SZ Photo - Forced laborers in the Second World War
Under Nazi rule forced labour of an unprecedented scale took place. Millions of people - KZ inmates, prisoners of war and the civil population of occupied countries, (amongst others) - are forced to work in large- and small scale- enterprises, companies, government agencies, on farms and in private households. Forced labour is the foundation of wartime economy. - This selection contains pictures from our partner agency Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
01.01.1940 - Female Polish forced laborer filling casings in a munitions factory. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.09.1939 - A German foreman shows to forced workers how to operate the machines. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.08.1940 - Forced laborers in a munitions factory, August 1940. (Photo: Grimm) [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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20.08.1942 - Ukrainian slave laborers in a collection camp where they are registered and examined prior to their transport to Germany, [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.09.1941 - After the conquest of Kiev by units of the 6th Army civilians must remove the roadblocks that have been created by the Russian defenders. At right a German Field Gendarme controls...
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01.11.1941 - Russian female force laborers load in winter at the station of Szablino empty ammunition boxes. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.03.1943 - Children and mothers accompany to the station their husbands and fathers who were deported to Germany for forced labor. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.11.1941 - Russian forced laborers load in the winter at the station of Szablino empty ammunition boxes. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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10.02.1944 - Russian forced laborers load in freezing cold without gloves railroad tracks. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.09.1941 - The inhabitants of Kiev were conscripted to disassemble the barricades in their city. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1942 - Russian female force laborers repair a road for the German forward march. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1942 - Most Russian "volunteers" were forced laborers from the occupied territories of the USSR. These one here were supposed to be used in the German agriculture. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.10.1942 - ID check of Russian female slave laborers, who are intended to work in the German agriculture. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.09.1942 - Russian female force laborers unload a truck loaded with gravel of the 'Todt Organization'. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.08.1941 - The male inhabitants of the village Chupankowa had to repair the road as forced laborers. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - All able-bodied men, women, boys and girls showed up in the marketplace of Bolkhov equipped with shovels, rakes and picks to eliminate the mud. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1942 - A gang is used by a road construction company near the lake Ilmen. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.09.1941 - An interpreter of the Navy leads the shipyard workers to record their personal data. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.03.1942 - The Organization Todt built with the help of Russian laborers a road bridge made of wood across a river, as the old temporary bridge is low and is in danger because of the threaten...
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01.10.1942 - The local population was 'used for assistance' (forced labor) by the Organization Todt to repair a road near Leningrad. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.09.1941 - Women from a Russian village peel potatoes and provide the field kitchen. For this they receive a supplementary ration. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1942 - A Russian worker receives from the employment office of the German occupation a work assignment. The employment office collects all workers and regulates their use. Through the emp...
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01.11.1942 - Women wait outside the employment office of the German occupation of Smolensk. The employment office collects all workers and regulates their use. Through the employment offices ra...
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01.03.1942 - In the spring of 1942 German labor mediators assign local women at employment office of the Regional Commissioner of Baronowitsche. The employment office collects all workers and r...
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01.02.1942 - During a work assignment the remaining civilian population of a village must free an access road from snow and ice. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.05.1942 - During a voluntary labor stint Russian women dig out a car stuck in the mud. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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12.03.1943 - The population of the bridgehead of Demjansk is building for the German retreat walls of snow along a runway in order to protect the road from drifts. Subsequently, the population...
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01.02.1942 - At a work assignment of the Organization Todt Russian women must free a runway of snow and ice with shovels and pickaxes. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.08.1941 - The Polish commander is questioned by General Eberhard von Mackensen (1889-1969), [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1942 - Russian refugees are deported from the combat zone in an open wagon. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - In a railway depot Russian civilian workers are employed to clean-up in the storage places between the workshops. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - Russian civilians and prisoners of war are used in the cleaning up work in Krasnogwardeisk (now Gatchina). [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - Ukrainian workers smelt wheel bush for the German supply in a foundry for vehicle construction. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.08.1941 - A German construction company restores an impassable road just behind the front with the help of the Russian civilian population. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1943 - Forced laborers from Eastern Europe at lunch. They were at the Berlin Verlag Scherl in the commitment to work. All forcedly deported workers had to wear the patch "East" on their c...
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01.07.1941 - A group of Jewish citizens during clearing work after the conquest of Mogilev by the Germans in the middle section of the Eastern Front. They already wear the Star of David on thei...
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17.03.1945 - Foreign workers from the East work for the Wehrmacht in a repair station for motor vehicles. Photo: Plenik [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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19.10.1939 - Polish prisoners of war are deployed in agriculture in 1939. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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10.02.1943 - Two forced laborers from Ukraine wash themselves after work in a shower room. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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21.02.1942 - A French forced laborer is examined before his departure to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.10.1942 - Forced laborers working on the steel reinforcement of a bunker at the Atlantic Wall. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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24.09.1943 - Forced laborers employed in an industrial plant take a shower. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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30.07.1943 - Forced laborers from Russia portion out food during the trip to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - Serbian forced laborers employed in an industrial company, stand in a long queue at the allocation of milk. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1942 - A German naval soldier and member of the Field Gendarmerie check the papers of a forced laborer engaged in a port facility in Belgium. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1943 - French forced laborers are employed in the construction of the Atlantic Wall on the French Atlantic coast. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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30.07.1943 - Russian slave laborers spend their free Sunday afternoon with dancing and singing. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1943 - Forced laborers are employed in the construction of the Atlantic Wall on the French Atlantic coast. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1939 - Ukrainian forced laborers shower in a washroom in a camp before their departure to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.07.1942 - Forced laborers during brick manufacture produce on a machinery blanks for further processing. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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10.02.1943 - Forced laborers from Eastern Europe deal with reading or needlework after their work. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.05.1942 - Ukrainian forced laborers gather at the station before their departure to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.05.1942 - Ukrainian forced workers are registered in a collection center and receive their work permit before they are brought to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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20.09.1943 - Award ceremony at the end of a sports festival of forced laborers from different countries at the Avus. SA-Colonel Stegemann congratulates a French participant. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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30.07.1943 - Russian slave laborers have arrived with their luggage at the station, from where they are taken to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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30.07.1943 - An Eastern European forced laborer is examined by a doctor in a transit camp on the trip to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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15.09.1943 - Russian voluntary assistants (volunteers of the Wehrmacht) read newspapers in their native language. Warning: probably Russian voluntary assistants, no forced laborers! [XPAEXPORTI...
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01.01.1939 - Eastern European forced laborers had flocked with their luggage at the station prior to their departure to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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08.05.1943 - A Serbian forced laborer, who is with his family in his home town, shows a German police sergeant on a map his workplace in Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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30.07.1943 - Eastern European forced laborers had flocked with their luggage at the station prior to their departure to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - View of a German camp where are housed forced laborers from different countries. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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24.09.1943 - At a rally forced laborers are required to make a declaration of loyalty to Adolf Hitler for the propaganda purposes of Robert Ley, Head of the German Labor Front. [XPAEXPORTID0000...
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01.01.1939 - Young laborers sit at a table in a writing space and write letters. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.05.1942 - Ukrainian slave laborers have arrived with their luggage at the station prior to their departure to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - In her free time Serbian forced laborers are playing cards. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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30.06.1943 - Russian forced laborers sit in their camp at a table, they eat and talk. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - A Serbian forced laborer, who is employed in a German industrial company, is playing on a guitar in his free time. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1940 - Belgian laborers sitting on a train at the station before the departure to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.05.1942 - Before leaving to Germany, a Ukrainian forced laborer is examined by a doctor of the army. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.07.1942 - Forced laborers who are employed in the brick production, sit in their break under a drying stand for blanks. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.07.1942 - Agricultural workers from Eastern Europe carry newborn calves to a stall on a farm in Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1939 - Jewish men remove rubble from the combat in Warsaw. Jews received support only if they worked 6 hours daily. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.01.1939 - Towards the end of the fighting for Warsaw, Jewish inhabitants are required to repair damage caused by the war. Under guard, Jews pull a dead horse to a ditch. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.04.1943 - During WWII the Nazis recruited forced labor in all the occupied territories, which was also employed in the war economy. This photo, taken by the official war reporter Schmaehmann...
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01.05.1942 - Ukrainian female forced laborers going through a medical examination before travelling to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.11.1942 - A network of service agencies of the German worker's authority expanded over the German occupied territories, locating and employing all the local work force not only for use in th...
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01.06.1942 - Russian forced laborers gather to depart for Germany at an occupied train station behind the Eastern front. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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24.09.1943 - Dr. Ley, leader of the German Labor Front, gives a speech at a large rally of foreign forced laborers. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1942 - Russian forced laborers before being transported to the German Reich at a train station on the Eastern front. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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08.07.1943 - Ukrainian workers that "volunteered" are saying good bye to their family before they are deported by train to German. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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15.06.1943 - Forced laborers from the East attend a concert of the Staatskapelle Berlin during a break. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1939 - Forced laborers from the East are deported in trains to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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20.08.1942 - Arrival of Ukrainian youths that were conscripted in a German collecting camp. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.04.1942 - Russian forced laborers, most of them women and adolescents, ordered to clear the roads of mud. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1943 - French actors from Bordeaux on the way to a longer tour in Germany, among others the comedian Tichadel and Rousseau. They are supposed to entertain French workers (forced laborers)...
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30.07.1943 - A group of so-called "Eastern worker" singing with a guitar. The illustrations showing free time should highlight the good treatment and voluntariness of workers. [XPAEXPORTID00000...
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19.08.1943 - Dressmakers in a Siemens clothing store. The mandatory patch "East" clarifies the status of the worker in the middle. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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24.09.1943 - Forced laborers, among others from the Netherlands, and German workers during a speech of the leader of the German Labor Front, Robert Ley. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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24.09.1943 - Forced laborers and German workers during a speech of the leader of the German Labor Front, Robert Ley. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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30.07.1943 - Eastern European forced laborers watch an artistic performance prior to their departure to Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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30.07.1943 - Forced laborers from Eastern Europe playing cards during the journey. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1939 - Russian women during a Christmas party at the Scherl publishing house. On the clothes they wear the patch East"." [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.01.1939 - A Wehrmacht employee writes transport lists for Ukrainian workers prior to their transport to Germany. The already passed the medical examination. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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01.01.1939 - 'Reichsorganisationsleiter (National Organizational Leader) Robert Ley speaks to workers and guests in a munitions factory. Among the audience in the background there are also dele...
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01.01.1939 - Laborers from the Soviet Union (Eastland-workers) after work in their accommodation. [XPAEXPORTID000002]
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24.09.1943 - Forced laborers shower in the camp of an industrial plant. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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08.07.1943 - A doctor of an SS unit (SS Obersturmfuehrer) examines a Ukrainian young woman for her suitability. Countless civilians were used locally or on the territory of the Reich as forced...
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04.10.1943 - Soviet prisoners of war collect building material for the construction of new connecting roads on the Eastern Front. PK-Photo: war correspondent Vorpahl. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1942 - An elderly woman gets tea from a field range in an assembly camp on the Eastern Front. Civilians were forced by the German occupiers to work in agriculture. Photo of the Propaganda...
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11.12.1941 - Behind the battle lines, Soviet prisoners of war are used as forced laborers. Photo of the Propaganda Company (PK): war correspondent Henisch. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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08.07.1943 - People from Ukraine on the way to a concentration camp. They are obliged to do forced labor in Germany. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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08.07.1943 - Ukrainian forced laborers are served soup at a field range (Photo of the Propaganda Company (PK)). [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.01.1942 - Russian men are forced to work in a village at the Southern section of the Eastern Front. Photo of the Propaganda Company (PK): war correspondent. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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01.06.1942 - Forced laborers arrive at a meeting place for a cup of tea. Photo of the Propaganda Company (PK): war correspondent Rabenberger. [XPAEXPORTID000001]
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