Zivilarbeiter (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

for ''civilian worker'') refers primarily to ethnic Polish residents from the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

(Nazi-occupied central Poland), used during World War II as forced laborers in 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 ...

Polish Zivilarbeiters

The residents of occupied Poland were conscripted on the basis of the so-called

Polish decrees Polish decrees, Polish directives or decrees on Poles (german: Polen-Erlasse, Polenerlasse) were the decrees of the Nazi Germany government announced on 8 March 1940 during World War II to regulate the working and living conditions of the Polis ...

(''Polenerlasse''), and were subject to discriminatory regulation. Compared to German workers or foreign workers from neutral and German-allied countries (''Gastarbeitnehmer''), Polish ''Zivilarbeiters'' received lower wages and were not allowed to use public conveniences (such as public transport) or visit many public spaces and businesses (for example they were not allowed to attend German church services, visit swimming pools or restaurants); they had to work longer hours than Germans; they received smaller food rations; they were subject to a

curfew A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...

; they often were denied holidays and had to work seven days a week; could not enter a marriage without permission; possess money or objects of value. Bicycles, cameras and even lighters were forbidden. They were required to wear a sign – the "Polish-P" – attached to their clothing. In late 1939 there were about 300,000 prisoners from Poland working in Germany; and By autumn of 1944 their number swelled to about 2.8 million (approximately 10% of Generalgouvernement workforce). Poles from territories taken over after the

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 not included in the

(see

Kresy Eastern Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Wschodnie) or simply Borderlands ( pl, Kresy, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the History of Poland (1918–1939), interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural ...

) were treated as

Ostarbeiter : ' (, "Eastern worker") was a Nazi German designation for foreign slave workers gathered from occupied Central and Eastern Europe to perform forced labor in Germany during World War II. The Germans started deporting civilians at the beginnin ...

s. Günter Bischof, Fritz Plasser, Oliver Saasa, ''New Perspectives on Austrians and World War II'', Transaction Publishers, 2009,
Google Print, p.206
/ref> The history of Polish Zivilarbeiters dates back to October 1939, when German authorities issued a decree, which introduced mandatory work system for all residents aged 18 to 60. In December 1939, the system also covered those aged 14 to 18, with severe punishments for law breakers. The people who did not work were called by the local authorities, and sent to work in Germany. Since the Third Reich suffered from shortage of workers, as time went by also those Poles who had

permanent employment Permanent employees work for an employer and are paid directly by that employer. Permanent employees do not have a predetermined end date to employment. In addition to their wages, they often receive benefits like subsidized health care, paid vac ...

, but were not regarded as necessary for the economy, were sent to Germany. Other methods were also used, such as the infamous roundups, called "łapanka" in Poland. Those who did not present a certificate of employment were automatically sent to Germany. Most Polish Zivilarbeiters worked in agriculture, forestry, gardening, fishing, also in transport and industry. Some were employed as housekeepers. None signed any contracts, and their working hours were determined by the employers. Image:Polenabzeichen.jpg, Polish-forced-workers' badge File:Verordnung 30 september 1939.JPG, German notice from 30 September 1939 in

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 ...

with warning of death penalty for refusing work during harvest. Image:Pflichten der polen.jpg, German and Polish poster describing "Obligations of Polish workers in Germany" including death sentence to every man and woman from Poland for sex with a German

References

{{reflist Nazi war crimes in Poland Forced migration Unfree labor during World War II