Kept Secret to this Day – Forced Labour in the Black Forest Clock Industry

During the Second World War, the Black Forest clock industry was a part of the German war economy. Prisoners of war and the so-called “Ostarbeiter” (Eastern labourers), both male and female, some of them 16-year-old girls, made detonators and other precision equipment for the Wehrmacht.

In 1942 a camp was set up in Furtwangen for 250 male and female labourers. In addition, accommodations were also needed in inns. The Furtwangen camp was a branch of the Villingen “STALAG” (prisoner-of-war camp).

The forced labourers were treated abominably. Any contact with the civilian population was strictly prohibited. Only few Germans defied these orders.