When we reflect on the destruction of World War II, our attention tends to land on battles and campaigns. But perhaps one of the darkest, and not-as-widely-discussed, themes of Nazi domination of Eastern Europe was the pervasive practice of forced labor. This wasn’t merely an incidental side effect of occupation—it was a concerted policy, based on racial ideology, employed to power the German war machine and annihilate the groups it opposed.
Underlying this cruel system was the Nazi conviction that Slavs were racially inferior—barely superior to Jews, Roma, and others deemed “undesirable.” To the Nazis, Slavs were intended to serve, not flourish. Leaders such as Erich Koch, one of the region’s highest-ranking Nazi officials, confirmed that they viewed the native population as expendable. In a grim 1941 speech, Koch declared the average Slavic laborer “a thousand times inferior” to the worst German worker. That sort of mentality established the basis for a system that would take advantage of millions.
In Poland, preparations were underway nearly as soon as the Germans invaded. The Nazis tore down existing labor protections, dismantled unions, and introduced strict laws requiring all Polish citizens between the ages of 18 and 60 to work for the occupying forces. Within a few weeks, labor offices sprouted everywhere. By late 1939, hundreds of thousands of Poles were being channeled into jobs in Germany. The figures continued to rise exponentially—by mid-1940, almost 700,000 were employed in German factories, farms, and industries, often in atrocious conditions.
Things only worsened after the Germans began their invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. With enormous new territory now under their control—including the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Belarus—the Nazis set their eyes further outward to build their pool of workers. Initially, they attempted to encourage people to come to Germany voluntarily.
Posters offered good wages, decent food, and better conditions than in their home countries. These enticements attracted some optimistic workers from cities such as Kharkiv and Kraków, but the situation they encountered was in no way like that promised.
Soon, the news trickled back to the families and friends. Reports of starvation, brutality, and endless work seeped quickly, and the number of volunteers dried up. The Nazi war machine, having suffered high losses and requiring more manpower, could not wait. That is when Fritz Sauckel took over as the head of labor conscription. His assignment was straightforward: obtain bodies for Germany, no matter what it took.
Sauckel’s tactics were brutal and merciless. Quotas were established, and recruiters were sent out armed with the potential for violence. Recruiters and police went from door to door, dragging individuals from their homes. Local authorities, frequently under pressure to produce results, had no qualms about rounding up political opponents or members of opposing ethnic groups. Frequently, there was no sense or logic—only a frantic attempt to stuff German factories with workers from Eastern Europe.
As time went on, the process grew increasingly violent and indiscriminate. Families were ripped apart, and communities existed in fear of the next raid. Survivors testified later to horrifying scenes—individuals snatched from streets, removed from schools or churches, beaten before their loved ones.
Resistance met only with more violence. In other villages, the recalcitrants had their homes destroyed or their families held hostage. In severe instances, whole communities were annihilated as a punitive measure. Bilozirka in Ukraine and Sumyn in Poland were among the sites that became pitiful lessons of the extent to which the Nazis went.
Naturally, individuals did not lie down and accept this. Young men and women risked everything not to be taken. Some pretended they were sick, others hurt themselves to make themself unfit for work. Thousands went into the forests, joining resistance movements and partisan forces. All of these acts of resistance made the job of the Nazis more difficult and compelled the Nazis to stretch their forces thinner over the occupied land.
Ultimately, the effect of this coerced labor policy reached well beyond the factories and fields of Germany. It disrupted families, destroyed communities, and left a legacy of fear, resistance, and trauma. The wounds it inflicted in Eastern Europe were felt long after the war was over. But even with the brutality, the resilience of the people remained. Their testimonies remind us not only of the atrocities of war but also of the resilience necessary to survive—and resist—systemic violence. The lessons of the time are eternal and worth remembering, not merely as history, but as a warning for the future.