The use of forced labour in Nazi Germany and throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale. It was a vital part of the German economic exploitation of conquered territories. It also contributed to the mass extermination of populations in German-occupied Europe. The Nazi Germans abducted approximately 12 million people from almost twenty European countries; about two thirds of whom came from the Eastern Europe. Many workers died as a result of their living conditions, mistreatment, malnutrition, or became civilian casualties of war. At its peak the forced labourers comprised 20% of the German work force. Countings deaths and turnover, about 15 million men and women were forced laborers at one point or another during the war.

Als Zwangsarbeit wird eine Arbeit bezeichnet, zu der ein Mensch unter Androhung einer Strafe oder eines sonstigen empfindlichen Übels, gegen seinen Willen, gezwungen wird. Sie ist – mit verschwimmenden Übergängen – die schärfste Form der Arbeitspflicht.