Bethel under National Socialism
Were forced labourers also used at Bethel?
Bethel was also guilty of employing forced labourers and prisoners of war during the Second World War. Between 1942 and 1944, around 150 to 180 forced labourers were employed at Bethel at any one time. In addition, there were around 180 to 230 jobs for prisoners of war from the nearby Stalag 326.
During the Second World War, forced labourers and prisoners of war were needed in numerous companies, in agriculture, in welfare institutions and church communities to replace workers who had been called up for military service.
Between 2000 and 2002, a research project analysed this topic for Bethel. Bethel needed forced labourers to ensure the continued operation of the institutions, the farms and the housekeeping department, which were essential for supplying the institutions. To date, 366 names and biographical details of men and women who were forced to work at Bethel have been handed down from the files. They came from Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia, and a smaller number from France, Croatia, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary and Serbia. The prisoners of war lived in labour detachments in Bethel and Eckardtsheim and were frequently replaced, so little is known about them.