Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union

Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union was considered by the Soviet Union to be part of German war reparations for the damage inflicted by Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union during World War II. German civilians in Germany and Eastern Europe were deported to the USSR after World War II as forced laborers, while ethnic Germans living in the USSR were deported during World War II and conscripted for forced labor. German prisoners of war were also used as a source of forced labor during and after the war by the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union was considered by the Soviet Union to be part of German war reparations for the damage inflicted by Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union during World War II. German civilians in Germany and Eastern Europe were deported to the USSR after World War II as forced laborers, while ethnic Germans living in the USSR were deported during World War II and conscripted for forced labor. German prisoners of war were also used as a source of forced labor during and after the war by the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. Nazi Germany used forced labour of people on the occupied territories since the beginning of World War II. In 1940 it initiated a massive project of enslaving the populations of Eastern European countries to use as forced labour in German factories and agricultural facilities. The Soviet government proposed the use of German labor as reparations in 1943, and the issue was raised at the Yalta Conference by the Soviets. The USSR began deporting ethnic Germans from the Balkans in late 1944, most of the surviving internees had returned by 1950. The NKVD took the lead role in it via its department, the Chief Directorate for Prisoners of War and Internee Affairs (GUPVI). Information about the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union was suppressed in the Eastern Bloc until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Before that, however, it was known in the West through accounts released in West Germany and recollections of the internees. These German accounts are cited by historians that cover the employment of German labor by the USSR. Statistics for the Soviet use of German civilian labor are divergent and contradictory. This article details the published statistical data from the West German Schieder commission, the German Red Cross, the report of the German Federal Archives and a study by Gerhard Reichling an employee of the Federal Statistical Office of Germany. Recently declassified statistical data from the Soviet archives on the use of German civilian labor in the Stalin era was published in the book Against Their Will. Since the fall of the USSR the Soviet archives have been accessible to researchers. The Russian scholar Pavel Polian in 2001 published an account of the deportations during the Soviet era, Against Their Will. Polian's study detailed the Soviet statistics on the employment of German civilian labor during the Stalin era. The study was published by Central European University Press. In 1943 Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to the UK, was ordered by the Soviet government to form a task force on the issue of post-war reparations from Germany. Maisky's report of August 1944 proposed the employment of German civilian labor in the USSR as part of war reparations. At the Yalta Conference the Soviet Union made it clear to the Western Allies that they intended to employ German civilian labor as part of war reparations, at this time the U.S. and UK did not raise any objections to the Soviet use of German civilian labor. By the summer of 1944 the Soviet forces had reached the Balkans that had ethnic German minorities. State Defense Committee Order 7161 of December 16, 1944 instructed to intern all able-bodied Germans of ages 17–45 (men) and 18-30 (women) residing within the territories of Romania (67,332 persons), Hungary (31,920 persons), Yugoslavia (12,579 persons), which were under the control of the Red Army. Consequently, 111,831 (61,375 men and 50,456 women) able bodied adult ethnic Germans from Romania, Yugoslavia, and Hungary were deported for forced labor to the USSR. During the 1945 military campaign in Poland the Soviet Union interned suspected Nazi party members and government officials in camps in the Soviet-occupied areas east of the Oder-Neisse line. Persons held in these short-lived camps east of the line were subsequently transferred to NKVD special camps in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany or to the Soviet Union for forced labor By May 1945 the NKVD had selected for deportation to the USSR 66,152 German civilians who were considered suspected Nazi party members and government officials, as well as 89,110 able bodied adults (mostly men) for forced labor. In early 1947 the Soviets sent an additional 4,579 Germans from the Soviet occupation zone to the USSR as forced laborers. The Soviets classified the civilians interned into two groups; the first Group A (205,520 persons) were 'mobilized internees' who were able bodied adults selected for labor; the second Group D (66,152 persons) 'arrested internees' were Nazi party members, German government officials and suspected agents, and others considered a threat by the Soviets. Soviet records state that they repatriated 21,061 Polish citizens from labor camps which indicates that not all of the internees were ethnic Germans and some could have been ethnic Poles. The Soviets sent about three-quarters of the laborers to the Donets Basin to work in the reconstruction of heavy industry and mines, and about 11% to the Urals' heavy industries. The workers were housed in concentration camps under armed guard. The working and living conditions were harsh and according to Soviet records about 24% of those interned died. Forced labor turned out to be inefficient and unprofitable since many of the women and older men were not able to perform heavy labor. Repatriation started as early as 1945 and almost all were released by 1950.