Civilian labourers were divided into heterogeneous groups whose treatment varied according to ethnicity and nationality. The Third Reich’s racial hierarchy defined the rights and obligations of foreigners. Citizens from Western European countries received the best treatment. Poles (numbering more than 2.5 million) were much worse off, as their race was considered by the Reich authorities to be inferior (Ger: Untermenschen). Even worse treatment was meted out to „Eastern workers” (Ostarbeiter), some 4.5 million of whom were deported to Germany after June 1941. The vast majority of civilian laborers were forced to work against their own will. Caught in roundups during church services, at fairs or during police raids of entire villages and urban neighbourhoods, they were subjected to humiliating (pseudo)medical examinations, placed in transit camps and then sent to Germany in transports lasting several days usually in closed freight cars with only water and bread. Whether voluntarily or compulsorily recruited, the labourers were subject to the decisions of German labour offices as to where and what type of employment they would be assigned. Most were appointed to auxiliary positions, where the work was extremely difficult.
Most labourers were housed in collective housing complexes or camp barracks. It is estimated that there were more than 30,000 of them in Germany. The camps for Poles and „Eastern workers” were guarded and the workers were not allowed to move freely. In addition to a curfew, they were required to wear „P” or „Ost” patches, which was a deliberate stigmatization. Furthermore, both groups were prohibited from using bicycles, public transportation or public air raid shelters. Pastoral care, holidays and postal correspondence were restricted to a minimum. Polish-German love relationships, looting and any conspiratorial or espionage activity were punishable by death or years in a concentration camp.
Poles had to contend with physical exploitation, inadequate food, insufficient medical care and longing for their families and homeland. It was especially hard on mothers and children. Initially, pregnant Polish women were sent home, but the Reich authorities stopped this practice for racial-ideological reasons in 1943. In an effort to preserve their labour force, they forced Polish women to have abortions or placed their offspring in special centres where the children of forced labourers died en masse due to starvation, cold and disease. It is this crime on which the exhibition focuses.