Millions of Jews, foreigners and prisoners-of-war were forced to labor in camps in Germany during World War II. Forced labor camps hold members of a persecuted political or ethnic group which gives the laborer,by force, a job to do with no legal rights, horrible living conditions and a high death rate. Eventually, the Germans used the forced labor camps as a force of mass murder against European Jews.
It has been discovered that laborers from Western Europe were treated better than laborers from Eastern Europe. The Eastern Europe laborers were considered inferior by the Nazis. The treatment of Jews was the worst. The labor was meant to lead to death for the Jews. The major concentration camps where this took place were Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Buchenwald, Stutthof and Mauthausen. These major camps had subcamps. Some of the subcamps were only for Jews.
In the concentration camps, only the chosen were allowed to work. Some were immediately exterminated upon inspection because they did not look strong enough to work. The working conditions, however, were so bad that many of them died of exhaustion in only a few weeks or months. The condition of the camp depended very much on the administration.
Most of the prisoners, no matter what labor camp they were at, experienced some common hardships. They lost their freedom. Their welfare was not taken into consideration. They worked, usually, twelve hours per day, six or seven days per week. Discipline was maintained in a brutal manner. Clothing was inadequate.
It has been difficult to know how many forced labor camps there were but the best estimation is at least three thousand. The luckiest laborers had some skill and were put in offices, laundries, laboratories, etc. The less fortunate laborers did dangerous hard manual labor such as working in mines and quarries, construction, demolition, rubble clearance or bomb disposal. The loss of Nazi Germany in World War II saved tens of thousands of human beings that would have otherwise died in forced labor camps. The forced labor that led to the deaths of millions was considered a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Bibliography

Hoppe, Jens. "Forced (Slave) Labor." Encyclopedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol.7. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 122-124. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Holocaust Documentation and Educ. Ctr. May 2008http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=holl3302

Krakowski, Shmuel. "Forced Labor." The Holocaust Encyclopedia. Ed. Walter Laquer. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.

Magargee, Geoffrey P. "Labor Camps, Nazi." Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Ed. Dinah L. Shelton. Vol.2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 639-642. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY. 14 May 2008 http://0-go.galegroup.com.novacat.nova.edu/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=novaseu_main.

Renton, David."Forced Labor: Germany." St. James Encyclopedia of Labor History Worldwide. Ed. Neil Schlager. Vol. 1. Detroit: St. James Press, 2004.320-325. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY. 14 May 2008 http://0-go.galegroup.com.novacat.nova.edu/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=novaseu_main.