“Subhuman” badges for slave labourers - really?

[George L Gregory]

Hi,

I was listening to the radio earlier and someone of Ukrainian heritage said that his father had to wear a badge that had “Untermensch” (Subhuman) on it that we’re allegedly given to all slave labourers.

Does anyone have any photos of such badges?

I’ve never heard of it before. I just thought they were coded e.g. “P” for a Polish worker.

[Totenkomf]

Hi,

I was listening to the radio earlier and someone of Ukrainian heritage said that his father had to wear a badge that had “Untermensch” (Subhuman) on it that we’re allegedly given to all slave labourers.

Does anyone have any photos of such badges?

I’ve never heard of it before. I just thought they were coded e.g. “P” for a Polish worker.

I am not too sure about the existance of such badges, but I know the P badge.

[ewest89]

My mother had to sew the P for Polen badge onto her coat. She was a forced laborer, removed from her village by the German Occupation Government.

[Totenkomf]

My mother had to sew the P for Polen badge onto her coat. She was a forced laborer, removed from her village by the German Occupation Government.

That so?, the P was there for a reason so you could be identified as a Forced Laborer (But everyone already knows this so)..

[Totenkomf]

Hi,

I was listening to the radio earlier and someone of Ukrainian heritage said that his father had to wear a badge that had “Untermensch” (Subhuman) on it that we’re allegedly given to all slave labourers.

Does anyone have any photos of such badges?

I’ve never heard of it before. I just thought they were coded e.g. “P” for a Polish worker.

Maybe there might have been something like these "Subhuman" badges, but it wouldn't be the first time when someone puts more spice to the story then there actually was and tell a lie regarding the actual events.

As example would be this badge labeling people as "subhumans".

I am only saying this if someone does not find actual proof to support this "Untermensch " badge thing.

[ewest89]

This place is not for the "everyone knows this" crowd. Those who know everything can help those who do not.

[George L Gregory]

I am well aware of the badges for Polish workers and then for the Eastern Workers (Ukrainians, etc).

But, I have not once heard of the term “Untermensch” being on a badge for a forced labourer.

If anyone has any information regarding this, I am interested.

A search on Google books showed a comment from a Forum. I also own Ullrich Herbert’s book about foreign labourers and I don’t recall reading about “Untermensch” being on the badges for forced labourers.

[George L Gregory]

Google images shows a P badge for Polish workers and an OST badge for Eastern Workers.

I strongly suspect that the whole “Untermensch” was on a badge is claptrap. I don’t recall reading about it anywhere which is why when I heard it earlier on I was taken aback and thus I researched it a little bit and found absolutely nothing to support it.

[Totenkomf]

This place is not for the "everyone knows this" crowd. Those who know everything can help those who do not.

Yes, but I meant that the ones who posted on this thread know about it so. But not everyone but 100%.

[LAstry]

1935 KZ Inmates Badges
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... lagern.jpg
OSt slave Labor Badges
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ostarbeiter
Polish slave Labor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zivilarbeiter
As regarding Ukraines Slave labor..I come across references that they had to wear badges with tridet on them....dont know about lettering however

[ewest89]

Everything is not on the internet. A 5 minute search is not going to be comprehensive.

Do you honestly know everyone here? I think not. The fake names is one clue.

[Totenkomf]

Google images shows a P badge for Polish workers and an OST badge for Eastern Workers.

I strongly suspect that the whole “Untermensch” was on a badge is claptrap. I don’t recall reading about it anywhere which is why when I heard it earlier on I was taken aback and thus I researched it a little bit and found absolutely nothing to support it.

I mean not every ww2 event told by someone whoever it are true by 100%, but I don't know hy someone would possibly lie and say such badges existed as the German Occupation Forces and Party Policies treared the so called "subhumans badly enough" already. But maybe it is for to make it seem even worder then it was.

This thing is like a former Low Ranking G.I saying in a document that he executed a "SS Colonel" at a KZ Buchenwald or was it at Dachau.. when at the actual camp there wasn't anyone present with that rank during the Camp's liberation

And don't mistake this said claim with the shooting and wounding of the Kommandant of Mauthausen SS-Standartenführer Franz Ziereis.

[Totenkomf]

Everything is not on the internet. A 5 minute search is not going to be comprehensive.

Do you honestly know everyone here? I think not. The fake names is one clue.

Alright lets clear the table for I did not say that this "Untermensch" badge couldn’t be a real thing.
Ps. What 'fake' Name?, the name of the badge or what?..

ewest89: I never said that I know everyone here..

[wooley12]

Beginning with my own fathers stories, I have studied the war time memories of WWII military and civilians who were there with the purpose of using the power internet to see if they were true to the facts. In the course of my research I have studied how the brain works. In my observation, the human brain is not at all like a computer where all pieces of data are separate and unchanging. The brain mixes input, weighs data unevenly and the result is a mix of fact and fiction. As an example my father was an Army Ranger rifleman and remembered being with rifleman Olesen as the first to enter the city of Butera, Sicily in a famous Ranger action. The truth was his hand had been injured by shrapnel in an explosion 10 days earlier and he was unable to shoot a gun. With his job and rank he tactically would be the first to move into a town and probably did with Olesen, but not Butera. Butera was the most reported in the news he saw later. I have found many such examples in my research and personal experience.

To the OP. If there were actual patches only a picture found using the internet would prove the memory was true some place at some time.

[ewest89]

My father was in the Polish Army when the war started. He told me very little about what he went through. He knew other Polish veterans who I also knew. The memory also relies on records and documents. It is not just stories. My mother was a forced laborer and again, she said little but what she did say was very valuable. Both of them spent most of the war in Germany. Their movements were restricted and under constant supervision.

The internet is less reliable than books and articles written by people with real names. I have helped some people locate original service records of their relatives. I have also located original German documents from the period, and know others who have done the same.

A photo of a patch on the internet needs to be confirmed through document research. Fakes of photos, documents and other things are being sold on the internet.