Toys from the Winterhilfswerk

A collection of objects from the General Patton Memorial Museum 

Written by Sarah Mirti

The General Patton Memorial Museum in Ettelbruck displays a multitude of small objects produced during the time of the Nazi regime. It can be assumed that most of the objects that can be seen in the museum in Ettelbruck stem from the Winterhilfswerk (WHW) campaign that began in Luxembourg in winter 1940-41.

The objects vary vastly in nature. Some are clearly propaganda objects like small collectible cards representing Nazi officers or small booklets praising Hitler with titles like “Der Führer und Mussolini”, “Der Führer und die Bewegung”, “Des Führers Kampf in Belgien”, etc. A series of 28 such booklets was published by Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler’s official photographer. The books were designed as gifts that could be hung on the Christmas tree.[1]

Winterhilfswerk

The objects described in this study were produced as part of the Winterhilfswerk des Deutschen Volkes (Winter Relief of the German People) programme, which was abbreviated WHW.

The National Socialist regime ran an annual fundraising campaign to help people in need by providing food, clothes, coal, etc. Slogans such as “nobody shall starve or freeze” were used to convince people to donate to the WHW.[2] The programme ran from 1931 to 1945 during the winter months from October to March. The donors received small token gifts of negligible value to thank them for their donations. Of course, the programme was also used for propaganda means and to support the regime.

Over the winter of 1940-41 Gauleiter Simon decided to replicate the WHW campaign in Luxembourg. The initiative was presented to the Luxembourg population as the German national community “helping” the Luxembourgers. Besides the fact that Gauleiter Simon probably wanted recognition from Goebbels, who oversaw the WHW programme, the aim was clearly to motivate the reluctant Luxembourg population to support the German Reich.[3]

A well-oiled “marketing machine”

The WHW issued 8,000 different objects over the years that the campaign was run. In view of the sophistication of the objects, the initiative must have functioned like a “marketing machine”.[4] The organisation went as far as designing new objects for each season that were of interest to the population, e.g. ceramic characters representing certain professions in Vienna in 1940.

There must have been a vast organisational structure to cope with the logistics of designing, producing and managing the distribution of millions of these objects every year.[5] Although there was pressure on the population to donate to the WHW, the small objects were most likely intended to raise interest and to encourage people to donate.

A variety of objects

At first glance, the objects seem colourful and appealing, so it can be assumed that the intention behind them was to please most of the population. The objects include small toys and enamel pins to pin on clothes. They were marketed towards a wide target audience encompassing several age groups, with toys for children and pins for adults, for example. They were inspired by certain themes like herbs, medallions of famous Germans, city emblems, attractive toy characters, small aeroplanes, etc.

In times of war, there was no money for toys and gadgets, so these non-essential accessories were popular amongst the local people. Through the pins, the German occupying force was able to deploy its propaganda, because when people wore them they were seen by others. The main purpose of the cards was to familiarise the population with the main leaders behind the National Socialist movement.

Many objects became collector’s items, and some are still collected nowadays.

It seems that the dissemination of propaganda through the WHW was at least as important as the original purpose of the relief organisation. It is very clear that the Nazi propaganda machine wanted to convince the population of the merits of the National Socialist regime through the WHW initiative.[6]

APPENDIX

Görlitzer, Bettina, Hilfe für Bedürftige als Mittel der Propaganda (03.03.2018), in: come-on.de Virtuelles Museum: Hilfe für Bedürftige als Mittel der Propaganda | Lüdenscheid (come-on.de) (Stand: 10.01.2021).

Dostert, Paul, WHW Winterhilfswerk des deutschen Volkes (7.11.2002), in: Ons Stad Autoren | Ons Stad (vdl.lu) (Stand: 13.01.2021).

Hoffmann, Heinrich, Winterhilfswerk-Heftchen 1937/1941 (2021), in: Heinrich Hoffmann – Winterhilfswerk-Heftchen (WHW-Heftchen) – Catawiki (Stand: 13.01.2021).

Scriba, Arnulf, Das Winterhilfswerk (WHW) (16.09.2015), in: Lebendiges Museum Online LeMO Kapitel – NS-Regime – NS-Organisationen – Winterhilfswerk (dhm.de) (Stand: 10.01.2021).

Virtuelles Brückenhofmuseum (02.01.2020) Virtuelles Brückenhofmuseum – Königswinter – Oberdollendorf (virtuellesbrueckenhofmuseum.de) (Stand: 10.01.2021).

[1] Scriba, Arnulf, Das Winterhilfswerk (WHW) (16.09.2015), in: Lebendiges Museum Online LeMO Kapitel – NS-Regime – NS-Organisationen – Winterhilfswerk (dhm.de) (Stand: 10.01.2021).

[2] Scriba, Arnulf, Das Winterhilfswerk (WHW) (16.09.2015), in: Lebendiges Museum Online LeMO Kapitel – NS-Regime – NS-Organisationen – Winterhilfswerk (dhm.de) (Stand: 10.01.2021).

[3] Dostert, Paul, WHW Winterhilfswerk des deutschen Volkes (7.11.2002), in: Ons Stad Autoren | Ons Stad (vdl.lu) (Stand: 13.01.2021). and Scriba, Arnulf, Das Winterhilfswerk (WHW) (16.09.2015), in Lebendiges Museum Online LeMO Kapitel – NS-Regime – NS-Organisationen – Winterhilfswerk (dhm.de) (Stand: 10.01.2021).

[4] Görlitzer, Bettina, Hilfe für Bedürftige als Mittel der Propaganda (03.03.2018), in: come-on.de Virtuelles Museum: Hilfe für Bedürftige als Mittel der Propaganda | Lüdenscheid (come-on.de) (Stand: 10.01.2021).

[5] Görlitzer, Bettina, Hilfe für Bedürftige als Mittel der Propaganda (03.03.2018), in: come-on.de Virtuelles Museum: Hilfe für Bedürftige als Mittel der Propaganda | Lüdenscheid (come-on.de) (Stand: 10.01.2021).

[6] Dostert, Paul, WHW Winterhilfswerk des deutschen Volkes (7.11.2002), in: Ons Stad Autoren | Ons Stad (vdl.lu) (Stand: 13.01.2021).

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