[LETTERS FROM SOVIET OSTERBAITERS] Sovetskiye lyudi na nemetskoy katorge: [Sbornik] [i.e. Soviet People in Forced Labor in Germany [A Compilation]]

[Moscow] OGIZ Gospolitizdat, 1943. 50, [1] pp.: ill. 16,5x11 cm. In original illustrated publisher's wrappers. Some general wear and tears of the covers. Otherwise very good.
Scarce. First edition. Edited by V. Binder.
During the Great Patriotic War, the theme of forced labor was widely employed in Soviet anti-Nazi propaganda. From 1942, when the first mass deportations of Soviet citizens to Nazi Germany started, the sufferings of this group occupied an important place in Soviet media.
Published at the height of the deportation wave, this book is a compilation of striking letters written by the Ostarbeiters that were gathered from occupied territories of the USSR and sent to perform forced labor in Germany. Drawing upon the nature of the correspondence and the fact that the Nazis primarily deported Soviet youth, it can be assumed that most authors of the letters were under the age of 20. In the correspondence, the Ostarbeiters tell their family members about the harsh conditions (starvation, unbearable physical labor, etc.) and inhuman behavior that they were subjected to by the Nazis. Almost all letters reveal feelings of homesickness and exhaustion on the part of the writers. Most of the letters were written by those deported from Ukraine and Byelorussia (occupied by the Nazis by the beginning of 1943). In fact, according to archival data, 50% of all Ostarbeiters were formerly Soviet subjects originating from the territory of modern-day Ukraine. Some of the letters were written by former dwellers of Kursk, a city occupied by the Nazis from 1941 to 1943. The edition includes 4 black and white illustrations depicting a postcard signed by a girl while being deported to Berlin, a work card of Maria Popadchenko, who was deported from Kharkiv to Germany at the age of 14, etc. The edition closes with the transcript of a speech delivered by the Ostarbeiter Matryona Lysenko at the Third All-Slavic Rally in Moscow in 1943. The stories behind the letters are sometimes told by various Soviet writers, including Ilya Ehrenburg and S. Zhukharovich. Most of the letters are dated.
The Germans started deporting civilians at the beginning of the Second World War. The deportation reached unprecedented levels following Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The Nazis apprehended Ostarbeiters from the newly-formed German districts of Reichskommissariat Ukraine, District of Galicia, and Reichskommissariat Ostland. These areas comprised German-occupied Poland and the conquered territories of the Soviet Union. According to archival data, over 50% of Ostarbeiters were formerly Soviet subjects originating from the territory of modern-day Ukraine, followed by Polish women workers (approaching 30% of the total). Eastern workers included ethnic Ukrainians, Poles, Belarusians, Russians, Armenians, Tatars, and others. Estimates of the number of Ostarbeiters range between 3 million and 5.5 million. By 1944, most new workers were under 16; 30% were as young as 12-14 when taken from their homes. Many died from starvation, overwork, bombing (they were frequently denied access to bomb shelters), abuse, and execution carried out by their German overseers.
Following WW2, the occupying powers repatriated many of the nearly 2.5 million liberated Ostarbeiters; however, those who returned to the USSR faced social ostracism and were suspected of being German spies. Many were sent to isolated parts of the Soviet Union, where they were denied fundamental rights and the opportunity to further their education. Those who returned home were also physically and spiritually broken. Moreover, they were considered by the authorities to have 'questionable loyalty', and were therefore discriminated against and deprived of many of their citizenship rights. Ostarbeiters suffered from state-sanctioned stigmatization, with special references in their passports mentioning their time in Germany during the war. As a result, many jobs were off-limits to anyone unlucky enough to carry such a status, and during periods of repression, former slave laborers would often be ostracized by the wider Soviet community. Many victims have testified that since the war, they have suffered a lifetime of abuse and suspicion from their fellow citizens.
Overall, an important document on the sufferings of Soviet Ostarbeiters.
Worldcat shows copies of the edition located at Ohio State University Libraries, Duke University Libraries, University of Kentucky Libraries, and Stanford University.