Extermination through labour

Extermination through labour (Vernichtung durch Arbeit) was a Nazi German World War II principle that regulated the aims and purposes of most of their labour and concentration camps. The rule demanded that the inmates of German WWII camps be forced to work for the German war industry with only basic tools and minimal food rations until totally exhausted. As the slaves had no individual worth, they were of no use to the German war machine and were to be exterminated as soon as they were used up, as the German WWII documents put it. Then they were transferred to extermination centres throughout occupied Europe.

In many sub-camps unrelated to the German war machine the principle was realised through pointless heavy work, most commonly digging ditches around the camp and then levelling them or excavating earth and transporting it on foot to the other side of the camp. In others, the political aims of the camps were paired with the policies of extermination through labour.