Current foyer exhibition on whaling

How were whales caught and processed into consumer goods? What role did whale oil and whale fat play for Germany's food industry in the Third Reich? Our small exhibition provides answers.

In small exhibitions in our redesigned foyer, we cast a spotlight on the future exhibition in the Bangert building. The current installation in the four showcases between the lockers in the entrance area is dedicated to the subject of whaling. One of the exhibits is this 1938 display board, which explains how whales were caught and processed into consumer goods, e.g. bones into bone meal, baleen whales into corsets and musical instruments, fat into lubricants, soap, cooking fat and margarine.
Whale oil and fat played an important role in Hermann Göring's four-year plan to help make Germany's food industry self-sufficient.
We also show a model ship of the RAU IX, which is originally anchored in our museum harbour, hardened whale oil, a catch book of the WALTER RAU and the catalogue for the exhibition "Blessing of the Sea" (1939).