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INFORMATIVE ILLUSTRATED 1939 NAZI PUBLICATION ABOUT RECYCLING AS PART OF THE GERMAN FOUR YEAR ECONOMIC PLAN

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This is a very interesting heavily illustrated 1939 publication urging citizens of Berlin and all of Nazi Germany to recycle, and explaining that it should be considered a national economic necessity and thought of as a duty to help the Fatherland.

Jeder muß helfen! Dein Pflichten im Vierjahresplan translates as “Everybody has to help! Your Duties in the Four Year Plan” and is subtitled “an instructive conversation”. It was written by Dr. H.Kühn of the office of the Reichskommissar für Altmaterialverwertung, the Nazi recyclable waste office headed by Wilhelm Ziegler.

There are quotes by Hermann Goering who was in charge of the Nazi economic Four Year Plan and the text urges housewives to “think before discarding” items such as kitchen scraps, paper, clothing, rags, tin cans, razor blades, bottles, baskets, scrap metal, even bones!

The illustration above shows all the products using recycled bones.

There is also emphasis on keeping Germany clean but most importantly, to make the country independent so it does not have to import raw materials from foreign countries.

This 5-1/2 x 8-1/8 inch, 32 page book Jeder muß helfen! Dein Pflichten im Vierjahresplan has illustrations by Hellmut Maenner and was published in the fall of 1939. The back cover has important Luftschutz-Regeln or Air Raid Regulations. They include decluttering ones attic to prevent fire in case of an air raid!

This rare 85 year old Nazi publication about the importance of recycling is in very nice, little used condition. It was kept flat and away from light after the end of the Third Reich. Original staples, no odor.