Forced Labor in Modern Europe

This course will explore the history of forced labor in Europe over the last roughly 200 years, focused on the shifting nature of how forced labor has been defined racially and along class lines, as well as how it has been justified for the cause of nationalism and economic development. Many European states both defined forced laborers as others, deserving of their exploitation, while also justifying this forced labor as a good in terms of advancing the economic growth and development of the state and the reinforcement of a social hierarchy beneficial to social order. Forced labor as a phenomenon then sits at the heart of the contradictions and dynamics of modern Europe – nationalism, empire building, globalization, and economic change. Forced labor since the end of WWII is officially denigrated, yet this course will show how it continues to persist and play a large role in the functioning of the manufacturing and service economy across Europe.