Economic and Ideological Reasons for the Use by the Third Reich of Forced Labor of “Eastern Workers”

Abstract

The analytical part of this work consists in a special emphasis on the relationship and interdependence of ideological “justification” and economic “expediency” in the exploitation of forced labor by Ostarbeiters. The article notes the consonance of the ideas about the special status of the German worker and total mobilization put forward by the leaders of the Third Reich with the subsequent software and practical actions of the National Socialists in Germany on the issue of labor exploitation of millions of civilians and prisoners of war of countries — military opponents. These actions were not just aimed at reducing pressure on the German worker and maintaining a high level of production, but were accompanied by the imposition of ethnic myths and alien values on foreign workers, moreover, by “cleansing” territories from people during the retreat and destruction through back-breaking and often senseless labor of “racially — inferior” categories. An analysis of the views of modern researchers of the problem showed that rationalistic interpretations of the actions of the Nazi authorities in relation to foreign labor, especially “Eastern workers”, dominate. The ideas of war and domination, the priority of Germany and its interests, formulated by the leaders of the NSDAP, became dominant in the ideology and politics of the Third Reich, where the forced labor of citizens of the occupied states became an integral element.