The Nazi camp system expanded rapidly after the beginning of World War II in September 1939, as forced labor became important in war production. Labor shortages in the German war economy became critical after German defeat in the battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943. This led to the increased use of concentration camp prisoners as forced laborers in German armaments industries. Especially in 1943 and 1944, hundreds of subcamps were established in or near industrial plants. Subcamps were generally smaller camps administered by the main camps, which supplied them with the required number of prisoners. Camps such as Auschwitz in Poland, Buchenwald in central Germany, Gross-Rosen in eastern Germany, Natzweiler-Struthof in eastern France, Ravensbrueck near Berlin, and Stutthof near Danzig on the Baltic coast became administrative centers of huge networks of subsidiary forced-labor camps.
After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Siegfried fled with a friend. They attempted to get papers allowing them to go to France, but were turned over to the Germans. Siegfried was jailed, taken to Berlin, and then transported to the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin in October 1939. He was among the first Polish Jews imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. Inmates were mistreated and made to carry out forced labor. After two years, Siegfried was deported to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, where he was forced to work in the stone quarry. In October 1942, Siegfried was deported from Gross-Rosen to the Auschwitz camp in occupied Poland. While there, Siegfried tried to use his experience as a pharmacist to save ill prisoners. As Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz camp in January 1945, Siegfried was forced on a death march from the camp. Those prisoners who could not continue or keep up were killed. Siegfried survived.
Norbert studied law and was a social worker in Berlin. He worked on the Kindertransport (Children's Transport) program, arranging to send Jewish children from Europe to Great Britain. His parents, who also lived in Berlin, were deported in December 1942. Norbert, his wife, and their child were deported to Auschwitz in March 1943. He was separated from his wife and child, and sent to the Buna works near Auschwitz III (Monowitz) for forced labor. Norbert survived the Auschwitz camp, and was liberated by US forces in Germany in May 1945.
Moishe was born to Yiddish-speaking Jewish parents in Radom. The industrial city was known for its armaments factories in which Jews could not work and for its leather industry in which many Jews did. When Moishe was a teenager, he finished school and apprenticed to become a women's tailor. Moishe earned a certificate enabling him to be a licensed tailor and settled down in Radom.
1933-39: By 1939, Moishe had become a master tailor specializing in women's clothes. He remembers local antisemitic organizations which displayed anti-Jewish posters and sponsored boycotts of Jewish businesses. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Seven days later, German troops entered Radom. Polish antisemitism paled in contrast to the ensuing brutalities.
1940-44: In April 1941 Moishe was forced to live in a ghetto along with all of Radom's Jewish citizens. The Germans assigned him and other master tailors to work in an SS shop in 1942. That August, the Germans liquidated Radom's two ghettos and deported thousands of people to the Treblinka killing center. Like other skilled artisans, Moishe was selected to remain in the ghetto, working as a forced laborer. But the roundups continued. The forced laborers felt like helpless chickens in a coop, waiting to be yanked away for slaughter.
Two years later, Moishe was deported to labor camps in Germany. He was liberated by American troops during a forced march near Dachau. After the war, he immigrated to the U.S.
Itzik, also known as Izak, was one of three sons born to Yiddish-speaking Jewish parents. When Itzik was a young child his family moved to the city of Radom. Itzik left school when he was 11 to apprentice as a women's tailor. After he apprenticed with several tailors in Radom and Warsaw, he went back to school and earned a tailor's license.
1933-39: In 1938 Itzik married Taube Fishman, the daughter of his first employer, after a 13-year courtship much opposed by her family. They lived in Radom, where Itzik opened his own shop in their apartment on 49 Zeromskiego Street. In July 1939 they had a son, Max. Germany invaded Poland that September and occupied their city on the 8th. The Germans forcibly removed all the Jews from our street. Itzik and his family were left with only the clothes on their backs.
1940-44: Radom's Jewish Council assigned Itzik's family to a shack, which was later enclosed in a Jewish ghetto. He made clothes for the Germans, who gave him food in return. In 1942 the Germans assigned Itzik and other master tailors to work in an SS shop. One night in August, German soldiers entered the ghetto and started shooting and deporting people. He tried to hide his family in the shop, but they were caught in a roundup and his wife and son were wrenched away from him. Itzik was selected to remain in the ghetto as a forced laborer.
Two years later, Itzik was deported via Auschwitz to the Vaihingen camp where he was liberated by French troops on April 5, 1945. In 1950 he immigrated to the United States.
Ita was the second-youngest of nine children born to religious Jewish parents in Starachowice, a town in east-central Poland. Their small one-story house served as both the family's residence and their tailor shop. The tailoring was often done in exchange for goods such as firewood or a sack of potatoes. Ita often helped her mother with chores around the house.
1933-39: Ita's father died at home on a Saturday in June 1939, shortly after returning from synagogue. He had lain down to rest, when suddenly blood ran from his mouth. Her brother, Chuna, ran for the doctor, but when he returned, their father had already died. They buried him in the Jewish cemetery outside town. Ita's mother and older siblings kept the tailor shop running. That September, German forces occupied Starachowice.
1940-45: In October 1942, SS guards forced the town's Jews into the marketplace. Ita, who already was a forced laborer at a nearby factory, was lined up with the "able-bodied," along with Chuna. They were marched to a nearby forced-labor camp, where Ita was put to work serving food to the Polish workers. When a typhus epidemic struck the camp, Ita contracted the disease. Unable to work, she was sent to the barracks for sick prisoners. Chuna visited her daily, often bringing her rags to pad her painful bedsores.
With no medicine or doctors for the sick prisoners, Ita died of her illness after three months. She was buried in a nearby stone quarry. Ita was 17 years old.
In Frankfurt, Ruth's family faced intensifying anti-Jewish measures; her father's business was taken over and Ruth's Jewish school was closed. In April 1943, Ruth and her family were deported to Auschwitz. Ruth was selected for forced labor and assigned to work on road repairs. She also worked in the "Kanada" unit, sorting possessions brought into the camp. In November 1944, Ruth was transferred to the Ravensbrueck camp system, in Germany. She was liberated in May 1945, during a death march from the Malchow camp.
This photograph shows some of the 190 granite blocks donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by the Mauthausen Public Memorial in Austria. The Nazis established the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1938 near an abandoned stone quarry. Prisoners were forced to carry these granite blocks up more than 180 steps. The small blocks weighed between 30 and 45 pounds each. The larger blocks could each weigh more than 75 pounds. Prisoners assigned to forced labor in the camp quarry were quickly worked to death.
In German-occupied areas, the Nazis singled out Jewish laborers for cruel treatment. Jewish laborers were also subjected to humiliating treatment, as when SS men forced religious Jews to submit to having their beards cut. The ghettos served as bases for utilizing Jewish labor, as did forced-labor camps for Jews in occupied Poland. In the Lodz ghetto, for example, the Nazis opened 96 factories. The ability to work could save one's life, but most often only temporarily. Jews deemed unproductive by the Nazis were often the first to be shot or deported. Jewish labor, even forced labor, was considered expendable. The extermination of the Jews became the singular priority of the Nazis.
The Nazis exploited the forced labor of "enemies of the state" for economic gain. Labor shortages in the German war economy became critical especially after German defeat in the battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943. This led to the increased use of prisoners as forced laborers in German industries. Especially in 1943 and 1944, hundreds of camps were established in or near industrial plants.
Camps such as Auschwitz in Poland and Buchenwald in central Germany became administrative centers of huge networks of forced-labor camps. In addition to SS-owned enterprises (the German Armament Works, for example), private German firms—such as Messerschmidt, Junkers, Siemens, and IG Farben—increasingly relied on forced laborers to boost war production. One of the most infamous of these camps was Auschwitz III, or Monowitz, which supplied forced laborers to a synthetic rubber plant owned by IG Farben. Prisoners in all the concentration camps were literally worked to death.
Key Dates
October 26, 1939 Forced labor instituted for Jews in Poland As soon as German forces occupy Poland in September 1939, Jews are drafted for forced labor to clear war damage and repair roads. This practice is formalized in October, when the Germans institute forced labor for Jewish men between the ages of 14 and 60 in occupied Poland. Later, Jewish women along with Jewish children aged 12 to 14 are also required to perform forced labor. Forced-labor camps for Jews are established throughout occupied Poland and Jews in the ghettos are required to report to the German occupation authorities for work. Jews generally work 10 to 12 hour days under harsh conditions, receiving little or no pay.
May 21, 1942 I.G. Farben plant opens near Auschwitz The I.G. Farben synthetic-rubber and petroleum plant opens at Monowice, near Auschwitz, using Jewish forced laborers from the camp. The German conglomerate IG Farben established a factory there in order to take advantage of cheap concentration camp labor and the nearby Silesian coalfields. It invested more than 700 million Reichsmarks (about 1.4 million US dollars in 1942). Auschwitz III, also called Buna or Monowitz, is located nearby to provide forced laborers for the plant. Life expectancy for workers at the giant plant is extremely poor. By 1945, about 25,000 forced laborers have died in the Monowitz plant.
July 11, 1942 Jews in Salonika, Greece, held for forced labor The Germans require all Jewish men between the ages of 18 and 45 living in Salonika to report to Liberty Square where they are to receive forced-labor assignments. 9,000 Jewish men report. About 2,000 are assigned to forced-labor projects for the German army. The remainder are detained until the Jewish communities of Salonika and Athens pay a huge ransom to the German occupation authorities for their release. As part of the payment, the Jewish cemetery in Salonika is transferred to city ownership. The city dismantles it and uses stones from the cemetery in the construction of a university on the site.
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