Author, title and provenance
Jürgen Scholz submitted this final dissertation as part of the continuing-education programme for journalists at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of Freie Universität Berlin. The title page is dated March 2004. The examiners were Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wippermann and Dipl. Sozialwirt Torsten Maurer.
The full original title is Konzeption, Analyse und Erstellung eines journalistischen Produktes zum Thema: Ausländereinsatz in Forst (Lausitz) 1939 - 1945, translated as Conception, analysis and production of a journalistic work on the employment of foreigners in Forst (Lausitz), 1939–1945.
Why the study matters to the region
Scholz combines archival research with eyewitness interviews. He examines accommodation, workplaces, living conditions, medical care, social contacts, persecution, resistance, deaths and the post-war situation of displaced persons. His geographical scope includes Berge, now Zasieki, and Scheuno, now Brożek, both now on the Polish side of the Lusatian Neisse.
The section on Deutsche Sprengchemie Forst distinguishes findings from limitations in the evidence. Employment and death figures discussed in earlier literature do not become verified simply because the dissertation cites them. That distinction is preserved here.
What is available?
The main study comprises 151 source pages, including analytical chapters, references, appendices, photographs, maps, interviews, document reproductions, and lists of individuals and labour detachments. It is provided in full, not replaced with a summary. All three supplied German source files are also available separately: the title page with contents and abbreviations, the main study, and the attached newspaper article.
Using the source
When citing a finding, give the author’s name, the year 2004 and the source-page number. Historical place names have been retained to support further research. Terms used by the Nazi administration are reproduced as the language of historical documents and objects of analysis, not as language endorsed by the Foundation.
Contents – go to source page
- Introduction (Source page 1)
- State of research (Source page 4)
- Definitions (Source page 6)
- Phases of foreign labour deployment (Source page 7)
- Regional and local research (Source page 12)
- Sources on foreign labour in Forst (Source page 15)
- Foreign labour in Forst 1939–1945 – figures (Source page 18)
- Accommodation (Source page 23)
- Prisoner-of-war camps (Source page 27)
- Workers’ and family camps (Source page 30)
- Factory camps (Source page 34)
- Camp sites with no evidence of foreign-worker accommodation (Source page 38)
- Other accommodation (Source page 39)
- Employment (Source page 41)
- Deutsche Sprengchemie Forst (Source page 43)
- Municipal administration (Source page 46)
- Textile industry (Source page 47)
- Crafts, trade and agriculture (Source page 50)
- Other workplaces (Source page 53)
- Living conditions and child labour (Source page 59)
- Food (Source page 60)
- Medical care (Source page 66)
- Leisure (Source page 71)
- Social contacts (Source page 73)
- Religious services (Source page 76)
- Persecution (Source page 78)
- Resistance (Source page 80)
- Deaths (Source page 81)
- The end of the war and displaced persons (Source page 86)
- Conception of a journalistic work (Source page 89)
- Conclusions (Source page 93)
- References (Source page 99)
- Appendices – regional setting and maps (Source page 104)
- Photographs (Source page 112)
- Eyewitness accounts (Source page 120)
- Original documents (Source page 135)
- Known labour detachments in Forst (Source page 142)
- Forced labourers buried in the main cemetery (Source page 143)
- List of foreigners (Source page 144)