Thanks for your post.
I am working on alcohol policy and regulation under the
Vichy collaborationist regime and find much material on extra wine rations for
workers doing hard manual labor and at the same time increasing restrictions
placed on the sale of aperitifs and the sale of alcohol in cafes.
In Forces of Habit I described the provision of extra alcohol rations for
German troops and their adjuncts involved in both regular military and "special"
actions, such as participation in mass executions (pp. 143-144). I have since
come across several references to similar uses of alcohol in the Holocaust
literature, e.g., in Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men. I do not recall,
however, any cases of the Germans distributing alcohol in amounts or
circumstances that would be likely to foment rebellion. I would also stress,
with Frederick Smith, that the use of alcohol as an incentive for work
(particularly for difficult, unpleasant, and/or morally compromised work) has a
long and extensive history. Comparatively speaking, I don't see anything unusual
in the Germans' "incentivizing" behavior.
David T.
Courtwright
Presidential Professor
Department of History
University of
North Florida
1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32224-2645 USA
email:
[log in to unmask]; office phone: 904 620-1872;
office fax 904 620-1018; home
phone 904 745-0530
________________________________________
From: Alcohol
and Drugs History Society [
[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frederick H.
Smith [
[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 10:35 AM
To:
[log in to unmask]Subject: Re: Nazi alcohol policies in occupied
Europe
In my book Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History I explore
this issue in
a different context. White sugar planters doled out huge
amounts of rum to
enslaved workers on their estates, but they were ambivalent
about the practice.
On the one hand planters used rum as a reward for good
work and as a work
incentive. It was also given out during holidays, such as
Christmas and cropover.
However, slave revolts and rebellions were frequent
during these holiday
celebrations. Moreover, the planters wanted a productive
workforce and turned
a blind eye to drinking and drunkenness as long as it
did not interfere with
productive labor (the source of the planters' power).
In short, planter discussions
of drinking by their enslaved workers reveal a
strong ambivalence. Rum was a
tool of domination, but it was also a key
instrument in fomenting rebellion.
------
Frederick H.
Smith
Associate Professor
College of William and Mary
Department of
Anthropology
Washington Hall
PO Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA
23187
Email:
[log in to unmask]Phone: 757-221-1063
---- Original
message ----
>Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:36:43 -0500
>From: David
Fahey <
[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Nazi alcohol policies in
occupied Europe
>To:
[log in to unmask]>
>I recall at a
conference hearing a Polish scholar say that his father,
>a railroad
worker during the Nazi occupation, received vodka for good
>work.
Providing alcohol to occupied populations had many
>complications.
Did drunkenness encourage rebellion or acquiescence?
>As in the example
cited, could it be used to enforce good behavior?
>Did Nazi policy vary
from country to country?
>
>--
>David M.
Fahey
>Professor Emeritus of History
>Miami
University
>Oxford, Ohio 45056
>USA=