'Menschenbassin Belgien'. Anwerbung, Deportation und Zwangsarbeit im Ersten Weltkrieg

Abstract

Jens Thiel describes the theme of his new book as belonging to ‘the darkest chapters in the history of the German occupation regime in Belgium during the First World War’ (p. 9) His subject is the deportation of roughly 60,000 Belgians from the Generalgouvernement to work as forced labourers in Germany, and of a similar number drafted into the newly-created Zivil-Arbeiter-Bataillonen in the army operational and staging areas of the western front. The deportations to Germany lasted for a few months, from October 1916 to February 1917, and were halted due largely to strong international and domestic protests. The deportations to the war zones continued until the end of the war, however, and involved exposure to even greater hardships and dangers. This confirms the findings of previous studies which have shown that the ‘totalizing’ aspects of modern warfare, including violence against civilians, were more evident the closer one got to the front line (p. 18).