The number of Italian “foreign workers” (Fremdarbeiter) in Germany rose steadily in 1938 and 1939. Underemployment and high unemployment led to increased emigration to Germany, especially from rural areas of Italy. An unusually large number of young men were gripped initially by a thirst for adventure and the prospect of release from military service at home. Forced assignment to certain jobs and the limited right to a say, however, quickly led to a deterioration of the mood of the Italian laborers. From mid-1940 on, recruitment was conducted to an increased extent in Italy. In spring 1942, Italian workers began to be used at the plant construction site of I.G. Farben in Auschwitz. At that time, the Italians were used predominantly for building and expanding the operational facilities. On March 14, 1942, I.G. Farben concluded a contract directly with a consortium of 40 Italian firms from the National Fascist Federation of Building Contractors (Federazione Nazionale Fascista dei Costruttori edili e imprenditori grandi), providing for the furnishing of 8,635 construction workers, mainly skilled workers, for the plant construction sites of I.G. Farben in Heydebreck, Blechhammer, and Auschwitz. Of these workers, 1,196 were to assigned to I.G. Auschwitz.

The Italian workers in Auschwitz were housed in a barracks camp and inadequately fed. Moreover, it was difficult to get leave, because the Germans feared the workers would not return to their jobs. Particularly in Heydebreck and Blechhammer, where the situation of the Italian workforce was even worse than in Auschwitz, many looked for pretexts, such as a death in the family or a feigned illness, to get back to Italy. Italians regularly tried to escape from the labor camps. For I.G. Auschwitz, only a single case is documented: Giovanni Busicchia arrived at the “Auschwitz work camp” on April 16, 1942, and suffered there for a month, doing extremely hard labor and receiving little to eat. After he was refused a medical examination despite his poor state of health, he ran away on May 29, 1942. He was captured in Villach and handed over to the Italian police, who set him free again after an 80-day imprisonment in Treviso.[1]

Germany increased its requirements for Italian workers within a very short time, between December 1940 and January 1941, from 54,000 at first to an additional 200,000. Between 1939 and 1945, a total of approximately 960,000 Italian civilian workers were employed in Germany.

(BG/FS; transl. KL)

Literature

Bermani, Cesare: “Odyssee in Deutschland. Die alltägliche Erfahrung der italienischen ‘Fremdarbeiter’ im ‘Dritten Reich’.” In: Cesare Bermani / Sergio Bologna / Brunello Mantelli: Proletarier der “Achse.” Sozialgeschichte der italienischen Fremdarbeit in NS-Deutschland 1937 bis 1943. Berlin: Akademie, 1997, pp. 37–252.

Mantelli, Brunello: “Von der Wanderarbeit zur Deportation. Die italienischen Arbeiter in Deutschland 1938–1945.” In: Ulrich Herbert, ed.: Europa und der ‘Reichseinsatz’. Ausländische Zivilarbeiter, Kriegsgefangene und KZ-Häftlinge in Deutschland 1938–1945. Essen: Klartext, 1991, pp. 51–89.

Mantelli, Brunello: “Zwischen Strukturwandel auf dem Arbeitsmarkt und Kriegswirtschaft. Die Anwerbung der italienischen Arbeiter für das ‘Dritte Reich’ und die ‘Achse Berlin-Rom’ 1938–1943.” In: Cesare Bermani / Sergio Bologna / Brunello Mantelli: Proletarier der “Achse.” Sozialgeschichte der italienischen Fremdarbeit in NS-Deutschland 1937 bis 1943. Berlin: Akademie, 1997, pp. 253–391.

Setkiewicz, Piotr: “Ausgewählte Probleme aus der Geschichte des IG Werkes Auschwitz.” In: Hefte von Auschwitz 22 (2002), pp. 7–147.

Wagner, Bernd C.: IG Auschwitz. Zwangsarbeit und Vernichtung von Häftlingen des Lagers Monowitz 1941–1945. Munich: Saur, 2000.

[1] Giovanni Busicchia was interviewed in the documentary film Monowitz. Ein Tatort (Germany/Poland/Italy, 2002, directed by Alfred Jungraithmayr) about his time at I.G. Auschwitz and his escape. See also Cesare Bermani: “Odyssee in Deutschland. Die alltägliche Erfahrung der italienischen ‘Fremdarbeiter’ im ‘Dritten Reich’.” In: Cesare Bermani / Sergio Bologna / Brunello Mantelli: Proletarier der “Achse.” Sozialgeschichte der italienischen Fremdarbeit in NS-Deutschland 1937 bis 1943 (Berlin: Akademie, 1997), pp. 37–252, here p. 180.