Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2007, 15(7):214-232 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.197

The Foreign Workers (especially Czechoslovaks) in Compulsory Labour Service at Krupp-Concern from 1939 till 1945

Zdeněk Jindra

Prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Jindra, CSc, externí učitel Ústavu hospodářských a sociálních dějin Filozofické fakulty Karlovy univerzity v Praze.

The study is based on suit-serious measures of documents both from the process with major war criminals and from following process called "Case 10" with Alfried Krupp and eleven heads of Krupp-concern before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg from 1946 to 1948). The topic of this study is the illegal exploitation of citizens from occupied countries, prisoners of war and concentration camps in compulsory labour service of German war economy. There was a special accent for using Czech workers in the Krupp-concern.
The mobilization of labour market in the occupied countries of Europe began to be urgent from two reasons: first, after the outbreak of war thousands of German men had to take the military duties and the big enterprises as Krupp were not exception (table 1); second, the Nazi government expected from mobilization of great number of foreign labour forces the substantial raising of the war material production. To this purpose they formed "Reichsministerium fuer Bewaffnung und Munition" (F. Todt 1940-1941, A. Speer 1942-1945) and "Amt des Generalbevollmaechtigten fuer Arbeitseinsatz" (F. Sauckel 1942-1945). Sauckel ordered in the first months of his activity the deportation of 2,300,000 workers from occupied countries to the compulsory labour service in "Reich"; from this number the citizens of Protectorate included 79 451. These deportations culminated in 1944 when the number of all foreign workers and other compulsory workingmen in German war economy increased to circa 7,5 millions. The compulsory and slavery labour service was in contradiction to the criteria of international conventions of Haag and Geneva.
In the trial proceedings in Nuremberg it was proved that the heads of Krupp concern were aware of the involuntary employment of the foreign civil workers, prisoners of war and concentration camps in Germany. Despite this they exerted own initiative to get them and asked for distribution of all these workers. The public authorities of "Reich" and NSDAP took special care of Krupp's demands and reserved them by fulfilment the "briefly procedure". The accurate number of the foreign workers in all years of war is known only for Gußstahlfabrik/Essen, with culmination in the beginning of 1943 (tab. 2). The whole number of foreign workers in all Krupp-concerns we can find only in period from 1943 to 1945 (tab. 3). In September 1944 the Krupp-concern employed all in all 78,184 foreign workers, according to another dates 97,952 people. Review of the nationality structure of the foreign workers in Gußstahlfabrik is presented by tables 2 and 4.
At the beginnings some dozens of Czechs and Slovaks accepted the labour by Krupp on the bases of voluntary contracts, one part perhaps before 15th of March 1939 and another part a short time after this date. But after several months the public authorities of Protectorate started to force Czech people to work in "Reich". In March 1943 the Czech workers in Gußstahlfabrik/Essen achieved the highest number (1,428) and in August 1943 in Bertha-Werk/Markstaedt in Upper Silesia (2,038). On the other hand Slovaks worked in more less number in "Reich" and also in Krupp factories, moreover in the voluntary relation (tab. 4).
The labour and life conditions of foreign workers in Krupp factories were very hard nevertheless there were differences between the position of "west" and "east" workers. Rather more moderate form was established to French, Dutch and Belgians, on the other hand the life conditions were in brutal and rigorous form applied to Russians, Ukrainians and Poles. The position of Czech workers was somewhere in the middle: for example they earned similar wages such as the west workers, their camps were not surrounded with wire fence, they became relative free after the labour time, they could keep touch with families without restrictions and sent saved money there etc. But in case of making offence they were punished as strictly as east workers.

Keywords: World War II, Krupp concern, employment of foreign workers, Czechoslovaks in compulsory labour service in Germany and at Krupp/concern

Published: December 1, 2007  Show citation