page_title: The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia
section_title: Forced labor
hierarchical_section_title: The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia / Persecution of Jews / Forced labor
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Poln. Juden beim reinigen einer Garage in Krakau (B.d.O)
context_page_description: The Holocaust in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia resulted in the deportation, dispossession, and death of 80,000 Jews. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, which was occupying the country, with some collaboration by the Czech collaborationist government.
context_section_description: Plans for the employment of the Protectorate's Jews in forced labor in the event of war were drawn up before the occupation of the territory, in February 1939. It was expected to employ Jews in road-building and quarries, although what agency would be responsible was not decided. However, in mid-1940, despite the increasing unemployment among Jews, the central authorities did not introduce any generalized forced labor program. Instead, muncipalities took the initiative and developed a forced labor program similar to that in Germany and Austria, but organized locally. In early July 1940, the town of Holešov requested premission to conscript its Jews into forced labor. A report in Neuer Tag magazine encouraged other localities to follow this practice. By July, 60% of Jewish men in the Protectorate were employed in forced labor projects and the remainder in independent employment that had not yet been barred to them. Unlike in Germany and Austria, Jews were not segregated from Czechs in forced labor because both were considered equally inferior.
  Forced labor deployments peaked in May 1942, at which point 15,000 men and 1,000 women were deployed. The numbers declined thereafter due to deportations to Theresienstadt Ghetto.
  At least 39 subcamps were located in the Protectorate. Tens of thousands of Jews and non-Jews were employed there, including many Polish and Hungarian Jews who had been deported there.
caption: Jewish forced laborers in Kraków, 1939
exif: {}