[2banana]

Hair was routinely shorn from prisoners, usually on arrival, at the death camps. The Nazi war machine used it to make army blankets and socks for U-boat crews.

Not much of a war machine if they could not produce enough wool to make army blankets. And is there something special about socks for U-Boats crews?

[Little Pig]

Submarines get mighty cold in the North Atlantic. Anything that provides insulation is a benefit.

[ansel12]

"And is there something special about socks for U-Boats crews?"

If they needed them to supplement the supply of socks and assuming they weren't as good as wool, they may have decided to concentrate them in the submarines where the men could better manage their feet and socks, rather than just throw them into the system where they might find their way to ground units.