Forced Labor
During World War 2 Berlin was the center of the German arms industry. Maps of the city from 1940 have blocked out critical infrastructure like gas and electric supply stations, the Reichs Chancellery, airfields, and metal processing sites. One of those was my grandfather’s workplace in the Northwestern segment of the city.
The factory produced light weight metal alloys used in war planes. Stock market reports from the Hamburg world economic archive show the rise of his company’s value because of the war. This value was built on the back of forced laborers.
Most of them had been deported from Poland and Russia. The further East their origin, the less considered Aryan, the worse their treatment. With only pocket money as wages, they were slaves to the company with no way to escape. The lives of people thus devalued it was a short road to the gates of Auschwitz.
As managing director (Betriebs-Führer) in the defense industry, my grandfather did not have to fight in the war. Instead, the Russians captured him in 1945 and transported him to a labor camp in Siberia. He was there for 5 years. Switching roles from supervisor to forced laborer. He never talked about his experience.
In the 2025 election the left leaning city of Berlin switched to the right. The far-right nationalist party gained a third of the vote. Of those, a majority were younger, poorer, less educated working-class men. Politics on the backs of laborers.