Production
The Allach porcelain manufactory produced a total of over 240 ceramic and porcelain models. In addition, there are some special designs, without model numbers, which mostly served as gifts and prizes. A list of all models produced, as well as the manufacturing numbers of all pieces are not known, since from 1939 there are no official production lists of the overall models.
Also, the Allach porcelain manufactory was not used to raise funds under the SS economic enterprises, but was intended to support the upbringing of the National Socialist people.
The great majority of the known pieces are made of white, glazed porcelain, which most closely corresponded to the preferred neoclassical ideal of purity and beauty. With a few exceptions, the mostly rarer colored pieces sometimes achieve significantly higher prices.
For the Allach porcelain manufactory, the best artists, designers, potters and all other important craftsmen who were required to produce high-quality porcelain were hired from all over Germany.
A serious problem for industry and the economy in general was the lack of workers, which had taken on threatening forms during the war.
The SS had deemed the exploitation of the large reservoir of concentration camp prisoners the most appropriate way out of this awkward situation (“annihilation through work”).
On the contrary, prisoners were employed in the Allach porcelain manufactory, but in no way destroyed as a result – as with other commands – but whoever managed to find accommodation in one of the two porcelain commands (Allach and Dachau) had considerably increased their chances to survive the concentration camp imprisonment. This was a consolation, albeit weak, for the prisoners deployed and no deaths have been reported among forced laborers at the Allach porcelain factory.
The business years 1940 and 1941 were characterized by growing war-related difficulties for the porcelain manufacturer. These related to the procurement of the material, the transport options and in particular the shortage of labor, as more and more civilian workers were ordered to the front due to the German war offensives. Himmler initially rejected the use of prisoners in the factory. The first deployment of prisoners took place as early as 1940. Plant manager Rudolf Dippe noted the number of 10 prisoners for 1940, one skilled worker and nine auxiliary workers, who rose to over 90 prisoners by 1943.
Prisoner report:
Hans Landauer, who was brought to Dachau on June 6, 1941 after being imprisoned as an Austrian fighter in Spain in the French camp at Gurs, had been on the train track construction command for a short time. On June 22, 1941, he was transferred to the porcelain factory, where he was initially used for the arduous coal transportation.
Due to his drawing skills, Landauer was handed over to the skilled workers after a conversation with the master of the figure department, a Mr. Hein.
He says: “My first work as a porcelain maker was retouching candlesticks and chandelier arms. Later I had to retouch bears that were cast in one piece. In the subsequent work there were sections that had to be “attached” to the dog’s body … and retouched. After a year, I made a whole series of traditional figures, such as Bückeburger, Frisian, Bavarian, Gutacher and Hessian, which were later followed by the morisks.”
If the parts were neglected, the figure could get slight cracks in the fires. Landauer was later used to shape the equestrian figures. He was aware of his prominent position in the camp. Good contacts were also sometimes made with the civilian workforce, from which the prisoners benefited with (forbidden) food supplies.
Nevertheless – so as not to play down the situation from back then. The central location in the SS area gave cause for greatest concern.
Even if the conditions for the prisoners at the manufactory appear comparatively “more human”, under no circumstances should and should not be forgotten the inhumane and often fatal work commands during other work assignments, as well as the death factories with the industrial annihilation, with several million people losing their lives had to.