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Shoah |Facts & History |DEST |Jewish Civil Rights |Camps

Slavery

When We think about slavery in this century, we usually think about an awful thing that happened years and years ago. What most do not realize, is that slavery and the slave trade: bartering in human lives is not gone, and has in fact prospered in the past century. Definitions and boundaries of slavery have changed, but only to become more inclusive not more restrictive. Mass slave labor still occurs today ranging from the more sinister drug and pornography industries, to large corporations seekings large pools of cheap labor in Third World countries where "employees" have no recourse at all but to accept terms or not to subsist. This may go under the term 'outsourcing' although there is also legitimate 'outsourcing'.¹ Even in the United States, government agencies keep a watch over 'employment centers' which are a guise for slave labor, in which so-called 'employees' are not free to leave.

Slavery before WWII

As Hitler rose to power, there was not the institution of slavery that was to come of disenfranchised and Jewish persons, but an attitude toward work did prevail in German society in which conditions for most middle-line and lower level jobs had elements of involuntary servitute. While lower class employees were free to leave their jobs there was a societal taboo against wantonly leaving work, and employment was at an all time high in the post WWI Weimar Republic. Further, in pre-war Germany, bosses had a great deal of influence over their workers lives, in a much more austere environment than we know now in 21st century America. While issues of " Blind Obedience became later entrenched in youth training and the military, in Germany, it was already somewhat in place in patriarchal German families and the workplace. A paid wage, though with one's own living quarters is of course far different than the grueling slavery and death-inviting conditions which were to come, but certain elements of blind obedience, obsessive control, and a disregard for workers' rights and conditions was already in place before the war started. Labor unions of German and German Jewish workers were highly popular, but when the Third Reich took the reigns of Germany, the labor unions were quickly taken over by Reich officials. The Reich saw this as a move to silence opposition, and control the work force for the impending war effort. Very swiftly [in one day for the Labor Unions] the officers of the Unions were replaced by Party members, and soon the Unions, the Churches, the Press and Educational institutions were under the firm control of the National Socialist Party.

The Fuhrer Buildings & the New Germany

Early in the Reich, Hitler envisioned with Goebbels and others a "New Germany". He would aim towards a new Aesthetic in Art, a new design in Architecture which would return to a Romanticized ne0-baroque style with a grandiose realism. Large stone statues commemorating German heroes, folklore and events were commissioned. At the same time, Hitler and Speer began to develop real plans for the redesign of Berlin and for a massive new building program which would reconstitute Germany as a Volkish Cultural Center and European Mecca. Part of this rebuilding plan included grand buildings of stone and marble which would stand as tribute to the successes of the Third Reich. These were termed "Fuhrer buildings" and building began early in the reign of the Nazis, although the complete plan was never successfully attained. This was due to the need for building supplies and materials to go the war effort instead of domestic building. As the war progressed and bombings in German cities increased the plans for the moment slowed or ceased, as it became apparent that at best plans would have to wait till after the war, or at worst, that anything built risked demolition.

The expense of such an extensive building campaign though, which Hitler thought among other things would restore morale to the the Post WWI German people in defeat, necessitated a more radical plan to provide raw building materials and labor for the effort.

The Quarries & Concentration Camps

Since economics were suffering in the Weimar Republic, there was high unemployment and even more than in the U.S., Germany experienced a major depression. When Hitler took office in 1933, unlimited funds for rebuilding Germany were not there. While many people think of the Concentration Camps coming later in the war, four were built as early as 1933 including Sachsenhausen, Dachau, and others. Speer, a brilliant architect and planner conspired with Hitler and his men to design the "New Berlin" and Germany, One viable way for Hitler's plans to work when there was no way, was to mine materials such as stone, marble, and other minerals, from existing quarries, and use slave labor to do it. The very early concentration camps and converted prisons were placed near quarries. Later, others were placed near the object of work: prisoners worked to clear and build canals, keep factories and munition factories running, build missiles and arms such as in Mittelbau Dora, and do roadwork. Quarry mining however constituted the greatest share of enforced, involuntary slavery.

The D.E.S.T., or German Earthworks Company was headed and run by the SS and was sometimes referred to as the SS Materials Company. Not only did they put prisoners from concentration camps to work, they also hired slaves out to corporations: some even American based. Companies such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-benz and I.G. Farben which had a plant directly in Auschwitz, benefited from slave labor. Reparations for such are still an issue today.

Mauthausen was a converted prison and complex of camps which included the Castle Hartheim, Melk, Guzen and Ebensee. Mauthausen in addition to using slaves in the quarries used them for road work, and also "rented" them out to local factories and businesses needing labor, often the ones which supplied production needs of the camp they were near. Factories such as in Janowska were run almost entirely on slave labor. When slaves were no longer useful, they were put to death. The Nazis viewed Jews, Gypsies, and others quite literally as less than human, although they did not treat animals with even a fraction of the cruelty with which they treated their victims.

Other Work Camps

While most of the Killing and Atrocity Centers were also used for slavery, some camps existed in occupied territories which were just for slavery and did not include daily killings, This distinction is sometimes artificial for killings and slavery occurred at both types of camps. The clearest point of distinction is intent: many large killing centers were not built for the purpose of slavery, for example the Operation Reinhard camps such as Belzec, Majdanek, and Sobibor, as well as Auschwitz, were built for the purposes of mass exterminations, slaves were used till they were exterminated. At other camps, slaves experienced starvation, malnutrition and desparate working conditions, but many stayed alive under grueling work. conversely, many of the workcamps, like Westerbork, or Terezin were in truth waiting stations to the Killing Centers. One of the reasons revisionists confuse numbers in the camps was because persons were often in one camp but then moved: some count the numbers to the workcamp and some to Killing Center.

Hunger, Slavery & Death

When a person is reduced to slavery, a 'utilitarian approach goes into effect: rather than considering whether a person is well, or cared for, those who use slaves determine cost-effectiveness, and usefulness of the individual to the work: slaves regardless of their humanity become expendable. Highly skilled slaves are usually well cared for, and through history have found a place in the households of their owner. Lower level slaves were usually clothed, housed and fed the minimum necessary to properly perform work. In mistreatment, slaves can be used very badly, including starvations, beatings, sexual assaults, and even experimentation. Slavery as a practice goes back close to the beginning of recorded history. Biblical accounts of slavery are noted in the Book of Job, thought to be the oldest book of the Bible.

Food and Calories are a particular issue in wartime. Greater portions of food were allowed for workers in the ghettos than non-workers, although jobs were scarce and coveted. Jewish persons across the board, slave or not represented less caloric intakes than all other nationalities: beyond that those put to work were give slightly more, but hardly enough for the tasks which confronted them. In the Concentration Camps no work was paid, and since the camps were built usually on the edge of quarries or work sites such as highways, factories, etc, all work was enslavement. Some camps were all slavery often deemed 'work camps' where everything made was for the 'war effort' such as shells, clothing, shoes, etc. and those interred there received more food on the whole, but still far below what was required to maintain health. In many Killing Centers, food was weak soups and what was prepared was limited: the end of a food line meant often no meal till the next. While 'workers' got slightly more, it is abundantly clear that Geneva standards were a non-issue: since the Nazis knew they would eventually expend even the workers, they saw little benefit in caring for the needs of those whom they interred due to prejudice and outright hatred. Medical care was bare minimum or not at all, and food was poor quality, often non-nutritive, and only 'filling' during inspections and Red Cross visits. At camps like Nordhausen, a subcamp of Mittelbau Dora, the sick and 'expended' were taken and left in abandoned hangars in sawdust, without food or care, and often with no one in attendance since there was little chance of their escape. These 'sick camps' were a part of many camp systems. There was not a little food, but no food at all to hasten the death of the ill. When Nordhausen was evacuated by American soldiers, a few living persons were found amidst the many corpses; those witnesses were able to supply information regarding the 'special treatment'.*