Substitute Soap

Soap and other detergents were put on ration throughout Germany in 1916. But the soap delivered to the public was not real soap. It was a substitute mostly made from some sort of and clay. This bar of soap substitute contains 15-20 % carboxylic acid. The bar constitutes one month’s ration and bears the mark KA which stands for “Kriegsausschuss”, a proof of its legitimacy.

Wilhelmina von Hallwyl received three bars of substitute soap 1917 from her friend Ernst Hellström who had acquired it in Darmstadt where he studied to become an engineer.