The exhibition at the German Historical Museum addresses the role of the German police in the organization of National Socialist forced labor, including a media station with interview excerpts from the online archive "Forced Labor 1939-1945".

From April 1 to August 28, 2011, the German Historical Museum in Berlin shows the exhibition "Order and Annihilation – The Police and the Nazi Regime" in cooperation with the German Police University Münster. The exhibition examines the central role of the German police in the Nazi regime and, amongst other issues, in the deportation, surveillance and punishment of forced laborers.

The exhibition also features a media station with interview excerpts from the online archive "Forced Labor 1939-1945" created by Freie Universität Berlin / Center for Digital Systems in cooperation with the Police University.

Memories of Former Forced Laborers

Four witnesses talk about their experiences of German police and factory security officers:

The thirteen year old Bronislawa A., an "Ostarbeiterin" (Eastern worker), is forced to work by a uniformed factory security officer (Interview  za020 »). The 22 year old Frenchman André D. describes his experience of the police surveillance system, raids and punishment at the forced labor camp of the Heinkel Aircraft Works (Interview  za077 »). The 18 year old Pole Zdzisław D. is harassed and beaten by local police in a German village (Interview  za193 »). The police oversee the labor of 14 year old Sinto, Reinhard F., at a farm in East Prussia before sending him to Mauthausen concentration camp in 1941 (Interview za062 »).

• Interview excerpts from the media station. To the video (Russian, French and Polish with German subtitles) »

• More about the exhibition "Order and Annihilation – The Police and the Nazi Regime" »