Ostarbeiter was the official Nazi term for forced labourers from the occupied regions of the Soviet Union. Most of them were forcibly deported to the German Reich. In the racist hierarchy of the forced labour system, they, like Poles, were treated much worse than other national groups. They were forced to wear badges with the word “OST” (EAST) prominently displayed on their clothing in order to stigmatise them. With some 2.8 million people, this was the largest single group among the 8.4 million civilian forced labourers in the German Reich.
„Ostarbeiter“ / Lit. Eastern worker
- Synonyms: „Lit. Eastern worker“, „Ostarbeitern“
