Towards the end of World War II a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp was established, where 800 prisoners worked as forced labor in a Braunkohle-Benzin AG ("Brabag") plant.
Upon the ramp-up of the Nazi program of industrial autarchy that marked the approach of war, Berlin saw that one of its weakest points was the almost complete absence of crude oil production within German borders; this insight coincided with the emergence in both Hitler's Chancellery and the General Staff of a belief in a blitzkrieg war-fighting strategy that centered on Panzer warfare, buttressed by warplanes carrying out tactical air support.
Brabag |