The Hilfswerkschutz

Siemens – Bewachung speziell für Zwangsarbeitende

Siemens established the Hilfswerkschutz, or Auxiliary Factory Security, as a special security measure to supplement existing factory security. Its role was to confront forced labourers in the event of protests or uprisings. The guards in the Hilfswerkschutz monitored forced labourers during all working hours. It was made up mostly of Siemens employees who were particularly zealous National Socialists. According to an internal letter from 1943, its task was to ensure “orderly conduct on the part of the foreign workers and to prevent riots of any kind or to at least nip them promptly in the bud”. Only male “Reich-German employees” with “unquestionable political reliability” could become members.

During the Denazification Commission hearings in the case of Hanns Benkert sagt ein Zeuge namens Markgraf über den Hilfswerkschutz aus, dass dieser mit Gummiknüppeln schlug, mit Füßen trat und Leute schubste. Außerdem drohen sie damit, die Zwangsarbeitenden in Konzentrationslager schicken zu lassen, was einen zusätzlichen psychischen Stress bedeutet.




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