Hitler's Slaves: Life Stories of Forced Labourers in Nazi-Occupied Europe

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Hitler's Slaves

Life Stories of Forced Labourers in Nazi-Occupied Europe

Edited by: Alexander von Plato , Almut Leh and Christoph Thonfeld

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2010

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About this book

During World War II at least 13.5 million people were employed as forced labourers in Germany and across the territories occupied by the German Reich. Most came from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldavia, the Baltic countries, France, Poland and Italy. Among them were 8.4 million civilians working for private companies and public agencies in industry, administration and agriculture. In addition, there were 4.6 million prisoners of war and 1.7 million concentration camp prisoners who were either subjected to forced labour in concentration or similar camps or were ‘rented out’ or sold by the SS. While there are numerous publications on forced labour in National Socialist Germany during World War II, this publication combines a historical account of events with the biographies and memories of former forced labourers from twenty-seven countries, offering a comparative international perspective.

Author / Editor information

Contributor: Alexander von Plato

Alexander von Plato is a historian and the former Director of the Institute for History and Biography at the University of Hagen (Germany). He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Vienna, the Director of the International Life Story Project on Forced Labourers during WW II, and the Secretary of the International Oral History Association. His many publications include books and films on mentality history, focusing particularly on National Socialism, World War II, and German reunification.

--- Contributor: Almut Leh

Almut Lehis a historian and Research Fellow at the Institute for History and Biography at the University of Hagen (Germany) and co-editor of BIOS –Zeitschrift für Biographieforschung, Oral History und Lebensverlaufsanalysen. She also is a council member of the International Oral History Association and has published on German history since 1945 and the methodology of oral history.

--- Contributor: Christoph Thonfeld

Christoph Thonfeld is a historian and language teacher and is currently Assistant Professor of German language and culture at Cheng Chi University in Taipei, Taiwan. He is also researching forced labourers’ memories of WW II in an internationally comparative perspective. He is co-editor of the periodical WerkstattGeschichte.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword Board of Directors of the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
I
Introduction Alexander von Plato, Almut Leh and Christoph Thonfeld Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
II
1. Reports from Germany on Forced and Slave Labour Alexander von Plato Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	23
2. Work, Repression and Death after the Spanish Civil War Mercedes Vilanova Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	37
3. Czechs as Forced and Slave Labourers during the Second World War Šárka Jarská Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	47
4. Slovak Republic (1939–1945) Viola Jakschová Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	59
5. ‘You can’t say it out loud. And you can’t forget’ Polish Experiences of Slave and Forced Labour for the ‘Third Reich’ Piotr Filipkowski and Katarzyna Madoń-Mitzner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	71
6. The Fate of Polish Slave and Forced Labourers from Łódz Ewa Czerwiakowski and Gisela Wenzel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	86
7. Interviews with Polish Roma A Report of My Experiences Artur Podgorski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	99
8. The French Experience STO, a Memory to Collect, a History to Write Anne-Marie Granet-Abisset Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	113
9. The Experiences of Hungarian Slave and Forced Labourers Éva Kovács Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	124
10. ‘Mother, are the apples at home ripe yet?’ Slovenian Forced and Slave Labourers during the Second World War Monika Kokalj Kočevar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	138
11. Of Silence and Remembrance Forced Labour and the NDH, and the History of their Remembrance Christian Schölzel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	151
12. ‘If you lose your freedom, you lose everything’ The Experiences and Memories of Serbian Forced Labourers Barbara N. Wiesinger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	166
13. They Survived Two Wars Bosnian Roma as Civil War Refugees in Germany Birgit Mair Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	177
14. Forced Labour in Bulgaria 1941–1944 Tracing the Memories Ana Luleva Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	188
15. Lithuania 1941–1944 Slave and Forced Labourers Remember Rose Lerer Cohen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	199
16. Belarusian Forced Labourers Types and Recruitment Methods Alexander Dalhouski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	211
17. Forced and Slave Labour in Belarus Experiences, Coping Strategies and Personal Accounts Imke Hansen and Alesja Belanovich Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	226
18. The Experience of Forced Labourers from Galician Ukraine Tetyana Lapan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	238
19. Oral Histories of Former Ukrainian Ostarbeiter Preliminary Results of Analysis Gelinada Grinchenko Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	250
20. Oral Testimonies from Russian Victims of Forced Labour Irina Scherbakova Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	262
21. The Experience of Citizens of the Former Soviet Union as Forced Labourers in Nazi Germany Natalia Timofeyeva Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	276
22. Presenting Life in Captivity Oral Testimonies of Former Forced and Slave Labourers from St Petersburg and the Russian Northwest Anna Reznikova Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	286
23. Women’s Biographies and Women’s Memory of War Olga Nikitina, Elena Rozhdestvenskaya and Victoria Semenova Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	296
24. The Deportation of the Italians 1943–1945 Doris Felsen and Viviana Frenkel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	310
25. Former Forced Labourers as Immigrants in Great Britain after 1945 Christoph Thonfeld Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	324
26. Slave Labour and Shoah A View from Israel Margalit Bejarano and Amija Boasson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	338
27. International Slave and Forced Labour Documentation Project United States, Atlanta, Georgia Sara Ghitis and Ruth Weinberger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	351
28. Forced and Slave Labour in the Context of the Jewish Holocaust Experience Dori Laub and Johanna Bodenstab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	364
III
29. A Memorial for the Persecuted, Materials for Education and Science The Compilation of Biographies of Former Slave and Forced Labourers Almut Leh and Henriette Schlesinger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	377
30. ‘A moment of elation … and painful’ The Homecoming of Slave and Forced Labourers after the Second World War Christoph Thonfeld Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	394
31. Witnesses at the First Auschwitz Trial in Frankfurt Dagi Knellessen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	407
32. Twenty-five Years Later Revisiting Testimonies of Holocaust Survivors Dori Laub and Johanna Bodenstab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	426
33. It Was Modern Slavery Some Results of the Documentation Project on Forced and Slave Labour Alexander von Plato Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	441
Appendix 1: Interview Guidelines Alexander von Plato Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	485
Appendix 2: Timeline Forced Labour and Compensation Joachim Riegel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	495
Appendix 3: Interview Partners Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	509
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	523
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	525
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	538

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

October 10, 2022

eBook ISBN:

9781845459901

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

560

Coloured Illustrations:

20

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781845459901

eBook ISBN: 9781845459901

Keywords for this book

History (General); History: 20th Century to Present

Audience(s) for this book

For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research

Hitler's Slaves

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Table of contents

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