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Galician Forced Laborers from Lviv

by Peter W. Landé

INTRODUCTION

The Lwow/Lviv area was occupied by the Germans in 1941. Many Jews were murdered or deported immediately, but others were held in ghettos and used as forced laborers. In fact, such "employment" was considered advantageous since it was believed that these persons would not be deported. Detailed records were kept of such workers, and in some cases, of their families. Jewish forced laborers were used in various industries until 1943 when the ghettos and their residents were liquidated.

Forced laborers, Jewish and others, were used in all parts of Europe occupied by the Germans, including the former Soviet Union and within Germany itself. Such laborers were used in industry and agriculture, sometimes locally where they had resided, but also as a result of shipments of workers between different cities and countries. The length of time that Jews were used as forced laborers varied widely. Some were killed after a few months and others kept for years. The conditions under which they worked also varied widely, but the vast majority of Jewish forced laborers either died where they had been "employed" or were sent to death camps when they were found to be no longer useful.

In 1995 the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was permitted to film records at the Lviv/Lviv State archives, related to the German occupation. These are recorded on 34 reels of film (roughly 34,000 pages), 1995 A 1086. This collection contains a wealth of information about the German occupation and the treatment of Jews in the area, and it includes many lists of names. We have taken one small part of the collection (reel 27, Fond R-56) which lists 1110 Jews and their relatives, with the workers identified as “head.” The laborers worked in Lviv and other towns.

There is no additional information on these persons, or their fate, in this part of the collection, though it is possible that they are mentioned elsewhere.

The fields included in this list are as follows:

The following is a glossary of terms used in this list specifically with regard to relationships and professions:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The information contained in this database was indexed from the files of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (#1995 A 1086 - reel 27, Fond R-56 ). This information is accessible to you today thanks to the effort of the following JewishGen volunteers who are responsible for the transcription of this file: Miriam Romm, Helen Rowley, Karol Schlosser, Kathy Wallach, and Phyllis Kramer. Many thanks as well to Nolan Altman, who revised the output to clarify the family relationships and who created the two glossaries.