Shostka locals in forced labor in the Third Reich

The exposition tells of the places and conditions of forced labor of Shostka residents in the Third Reich. Life in cramped wooden sheds and heavy daily work became the daily routine of long wartime years for the 14 million foreigners brought to Germany. Among them were more than 2 million residents of Ukraine who had the worst living conditions, the lowest standards of nutrition, but did physically hard work. The exposition presents a map of Europe where our fellow countrymen worked, photos of Nazi high officials – Fritz Zaukel and Erich Koch, official documents that defined the living and working conditions for foreigners in the Third Reich. Nazi officials called the multinational group of workers from the occupied territories of the USSR “Ostarbeiter” (in German, “Eastern workers”), forcing them to wear the OST badge. Personal documents: workbooks, work cards, letters that were allowed to be sent twice a month, all these tell about the life of forced workers from Ukraine in captivity. Most of the Shostka locals found themselves working for military enterprises in the cities of Magdeburg, Coswig, Güssen, Gera, and Saarbrücken. The exhibit features materials from 40 former Ostarbeiters, prisoners of concentration camps, and prisoners of war from Shostka city and region.