In accordance with emerging needs
Summary
»In Keeping With the Need that has arisen…« Forced Labor in Occupied Serbia 1941-1944
Although forced labor in occupied Serbia has already featured as a subject both in Serbian/Yugoslav and foreign (chiefly German) historiography, the topic was never analyzed systematically. This book is the first attempt at reviewing all kinds of forced labor in Serbia during WWII. It is based on a large number of primary sources, including the contemporary press, as well as on a large number of relevant historiographical works.
The introduction defines the forced labor and the first chapter the geographical framework of the research. The subsequent chapters give an outline of German economic interests in Yugoslavia prior to its dismemberment in April 1941 and describe the occupying system in Serbia under the German rule. A chapter is also devoted to the place work had in the ideology of Serbian collaborationists and how it tallied with the German needs for labor force.
The second part of the book deals with various forms of forced labor under occupation. The first one was the kuluk (corvee), inherited from the pre-war times but now put to use by the occupying authorities for their own ends. Similar was the case with forced labor as punishment for criminal or political offences. A special chapter is devoted to forced labor of the Jews and the Gypsies that was introduced by the Nazis on racist grounds. Another chapter deals with the forced labor of POWs. A large section comprising three chapters, describe »voluntary« recruitment of labor force for work in the Reich. One of them deals with Serbian peasant youths who were sent to Germany to learn the more advanced agricultural techniques.
The next section, also comprising several chapters, deals with the most wide-spread form of forced labor, the so-called »mandatory work« in Serbian mines and building sites. Special chapter is devoted to the National Service for Renewal of Serbia, that served as a mandatory youth labor organization with economic and ideological goals.
The conclusion of the book summarizes all these forms of forced labor, their social meaning and place within the system of exploitation set up by the Germans.