Reichszeugmeisterei

The Reichszeugmeisterei (RZM), formerly located in Munich, was the first and finally the supreme Zeugmeisterei (quartermaster office) as well as the national material control office of Nazi Germany. It was the follow-on institution of the SA-Wirtschaftsstelle, the purchasing agency of the Sturmabteilung.

Tasks and organization

To avoid identification problems during the street fightings in the Weimar Republic, Adolf Hitler ordered the wear of brown shirts to members of the new established NSDAP and of the SA already in 1925. This uniforms were completed with brown caps and colored badges in 1927, that had to be purchased only at the SA-Wirtschaftsstelle. Due to an increasing number of members, Hitler instructed the SA command in 1928 to establish a Zeugmeisterei in Munich. This office was responsible for the central supply of members of the Nazi organizations with all kinds of uniforms, uniform parts and equipment. Further "Zeugmeistereien" were established in other German cities, and the quartermaster office in Munich was renamed to Reichszeugmeisterei associated to its leading role.

In 1930 the "Zeugmeistereien" were subordinated to Franz Xaver Schwarz in his position as "Reichsschatzmeister" (National Treasurer) of the NSDAP. When the "Heimtückegesetz" (Insidiousness Law) of 1934 secured its exclusive right to licence manufacturers and tradesmen, the Reichszeugmeisterei became the VIII Main Office (German: Hauptamt VIII) of the NSDAP Procurement Office (German: Beschaffungsamt der NSDAP), and was responsible for the coordination of all procurement uniforms and equipment projects. The RZM office defined standards of design, manufacturing and quality and published an authoritative color chart for textiles. To obtain an RZM license was dismissed with costs. Already in the middle of 1934, existed round about 15,000 licenced manufacturing factories and craft producers, 1,500 tradesmen, 75,000 master tailors and 15,000 so-called "brown shops" in the German Reich.

RZM label from a Hitler Youth armband

All pieces of equipment had to be labeled with a visible RZM's copyright protection symbol and the product-assigned RZM number, that contained encoded data about the textile sector, the material group, the producer number and the year of production on principle. All products were tested by World War I veterans and invalids in the beginning, and after the outbreak of World War II by prisoners of war. Some equipment parts were also stored and shipped from the RZM in Munich.

Office building

Building of the former RZM office in Munich

The RZM office was located at first in the Schwanthaler Straße and later in the building of the former SA-Wirtschaftsstelle in the Tegernseer Landstraße, before the genuine RZM office building was finished. It was built on the estate of the former Wagen- und Maschinenfabrik Gebr. Beißbarth OHG, that was acquired by the NSDAP from the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank in 1934. The local architects Paul Hofer and Karl Johann Fischer were commissioned by the NSDAP Reichsleitung with the constructional engineering of the RZM main building in the "new district" of Munich. The main construction management was held by Josef Heldmann. The huge construction was one of the first ones in Germany to be built using steel frame technology. The construction started in 1935, and the building was nearly finished in 1937. It was surrounded by accommodation blocks for the RZM workers.

After World War II, the American forces occupied the facilities, and the Reichsadler and the swastika were removed from the main building's façade, that became block No. 7 of the US-McGraw Kaserne. Since the pull-out of the American troups from Munich in the 1990s, the main building has been used by a satellite department of the Police Headquarters of Munich.

Literature

• Götz, Norbert, Weidlich, Peter Reichszeugmeisterei. In: München - "Hauptstadt der Bewegung" (German), exhibition catalogue, Munich city museum, October 22, 1993 - March 27, 1994. Munich 1993, p. 283-286.

External links

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