The use of slave and forced labour in Nazi Germany (German: Zwangsarbeit) and throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale.

[1] Many workers died as a result of their living conditions – extreme mistreatment, severe malnutrition and abuse were the main causes of death.

[5][6] The defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 freed approximately 11 million foreigners (categorized as "displaced persons"), most of whom were forced labourers and POWs.

During the war, German forces brought into the Reich 6.5 million civilians, in addition to Soviet POWs, for unfree labour in factories.

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), Red Cross, and military operations provided food, clothing, shelter, and assistance in returning home.

[13] The German need for slave labour grew to the point that even children were kidnapped as labor, in an operation called the Heu-Aktion.

In contrast, Central and Eastern European forced labourers received at most about one-half the gross earnings paid to German workers and had far fewer social benefits.

[20]: 139  Pamphlets, for instance, instructed all German women to avoid physical contact with any foreign workers brought to Germany as a danger to their blood.

[25] French workers at naval bases provided the Kriegsmarine with an essential workforce, thereby supporting Nazi Germany in the Battle of the Atlantic.

When France fell and the ports of Brest, Lorient and Saint-Nazaire became available, there were insufficient Germans to man these repair and maintenance facilities, so huge reliance was made on the French workforce.

[15] By 1944, slave labour made up one quarter of Germany's entire work force, and the majority of German factories had a contingent of prisoners.

[15][27] The Nazis also had plans for the internment and transportation to Europe of "the able-bodied male population between the ages of seventeen and forty-five" in the event of a successful invasion of the United Kingdom.

The organization was responsible for a huge range of engineering projects both in pre-World War II Germany, and in occupied Europe from France to Russia.

[29] The history of the organization falls into three main phases:[30] Millions of Jews were forced labourers in ghettos, before they were shipped off to extermination camps.

The Nazis also operated concentration camps, some of which provided free forced labour for industrial and other jobs while others existed solely to exterminate their inmates.

To mislead the victims, at the entrances to a number of camps the lie 'work brings freedom' (arbeit macht frei) was placed, to encourage the false impression that cooperation would earn release.

Under further Soviet pressure (related to the London Agreement on German External Debts), in 1953 the People's Republic of Poland renounced its right to further claims of reparations from the successor states of Nazi Germany.

[36] German president Horst Koehler stated: It was an initiative that was urgently needed along the journey to peace and reconciliation... At least, with these symbolic payments, the suffering of the victims has been publicly acknowledged after decades of being forgotten.