Autarkic, but global: Fat supply and whaling in pre-war Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany started whaling in the Antarctic Ocean in 1936 as a result of its high dependence on fat imports and a shortage of foreign currency. While this was part of a policy geared towards self-sufficiency or autarky, whaling did not cut Germany off from the international links that characterise the global fat supply, but actually created new connections. The article sets out four new arguments. First, Germany never achieved self-sufficiency in whale oil or fat in general. Second, in the context of whaling, links to Norway remained strong. Third, the Anglo-Dutch Unilever group was a key player in German whaling. Finally, given the overexploitation of whale stocks, Germany and other whaling nations saw themselves compelled to engage in multilateral negotiations over the regulation of the industry. Fat thus remained a globalised commodity even in the 1930s. This article was published open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .