Baudienst (from German, lit. "building service" or "construction service"), full name in German ''Baudienst im Generalgouvernement'' (Construction Service in the General Government), was a forced labour organization created by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in the General Government territory of

occupied Poland ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 Octobe ...

during World War II. Baudienst was subordinate to the

Reichsarbeitsdienst The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ...

(RAD, lit. "Reich Labour Service").

Formation and activities

The Baudienst construction was formed 1 December 1940, originally in the Kraków District of the General Government, but it eventually expanded to all districts of the newly-formed region, except for the Warsaw District. The goal of Baudienst was to provide the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

with a large pool of obligatory labour force., English translation a

/ref> Baudienst laborers were entitled to housing, food rations, working clothes, medical care and a wage of 1 Polish zloty, zloty per day (a wage that was never changed, despite increasing

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

). Over time, conditions of work deteriorated, as laborers inhabited poor quality barracks (never a priority), and food and clothing rations were slashed. Punished laborers were imprisoned in Liban working camp in Kraków (''Liban Quarry''). Baudienst was to build and maintain infrastructure (construction and repair of roads and canals), and aid with agricultural tasks. The overall objective was not to build infrastructure for the Poles, but for the Germans (with the aim of increasing West-East transport capacity in preparation for

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

, and later, to improve the efficiency of German logistics). In some infamous cases, members of Baudienst were used to prepare graves for victims of German mass executions (of Poles, Jews and other victims of the Third Reich) or to destroy Jewish houses and hiding places. In the General Government, working was obligatory for any male Pole from 18 to 60 years old; later in the occupation this range extended to youth from 14 years old. Baudienst service itself was an obligatory service for Poles aged 21–22. Germans were aiming to have as many as 150,000 Baudienst members, in fact due to constant lack of volunteers and increasing desertions, Baudienst at its height reached less than a third of that number (about 45,000 people). There were almost no volunteers in Baudienst, in 1941 only 141 were recorded, in following years Germans stopped recording their numbers altogether.Służba Budowlana (Baudienst) w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie, 1940-1945 Mścisław Wróblewski, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe 1984, page 59. Baudienst workers were under a contract to work at least initially 3 months, increased up to 6–7 months of work during the spring-summer period and eventually a minimum of a year. In addition to the Polish Baudienst, Germans created similar Heimatdienst (lit. "homeland service", ''Ukrains'ka Sluzhba Bat'kivschyni'', USB) for the

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

, and a similar one for the

Goralenvolk ''Goralenvolk'' was a geopolitical term invented by the German Nazis in World War II in reference to the Goral highlander population of Podhale region in the south of Poland near the Slovak border. The Germans postulated a separate nation ...

Volksdeutsche In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of '' volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sin ...

were immune from the service (but could volunteer, and some did for the higher-ranking positions such as foreman), and

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the l ...

were already forced to labor in the ghettos and labor-concentration camps.

External links

* Elżbieta Laska
Praca przymusowa Polaków na rzecz III Rzeszy

gazeta.pl, 2007-07-20

References

{{Authority control Poland in World War II Economy of Nazi Germany Unfree labor during World War II 1940 establishments in Poland 1940 establishments in Germany

Formation and activities

See also

External links

Further reading

References