You’ll find this jaunty little tin of ‘frost protection salve’ (cream for chapped skin) in a section about medical matters.
According to the caption, German soldiers were poorly equipped for their exposure to the Russian winter and suffered extensive frostbite injuries. This cream, manufactured especially for the Wehrmacht as it says on the tin, seems more suited to a skiing trip than a war fought in sub-zero temperatures with inadequate shelter.
The tin has an incidental effect that may be lost on us as British visitors. German cosmetics manufacturers still sell face cream in exactly this size and shape of tin (either to appeal to the retro market or just out of manufacturing habit). This means that a German visitor looking through the glass can feel the slight weight and shallow depth of the tin in their hand. This sensory effect is likely to increase the pity of sending men into battle with such flimsy protection.
If pity seems the wrong emotion to be feeling for soldiers who fought for Hitler, it should be remembered that for older Germans these men are still envisaged as family members. Elsewhere, the museum devotes considerable space to documenting the crimes against humanity that were committed under cover of the war.
The ‘Gothic’ (actually Fraktur) lettering that we associate with Nazi text was never used consistently. Nazi policy on typefaces was muddled and commercial companies continued, by and large, to follow the European mainstream – even, it seems, for a big government contract like this one.
German History Museums 