Forced Labour

The archives of the International Tracing Service hold records on forced labourers who were brought to work on Third Reich territory during the Second World War. The documents relating to forced labourers during wartime fall into the following categories:

1. Foreign workers who came to Germany voluntarily in response to Reich recruitment;
2. Foreign workers mobilized by German employment offices to work in the occupied zones;
3. Non-German citizens who were forcibly transported by the German authorities in Eastern Europe to satisfy labour requirements in Germany.

In December 1945 and January 1946, the Commander-in-Chief of the Occupation Forces in the western zones of Germany (American, British and French forces) issued an order (order § 163) to the German authorities to secure all information pertaining to United Nations military and civilian personnel and all other foreign citizens, German Jews and stateless persons residing in these zones after September 2, 1939 or who had been brought there by force. Similar records exist in those parts of the Soviet zone that were occupied at the time by US troops.

Tracing offices were set up in the towns and counties to collect all possible records and to make lists of the information collected. The information in these records includes grave notification documents, residence lists, medical records and civil status certificates. The collection includes the following records:

• Records of foreign citizens present at the time of compilation
• Records of deceased foreign citizens
• Burial site notices
• Marriage certificates of foreign citizens
• Birth certificates of foreign citizens
• Records of foreign citizens residing temporarily or permanently in towns or communities during the war
• Personal effects left behind by foreign citizens
• Foreign citizens’ medical records
• Legal or other official records on foreign citizens
• Records of foreign citizens kept by medical insurance companies, pension funds and employment offices.The individual documents concerning forced labour are employment records, files on sick persons and insurance documents, as well as registration cards issued by the authorities, sickness funds and employers.

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