Fritz Todt was a German construction engineer and senior figure of the Nazi Party. He was the founder of Organisation Todt (OT), a military-engineering organisation that supplied German industry with forced labour, and served as Reich Minister for Armaments and Ammunition in Nazi Germany early in World War II, directing the entire German wartime military economy from that position.
Todt in 1940
Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, Philipp Bouhler, Reich Minister Todt and Reinhard Heydrich (from left), listening to Konrad Meyer at a Generalplan Ost exhibition, 20 March 1941.
Todt with Wernher von Braun at Peenemünde, 21 March 1941
Dr.-Fritz-Todt-Preis in gold.
Organisation Todt was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior member of the Nazi Party. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering projects both in Nazi Germany and in occupied territories from France to the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The organisation became notorious for using forced labour. From 1943 until 1945 during the late phase of the Third Reich, OT administered all constructions of concentration camps to supply forced labour to industry.
Woman with Ostarbeiter OT badge at Auschwitz
From left: Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, Philipp Bouhler, Fritz Todt and Reinhard Heydrich listen to Konrad Meyer at a Generalplan Ost exhibition in Berlin, 20 March 1941.
German soldier in front of part of the OT-built Atlantic Wall at Cap Gris Nez, France
Street round-up (Polish łapanka [waˈpanka]) of random civilians to be deported to Germany for forced labour; Warsaw's Żoliborz district, 1941
![Street round-up (Polish łapanka [waˈpanka]) of random civilians to be deported to Germany for forced labour; Warsaw's Żoliborz district, 1941](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lapanka_zoliborz_warszawa_Polska_1941.jpg/640px-Lapanka_zoliborz_warszawa_Polska_1941.jpg)