The deportation and forced labour of Belgian and northern French civilians in the fall and winter of 1916/1917 is one of the darkest chapters of the history of the German occupation regime behind the Western Front. The forced conscription of civilian labourers was part and parcel of the radicalization of labour policies in the occupied Eastern and Western territories-albeit a radicalization which was subsequently rescinded. Only the exceptional circumstances of war explain this shift from a labour policy centred on voluntary enrolment to ever-more coercive practices. The forced mobilization of civilian labour in the occupied territories, but also its failure, can be interpreted in the context of the First World War's totalizing tendencies. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Forced labour Deportation Occupation northern France total war Belgium First World War

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