Unused forced labor badge, blue field with OST in white letters, to identify a forced laborer from the Soviet Union
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Width: 2.875 inches (7.303 cm)
Archival History
The OST badge was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005.
Acquisition
Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Unused OST badge that would have been worn by a forced laborer to identify them as an Ostarbeiter [Worker from the East], usually Russian or Ukrainian, deported to work in Nazi Germany. The patch would have been sewn to the chest with the outer white border visible. After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in the spring of 1941, the need for forced labor to support the war effort became an urgent necessity. Beginning in 1942, millions of forced laborers were deported from the Soviet Union to work in factories and other civilian labor details in Germany. They were housed in so-called residence camps that often had barbed wire and SS guards. They were treated as second class citizens and kept separate from the general population. After the war ended in 1945, nearly 6 million eastern workers were repatriated to the Soviet Union where they often were discriminated against and accused of being traitors to their country.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Nearly square, brown woven cotton cloth with a badge design screen printed on the front with dark blue dye. In the center is a brown 3 letter acronym, OST, upon a dark blue square field. That square is bordered by an outline of undyed white cloth which is then bordered by a dyed dark blue outline. The border has small perforations but the badge appears unused and has frayed edges.
Subjects
- Forced labor--Germany--History--20th century.
- Foreign workers--Germany--History--20th century.
- East Europeans--Germany--History--20th century.
- Soviets (People)--Germany--History.
- World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor--Germany.
- Soviet Union--History--German occupation, 1941-1944.
Genre
- Object
- Identifying Artifacts