Poles as forced laborers in Germany during World War II.

​On March 8, 1940, during World War II, German Field Marshall Herman Göring released a series of laws, that required all the Polish people working in Germany as forced laborers to wear a visible patch with the letter P.  The laws, known as the infamous March Decrees, dictated how the Poles were to be treated while in Germany. 

Enlargement of photo(see below) obtained by U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer T/4 J.A. Ryan. Photo from National Archives in College Park, Maryland.

Those laws, translated and used by U.S Chief of Counsel at Nuremberg Trials, gave evidence of the  discrimination against Poles. Here are some excerpts:

“….it is also necessary to provide all Polish workers who enter the Reich with an outward mark of identification.  From the very first day of his employment, there must be a guarantee that a Polish worker can be recognized as such by anybody and at any time.
…. Poles must be made to understand, by restricting their liberty, that they have come to Germany for the sole purpose of working
….  Appropriate measures, such as absolute compulsion to stay at the place of employment, more severe compulsory registration, introduction of a curfew, restrictions on the consumption of alcohol etc., must be taken at once
… free use of public conveyances, such as railroads, omnibuses etc., is an inducement to Poles to leave their places of work without permission and to roam about uncontrolled in the Reich and it urgently needs to be stopped.”

Five years later, in March 1945 U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer T/4  J. A. Ryan captured this photograph:

Photo from the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer T/4  J. A. Ryan.

​​The caption reads: "Liberated Polish workers, former prisoners of the Germans, were liberated when troops of the Infantry Division, 3rd U.S. Army entered the town of Kelberg, Germany. Using debris from bombed out houses to fill in holes in a road which was used constantly by American troops as they advanced to the front. "

No other details were given but many thanks to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland which holds documents, both written and photographic, to support the facts about the experiences of Polish forced laborers in Germany during World War II.

For more reading on the subject: Wearing the Latter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany 1939-1945. Hippocrene Books, Inc.