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 the Axis-Soviet campaigns of World War II. Soviet authorities deported German civilians from Germany and Eastern Europe 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 by the Western Allies.
Nazi Germany had used forced labour of people in 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 raised the issue at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. 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 the deportations via its department, the Chief Directorate for Prisoners of War and Internee Affairs.
Information about the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union was suppressed in the Eastern Bloc until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Before that, however, it was known in the West through accounts released in West Germany and recollections of the internees. Historians cite German accounts 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 of 1951-1961, the German Red Cross, the report of the German Federal Archives and a study by Gerhard Reichling. Recently declassified statistical data from the Soviet archives on the use of German civilian labor in the Stalin era were published in the book Against Their Will.
Recent disclosures from the Soviet archives
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 and 18-30 residing within the territories of Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, which were under the control of the Red Army. Consequently, 111,831 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 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 were "mobilized internees" who were able bodied adults selected for labor; the second Group D "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.
| Country | Number |
| Former eastern territories of Germany and Poland | 155,262 |
| Romania | 67,332 |
| Hungary | 31,920 |
| Yugoslavia | 12,579 |
| Soviet occupation zone in Germany | 4,579 |
| Total Interned | 271,672 |
| Repatriated by 12/1949 | |
| Died or "withdrawn" | |
| Still Held 12/1949 | 3,752 |
Source of figures Pavel Polian-Against Their Will
Notes:
1. Country indicates the location where the persons were conscripted, not citizenship.
2. The 201,464 surviving internees were citizens of the following nations- Germany 77,692; Romania 61,072; Hungary 29,101; Poland 21,061; Yugoslavia 9,034; Czechoslovakia 2,378; Austria 199; Bulgaria and other countries 927.
3. Figures do not include German civilians interned in the Kaliningrad Oblast, the former East Prussia
4. Figures do not include "Forced Repatriation" and "Resettlers" Ethnic Germans from the USSR who had been resettled by Germany in Poland during the war. They were returned to the USSR.
5. Figures do not include military POWs.
6. Still held 12/1949- Persons convicted by Soviet military tribunals and held in MVD prisons in the USSR
Thanks to the opening of the Russian archives, the fates of some of these civilians are now known. By late 1996, the German Red Cross had received from Russia 199,000 records of deported German civilians who had either been repatriated or died in Soviet captivity. For example, the records of Pauline Gölner reveal that she was born in 1926 in Wolkendorf in Transylvania, was arrested on January 15, 1945 and sent to forced labor in the coal mines of Chanchenkowo. She died there on February 26, 1949, 23 years old.
There is currently an ongoing research program in collaboration between Russia and Germany:
Deportation and forced labor of Soviet Germans during WW2
The ethnic German minority in the USSR was considered a security risk by the Soviet government and they were deported during the war in order to prevent their possible collaboration with the Nazi invaders. In August 1941 the Soviet government ordered ethnic Germans to be deported from the European USSR. By early 1942 1,031,300 Germans had been banished to Central Asia and Siberia. During 1945 the Soviets deported to the special settlements an additional 203,796 Soviet ethnic Germans who had been resettled by Germany in Poland. During the war, shortages of food plagued the whole Soviet Union, especially within the special settlements. Life in the special settlements was harsh and severe; food was limited and the deported population was governed by strict regulations. According to data from the Soviet archives, by October 1945 687,300 Germans remained alive in the special settlements, an additional 316,600 Soviet Germans served as labor conscripts during World War II in NKVD labor columns, later informally referred to as "labor army". Soviet Germans were not accepted in the regular armed forces but were employed instead as conscript labor. The labor army members followed camp-like regulations and received the GULAG rations.In 1949 the German population in the special settlements was put at 1,035,701 by the NKVD. According to J. Otto Pohl 65,599 Germans perished in the special settlements, he believes that an additional 176,352 unaccounted for persons "probably died in the labor army". During the Stalin era the Soviet Germans continued to be confined to the special settlements under strict supervision, in 1955 they were rehabilitated but were not allowed to return to the European USSR until 1972. The Soviet German population grew despite the deportations and forced labor during the war; in the 1939 Soviet census the German population was 1.427 million by 1959 it had increased to 1.619 million.
Schieder commission
The West German government-sponsored Schieder commission during the 1950s documented the population transfer of Germans from East-Central Europe after World War II. The head of the Commission was Dr. Theodor Schieder a rehabilitated former member of the Nazi party. In 1952 Schieder was chosen by the West German government to head the Commission that would document the fate of the Germans from Eastern Europe.From 1953 to 1961 the Schieder commission made estimates of the numbers of German civilians who died in the expulsions and those deported to the USSR for forced labor. These estimates are still cited in current accounts of the expulsions and deportations.
The following is a summary of the figures published by the Schieder commission from 1953 to 1961 for forced labor only. The figures are rough estimates and are not based on an actual enumeration of the dead.
Former eastern territories of Germany - 218,000 German civilians were deported to the USSR and at least 100,000 to 125,000 died.
Romania -75,000 German civilians were deported to the USSR and that 15% did not return.
Hungary - 30,000 to 35,000 German civilians were deported to the USSR and that death toll was 6,000.
Yugoslavia - 27,000 to 35,000 German civilians were deported to the USSR and that death toll was 4,500 to 5,000.
German Red Cross estimates
The West German Search Service working with the German Red Cross attempted to trace German civilians deported to the USSR and estimate the approximate number who died. The results of these West German efforts to trace the fate of those deported was detailed in a study by Kurt Böhme published in 1965 Gesucht wird, Sought After. The number of deported was derived by estimating the number of persons sent to the USSR, and was not based on an actual enumeration. The work of the German Search Service to trace the fates of civilians in eastern Europe was only partially successful. The figures for those deported and deaths were rough estimates and not always based on confirmed reports. As of September 30, 1964 the Search Service compiled information on 504,153 German civilians interned in the USSR.The figures from the German Red Cross are cited in some English language accounts of the German civilians deported to the USSR.
| Description | Number deported | Death rate | Dead & reported missing |
| A. "Reparations Deportees" | 375,000 | 45% | 169,000 |
| B. Forced Labor in Kaliningrad Oblast | 110,000 | 45% | 50,000 |
| C. "Forced Repatriation" and "Resettlers" | 300,000 | 37% | 111,000 |
| D. Civilians held as POWs | 45,000 | 22.2% | 10,000 |
| E. "Forced Service" | 26,000 | .4% | 100 |
| F. Klaipėda residents | 10,500 | 9.5% | 1,000 |
| G. "Convicted POWs" | 7,500 | 9% | 700 |
| Total | 874,000 | 39% | 341,800 |
Source of figures: Kurt W. Böhme - Gesucht wird - Die dramatische Geschichte des Suchdienstes Süddeutscher Verlag, München 1965 Page 275
Notes:
These categories in the Red Cross figures for deportees are also listed above in the Russian archive statistics.
A. Reparations Deportees Ethnic German civilians conscripted for labor in the Soviet Union for damages caused by Germany during the war. Origin- Former eastern territories of Germany and Poland -233,000; Romania 80,000: Hungary 35,000 and Yugoslavia 27,000. Most of the survivors were released by 1950.
E."Forced Service" -In the latter part of 1946 6,000 skilled workers mostly from the Soviet occupation zone accompanied by 20,000 family members were conscripted for work in the USSR under contract for five years. They were held under favorable conditions they began to be released in 1950, the last returned home in 1958.
These categories in the Red Cross figures for deportees are not listed above in the Russian archive statistics.
B. Forced Labor in Kaliningrad Oblast- German civilians interned in the former East Prussia, most of the survivors were released by 1948.
C. "Forced Repatriation" and "Resettlers" Ethnic Germans from the USSR who had been resettled by Germany in Poland during the war. They were returned to the USSR.
D. Civilians held as POWs — The Soviets classified these persons as POWs and they were held in POW camps, they were ethnic Germans from the Former eastern territories of Germany and Poland.
F. Klaipėda residents- Ethnic Germans who remained in Klaipedia after the war. They were deported into the USSR,
G. "Convicted POWs" POWs convicted of war crimes and held in Soviet prisons. They were released by 1955.
German Federal Archive Report
In 1969, the Federal West German government ordered a study of expulsion losses to be conducted by the German Federal Archives which was finished in 1974. The study estimated a total of 600,000 deaths caused by what they call "crimes and inhumanites" in the eyes of West German law, including 200,000 in forced labor in the USSR. Their definition of crimes included confirmed deaths caused by military activity in the 1944-45 campaign as well as deliberate killings and estimated deaths due to forced labor. They maintained that report was only intended to provide historical documentation not as a basis for criminal charges in the future. However, in Poland and Czechoslovakia, during the Cold war, these charges were viewed as an attempt to seek revenge and revert to pre-war borders. The authors maintain that their figures cover only those deaths caused by violent acts and inhumanities and do not include post war deaths due to malnutrition and disease. Also not included are those persons who were raped or suffered mistreatment and did not die immediately. No figures were given for Romania and Hungary.The following is a summary of the deaths estimated in the German Federal Archive Report. The figures are rough estimates and not based on an actual enumeration of persons deported and those that died.
Civilian Deaths Listed by German Federal Archives 1974
| Description | Total Deaths | Oder-Neisse region, Poland | Czechoslovakia | Yugoslavia |
| Forced Labor-Deported to USSR | 205,000 | 200,000 | - | 5,000 |
| Forced labor -N. East Prussia | 40,000 | 40,000 | - | - |
| In Post War Internment Camps | 227,000 | 60,000 | 100,000 | 67,000 |
| Violent Deaths during war 1945 | 138,000 | 100,000 | 30,000 | 8,000 |
| Total | 610,000 | 400,000 | 130,000 | 80,000 |
Source: German Federal Archive, Spieler, Silke Vertreibung und Vertreibungsverbrechen 1945-1948. Bericht des Bundesarchivs vom 28. Mai 1974. Archivalien und ausgewählte Erlebnisberichte. Bonn 1989 Pages 53–54
This category of deportees in the Federal Archive Report is also listed above in the Russian archive statistics.
A. Deported from Former eastern territories of Germany and Poland for forced labor in the USSR- Over 400,000 civilians deported to USSR of whom they estimated about 200,000 died. The author of the study based these figures on the German Red Cross report which is detailed above.
B. Deported from Yugoslavia for forced labor in the USSR- About 27,000 to 30,000 civilians deported to USSR of whom c. 5,000 died.
C. The German Federal Archives study did not provide figures for Romania and Hungary.
These civilian deaths in the Federal Archive Report are not listed above in the Russian archive statistics.
D. Labor camps in northern East Prussia Kaliningrad Oblast- 110,000 held by USSR in northern East Prussia. Overall they estimated 40,000 persons perished..
E. Held in post war Polish internment camps- The German Federal Archives estimated 60,000 deaths of the 200,000 Germans in post war Polish internment camps. The report mentioned that ethnic German citizens from pre-war Poland were considered "traitors of the nation" and sentenced to forced labor..
F. 67,000 deaths in Yugoslav internment camps.
G. 100,000 deaths in Czechoslovak internment camps..
H. The report also estimated 138,000 violent civilian deaths during military campaign in 1944-1945;.
Study by Gerhard Reichling
A study of German forced labor and expulsions by the West German researcher Dr. Gerhard Reichling was published by the Kulturstiftung der deutschen Vertriebenen in 1986. Reichling was an employee of the Federal Statistical Office who was involved in the study of German expulsion statistics since 1953. Reichling's figures for German forced labor were based on his own calculations, his figures are estimates and are not based on an actual enumeration of the dead. Dr. Kurt Horstmann of the Federal Statistical Office of Germany wrote the forward to the study, endorsing the work of Reichling.| Description | Deported | Deaths |
| Germany | 400,000 | 160,000 |
| Poland | 112,000 | 40,000 |
| Danzig | 10,000 | 5,000 |
| Czechoslovakia | 30,000 | 4,000 |
| Baltic States | 19,000 | 8,000 |
| Hungary | 30,000 | 10,000 |
| Romania | 89,000 | 33,000 |
| Yugoslavia | 40,000 | 10,000 |
| USSR | 980,000 | 310,000 |
| Total | 1,710,000 | 580,000 |
Source of figures: Dr. Gerhard Reichling, Die deutschen Vertriebenen in Zahlen, Teil 1, Bonn 1986. Pages 33 and 36
This category of deportees is also listed above in the Russian archive statistics.
A. Deported from Eastern Europe to USSR 1945-1950 as reparations labor, Total 600,000. Total Dead 224,000
These categories of deportees in Reichling's report are not listed above in the Russian archive statistics.
B. "Forced Repatriation" and "Resettlers" – Soviet ethnic Germans returned to the USSR after World War II. Total deported 310,000 Total Dead 110,000
C. Soviet Germans Deported in USSR 1941-1942 – Total deported 700,000 of whom 210,000 died
D. German forced labor in post-war Poland 1945-1950 – Total 100,000 of whom 36,000 died.
Technical Experts
The Soviet Union exploited the technical expertise of the German specialists who were resident in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany as well as POWs held in the USSR. In October 1946 the Soviet NKVD forcibly deported from East Germany "a few hundred" selected German experts to work in the USSR. They were held under favorable conditions and most were released by 1948. They worked in the aviation industry and the development of submarines. A selected few remained in the USSR until the early 1950s including German scientists who worked in the Soviet Union on the development of ballistic missiles, Helmut Gröttrup was among this group. They were not directly involved in the missile program but were only consulted by Soviet engineers.Manfred von Ardenne worked on Soviet atomic bomb project and was awarded a Stalin Prize.
Prisoners of war
Forced labour was also included in the Morgenthau Plan draft from September 1944, and was included in the final protocol of the Yalta conference. The Soviet Union and the western allies employed German POW labor up until 1949.German POWs were impressed into forced labor during and after World War II by the Soviet Union. Based on documents in the Russian archives Grigori F. Krivosheev in his 1993 study listed 2,389,600 German nationals taken as POWs and the deaths of 450,600 these German POWs including 356,700 in NKVD camps and 93,900 in transit. In addition he listed 182,000 Austrians taken prisoner In his revised 2001 edition Krivosheev put the number of German military POWs at 2,733,739 and dead at 381,067 These figures are disputed by sources in the west that give a higher number of POWs captured and estimate losses may be higher than those reported by the USSR. Richard Overy in The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia puts total number of German POWs captured by the USSR at 2,880,000 of whom 356,000 died. However, in his Russia's War Richard Overy maintains that according to Rurrian sources 356,000 out of 2,388,000 POWs died in Soviet captivity.
The research project by Rüdiger Overmans could confirm that 363,000 German POWs died in Soviet custody, he cited the statistics of the West German Maschke commission that put the number of German POWs taken by the Soviets at 3,060,000 of whom 1,090,000 died in captivity.
In addition, Overmans believes that, it seems entirely plausible, while not provable, that 700,000 German military personnel reported missing actually died in Soviet custody; Overmans estimates the "maximum" death toll of German POWs in the USSR at 1.0 million, he maintains that among those reported as missing were men who actually died as POWs.