An extraordinary assemblage of moving and revelatory documents and testimony from the Nazi forced labor camps.
An
Ostarbeiter
was an
'
Eastern Worker', rounded up by Nazi Germany from the captured territories in Central and Eastern Europe. By the end of the war, it is estimated that approximately 3 million to 5.5. million
were forced to work in guarded work camps, many of them younger than 16 years old - at which age they would be conscripted for military service.
worked 12 hours a day on starvation on rations; as ethnic Slavs, they were treated with extraordinary brutality by Nazi guards who considered them 'sub-human' by the standards of the Aryan master race. They were distinguished by the label 'OST' sewn onto their uniforms.
OST
is based on over two hundred personal accounts, hundreds of hours of interviews, and over 350,000 letters. This important publication will ensure that the voices of the brutalized and displaced
will not be forgotten.