As everywhere in the German Reich, numerous prisoners of war and foreign civilian workers of both sexes had to perform forced labor in Wiesbaden during the Second World War. They were indispensable for maintaining war production and supplying the population. These so-called foreign workers were part of the normality of everyday life during the war, but they were marginalized, exploited and treated as second-class citizens for racial ideological reasons.

At the end of 1944, there were 6,500-7,000 foreign forced laborers from 16 countries in Wiesbaden and the now incorporated suburbs. A large proportion of them lived in factory camps, segregated according to nationality, status and gender. State regulations stipulated different rations and treatment for "Eastern workers" and "Western workers". Larger companies, such as Kalle & Co, Rheinhütte and Didierwerke in Biebrich, Glyco-Metallwerke in Schierstein, Chemische Werke Albert in Amöneburg, Buchhold-Keller in Bierstadt, Horn & Söhne and Lermer Stahlbau in Dotzheimer Straße, Maschinenfabrik Wiesbaden GmbH and Klinger-Kolb in Dotzheim as well as W. Söhngen & Co. in Waldstraße, maintained their own camps. Smaller companies housed their foreign workers in collective camps. In total, there were 45-50 camps for foreigners in the city and its suburbs. The civilian workers employed in agriculture, in private households, in the catering trade and in craft businesses mostly lived individually with their employers.

After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Polish prisoners of war were soon brought into the German Reich. The first labor detachments arrived in Wiesbaden at the beginning of November. They had been requested by the local farmers' associations of Erbenheim and Bierstadt, as there had been a shortage of labour in agriculture since the mobilization. The farmers were very happy with the Poles, who often came from the village. As the demand could not be met by the prisoners, Polish civilians were also brought to Germany, including at least 436 men and 228 women to Wiesbaden.

The Reich Security Service soon complained that the Poles were being treated too kindly by the farming families and that German women were getting involved with Polish men. They feared "foreign infiltration". In order to prevent too close contact with the German population, the Nazi regime issued the "Polish decrees" on March 8, 1940. Poles now had to wear a "P" on their clothing; they were excluded from cultural life; they were banned from going out at night and were not allowed to use public transport. Violations were often punished by the Gestapo by being sent to a labor education camp or a concentration camp. For love affairs between Polish men and German women, Poles were subject to "special treatment", i.e. immediate hanging (without trial). In Wiesbaden, for example, 27-year-old Eduard Seweryn was executed for sexual relations with a German woman on June 10, 1942 in the forest near the Fasanerie.

From the summer of 1940, after the "Blitzkrieg" in the West, large numbers of French prisoners of war were also taken to Germany. The first labor detachments arrived in Wiesbaden in July/August 1940. The city administration set up the gymnasium in Dotzheim as accommodation. Civilian workers were also recruited in the occupied parts of France; however, the number of volunteers remained low. However, the "General Plenipotentiary for Labor Deployment", Fritz Sauckel, requested a contingent of 250,000 workers from France in 1942. In order to meet this demand, in September 1942 the Vichy regime introduced a general compulsory work requirement for men aged 18 to 50 and for single women under 35, the "Service du Travail Obligatoire" (S.T.O. for short), which was extended in early 1943 following new German demands. In Wiesbaden, over 400 Frenchmen worked at the Kalle company alone; the various labor detachments comprised 600-700 prisoners of war. In total, there were probably at least 1,200 men and 200 women from France working here, as well as a number of other Western Europeans, mainly from Belgium and the Netherlands.

The civilian "Western workers" had more freedom than the "Eastern workers" and received slightly higher food rations. However, they were also subject to many constraints. For example, they were not allowed to leave their workplace or the community. The French living in the factory camps mostly suffered from hunger. They were forbidden to have contact with the Germans, but also with the "Eastern workers" and even with their fellow countrymen who had been taken prisoner of war. The French were also frequently suspected of sabotage and espionage. In Wiesbaden, at least 21 Frenchmen and three Frenchwomen were sent to a labor education camp, six Frenchwomen to the "Extended Women's Prison Hirzenhain", which was similar to a concentration camp, and eight Frenchmen and two Frenchwomen were sent to a concentration camp; others received prison sentences. Several Belgians also suffered such a fate.

A special case were the Italians who were forcibly transferred to Germany as "Italian military internees" (IMI) after Italy's break with Hitler's Germany in the summer of 1943, some of them to Wiesbaden. They were mainly used to clear rubble after air raids and were despised as traitors.

A further stage in the deployment of foreigners was reached after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The large numbers of prisoners and civilian workers who were soon transported to Germany were portrayed by Nazi propaganda as "sub-humans" and dangerous Bolsheviks and treated accordingly. The first labor detachment of Soviet prisoners arrived in Wiesbaden on July 24, 1942, after the first large transport of civilian "Eastern workers" had already arrived in Wiesbaden in May 1942. Most of these 96 women and girls, almost all of whom were assigned to the Kalle & Co. company in Biebrich as chemical workers, were only 15-25 years old. Gradually, the number of "Eastern workers" in Wiesbaden rose to around 1,500. Of these, almost 1,100 worked in industry, where they had to perform the same hard labor as men, and around 100 worked for the Reichsbahn. The city administration also employed "Ostarbeiterinnen", e.g. in refuse collection. Of the more than 730 Soviet men known by name, almost 450 were employed in industry and over 150 in the Reichsbahn.

The "Eastern workers" lived in extremely simple camps, which were initially surrounded by barbed wire and which they were only allowed to leave for work. Their everyday life was regulated down to the smallest detail by the "Eastern Workers' Decrees". The Nazi authorities were particularly keen to prevent contact with the Germans and any sense of solidarity. Nevertheless, there were courageous people who helped the forced laborers out of compassion despite the threat of punishment.

As with the Poles, "sexual intercourse with Germans" was punishable by death, while "breach of contract" and other disciplinary offenses were punishable by imprisonment in the camp. An unforeseen complication was the frequent pregnancies among the "Eastern workers". At times, they were unable to work and the children had to be cared for after giving birth. The Nazi regime therefore sought to prevent "racially undesirable offspring" as far as possible. According to a circular issued by the Reich Minister of Health on March 11, 1943, "Eastern workers" were allowed to terminate their pregnancies. However, if the "father" was a German or other "Aryan", no abortion was allowed. "Racially valuable" babies were to be placed in the care of German welfare organizations (NS-Volkswohlfahrt, "Lebensborn"-Verein). The other infants were threatened with a stay in so-called foreign child care facilities, where they were usually left to vegetate in catastrophic conditions. Pregnant "Eastern workers" from the Wiesbaden district were to be taken to the Pfaffenwald camp (near Hersfeld) set up by the state labor office, which was notorious for its inhumane conditions. However, some of the women gave birth in the Wiesbaden municipal hospitals, where conditions were much better. Births also took place in the municipal "Willi camp"; in July 1944, 86 "Eastern workers" and 14 children were living here. From 1942 to the end of March 1945, at least 164 children were born to foreign forced laborers in Wiesbaden, 85 of them to "Eastern workers" and 45 to Polish women. 43 of these babies died by the end of the war.

A larger number of the "foreign workers" fell victim to the National Socialist "euthanasia" crimes. In most cases, tuberculosis was the reason for their admission to one of the killing centers. This was the fate of several forced laborers from Wiesbaden who were killed in the state sanatoriums Eichberg in Rheingau and Hadamar. Concentration camp prisoners were also used for forced labor in Wiesbaden, such as Luxembourgers and Dutchmen from the SS special camp / Hinzert concentration camp, who had to build bunkers for the SS at Unter den Eichen.

Jews from Wiesbaden were also conscripted by the employment office after the start of the war and had to perform hard labor. In the last weeks of the war, the lives of the "foreign workers" were increasingly endangered by air raids. As the foreigners were not allowed to go to the air raid shelters, their share of the victims was very high. For example, at least 20 people, mainly Soviet forced laborers and their children, lost their lives when "Camp Willi" was destroyed on 9 March 1945. Almost all of the at least 73 foreign victims of air raids are buried in the South Cemetery.

Towards the end of the war, the lives of the forced laborers were also increasingly threatened by acts of arbitrariness and revenge on the part of the Gestapo and SS men. At least 18 Soviet citizens were shot in Wiesbaden. SS-Oberführer and police colonel Hans Trummler, commander of the SS-Oberabschnitt Rheinland-Westmark, and his staff were responsible for these acts. As the Allied troops approached the Rhine from the west in March 1945, the majority of the camps were evacuated and the forced laborers were marched east on foot. They were often exposed to the cold weather for days without food and often with inadequate clothing.

After the Allied invasion, a large proportion of the foreigners were collected in so-called DP camps (DP = Displaced Persons). This unexpectedly large number of people had to be fed and given medical care. In Wiesbaden, the US troops set up the Gersdorff barracks in Schiersteiner Straße as accommodation for thousands of displaced persons, the administration of which was taken over by Team No. 28 of the "United Nations' Relief and Rehabilitation Administration" (UNRRA) in August 1945. In the first weeks after the end of the war, there were also a number of violent crimes and acts of revenge committed by former forced laborers in Wiesbaden.

Repatriation began in May and was largely completed by the end of October 1945. The return of the French, Belgians, Dutch, Luxembourgers and Italians to their homeland went smoothly. The Soviet prisoners of war and civilian workers, on the other hand, were often handed over to the Red Army on the Elbe against their will due to the agreements made between the Western Allies and Stalin at the Yalta Conference. As they were suspected by Stalin of collaborating with Hitler's Germany, they often suffered professional and social disadvantages for the rest of their lives. Numerous stateless people remained in Wiesbaden, often living in DP camps for years.