Economical exploitation of Yugoslavia 1941-1945-info needed

[G. Trifkovic]

Gentlemen,

When you read the books written in "the old days",you often find sentences like "Yugoslavia was important for Germany because of it's raw materials",or "Securing the economical exploitation was one of the primary reasons why Germans kept so many troops in Yugoslavia",etc,etc...My question is: how really important was Yugoslavia when it came to raw materials? What were the main materials Germany was interested in? Was the exploitation carried out by civil comapanies (some of which,IIRC,had a long tradition operating in the country) or by special branches of the occupying aparatus? Figures and statistics are more then welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Gaius

[G. Trifkovic]

Nobody?



Gaius

[Karri]

There aren't plenty books about this, that I know. Usually the only thing about economy mentioned is that that "X produced that and that many planes and tanks etc." I'd guess that a good point to start research would be to take a loot at the LoN charts to see what Yougoslavia was producing:
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/gov ... /stat.html

[G. Trifkovic]

That is one hell of a link,Mr.Karri-thanks!

Gaius

[Gothard]

in 1939 Germany imported 131.5 million RM worth of Goods from Yugoslavia and exported 181.3 million RM Making Yugoslavia its 3rd largest trading partner in the region. 2.7% of total imports and 3.5% of total exports from Germany. In contrast UK imported 1.78 million Pds and exported 1.03 million lbs 0.2% of imports and 0.2% of exports.
France Imported 170 million francs and exported 135 million francs. 0.4% of imports and 0.4% of exports.

For Yugoslavia 42% of exports went to Germany and 39.4% of Imports came from Germany
9.6% and 8.7% from UK and
1.5% and 2.9% france

Germany was obviously the key trading partner. Lets find out why.

Timber
Corn
Wheat
Pigs
Sheep
Cattle
Poultry
Wool
Lead ( electrical and metal solder and batteries among other things )
Zinc ( needed for copper, brass, Chemicals, paint, agriculture and chemical products )
Bauxite ( alumniun )
Copper

Yugoslavia was the Germans only source of Zinc, and a primary supplier of Copper, Lead and Bauxite as well as the textiles, feed, livestock and foodstuffs.

[G. Trifkovic]

Thanks Mr. Gothard,and here is a small adition I found in a thread by Mr.Thompson (http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... +transport):

Balkans
50% of European output in mineral oil.
100% of European output in chromium ore.
60% of European output in bauxite.
29% of European output in antimony.
21% of European output in copper.

Although these figures cover the whole Balkans,I believe that majority came from Yugoslavia.

Cheers,

[Gothard]

Thanks Mr. Gothard,and here is a small adition I found in a thread by Mr.Thompson (http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... +transport):

Balkans
50% of European output in mineral oil.
100% of European output in chromium ore.
60% of European output in bauxite.
29% of European output in antimony.
21% of European output in copper.

Although these figures cover the whole Balkans,I believe that majority came from Yugoslavia.

Cheers,

good item. The Oil came from romania. the Chrome from Turkey Most of the Bauxite from Hungary but the copper and partof the bauxite from yugoslavia. Antimony im not sure on atm but I think hungary.

[G. Trifkovic]

According to "Jovan Marjanovic, Ekonomska politika nemackih nacistickih okupatora u Jugoslaviji 1941-1945, JI^ 4, Beograd 1963", mines at Krupanj, Zajača, Bujanovac i Lisa in Serbia gave 40% of Antimony in Europe.

Cheers,

GAius

[Gothard]

Thank you. I shouldve checked that before posting... Question #2 is .. Whats antimony for ?

Before ya answer - Germany is the only source of Cadmium in Europe =)...

[G. Trifkovic]

It's for submarine batteries,I believe. Good question for one of the quizes on the AHF!

Cheers,

[Gothard]

Germany was code critical on mercury - they needed the antimony more for electrical and soft metal solder for alumniun airframes etc... It was mixed with lead for batteries, but germany had cadmium in large quantitie also that could be used in batteries.

[Bubbles]

This is an interesting link on the old Yugoslavias natural resources. Very detailed, though it concentrates on the 1980s.

http://www.photius.com/countries/yugosl ... r/economy/

[Gothard]

its a funny thing - until the allies started bombing germany these balkan states couldnt get capital investment for anything...
by the time the germans built the factories the war was over. makes me wonder what kind of an investment germany put into yugoslavia and how it compared with returns 1941-45.

[Krasnaya Zvezda]

its 3rd largest trading partner in the region. 2.7% of total imports and 3.5% of total exports from Germany.

This is very interesting. Not about Yugoslavia as a 3rd partner as it looks like only about 3% were devoted to it, but from the fact that the rest 97% of the trade was done with only two other countries! That is amazing. Especially for a size of a country like Germany. Does anyone have an info, who are the two countries that consumed about 97% of German import/export? Thanks.

[Gothard]

its 3rd largest trading partner in the region. 2.7% of total imports and 3.5% of total exports from Germany.

This is very interesting. Not about Yugoslavia as a 3rd partner as it looks like only about 3% were devoted to it, but from the fact that the rest 97% of the trade was done with only two other countries! That is amazing. Especially for a size of a country like Germany. Does anyone have an info, who are the two countries that consumed about 97% of German import/export? Thanks.

The 2.7 and 3.5 figures represent TOTAL worldwide german trade.
Germany was Importing most of its fatty products, almost all its steel and nickel and a host of other products from northern europe.
trade with Russia was strong and prior to sanctions most german grain came from the usa.
Chile, argentina and venezuala were major german trading partners as were France,spain,portugal and Italy