I found these documents in an old building and im just trying to get some information. I know one is a work book and the other a passport. Im trying to find out information on the people. Were they on the Nazi's side/victims? What does protected citizenship mean? Also this is not my type of collectable so I would like to sell these or find living relatives. If I sell them, what should I ask for and where is the best place to sell them?
Thank you for any information.
During the war Germany had a shortage of workers, not only directly in their war industry but in every branch of their economy.
To remedy this problem Germany recruted workers all over occupied Europe, initially workers were lured with high wages and extra benefits, this program wasn't a big success, working in Germany was dangerous because of the allied bombings and most people didn't trust the Nazi's.
The next phase was that Nazi's forced unemployed people in the occupied countries to accept job offers in Germany, they did this by halting the payment of unemployment benefit. Many people in occupied zones were unemployed because of the war, for example the stevedores in the big ports because of the allied blockade and people that worked in factories that were destroyed by the war.
Also this program wasn't a big success, people simply went in to hiding.
As a result the Nazi's started man hunts, they agressively hunted down unemployed people everywhere in occupied Europe, those caught were deported to labour camps in Germany.
Another big category of the work force were the POW's, all EM could be forced to work.
To come back to these Arbeitsbucher fur Auslander, despite that their recrutement programs weren't a huge success, a lot of people accepted employment in Germany, simply because they needed the money and were scared to go underground.
Were these people victims of the Nazi's? Yes and no, it was because of the Nazi's that they accepted work in Germany but their working conditions weren't bad, of course they too suffered from the allied bombings on German cities.
Because of racial politics, all foreign labours coming from Eastern Europe had to were patches on their clothing and they were restricted from fraternizing with German nationals, Western Europeans didn't have these restrictions.
But all foreign workers were forbidden to have sexual relations with women whoes husband was at the front, the German police kept an eye on this and penalties were severe, public humiliation included. Germany wasn't a fun place to be during the war.