Forced Labor Camps

The use of forced labor was by no means confined to concentration camps. Labor camps existed early and the need for workers only grew with Hitler’s plans for rearmament and the expanding war economy. It is estimated that 15 to 20 million laborers were utilized for forced labor, and while most came from the Ukraine and Russia and Belarus, they were dragooned from the occupied countries of Europe as well. They would be exploited in industrial enterprises, farms, and private households: men, women, and children. Taken to forced labor camps, they were then compelled to produce goods for the war economy. Death rates were high due to lack of adequate food, shelter, and clothing. Labor shortages were, however, easily remedied.

The following categories and examples are useful to understand the magnitude and scope of forced labor during the Third Reich.

JEWISH FORCED LABOR

See Ghettos and Concentration Camps collections and 2012.1.13ab, 2015.2.49, 2019.2.95, and 2014.1.170.

POW CAMPS

These camps held captured Allied military officers and personnel. Some camps “specialized” in holding specific prisoners such as Naval officers, while others held a general assortment of prisoners. Consistent with the Nazi ideology that Russians and Poles were “Untermenschen” or racially inferior, these prisoners were treated particularly harshly, subject to mass shootings, gassings, or starvation.

See 2014.1.259ab and 2012.1.34.

GASTARBEITER

Gastarbeiters were so-called “guest workers” or foreign workers from Germanic or Scandinavian countries or France and Italy who were forced laborers for the Reich. It is possible that this category refers to laborers who, in the eyes of the Germans, were not considered racially inferior.

See 2019.2.83 and 2019.2.104.

OSTARBEITER (EASTERN WORKERS)

Ostarbeiters were typically Russian or Ukrainian forced laborers - marked with the OST (East) insignia - who lived within barbed-wire enclosed camps under guard by SS and who worked to produce supplies for the German war economy. The need for forced labor to support Germany’s war efforts became more acute after Operation Barbarossa in the spring of 1941. Millions of forced laborers were deported from the Soviet Union and the Ukraine to work in factories, farms, and other civilian venues. Ostarbeiters would receive at most half the wages paid to German and other West European workers. They worked long hours with little concern for their sustenance and, as far as the German were concerned, they were eminently replaceable. Many of the women were treated as sex slaves for military brothels.

See 2014.1.164, 2012.1.79, 2019.2.90ab, 2014.1.204, 2014.1.162, 2014.1.165, 2022.1.25, and 2022.1.26.

ZIVILARBEITER (CIVILIAN WORKERS)

Ethnic Poles from the General Government were highly regulated with few civil liberties. They were required to display the Polish “P” prominently on clothing.

See 2014.1.170, 2016.1.05, 2016.1.06, 2014.1.169, 2019.2.104, and 2022.1.27.

ORGANIZATION TODT

This was a civil and military engineering group named after Nazi official Fritz Todt, a senior Nazi official and engineer whose projects throughout German-occupied nations in Europe heavily utilized forced labor along with conscripts from within Germany for the growing number of military projects. They also relied on POWs and prisoners from concentration camps.

See 2014.1.171, 2014.1.234, and 2019.2.95.

GEMEINSCHAFTSLAGERS

Auslander Zivilarbeiter work camps, known as Gemeinschaftslagers,or workcamps for foreign civilians.

See 2012.1.54, 2014.1.166, 2014.1.168, and 2019.2.83.

--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966

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OST Insignia to Identify Ostarbeiter or "Eastern" Forced Laborer

2022.1.36

Square patch with blue background and white, capital letters.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

OST forced labor badge identifying the wearer as an Ostarbeiter, or “Eastern” worker- typically Russian or Ukrainian - deported to work in Nazi Germany.
“Meldungskarte” from Austrian Jewish Forced Labor Camp

2012.1.32

Tan card titled, "Meldungskarte" with black "Jude" stamp with various printed tables and information.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

This “Meldungskarte” or message card belonged to Ruldoph Schasherl and it was used in Vienna (Austria) between 1938 and 1939 after both the Anschluss and Kristallnacht. His card is handstamped “Jude” in black and stamps appear verso on the dates he was “working.” Mr. Schasherl's fate is unknown.
Postcard from Hungarian Camp

2014.1.129

Front: Tan postcard with green printed postcard lines, pencil writing, and a black hand stamp.Back: Handwritten message in pencil with a purple stamp.

Information from Michael D. Bulmash:

Postcard sent from prisoner in Hungarian forced labor camp in 1940 handstamped “labori zsido” referring to Jewish labor.
Arbeitsbuch (Employment Record) for Franz Wullert

2019.2.81

Green booklet marked "Deutsches Reich" at top of cover, Nazi emblem in center, two holes punched in right side. Inside pages include yellow paper and green print. Pages 12-38 left blank.

[Related items: 2019.2.82 and 2019.2.83]

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Workbook (Arbeitsbuch) for foreigners of a Polish forced laborer, Franz Wullert.
Lehrbuch (Educational Manual) "Deutsch für Ausländer" (German for Foreigners)

2019.2.83

Book titled "Deutsch für Ausländer" in black print on worn, brown cover, 138 pages.

[Related items: 2019.2.81, 2019.2.82]

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Lehrbuch educational manual to help foreign laborers with German language.
Ukrainian Forced Labor Tag with Slip Case for Jews

2012.1.13ab

Aluminum identity tag marked Zs.Musz. From Ukrainian forced labor camp with green fabric slip case.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Aluminum forced labor identity tag for a Jew: zs for zhyd or zyd.
Romanian Forced Labor Identification for Jewish Worker

2014.1.163

Front: Tan cover with black printed text and symbol. Includes a purple hand stamp as well as the backs of several staples.Interior: Includes a photograph and biographical information for the worker, as well as calendars with various writing and stamps on them.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Issued to Rudolf Psalt with his photo and more than 200 handstamps in all probability for each day of work between April and December 1942.
Ostarbeiter Postcard

2014.1.164

Front: White postcard with black printed postcard lines and text. Includes writing in purple ink, as well as several purple, red and orange hand stamps.Back: Message written in purple ink on printed dotted lines.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Lida Worobej, employed as a slave laborer at Miele & Cie. in Bielefeld, Germany, is writing to her family in the Ukraine that she has received letters and packages with pastries and socks from them, for which she was very grateful. She sends her regards to her friends, relatives and acquaintances back in her village of Iwankiw near Zhitomir. As a forced laborer, she lived in a Lager in Germany and worked at Miele, a company which exists to this day. While Ukrainians made up the the largest portion of slave laborers, there were Poles, Russians, and Belarusians as well. Germany had conscripted anywhere from 3 million to 8 million slave laborers. Most were young, typically under the age of 16. Many were 12-14 years of age when they were taken off to Germany. And by 1943, the age limit was dropped to 10. In the Ukraine, half of the Ostarbeiters were women or girls. Ostarbeiters from Reichskommissariat Ukraine were forced to wear a blue and white badge with "OST" (East) written on it.
Pleskau German Occupation Forced Labor Card

2014.1.205

Front: Bluish postcard with black printed postcard lines, writing in purple ink, an orange postage stamp and two black hand stamps.Back: White background with printed black text and dotted lines with information added in purple ink. Includes a purple hand stamp.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A special warning card printed by the German Army printing office and used in occupied Pleskau (Pskov) for local official mail. The German Labor Service Board (Arbeitsamt) usually used these cards as a first warning notice for the named individual to come to German officials for labor in either occupied territories or in Germany, where they would be known as Ostarbeiters. Card franked with German local occupation issue in 1942.
Foreign Worker "OST" [EAST] Patch with ID Card

2019.2.90ab

a: Identification card, photo of man wearing "OST" and "599" patches on right side, two fingerprints underneath, Nazi emblem stamped in purple over corner of photo. b: Cloth patch, "OST" printed in center in white, blue background with two white square borders.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Patch sewn to clothing of slave laborer Michael Harbus. “Ostarbeiters” were conscripted from German-occupied territory in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and deported to Germany to perform work. Michael Harbus had lived in the vicinity of the Kiev prior to the German occupation. Typically ostarbeiters lived in compounds and were not allowed to fraternize with Germans as they were regarded as subhuman.
Postcard from Jewish Intern in Bad-Schauenburg

2021.1.21

Signed and dated typed postcard with portable post office truck on front.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

"Bad Schauenburg was the site of a labor camp for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. The postcard is postmarked 2/4/1942 in Montreux, Switzerland. It is typed and signed by Joseph Heidingsfeld, a teacher and himself a Jewish refugee in Switzerland who taught children in the refugee camps and hospitals in the Montreux area. Many thousands of Jews made their way to neutral Switzerland fleeing Nazi persecution. The Swiss government attempted to place limits on the number of Jewish refugees they permitted, ultimately collaborating with the Germans by getting them to affix the letter ‘J’ on their passports. This measure, initiated by Dr. Heinrich Rothmond of the Swiss Ministry of Justice, would create the need for illegal means of entry.Placing Jews in labor camps was perhaps an attempt by the “neutral” Swiss government to appease Germany on whose economy and good will they were dependent. Thousands of Jewish refugees admitted to Switzerland were placed in labor camps with unheated barracks and straw beds and required to work in factories making equipment for sale to the German army. Women cleaned the homes of Swiss officials: all in an apparent effort to discourage “non-aryans” from entering Switzerland. On the other hand, Jewish refugees confined to these Swiss camps could be released if they could arrange for refugee status in other countries like neutral Portugal or South America. While it is known that ordinary Swiss citizens would lend support to Jewish immigrants, for many Jewish refugees at the end of their tether fleeing Nazi wrath, luck ran out at the border and too many were turned back.
Notice to Appear for Labor

2014.1.204

Front: Tan postcard with black printed postcard lines. Includes writing in black ink, an orange postage stamp and several black hand stamps.Back: White background with black printed text and dotted lines. Includes writing in black cursive ink and a purple hand stamp.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A special warning card printed by the German Army printing office and used in occupied Pleskau (Pskov) for local official mail. The German Labor Service Board (Arbeitsamt) usually used these cards as a first warning notice for the named individual to come to German officials for labor in either occupied territories or in Germany, where they would be known as Ostarbeiters. Card franked with German local occupation issue in 1942.
Identification Card Issued for Hungarian Jew, Pal Rosenberger

2020.1.12

Paper with printed text in black as well as handwritten information and stamps in purple and red. Printed black text continues on opposite side but no additional information is written in table provided. Opposite side also stamped with purple ink.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

ID card for Hungarian man, Pal Rosenberger, with large red-stamped ‘Zs’ (Zsido) identifying him as a Jew. After Adolf Eichmann’s arrival in Hungary to organize deportation of the Hungarian Jews, the Hungarian authorities, following the German example of 1938 requiring Jewish passports to be stamped with a large red ‘J’, required Jews to be identified with the ‘Z’ prominently stamped on their ID cards.
Postcard from Camp de Gurs to Jewish Intern in Bad-Schauenburg

2021.1.20

Postcard written in blue ink. Writing on front and back and multiple stamps on front.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Bad Schauenburg was the site of a labor camp for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. The name of the postcard’s sender is illegible, but at the time of his mailing this postcard he had been interned in Camp de Gurs located in Southwestern France at the foot of the Pyrenees: the largest camp in the Vichy Unoccupied Zone. While initially holding Spanish Civil War refugees, Jewish enemy aliens mostly from Germany and Austria were interned here. Conditions were deplorable: inadequate food, shelter and water. Malnutrition and exposure contributed to epidemics of typhoid fever and dysentery which took many lives. Jews escaping from Nazi persecution as well as thousands of German Jews expelled from Baden and the Palatinate were interned here before being transported to the Drancy transit camp: a way station on the way to certain deportation to Auschwitz. The fate of the author of this postcard is unknown.

Many thousands of Jews made their way to neutral Switzerland fleeing Nazi persecution. The Swiss government attempted to place limits on the number of Jewish refugees they permitted, ultimately to place limits on the number of Jewish refugees they permitted, ultimately collaborating with the Germans by getting them to affix the letter “J” on their passports. This measure, initiated by Dr. Heinrich Rothmond of the Swiss ministry of Justice, would create the need for illegal means of entry.

Placing Jews in labor camps was perhaps an attempt by the “neutral” Swiss government to appease Germany on whose economy and good will they were dependent. Thousands of Jewish refugees admitted to Switzerland were placed in labor camps with unheated barracks and straw beds and required to work in factories making equipment to be sold to the German army. Women cleaned the homes of Swiss officials: all in an apparent effort to discourage “non-aryans” from entering Switzerland. To be sure, one cannot compare the inconveniences and indignities suffered by Jewish emigrants in Switzerland to the experience of Jews in German-run labor camps, or for that matter, in the French internment camp de Gurs. Yet the question might be asked: how should refugees who had lost everything but their lives - through no fault of their own - be treated? At the least, Jewish refugees confined to these camps could be released if they could arrange for refugee status in other countries like neutral Portugal or South America. And there are numerous reports of ordinary Swiss citizens helping ease Jewish suffering and assisting immigrants. The record shows, however, that while Switzerland absorbed up to 30,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi wrath, at least that many were turned back at the borders.
Envelope from Ukraine to Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories in Berlin

2014.1.267

Front: A tan envelope with typewritten address, red and green postage stamps of Adolf Hitler, black and purple hand stamps, and a red and white sticker. Back: A black hand stamp.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Registered cover mailed by Karl Deuchert, an administrative manager with Organization Todt in Einsatzgruppe Russland South, a military engineering group which utilized forced labor for its projects, including concentration camps inmates. Its zone of operation was in Southern Ukraine and Russia.
Identification for Katarzyna Kopala, a Polish Forced Laborer for HASAG in Leipzig, Germany

2016.1.05

Front: Photo of woman stapled on right, 'Nr. 01962' printed in orange rectangle on top left. Back: 'HASAG' logo on top left with 'WERK LEIPZIG' below.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Ms. Kopala's ID is stamped with 'P' for Pole, and she is shown in the picture with prominent 'P' on her uniform. HASAG, or Hugo Schneider AG, was an established metal goods manufacturer in Germany. From its beginnings as a manufacturer of lamps, it evolved into an infamous Nazi arms manufacturer with many factories across Europe using slave-labor from concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald, as well as numerous ghettos in Poland. Many thousands of Jews and other prosoners perished working for HASAG under the most execrable conditions.

[Related item: 2016.1.06]
Third Reich Ukrainian Foreign Worker Ostarbeiter Photo ID Card

2022.1.25

Identification with fingerprints on bottom left, photograph on bottom right, typed page of information about Anna Jantschuk on reverse.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Ausweis or photo ID card for female ”Ostarbeiter” or “guest worker” Anna Jantschuk , a 16-year-old native Ukrainian, in German and Cyrillic. Card bears her fingerprints. With handstamps tying the photo and details to the folder from Landrat Montbauer, with all of her details inside the folder and handstamped from the Employment Office Niederlahnstein.
Court Summons, Lemberg (Lvov)

2014.1.268

Front: Tan postcard with black printed postcard lines. Includes typewritten address, a brown postage stamp of Adolf Hitler, black, red and purple hand stamps and various writing in purple and blue pencil.Back: Printed black text with several additions written in with black ink. Includes a red hand stamp.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Summons to review an inheritance case. However, the summons turned out to be undeliverable (aufruferfolglos, zuruck), and was returned and filed with other Lemberg World War II-period papers in the Lvov city court. Many of the original pre-war Lemberg (Lvov) residents were uprooted and no longer lived at their registered addresses after the Soviet, and later, Nazi occupations. Some ended up in Siberia or Central Asia. Others were in Nazi concentration camps or killed by the Soviets, Nazis, and their collaborators, or in the Ukrainian-Polish Nationalistic strife, and yet others evacuated with the Soviets as the Nazis approached Lvov in the summer of 1941.
Order to All Men from 16 to 65 to Bring Personal Belongings and Await Further Instructions

2014.1.162

An order by a German Comisar presumably posted in Ukraine.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Ukrainian broadside from 1943 signed in type by a German "Comissar" ordering all men from 16 to 65 to the homes of the eldest bringing all personal belongings to await further orders. Inevitably these men were destined for labor camps in Poland and Germany. They often worked and starved to death.
Polish Forced Labor Camp "P"

2014.1.170

Purple and yellow diamond patch with a 'P' in the center.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Forced labor badge, yellow with both purple P and border, worn above the right breast, to identify a Polish forced laborer in Nazi Germany to distinguish them from Germans. After the German occupation of Poland in 1939, non-Jewish Poles were conscripted for civilian labor in Germany, usually on farms or factories. They would also have an identifying document such as an Arbeitsbuch or workbook. They were referred to as zivilarbeiter, or civilian workers.
Igazolványi Lap [Hungarian Jew's Identity Workbook]

2014.1.108

Front: Grey cover page with large red Z and smaller S. Includes several stamps and handwriting.Interior: Various printed charts filled out by hand.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Identity papers issued tin 1943 to a 46-year-old Hungarian Jew, Bela Grunhut, similar to passsports issued to German Jews in that its cover is emblazoned with the Hungarian Zs for Zsido to identify her as Jewish. Contains pages that are stamped and signed.
Censored Dual Reply Postcard from Slave Labor Camp in Nurnburg, Germany

2014.1.166

Front: White postcard with purple printed postcard lines. Includes text written in purple ink, and black and red hand stamps.Back: Printed purple lines.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A "Gemeinschaftslager" cover. The card's content is censored and the recipient did not respond with their portion of the cover. Sent from the Deutsche Star Kugelhalter GMBH. Note the markings from the Keim and Company, which enslaved the prisoners.
Postcard from Prisoner in Neuruppin, Germany Slave Labor Camp

2014.1.168

Front: White postcard with printed purple postcard lines. Includes writing in blue ink, and black and purple hand stamps.Back: Message in blue ink written on printed purple lines.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Censored dual reply cover from a prisoner-laborer in the forced labor camp of Neuruppin, Germany to Kiev in the Ukraine. Gemeinschaftslager cover. The card is censored with no response from the recipient.
Polish Forced Laborer Workbook for Foreigner

2014.1.169

Front: Cover with Nazi eagle.Interior: Identification information about worker, signature, as well as blank boxes. Back: A signature in green.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Polish forced laborer with photograph showing his “P” patch from 1943.
Identification of Laborer in Organisation Todt

2014.1.171

Front: Grey page with black printed writing with information filled in in black ink. Includes a black and white photograph of a man, as well as several purple and black hand stamps.Interior: Various biographical information and charts.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Organisation Todt was an engineering organization. From 1942-45 it was directed by Albert Speer. These men were essentially slaves absorbed from conquered territories and used for a vast array of projects for the Nazi state.