Łapanka (round-up) of passers-by to be deported to Germany as forced labor, Warsaw's Żoliborz district, 1941

Use of forced labor in Nazi Germany during World War II occurred on a large scale. It was an important part of the German economical exploitation of conquered territories; it also contributed to the extermination of populations of German–occupied Europe. The Germans abducted about 12 million people from almost twenty European countries; about two thirds of whom came from Eastern Europe.^[1] Many workers died as a result of their living conditions, mistreatment or were civilian casualties of the war. They received little or no compensation during or after the war.^[1] lapanka 1941 used with permission Source: [[1]] Permission received in email on 28. ... lapanka 1941 used with permission Source: [[1]] Permission received in email on 28. ... A Å‚apanka in Warsaws Å»oliborz district, 1941. ... Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for forms of work, especially in modern or early modern history, in which adults and/or children are employed without wages, or for a minimal wage. ... For other uses, see Warsaw (disambiguation) and Warszawa (disambiguation). ... Area km² Population (2003) Population density Mayor Notable landmarks Website Warsaw Citadel and the Hibner park in Å»oliborz Å»oliborz is one of the northern boroughs of the city of Warsaw. ... Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for forms of work, especially in modern or early modern history, in which adults and/or children are employed without wages, or for a minimal wage. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The economics of fascism refers to the economic policies implemented by fascist governments. ... Eastern Europe is a concept that lacks one precise definition. ...

Forced workers

"Obligations of a worker during his or her stay in Germany" (in German and Polish)

Cherkashchyna Ukrainians being deported to Germany to serve as slave labor (OST-Arbeiter), 1942

Adolf Hitler's policy of Lebensraum strongly emphasized the conquest of new lands in the East, known as Generalplan Ost, and the exploitation of these lands to provide cheap goods and labor to Germany. Even before the war, Nazi Germany maintained a supply of slave labour. This practice started from the early days of labour camps of "undesirables" (German: unzuverlässige Elemente), such as the homeless, homosexual, criminals, political dissidents, communists, Jews, and anyone that the regime wanted out of the way. During World War II the Nazis operated several categories of Arbeitslager (labor camps) for different categories of inmates. Prisoners in Nazi labor camps were worked to death on short rations and in bad conditions, or killed if they became unable to work. Millions died as a direct result of forced labour under the Nazis.^[2] Image File history File links Cherkaschyna_deportation_1942. ... Image File history File links Cherkaschyna_deportation_1942. ... Hitler redirects here. ... Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal           (German for habitat or literally living space) was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Slavery is any of a number of related conditions involving control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or other clear forms of coercion. ... A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in forced labor. ... For the Pearl Jam song, see Dissident (song). ... This article is about the form of society and political movement. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Arbeitslager is a German language word which means Labor camp. ...

The largest number of labor camps held civilians forcibly abducted in the occupied countries (see Łapanka) to provide labor in the German war industry, repair bombed railroads and bridges or work on farms. As the war progressed, the use of slave labour experienced massive growth. Prisoners of war and civilian "undesirables" were brought in from occupied territories. Millions of Jews, Slavs and other conquered peoples were used as slave labourers by German corporations such as Thyssen, Krupp, IG Farben and even Fordwerke - a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company.^[3] A Å‚apanka in Warsaws Å»oliborz district, 1941. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... Countries with dominating Slavic ethnicities  West Slavic  East Slavic  South Slavic Slav redirects here. ... Friedrich (Fritz) Thyssen (November 9, 1873, Mülheim an der Ruhr – February 8, 1951, Martínez, San Isidro Partido, Greater Buenos Aires) was a German businessman born into one of Germanys leading industrial families. ... The three rings were the symbol for Krupp, based on the radreifen - the seamless railway wheels patented by Alfred Krupp. ... IG Farben (short for Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG) was a German conglomerate of companies formed in 1925 and even earlier during World War I. IG Farben held nearly a total monopoly on the chemical production, later during the time of Nazi Germany. ... “Ford” redirects here. ...

About 12 million forced laborers, most of whom were Eastern Europeans, were employed in the German war economy inside the Nazi Germany throughout the war.^[4][5] More than 2000 German companies profited from slave labor during the Nazi era, including Daimler-Benz, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Volkswagen, Hoechst, Dresdner Bank, Krupp, Allianz, BASF, Bayer, BMW and Degussa.^[6][7] Eastern Europe is a concept that lacks one precise definition. ... Daimler-Benz AG was founded on May 1, 1924 by the merger of Benz & Cie. ... Deutsche Bank AG (pronounced [2]) (ISIN: DE0005140008, NYSE: DB) (literal translation - German Bank) is a leading global investment bank with a broad private clients franchise, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. ... Siemens has the following uses: Siemens is a German family name carried by generations of the telecommunications industrialists, including Werner von Siemens, Sir William Siemens, Wilhelm von Siemens and Peter von Siemens Siemens AG is a German electrical and telecommunications company, founded as a telegraph equipment manufacturer by Werner von... VW redirects here. ... Hoechst AG was a company focusing on life sciences, specifically pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and animal health. ... The 1978 Silver Tower houses part of the head office of the Dresdner bank. ... The three rings were the symbol for Krupp, based on the radreifen - the seamless railway wheels patented by Alfred Krupp. ...   SE[1], (ISIN: DE0008404005; IPA pronunciation: [alliˈanʦ], and formerly AG) is a large financial service provider headquartered in Munich, Germany. ... This article is about the German chemical company. ... Bayer AG (IPA pronunciation //) (ISIN: DE0005752000, NYSE: BAY, TYO: 4863 ) is a German chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen, Germany in 1863. ... For other uses, see BMW (disambiguation). ... Degussa Logo Degussa AG is a multinational chemistry corporation based in Düsseldorf, Germany. ...

A class system was created amongst „Fremdarbeiter [foreign workers]“ brought to Germany to work for the Reich. The multi-layered system was based on layers of national hierarchies developed like a ladder.

1. „Gastarbeitnehmer [guest workers]“ - Workers from Germanic, Scandinavian countries, Italy or other German allies (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary). This was a very small group, only about 1% of foreign workers in Germany came from countries that were neutral or allied to Germany.^[1]
2. „Zwangsarbeiter [forced worker]“

• „Militärinternierte [military internees]“ For example, almost all Polish non-officer prisoners of war (~300,000) were forced to work in Germany. In 1944 there were almost two million prisoners of war employed as forced laborers in Germany.^[8]

Polish-forced-workers' badge

• „Zivilarbeiter [civilian workers]“. Primarily Polish prisoners from the „General Government“ - They received lower wages and could not use public conveniences (such as public transport) or visit many public spaces and businesses (for example they could not attend a German church service, swimming pools or restaurant); they had to work longer hours than Germans; they received smaller food rations; they were subject to a curfew; they often were denied holidays and had to work seven days a week; could not enter a marriage without permission; possession of money or objects of value, bicycles, cameras or lighters was forbidden; and they were required to wear a sign - the „Polish-P“ - attached to their clothing. In 1939 there were about 300,000 of them in Germany;^[1] In 1944 there were about 2,8m Polish Zivilarbeiter in Germany (approximately 10% of Generalgouvernement workforce)^[9] and a similar number of workers in this category from other countries.^[1]

OST-Arbeiter badge

• „Ostarbeiter [Eastern workers]“ Soviet civil workers primarily from Ukraine. They were marked with a sign OST („East“), had to live in camps that were fenced with barbed wire and under guard, and were particularly exposed to the arbitrariness of the Gestapo and the industrial plant guards. Estimates put the number of OST Arbeiters between 3 million and 5.5 million.^[10]

In general, foreign laborers from Western Europe had similar gross earnings and were subject to similar taxation as German workers. In contrast, the central and eastern European forced laborers received at most about one-half the gross earnings paid to German workers and much fewer social benefits.^[1] Forced laborers who were prisoners of labor or concentration camps received little if any wage and benefits.^[1] The deficiency in net earnings of central and eastern European forced laborers (versus forced laborers from western countries) is illustrated by the wage savings forced laborers were able to transfer to their families at home or abroad (see table). The General Government (in full General government for the occupied Polish areas, in German Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete) was the name given by Germany to the governing authority in Poland after its occupation by the Wehrmacht in September and October 1939. ... This article is about the restrictions and constraints of particular movements. ...

The official German records for the late summer of 1944 listed 7.6 million foreign civilian workers and prisoners of war in the territory of the „Greater German Reich“, who for the most part had been brought there for employment by force. By 1944, slave labour made up one quarter of Germany's entire work force, and the majority of German factories had a contingent of prisoners.^[11][12] The Nazis also had plans for the deportation and enslavement of Britain's adult male population in the event of a successful invasion.^[13] Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... Operation Sealion (Unternehmen (Undertaking) Seelöwe in German) was a World War II German plan to invade the United Kingdom. ...

A 100 Reichsmark banknote from Germany of 1935 (http://www. ...

Extreme cases: extermination through labour

Main article: Extermination through labour

See also: List of German concentration camps

Millions of Jews were forced laborers in ghettos, before they were shipped off to extermination camps. The Nazis also operated concentration camps, some of which provided free forced labor for industrial and other jobs while others existed purely for the extermination of their inmates. Ironically, at the entrances to a number of camps a German phrase meaning "work brings freedom" (Arbeit macht frei) was placed. A notable example of labor-concentration camp is the Mittelbau-Dora labor camp complex that serviced the production of the V-2 rocket. Extermination through labour was a Nazi German World War II principle that regulated the aims and purposes of most of their labour and concentration camps.^[14][15] The rule demanded that the inmates of German WWII camps be forced to work for the German war industry with only basic tools and minimal food rations until totally exhausted.^{[14][16][17][18]} This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The following is a list of German concentration camps during World War II. are marked with pink, while major concentration camps of are marked with blue. ... For other uses, see Ghetto (disambiguation). ... Extermination camps were two types of facilities that Nazi Germany built during World War II for the systematic killing of millions of people in what has become known as the Holocaust. ... Piles of bodies in a liberated Nazi concentration camp in Germany Prior to and during World War II, Nazi Germany under Hitler maintained concentration camps (Konzentrationslager, abbreviated KZ or KL) throughout the territories it controlled. ... The extermination camps were the facilities established by Nazi Germany in World War II initially for the killing of the Jews of Europe as part of what was later deemed The Holocaust. ... Arbeit Macht Frei gate at KZ Sachsenhausen Detail of the Arbeit Macht Frei inscription on the gate at Dachau. ... Categories: Stub | Nazi concentration camps ... For other uses, see V2. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in forced labor. ...

Controversy over compensation

To facilitate the rebuilding of German economy after the war, certain groups of Nazi victims were excluded from direct compensation through the German Government; those were the groups with the least amount of political pressure they could have brought to bear, and many forced laborers from the Eastern Europe fall into that category.^[19] Since the end of the war, there has been little initiative on the part of the German government or German industry to compensate the forced laborers under the Third Reich.^[1]

As stated in the London Debt Agreement of 1953: Consideration of claims arising out of the Second World War by countries which were at war with or were occupied by Germany during that war, and by nationals of such countries, against the Reich and agencies of the Reich, including costs of German occupation, credits acquired during occupation on clearing accounts and claims against the Reichskreditkassen shall be deferred until the final settlement of the problem of reparations. To this date, there are arguments that such settlement has never been fully completed and that Germany post-war development has been greatly aided, while the development of victim countries stalled.^[1]

A prominent example of a group which received almost no compensation for their time as forced laborer in Nazi Germany are the Polish forced laborers. According to the Potsdam Agreements of l945, the Poles were to receive reparations not from Germany itself, but from the Soviet Union share of those repatriations; due to the Soviet pressure on the Polish communist government the Poles agreed to a system of repayment that de facto meant that few Polish victims received any sort of adequate compensation (comparable to the victims in Western Europe or Soviet Union itself). Most of the Polish share of repatriations was "given" to Poland by Soviet Union under the Comecon framework, which was not only highly inefficient, but benefited Soviet Union much more than Poland. Under further Soviet pressure (related to the London Agreement on German External Debts), in 1953 the People's Republic of Poland announced its waiver of further claims of reparations from the successor states of the German Reich. Only after the fall of communism in Poland in 1989/1990 did the Polish government try to renegotiate the issue of repatriations, but found little support in this from the German side and none from the Soviet (later, Russian) side.^[19] Reparations refers to two distinct ideas: Reparations for slavery of groups or individuals War reparations: Payments from one country to another as compensation for starting a war under a peace treaty, such as those made by Germany to France under the Treaty of Versailles. ... A Soviet poster reading COMECON: Unity of Goals, Unity of Action The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON / Comecon / CMEA / CEMA), 1949 – 1991, was an economic organization of communist states and a kind of Eastern Bloc equivalent to—but more inclusive than—the European Economic Community. ... Capital Warsaw Language(s) Polish Government Socialist republic Leaders  - 1948–1956 BolesÅ‚aw Bierut (First)  - 1981-1989 Wojciech Jaruzelski (Last) Prime minister  - 1944-1947 E. Osóbka-Morawski  - 1947-1952 and 1954-1970 Józef Cyrankiewicz  - 1952-1954 BolesÅ‚aw Bierut  - 1970-1980 Piotr Jaroszewicz  - 1980 Edward Babiuch  - 1980-1981... The rise of Gorbachev Although reform stalled between 1964–1982, the generational shift gave new momentum for reform. ...

The total number of forced laborers under the Third Reich who were still alive as of August 1999 was 2.3 million.^[1] The German Forced Labour Compensation Programme was established only in 2000; a forced labour fund paid out more than 4.37 billion euros to close to 1.7 million of then-living victims around the world (one-off payments of between 2,500 to 7,500 euros).^[20] Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel stated in 2007 that "Many former forced labourers have finally received the promised humanitarian aid"; she also conceded that before the fund was established nothing had gone directly to the forced labourers.^[20] German president Horst Koehler stated "It was an initiative that was urgently needed along the journey to peace and reconciliation... At least, with these symbolic payments, the suffering of the victims has been publicly acknowledged after decades of being forgotten".^[20] Up to date there has been no compensation to families of victims who died before the fund started its operation. The German Forced Labour Compensation Programme is a program to pay compensation to people forced by Nazi Germany to work as slaves during World War II. Payments may also be made to their heirs. ... For other uses, see Euro (disambiguation). ...   (IPA: ) (born Angela Dorothea Kasner, 17 July 1954, in Hamburg, Germany), is the Chancellor of Germany. ... Horst Köhler (born 22 February 1943) is the President of Germany. ...

See also

• Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union
• Holocaust
• Hunger Plan
• Kidnapping of Polish children by Nazi Germany
• Organisation Todt
• Sexual enslavement by Nazi Germany in WWII
• Service du travail obligatoire
• Ulrich Herbert (German historian who has conducted much research into the issue of Nazi forced labor)

Not by Their Own Will. ... For other uses, see Holocaust (disambiguation) and Shoah (disambiguation). ... Hunger Plan The Wehrmacht invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) included in the planning phase an economic management scheme called the Hunger Plan. ... Organisation Todt Flag Organisation Todt (OT) was a Nazi construction and engineering group during the years of the Third Reich, which enslaved over 1. ...

Notes

a. ^{^}  By January 1944, Italy has switched sides and is included in Occupied Western Europe. Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania would not switch sides till summer 1944 and are included in German allies section.

References

Stanisław Dobosiewicz (born 1910) was a Polish writer and school teacher. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ...

Further reading

• Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction, Viking, 2007, pp. 476–85, 538–49, ISBN 0670038261
• Ulrich Herbert, Hitler's Foreign Workers: Enforced Foreign Labor in Germany Under the Third Reich, Cambridge University Press, 1997, ISBN 0521470005
• Edward L. Homze, review of Benjamin B. Ferencz, Less Than Slaves: Jewish Forced Labor and the Quest for Compensation, The American Historical Review, Vol. 85, No. 5 (Dec., 1980), p. 1225, JSTOR - review

There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

External links

• yadvashem.org, Forced Labor
• (Polish) Walentyna Maria Stefańska , Polscy robotnicy przymusowi w Niemczech w czasie II wojny światowej
• dw-world.de, Final Compensation Pending for Former Nazi Forced Laborers, 27.10.2005
• Compensation for Forced Labour in World War II: The German Compensation Law of 2 August 2000
• USHMM SYMPOSIUM (2002): Forced and Slave Labor in Nazi-Dominated Europe, 1933 to 1945