During the Second World War, 8 million foreigners were forced to work in Germany. That was 30 percent of the working population. When the film was shown in 1993, there was no public awareness in Germany of the largest slave project in modern history.
The film shows from the perspective of perpetrators and victims how the system of labor deployment developed historically: recruitment of volunteers, deportation, racist oppression, slave labor.
Archive material from 10 countries was collected. The author visited contemporary witnesses in 8 European countries, some of whom talk about their experiences in the film.
Forced labor in Germany, visible to everyone and anchored in everyday consciousness as a matter of course, responsibility and guilt suppressed and forgotten. Without direct current references, the roots of xenophobia nevertheless become visible.

Eine Koproduktion von:
LICHTFILM mit dem NDR, WDR und arte
Copyright 1993
Der Film wurde gefördert von:
MAP-TV (MEDIA – EUREKA)
und aus Mitteln der:
Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen
Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
Hamburger Filmbüro

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