Laws: “General Provisions for the Recruitment and Deployment of Workers from the East”, decree of 20 February 1942
Who issued the decree and in what context?
The “General Provisions for the Recruitment and Deployment of Workers from the East” of 20 February 1942, also known as the Ostarbeiter Decrees, regulated the living and working conditions of more than two million civilian forced labourers from the Soviet Union in the German Reich. The decree was issued by Heinrich Himmler in his capacity as chief of the SS and Chief of the German Police.
Himmler considered people from the occupied territories of the Soviet Union to be political enemies and a racial threat who posed a danger to the German population and the security of the German Reich. The purpose of the regulations was to isolate Soviet forced labourers and prevent any contact between them and the German population or other forced labourers.
What can we see?
The decree distinguishes between four groups of people. It sets out how each group is to be treated, from recruitment to transport, accommodation and surveillance in the German Reich. It also gives the police broad powers of action and lists the tasks of other actors, such as labour offices and businesses.
Under the decree, Ostarbeiter (Soviet forced labourer) were male and female civilian forced labourers from territories which were part of the Soviet Union on 1 September 1939. They were subject to the tightest restrictions: they were transported in closed wagons, were only permitted to leave their guarded accommodation to go to work and had to wear badges clearly identifying them as Ostarbeiter. Contact with Germans outside work was forbidden.
What does the decree reveal about Nazi forced labour and what should be taken into account when dealing with legal texts in educational work?
The forced labour of millions of people under the Nazis was a state-organised crime carried out through a division of labour. The Nazis legalised their racist worldview in legislation such as the Ostarbeiter Decrees. These racist laws provided the framework for the exploitation and abuse of forced labourers.
What do we not see?
The legal texts reflect Nazi racism and the perspective of the perpetrators and organisers of Nazi forced labour. At the same time, they are often deceptive about the criminal nature of forced labour. In the section of the February 1942 decree on recruitment, for example, not a word is said about the use of force. Yet forcible recruitment and deportation were routine during the German occupation.
Literature
Herbert, Ulrich: Fremdarbeiter. Politik und Praxis des „Ausländer-Einsatzes“ in der Kriegswirtschaft des Dritten Reiches. Bonn: Verlag J.H.W. Dietz, 1999, Chapter „Die Ostarbeitererlasse“, pp. 178-182.
Spoerer, Mark: Zwangsarbeit unter dem Hakenkreuz. Ausländische Zivilarbeiter, Kriegsgefangene und Häftlinge im Deutschen Reich und im besetzten Europa 1939-1945. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2001, Chapter „Allgemeine Rechtsgrundlagen und Organisation des ‚Reichseinsatzes‘“, pp. 90-115.
