These are part of a larger group of photos.I tried to buy the whole set and was in negotiation with the dealer,but alas for whatever reason he never got back to me
I did alittle home work on these and this is waht I can add.This was after Stalingrad and before the grand second offensive.
It was also after the Heydrich assassination.
Things were running fine in Czech until Heydrich's death then, just as the British had hoped, the nazi's over-reacted with their brutality and pushed many a Czech away. Production dropped and many more troops were needed in that area as well as skilled workers.
They didn't want this to happen to their main food supply- the Ukraine. They were already infested with underground communists trying to persuade workers over to their side- with passive resistance to outright sabotage.
The whole area was a powder keg and could not be remedied by brute force.
State Food Admister Herbert Backe (the equivalent to Albert Speer with regards to ingenuity in the food supply chain for Germany/Europe) was quick to grasp this and set the wheels in motion.
Backe was well-respected and personally liked by Heydrich, Himmler, Hitler and many Wehrmacht generals. In fact, this whole good-will mission was pretty much his idea and initiative.
He worked with Schwerin von Krosigk and Scwartz for the financial backing to provide the Ukraine's with a better wage and health benefit program closely akin to the German citizen themselves.
He also had von Eltz-Rübenach's backing of some multi-thousand extra personnel to upgrade and make the mail system inside the Ukraine more efficient as an incentive to workers as well as a tangible sign of good will between territories.