

Angora rabbits are a good source of warm clothing material. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Betty Chu

New details have emerged of a bizarre World War II program designed to provide fur for soldiers.

Information has emerged about the project thanks to a volume originally recovered from the home of SS chief Heinrich Himmler. The secret "Angora book" contained details pertaining to "Operation Munchkin", a bizarre initiative aimed at finding a new way to provide an efficient source of materials for warm military clothing.According to these records, the Nazis had set up special angora rabbit breeding facilities where they attempted to produce rabbits of a huge size. Some of these were housed near to concentration camps so that while the prisoners were starving and dying, the rabbits were being treated to heated hutches and piles of fresh vegetables.As many as 30 of these rabbit breeding centers were set up around Nazi occupied Europe, most in proximity to concentration camps. Himmler allegedly got the idea of using rabbit fur as a way to produce warm clothing for military personnel after reading about a small-scale experiment that took place during World War I.