NAZI PLUNDERING

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21371, 15 March 1941, Page 4

NAZI PLUNDERING

WHY EUROPE IS STARVED FOODS MAKE MUNITIONS The Nazis have plundered Europe of foodstuffs, and one feature of their tireless looting of their victims’ larders has been the frantic search for fats. Germany has not taken food merely to fatten Hitler’s Aryan followers. Food can be made part of the munitions drive. If the coni quered States starve, Germany will j not mind so long as she can secure .■ what she wants. In general, all fats can be turned I into glycerine and nitro-glycerine j for explosives. Indirectly, feedingi stuffs provide a source of animal i fats, while oilseeds also yield vege--1 table fats. The German news ser- | vice announced in October, 1940, that a factory was being established to ‘ make glycerine out of fish oils. | Animal fats can also be used as ! lubricating oils. j Starch can be used for the pro- ! duction of alcohol, which is a fuel for tanks and lorries as well as a solvent for high explosives. Thus 110 tons of potatoes would make 10 tons of alcohol, which would free approximately 7 tons of petrol for other purposes, such as aeroplane fuel. Alcohol With Petrol For several years there has been in Italy a law making it compulsory to mix alcohol with petrol. In 1937 the aim was 20 per cent of alcohol, but this proportion could be raised. Foods of the starchy group can also be used to yield acetone and glycerine. Plastic products and fibre can be ! derived from the casein manufaci tured from milk. Nitro-glycerine S can be obtained from the fats conj tained in the milk. ! The Netherlands exports of con- | densed and dried milk which former- ; ly went to Britain are now—on a rei duced scale due to shortage of feedI ing-stuffs—available to the Nazis. It must be remembered that foodstuffs not directly or easily convertible for war purposes may be used as a substitute for foods which are. Thus meat contains a certain percentage or. fats which would free other fats to be turned into exploj sives. Greater use Of vegetables would probably reduce the human consumption of potatoes. Grain is ! not only directly convertible, but it is also a food substitute for potatoes Butter is a substitute for other fats. » As Minister of Shipping, Mr Ronald

Cross stated in a broadcast to America on December 11, 1940: "By letting in one form of food one I simply enabled the Germans to have I more of other forms of food which could be spared and used directly or indirectly for the purpose of ki:j our own people."