Polish Forced Labour (Zwangsarbeiter/Fremdarbeiter) collection

[StefanM]

Another new photo pick-up, unfortunately no caption on the reverse.

[StefanM]

Dziennik Polski (Polish Daily) article about the liberation of Polish forced labourers in German industry. Published 24 April 1945, Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany—possibly in DP camp Rosalies Barracks (in German Rosalies Kaserne).





Below: A section of Rosalies Kaserne as it is today.

[StefanM]

Following up the theme of forced labourers' liberation:



Above: Liberated forced labourers on the long march home...all across Europe.



Above: Following the collapse of Germany, millions of former forced labourers and PoWs struggle to find food and other essentials. Illustrated is just one queue for food aid. However not everyone was wiling to wait in such an orderly manner and there was fairly frequent looting and theft of German property by freed prisoners who felt that the German population often received better treatment than they were getting from the Allies after liberation.



Above: Former Polish forced workers find temporary homes in boxcars in the Hof railway sidings in the German state of Bavaria whilst awaiting repatriation home.



Above: A young Polish girl eats from a mug on the kerbside at Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin, November 1945.



Above: Liberated by the US 9th Army, female Polish forced workers at Julich in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia Germany are happy to be free once more.



Above: Poles living in boxcars awaiting repatriation visited by US (?) and Polish servicemen whose staff cars are in the foreground.



Detail from above photo showing large floral decorations around some of the boxcar doorways.



Another detail section showing Polish eagle cap badge on the far left serviceman's forage cap.

[StefanM]

An unusual deportation of husband and wife as workers in the same German factory.

Jan and Janina Kamoda were sent from Warsaw in August 1944 to work in the Mitteldeutschen Stahlwerke AG (Central German Steel Works), Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany. Jan Kamoda's job function was given as Hilfsschlosser or locksmith's assistant and his wife Janina was Hilfsarbeiterin or unskilled auxiliary worker.



Above: The Mitteldeutschen Stahlwerke AG factory which was part of the Flick-Konzerns or Flick Group and made steel for armour.

Below: Surviving fragments of the Arbeitskarte and identity documents belonging to Janina and Jan Kamoda who were given identity nos. 4298 and 4300 respectively.





Below left: A fragmentary page of the Warschau/Warsaw issued Kennkarte for Janina Kamoda is dated 1943 so shortly before she and her husband were deported to Germany.

[StefanM]

Another piece in the forced labour narrative

A Transportausweis issued to Polish forced worker, Stefan Syrek, on 3 June 1944.





I had been looking for this type of document since December 2009 when Tony first posted the Transportausweis issued to his late father.

[CARL]

Nice when they finally turn up, well done - fine addition to an impressive collection.

[StefanM]

A couple of new additions to the photo portrait library.



above: 1940 studio portrait.



Above: 1941 date but it is not clear if the woman and children are the family of one of the workers or they are the family of their employer, because the woman doesn't appear to be wearing a "P" patch. However I doubt that she and the children would stand so close to the subhuman Poles if they were the German employers family, so most likely they are related one of the Polish forced workers.

[dastier]

What is a 'Transportausweis' please?

Is it just me or do others find it hard to understand how the Nazi Germans could be so systematically diabolical?

[A.J. Zawadzki]

What is a 'Transportausweis' please? . . .

Hi Mike,

I believe it translates to “Transport Identification”. So therefore a document to be kept on one’s person when in transit.

. . . Is it just me or do others find it hard to understand how the Nazi Germans could be so systematically diabolical?

Yes, very chilling. And as you know, not just limited to Nazi Germany. This has been the case throughout human history where ruling powers usurp humanity’s God-given rights to individual freedom. Something we must always be on guard for lest history continue to repeat itself.

Regards,
Tony

[StefanM]

What is a 'Transportausweis' please?

"Transportausweis für landwirtschaftliche arbeiter" is a "Transport identification (document) for an agricultural worker"

This document was issued by the local Arbeitsamt (labour office) along with other documents telling the forced worker where and to whom they were to report too. The Transportausweis also tells the worker to bring “...documents, work clothes, strong shoes and food for two days”.

Is it just me or do others find it hard to understand how the Nazi Germans could be so systematically diabolical?

The Soviets were equally systematic in the administrative processes of "diabolical" social engineering as were the Germans.

Soviet documents very rarely surface... if at all.

Although the Memorial foundation in Moscow did find copies of the NKVD arrest warrant, apartment search warrant, sentencing document and later "amnesty" release document for a Pole deported to Siberia in February 1940....so these NKVD documents do exist. Unfortunately in this case these were supplied for a private family otherwise I would post them on WRF as they make fascinating reading.