DEST

DEST

The D. E. S. T. (an acronym of German: Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH or "German Earth & Stone Works Company"), was an SS owned company originally created to procure and manufacture building materials for state construction projects in Nazi Germany DEST was a subsidiary company of Amtsgruppe W (Amt.W) of SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt (WVHA). Both Amt.W and the WVHA were headed by SS Obergruppenfuehrer Generalleutnant of the Waffen SS Oswald Pohl and SS Gruppenführer Generalleutnant of the Waffen SS Georg Lörner.

The headquarters for DEST was located in Sankt Georgen an der Gusen a small town in Austria where Gusen II a subcamp of Mathausen was built in 1944.