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Individual Experiences of Forced Labor
The living conditions of the forced laborers varied according to their status, site of employment, their background and gender.
Page from the workbook of Paul Ch., French forced laborer
Civilian forced laborers had more freedom than prisoners of war or concentration camp prisoners. Forced labor in mining and bunker construction was worse than being deployed in individual households or on farms. Conditions other than in the German Reich itself prevailed in the occupied territories.
Women suffered additional harassment. People of Slavic descent were especially discriminated against. Roma and Jewish “slave laborers” were even targeted as victims of “Vernichtung durch Arbeit” (extermination through labor).
The term “forced labor” covers several very different forms of employment. The diversity of these experiences can be seen in the vastly differing memories of individual survivors. A selection of biographies in the archive depicts the diversity of the lives and experiences of the witnesses. ( » Example Biographies from the Collection).
Walentina K., "OST-Arbeiter"
Józef M., Polish concentration camp prisoner and Auschwitz trial witness
News
New project day on the Auschwitz Trial
At the second day of "Victims' Voices at the Perpetrators' Site" in the "Topograpy of Terror", students do research on witnesses and perpetrators at Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial (1963-65).
Second Edition Educational Material
The educational material about "Forced Labor 1939-1945" ist now available in a second edition. Video DVD, learning software and teachers' book are can be purchased at Federal Agency for Civic Education.
Testifying in Nazi Trials
On december 15, 1961, the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem ended with a death sentence. The Jewish Auschwitz survivor and artist Yehuda B. testified against Adolf Eichmann and - two years later - at the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt.
