Abstract

Between autumn 1943 and spring 1944 the German authorities were carrying out a phased evacuation of the ethnic Germans from the occupied territories of the USSR. The total number of this contingent in mid – 1944 was about 350 000 people. A significant number of the former Soviet German refugees was taken to Warthegau, West Prussia, Silesia, Oberdonau, Niederdonau and some other regions of Germany. According to worked out procedure, all evacuees were the subjects to temporary maintenance in the camps of the Ethnic German Liaison Office for registration procedures and naturalization.
 Under the conditions of total mobilization, many ethnic Germans became the part of Germany’s labor force. At the beginning of 1944 some of the higher officials of the NSDAP began to appeal to the leadership of the SS with a request to allow the mass recruitment of this contingent for employment in various regions of the Reich. However, such initiatives were rejected by H. Himmler because they were in conflict with the key principles of the resettlement policy. Recruiting of the German resettlers for the German military complex located in the so-called «Old Reich» (country in borders until March 1938) was of particular interest. As a result, most Soviet Germans were employed in factories producing for the Luftwaffe after finishing the registration in those camps. Labor recruitment of German resettlers continued until the end of 1944. Despite the growing demand for workers, some regions were no longer able to receive additional working contingents due to the influx of refugees from the western and then eastern territories of the Reich.
 The article reveals the mechanisms and characteristics of the involving of this category of German resettlers into forced labor service in the field of military production of Germany at the final stage of World War II.

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