During the Second World War, Eastern labourers came primarily from Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Russia. With the occupation of their countries by the Wehrmacht, they were deployed as labour in German industry to replace the German soldiers at the front.
In a letter written in German and addressed to “Germany, Westfallen, Stadt Oelde, am Friedhof, Haver und Boeker”, the three Ukrainians asked whether the company still had any documents to prove their activities. They concluded their request with the sentence “We thank all the owners of the factory, the engineers, the foremen and the workers who worked there at the time for their humane behaviour towards us during the war.” This final sentence can be explained by the fact that there were many of those who stayed at home at the time who saw these forced labourers primarily as employees who had suffered a hard fate.
Haver & Boecker was delighted to have helped the three Eastern labourers receive compensation after more than 50 years with the relevant documents from the archive – thereby alleviating their most urgent need. And, of course, they were also pleased that the company and its former managing directors Erich and Fritz Haver were fondly remembered.