Mobilization and Utilization of Polish Labor for the War

Abstract

The exploitation of human resources for war in the Second World War took unprecedented forms. In the case of Poland - forced into a defensive war whose population was exploited by the enemy for almost the entire conflict - this encompassed both the voluntary mobilization of the population for Polish war needs and the violent exploitation of Polish labor by the German occupation authorities.
This article analyzes the economic aspects of the utilization of Polish labor in the Second World War in two dimensions: the mobilization for Poland's defense and for reconstruction in liberated People's Poland (1944-1945), and the forced recruitment and deportation of Polish labor to the Reich and their conditions as foreign workers.
The study draws on calculations of the Main Commission for the Prosecution of Nazi Crimes in Poland, Nuremberg trial records, the regulations of the Plenipotentiary for Labor Deployment (Sauckel), and the author's earlier works on German occupation policy in Poland.
The analysis shows that up to 2.5 million Poles were deported to forced labor in the Reich. Discriminatory occupation policies included working weeks of up to 72 hours, severely reduced food rations, compulsory housing in barracks and stables, the obligation to wear the letter P on clothing, and the deprivation of basic civil rights. Against this treatment, Polish and Soviet foreign workers mounted resistance through sabotage and strike actions - 17,618 Poles were arrested for strike participation in June-August 1942 alone. The deportation of labor from occupied territories constituted a war crime under Article 52 of the IV Hague Convention and the Statute of the International Military Tribunal. The balance of the exploitation: 530,000 physically and 60,000 psychologically disabled persons and a birth deficit of 1,215,000.