Five Brothers and a War

Razzias

During the course of World War II, some 12-15 million foreigners were enslaved in Nazi Germany, having been forced into work. Two-thirds of that number were from Eastern Germany, and about 5.2 million were Soviets. Poland had 1.6 million, France had 1.5 million and Italy had 900,000. Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Hungary, and Belgium each had about 400,000 by the end of the war. The total enslaved workforce were comprised of several types, including prisoners-of-war, concentration camp internees and people either conscripted or captured in occupied countries. Different nationalities were treated very differently within Germany. The obvious group to get the most hatred were the Jews, and they were treated worst. However, the Germans had great loathing for Eastern Europeans, particularly the Russians and the Slavic people.

nazi germany

Concentration/slave camps in Europe.

The enslavement was not limited to males, as females were enslaved to work in brothels serving the German army. While German citizens were instructed to not fraternize, much less engage in sex, with foreign workers, in order not to contaminate German blood, the German army was exempt from such prohibitions. In all, more than 34,000 women, mostly Eastern Europeans, were captured and forced to be prostitutes.

Five Brothers and a War

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