V2 rocket factory built due to Allied bombing. Vast tunnels were dug by slave labor, who next built the rockets under brutal conditions. It is estimated one in three slave laborers perished at Mittelwerk, perhaps upwards of 20,000.

After 1942, no OT project was finished without using slave labor. With war demands increasing and services needed, only slave laborers could be used as a workforce. By 1945, the OT’s workforce numbered close to two million. These unfortunates who came from death camps were political prisoners, prisoners of war, or “guest” workers—thousands more left occupied countries to work in German factories.

These projects could only be completed with slave labor, which OT supplied directly from the death camps. Work completed by OT on the Eastern Front differed from that of the West. Workers in France were sometimes paid for their work, while those in the East only carried out slave labor. They all worked in different industries, such as U-boat manufacturing.

All forced laborers lived and toiled in despicable conditions, with few lasting for any extended period. Working around the clock helped to kill thousands while subject to extreme mistreatment, malnutrition, and abuse. On-the-spot executions occurred when sabotage or signs of resistance formed were not tolerated. As the war worsened, the workers strained to increase output or construction efforts. Industrial output increased through 1944 until early 1945, when Allied bombing caused its collapse. Organisation Todt was a part of the Nazi hierarchy. Sadly, it combined German efficiency with Nazi cruelty. Despite all the death camps, slave labor, and misery, few OT members were tried for war crimes.