28. Siemens Used Slave Labor During the Nazi Era
During WWII, as the Nazis’ demands for armaments increased, and as workers were drafted from the factories and into the military, German manufacturers turned to slave workers to meet the labor shortfall. From 1940 onwards, Siemens relied increasingly on slave labor from occupied countries, prisoners of war, Jews, Gypsies, and concentration camp inmates. Indeed, Siemens was a leading participant in the Nazis’ “death through work” program. The company ran factories inside concentration camps such as Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Ravensbruck, Flossenburg, Sachsenhausen, and others.
Working conditions were terrible. For example, Siemens used female slave workers at Ravensbruck concentration camp to make electrical components for V-1 and V-2 rockets. They were subjected to all types of exploitation, with the ever-present threat of death if they balked. Siemens’ construction operations also used female slave workers, yoking them in teams like draft animals to pull giant rollers to pave the streets.