Nazi forced labor

Forced labor refers to work performed under duress with personal bondage and the threat of punishment. The term “forced labor” was used only rarely during the Nazi era, more often by opposition forces, but became accepted as a general term after 1945. Forced labor under National Socialism refers in particular to the deportation and exploitation of over 13 million foreign concentration camp prisoners , prisoners of war and “civilian” laborers for work in Germany. It was organized by Fritz Sauckel as General Commissioner for the Labor Deployment. In the German-occupied countries, too, the civilian population was generally forced to work. Nazi forced labor was an extensive, thoroughly organized, and racially brutal form of unfree labor. To be distinguished from this are the labor duties for the German population (Reichsarbeitsdienst, Dienstverpflichtung, Landjahr), which took place under completely different conditions.