Forced labour during WWII
WHS where forced labour from civilians or prisoners of war was used during WWII.
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Auschwitz Birkenau | Construction on Auschwitz II-Birkenau began in October 1941 to ease congestion at the main camp. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel (SS), intended the camp to house 50,000 prisoners of war, who would be interned as forced laborers (wiki) | |
| Fagus Factory | Fagus was one of the German shoe companies that used Concentration camp inmates were as guinea pigs for testing products. | |
| Hedeby and Danevirke | Right after WWII German prisoners were forced to work at the reconstruction of Dannewirke by the British | |
| Melaka and George Town | George Town - Female residents were also coerced to work as comfort women by the Imperial Japanese Army, with a handful of brothels set up within the city. | |
| Messel Pit | The factory that employed forced labour during WWII was operative in the core zone. | |
| Rammelsberg and Goslar | Forced labourers were used at the Rammelsberg by the Nazis. | |
| Regensburg | In the final months of World War II, in March and April of 1945 a subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp was located in the city, with 460 forced laborers of various nationalities, 40 of whom died. | |
| Singapore Botanic Gardens | Australian POW built brick steps to Plant House | |
| Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution | "an estimated 60,000 labourers forced to work at seven of the sites, including the island coalmine Gunkanjima, during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula" | |
| Vilnius | A forced labour camp was set up behind the Vilnius Town Hall as a factory to produce winter clothing for the Wehrmacht and another one later for vehicle repair. | |
| Völklingen Ironworks | "In der zweiten Kriegshälfte wurde der Fortgang der Produktion auch in Völklingen durch den umfassenden Einsatz von Kriegsgefangenen, Zwangsarbeitern und Frauen gesichert. Kriegsgefangene und Zwangsarbeiter, die in den Jahren 1943 und 1944 zwischen 33 und 40% der Belegschaft stellten, wurden nur flüchtig ausgebildet und vorzugsweise für schwere und gefährliche Arbeiten eingesetzt. Die Arbeitsdisziplin überwachte der mit Feuerwaffen ausgerüstete paramilitärische Werkschutz. .... Viele russische Zwangsarbeiter überlebten diese Torturen nicht; sie sind heute in einem Gräberfeld auf dem sogenannten Russenfriedhof bestattet, einem Teil des Völklinger Waldfriedhofs." |
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