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Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939-1945
An unflinching, detailed portrait of a forgotten group of Nazi forced labor survivors.
Required to sew a large letter "P" onto their jackets, thousands of women, some as young as age 12, were taken from their homes in Poland and forced to work in Hitler's Germany for months and years on end. As mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters, female Polish forced laborers faced a unique set of challenges and often unspeakable conditions because of their gender. Compelled to learn more about her own mother's experience as a forced laborer, Sophie Hodorowicz Knab embarked on a personal quest to uncover details about this overlooked aspect of World War II history. She conducted extensive research in archives in the U.S., London, and Warsaw for over 14 years to piece together facts and individual stories.
Knab explains how it all happened, from the beginning of Nazi occupation in Poland to liberation: the roundups; the horrors of transit camps; the living and working conditions of Polish women in agriculture and industry; and the anguish of sexual exploitation and forced abortions--all under the constant threat of concentration camps. Knab draws from documents, government and family records, rare photos, and most importantly, numerous victim accounts and diaries, letters and trial testimonies, finally giving these women a voice and bringing to light the atrocities that they endured.
Required to sew a large letter "P" onto their jackets, thousands of women, some as young as age 12, were taken from their homes in Poland and forced to work in Hitler's Germany for months and years on end. As mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters, female Polish forced laborers faced a unique set of challenges and often unspeakable conditions because of their gender. Compelled to learn more about her own mother's experience as a forced laborer, Sophie Hodorowicz Knab embarked on a personal quest to uncover details about this overlooked aspect of World War II history. She conducted extensive research in archives in the U.S., London, and Warsaw for over 14 years to piece together facts and individual stories.
Knab explains how it all happened, from the beginning of Nazi occupation in Poland to liberation: the roundups; the horrors of transit camps; the living and working conditions of Polish women in agriculture and industry; and the anguish of sexual exploitation and forced abortions--all under the constant threat of concentration camps. Knab draws from documents, government and family records, rare photos, and most importantly, numerous victim accounts and diaries, letters and trial testimonies, finally giving these women a voice and bringing to light the atrocities that they endured.
293 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2016
25 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 26, 2020
There is a great deal of information out there about what took place during world war two. We think we have everything covered. But there are still part of these tragic events that go unnoticed outside of there countries of origin. For most people we accept that the Nazi invasion of Poland was a pretty horrific set of events. But that is where most of our knowledge ends. We learn about what took place in camps like Auschwitz but stop short of looking at the people who lived under Nazi rule in their own countries. This is where this author steps up to the plate so to speak. Looking into her own families' past she has been able to give us a much better insight into what it was like for the women of Poland Under Nazi rule.
When I started out with this book I like many others, thought I had a rough idea of what it must have been like. But as I delved deeper into it I started to become very aware that I really didn't have a clue as to just how horrific it was for these women. It is without a doubt a difficult book to spend time with. But this is hardly a surprise after all the Nazis planned to use Poland as a source for slave labor until they where no longer required and then much like the jews wipe them of the face of the planet. For me at least I felt the use of witness testimonies added a great deal to how I interacted with the book. It is most definitely one thing to read about such events and a completely different one to read the words of those who were there. In learning about so many different women's lives during this period it gave me a much wider understanding of just how bad things got. I am left in not only wonder as to just how the managed to make it through these years but a great admiration their sheer force of will.
Rather than throw all this information at you in one giant lump the author chose to break each chapter down into more focused topics giving a bite-size pieces for us to contemplate all the while backing it up with different women's accounts as to what she went through. It also flows in a chronological order starting with the invasion and ending with what was supposed to be libration and a return to home and the lives they had left. I felt her style worked really well here as the book moved me around to each of the topics she wished to cover. Whilst each chapter may seem small it definitely packs a punch and gets across the strong message which the author intended. It is hard to imagine now but having hindsight is a wonderful thing. For many it must at first have seemed in the early days of occupation that the jobs being offered were to be a lifeline, a way of supporting those they cared for in hard times in the hopes of the better ones to come. but what this book does is t show us all the harsh truths of what took place. The stories they couldn't or wouldn't want to tell others. Even now there is a great deal of stigma associated with what happened to these women.
This is a book that has greatly expanded my understanding of events that took place so long ago yet still have the power to change how we see the world. Anyone who reads this can see for themselves that these women were not willing participants in the Nazi machine. They suffered and fought their way through till the bitter end, only to be left with a feeling of shame that for a great many never left them. I deeply suspect the if not for her own family's connection this is a book that may never have been written. It is, however, an important one and I can only thank the author spending a great deal of time in pulling all these stories together which otherwise would have been lost to time.
When I started out with this book I like many others, thought I had a rough idea of what it must have been like. But as I delved deeper into it I started to become very aware that I really didn't have a clue as to just how horrific it was for these women. It is without a doubt a difficult book to spend time with. But this is hardly a surprise after all the Nazis planned to use Poland as a source for slave labor until they where no longer required and then much like the jews wipe them of the face of the planet. For me at least I felt the use of witness testimonies added a great deal to how I interacted with the book. It is most definitely one thing to read about such events and a completely different one to read the words of those who were there. In learning about so many different women's lives during this period it gave me a much wider understanding of just how bad things got. I am left in not only wonder as to just how the managed to make it through these years but a great admiration their sheer force of will.
Rather than throw all this information at you in one giant lump the author chose to break each chapter down into more focused topics giving a bite-size pieces for us to contemplate all the while backing it up with different women's accounts as to what she went through. It also flows in a chronological order starting with the invasion and ending with what was supposed to be libration and a return to home and the lives they had left. I felt her style worked really well here as the book moved me around to each of the topics she wished to cover. Whilst each chapter may seem small it definitely packs a punch and gets across the strong message which the author intended. It is hard to imagine now but having hindsight is a wonderful thing. For many it must at first have seemed in the early days of occupation that the jobs being offered were to be a lifeline, a way of supporting those they cared for in hard times in the hopes of the better ones to come. but what this book does is t show us all the harsh truths of what took place. The stories they couldn't or wouldn't want to tell others. Even now there is a great deal of stigma associated with what happened to these women.
This is a book that has greatly expanded my understanding of events that took place so long ago yet still have the power to change how we see the world. Anyone who reads this can see for themselves that these women were not willing participants in the Nazi machine. They suffered and fought their way through till the bitter end, only to be left with a feeling of shame that for a great many never left them. I deeply suspect the if not for her own family's connection this is a book that may never have been written. It is, however, an important one and I can only thank the author spending a great deal of time in pulling all these stories together which otherwise would have been lost to time.
April 29, 2018
Excellent resource for a forgotten and little known piece of WWII history. More than a million Poles, mostly young women, were sent to Germany as slave labor for factories and farms. Conditions were harsh, Poles were considered subservient to the great German race, and forced to live separately and identified by wearing a Letter P to identify them as Poles. Separate and not equal was the rule. The author wrote the book she could not find. Her mother served as slave labor during WWII. The book is based on true letters and correspondence of several women, and a whole lot of research. It reads more like a reference that is backed up with historical research, than as a novel, though there is continuity of the same women throughout the book. As such, the book serves as a critical resource to document this history for present and future generations.
October 5, 2018
This is a group of forgotten slaves. The book flows, but hard to read because of what these Poles lived through. I probably should not have read it so quickly after my mother's passing. My mom was one of these Poles and said she didn't have it so bad, but would never talk more than about wearing the "P" and having a curfew. Someone said she probably was just fed as many were in starvation. The poor chldren who were starved and taken from their mothers! A must read especially to understand this forgotten group of slaves. I truly appreciate my mother's gratitude for the little things.
August 29, 2017
An important book to read for these times, this book tells the true story of the horrors that occur when one nationality/race believes it is superior to the others. This is the only comprehensive account in English of the Polish women who were displaced by war and taken to Germany as slave laborers during WWII. As the US faces our own nationalist and racist underside, more good people need to wake up to the dark dark evil these ideologies have brought in the not so distant past. Well researched and heart-rending. Should be required reading for Americans!
July 19, 2020
W ogromie opracowań na temat Holocaustu i tragedii, która dotknęła naród żydowski w czasie II Wojny Światowej zarówno ze strony nazistów jak i lokalnej ludności, mogą gdzieś ginąć krzywdy, które były udziałem innych grup narodowościowych. Sophie Hodorowicz-Knab w swojej książce przywraca świadomości zbiorowej okrucieństwa, których doświadczyły Polki zesłane do Niemiec do pracy przymusowej. Jest to temat bardzo ciekawy i wstrząsający, a zapomniany, chociaż prawdopodobnie w każdej polskiej rodzinie musiał być ktoś, kto tego doświadczył. Autorka, córka pary dipisów - (DP - displaced person), urodzona w obozie dla osób wysiedlonych zajęła się tym tematem z pobudek osobistych. Chciała zrozumieć swoją matkę, jej surowy charakter, leki antydepresyjne i poznać jej doświadczenia, których ona sama uchylała zaledwie rąbka, resztę ukrywała głęboko w sobie. Nie opisała jednak losów swojej rodziny, tylko bardzo solidnie opracowaną i udokumentowaną książkę historyczną. Korzystała z wielu materiałów źródłowych, przytoczyła mnóstwo relacji uczestników tamtych wydarzeń, żeby kompleksowo odtworzyć każdy etap zsyłki i opisać życie robotnic przymusowych w każdym wymiarze. Wyłania się z niej obraz systemowego niszczenia narodu, zamienienia go w niewolników, bo nimi właśnie były osoby zesłane do pracy w niemieckim rolnictwie i przemyśle. Ludzie traktowani gorzej niż zwierzęta, bez żadnych praw, głodzeni, bici, poniżani, eksploatowani do granic możliwości, w każdy możliwy sposób pozbawiani godności i człowieczeństwa. Nie widzimy tutaj złych nazistów i dobrych Niemców, rozgraniczenia, które jest często spotykane w komentarzach dotyczących tamtego okresu. Oczywiście zdarzali się porządni ludzie, jednak znęcanie się nad Polkami było powszechne, naturalne i umocowane w prawie. Ludność niemiecka była wręcz do tego zachęcana kolejnymi dekretami zezwalającymi na coraz dotkliwsze represje. Polacy byli podludźmi i tak ich traktowano. Najbardziej wstrząsające są rozdziały dotyczące ciąży, porodu i opieki nad dziećmi. Kobiety pracujące do ostatnich chwil przed porodem, same skrajnie wycieńczone jakimś cudem jednak rodziły żywe dzieci, których los był z góry przypieczętowany. Po maksymalnie 14 dniach dzieci, które przeszły segregację rasową i mogły zostać aryjczykami były odbierane matkom i oddawane do specjalnych domów dziecka, bądź rodzin niemieckich. Pozostałe były umieszczane w „żłobkach”, które tak naprawdę były umieralniami. Miały nie przeżyć i spocząć w kartonowym pudle w zbiorowej mogile, nawet nie oznaczonej. Nie mogłam przez te fragmenty przebrnąć, wywracały mi flaki. Tym bardziej, że też czytałam tę książkę osobiście. Moja prababcia pracowała u bauera i do dziś pamiętam niektóre z jej historii, choć zmarła kiedy miałam 9 lat. To ona zaszczepiła we mnie potworny lęk przed wojną.
Trzeba to przeczytać, żeby zrozumieć to doświadczenie traumy całego pokolenia, traumy nigdy niezaopiekowanej, której skutki prawdopodobnie w jakiś sposób odczuwamy do dziś.
Trzeba to przeczytać, żeby zrozumieć to doświadczenie traumy całego pokolenia, traumy nigdy niezaopiekowanej, której skutki prawdopodobnie w jakiś sposób odczuwamy do dziś.
July 25, 2025
Un travail infiniment minutieux de la part de l'auteur. Une synthèse de faits sourcés, accompagnés de témoignages et abordant tous les aspects de la vie de ces jeunes femmes polonaises dont la vie a été bouleversée par le travail forcé pendant la seconde guerre mondiale. Une lecture très dure, mais très intéressante.
December 6, 2020
I applaud Sophie Hodorowicz Knab for writing this masterpiece, as it gives first hand insights to a critical period that already so many are beginning to, and unfortunately, in some cases, willing to forget. I can't imagine the author's emotions during the course of this book's development as her own mother was a forced laborer in Germany from 1943 to 1945. Thank you, Sophie, for this gift to all of us.
The documentation of what these women were forced to endure is truly disturbing, but is masterfully described in detail. In a time when so much World War II fiction is released, some exceedingly good, it is important that first-hand survivor documentation such as this is available to remind us just how cruel and unforgiving the Nazi regime truly was.
Dziękuję, Pani Knab. Your efforts reflect your love of Polonia around the world. Thank you for never allowing us, or the world, to forget!
The documentation of what these women were forced to endure is truly disturbing, but is masterfully described in detail. In a time when so much World War II fiction is released, some exceedingly good, it is important that first-hand survivor documentation such as this is available to remind us just how cruel and unforgiving the Nazi regime truly was.
Dziękuję, Pani Knab. Your efforts reflect your love of Polonia around the world. Thank you for never allowing us, or the world, to forget!
March 7, 2017
Ms Hodorowicz Knab deserves immense credit for making readable an emotional and disturbing history of forced and slave labor during the Second World War. This record is a must read complementing the histories of the concentration camps.
January 4, 2018
Book Review
Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939 – 1945
(Hippocrene Books, 293 pp., $19.95)
By Catherine Hamilton
Award winning author Sophie Hodorowicz Knab's recent release, Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939 – 1945, skillfully uncovers a tragic but overlooked chapter of Polish history. This nonfiction work tells the real-life story of nearly half a million Polish-Catholic women who were kidnapped and forced into slave labor for the support and advancement of Hitler’s Germany.
Sophie's own mother, like the others, was caught up in what has been called the largest, most secretive wartime slave-labor campaign carried out by the Nazis. Nearly four decades after WWII, Knab writes a book that answers all the questions her own mother couldn’t or wouldn’t address. “I tried to write the book I could never find,” Knab said.
Her extensive and thorough research includes scholarly footnotes and vignettes from female detainees who tell their personal accounts of being made slaves, some of them as young teenagers. Knab takes the reader from the first kidnappings in 1939 to the displaced persons camps after the war ended in Europe. The book’s purview has the breadth and depth of the Second World War, and Knab explores with fairness and insight every aspect of Nazi slave labor.
Images of women sorted for job suitability once they reached transition camps that are heavily guarded with SS and dogs, coupled with rations worse than meager are both vivid and shocking. According to slave-labor survivor Maria H., “We were driven by armed guards and, with dogs barking furiously at us, we have to leave our homeland.”
Maria H. also recalled her arrival in Germany: “.… hanging around the motor cars were German children, hollering verbal abuse at us …. one of the children of preschool age ran up to the truck and threw a handful of dirt with gravel unexpectedly in my face hollering, “Polen Schweine.”
At the slave market, according to Knab’s findings, “The fee was 3 RM for a Polish worker from the Government General and 8.50 RM for permission to employ her.”
Enduring long work days with starvation diets, the Polish women were subjected to oppression. Knab presents translated memos that were given to those keeping Polish slaves that instruct employers to be proud of their superiority over Polish people in every respect. “You are masters…” Agricultural estates, businesses, and industry used Polish-Catholic slave laborers. Twelve hour days were the norm and many women worked seven days a week. Job assignments and hours worked were entirely at the whim of the “master.”
Survivor Kazimera K., recalled, “.…we were taken to a rubber factory … it produced various items for war.… myself and the other girls were sent to the most difficult section.… we carried these forms from the ovens… each day we had to carry about 300 pounds…”
While Knab set out to write the book she could never find—a book that would answer the questions her mother could not, she goes well beyond that. Knab has revealed to the world new historic findings from documents long forgotten. Wearing the Letter P gives voice to the hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout America, Canada, Australia, England, and Poland whose family members were victims of forced labor under Hitler’s Third Reich.
I know, because I am one of those family members. My cousin Katherine, her brother, and her brother’s girlfriend were kidnapped off the streets of their Polish villages as teenagers. I was shocked when I heard Katherine tell her story two decades ago. She had been locked in an attic each night and had worked in forests and agricultural fields by day. Even more shocking was that I’d never before heard about Catholic-Poles who’d been forced into slavery. The Nazi reign of terror became personal that day. I wondered how they had picked her and why. How many others had suffered like her? I searched for answers. Now I know. There were nearly 2 million Poles taken to Germany as slaves—and half of them were women.
Extraordinarily compelling, Knab’s Wearing the letter P tells it all, revealing the truth about Nazi human trafficking during WWII.
Catherine A. Hamilton
Freelance writer and author of “Katherine Graczyk; in Forgotten Survivors—Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation. Edited by Richard C. Lukas pp.31-37, The University Press of Kansas. 2004.
Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939 – 1945
(Hippocrene Books, 293 pp., $19.95)
By Catherine Hamilton
Award winning author Sophie Hodorowicz Knab's recent release, Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939 – 1945, skillfully uncovers a tragic but overlooked chapter of Polish history. This nonfiction work tells the real-life story of nearly half a million Polish-Catholic women who were kidnapped and forced into slave labor for the support and advancement of Hitler’s Germany.
Sophie's own mother, like the others, was caught up in what has been called the largest, most secretive wartime slave-labor campaign carried out by the Nazis. Nearly four decades after WWII, Knab writes a book that answers all the questions her own mother couldn’t or wouldn’t address. “I tried to write the book I could never find,” Knab said.
Her extensive and thorough research includes scholarly footnotes and vignettes from female detainees who tell their personal accounts of being made slaves, some of them as young teenagers. Knab takes the reader from the first kidnappings in 1939 to the displaced persons camps after the war ended in Europe. The book’s purview has the breadth and depth of the Second World War, and Knab explores with fairness and insight every aspect of Nazi slave labor.
Images of women sorted for job suitability once they reached transition camps that are heavily guarded with SS and dogs, coupled with rations worse than meager are both vivid and shocking. According to slave-labor survivor Maria H., “We were driven by armed guards and, with dogs barking furiously at us, we have to leave our homeland.”
Maria H. also recalled her arrival in Germany: “.… hanging around the motor cars were German children, hollering verbal abuse at us …. one of the children of preschool age ran up to the truck and threw a handful of dirt with gravel unexpectedly in my face hollering, “Polen Schweine.”
At the slave market, according to Knab’s findings, “The fee was 3 RM for a Polish worker from the Government General and 8.50 RM for permission to employ her.”
Enduring long work days with starvation diets, the Polish women were subjected to oppression. Knab presents translated memos that were given to those keeping Polish slaves that instruct employers to be proud of their superiority over Polish people in every respect. “You are masters…” Agricultural estates, businesses, and industry used Polish-Catholic slave laborers. Twelve hour days were the norm and many women worked seven days a week. Job assignments and hours worked were entirely at the whim of the “master.”
Survivor Kazimera K., recalled, “.…we were taken to a rubber factory … it produced various items for war.… myself and the other girls were sent to the most difficult section.… we carried these forms from the ovens… each day we had to carry about 300 pounds…”
While Knab set out to write the book she could never find—a book that would answer the questions her mother could not, she goes well beyond that. Knab has revealed to the world new historic findings from documents long forgotten. Wearing the Letter P gives voice to the hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout America, Canada, Australia, England, and Poland whose family members were victims of forced labor under Hitler’s Third Reich.
I know, because I am one of those family members. My cousin Katherine, her brother, and her brother’s girlfriend were kidnapped off the streets of their Polish villages as teenagers. I was shocked when I heard Katherine tell her story two decades ago. She had been locked in an attic each night and had worked in forests and agricultural fields by day. Even more shocking was that I’d never before heard about Catholic-Poles who’d been forced into slavery. The Nazi reign of terror became personal that day. I wondered how they had picked her and why. How many others had suffered like her? I searched for answers. Now I know. There were nearly 2 million Poles taken to Germany as slaves—and half of them were women.
Extraordinarily compelling, Knab’s Wearing the letter P tells it all, revealing the truth about Nazi human trafficking during WWII.
Catherine A. Hamilton
Freelance writer and author of “Katherine Graczyk; in Forgotten Survivors—Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation. Edited by Richard C. Lukas pp.31-37, The University Press of Kansas. 2004.
July 21, 2019
This was a very well researched book but so hard to read as far as reading what some humans can do to other humans....it's awful, distressing. Sophie tells the story of these poor unfortunate Polish women, one of which is her mother, as they deal with being ripped from their families and forced to work and live in terrible conditions in Germany during WWII. Fearing for their lives, fighting disease and starvation they struggle each day to survive the nightmare that is their life. With real interviews from actual Polish forced laborers this book lets you feel for what these woman had to bear. They were slaves...made to feel subhuman.
Forced to wear the letter "P" prominently on their person at all times they had no freedom constantly subjected to scorn, contempt and beatings. Anyone who tried to help them could be imprisoned, fined or even killed. With no one to turn to but each other strong bonds were made as these brave women endured their fate together.
Forced to wear the letter "P" prominently on their person at all times they had no freedom constantly subjected to scorn, contempt and beatings. Anyone who tried to help them could be imprisoned, fined or even killed. With no one to turn to but each other strong bonds were made as these brave women endured their fate together.
March 27, 2020
Very well written and informative
I am so happy to have found this book. Being the child of a family of Polish Catholic forced laborers I know only too well how difficult it is to find information about the struggles they faced. Although I knew that they were forced laborers taken from Poland to work on a farm in Germany, it was never discussed. It was not until my Grandfather passed that I realized I really knew nothing about my family. Thank you so much to Ms. Knab for helping to fill in some gaps!
I am so happy to have found this book. Being the child of a family of Polish Catholic forced laborers I know only too well how difficult it is to find information about the struggles they faced. Although I knew that they were forced laborers taken from Poland to work on a farm in Germany, it was never discussed. It was not until my Grandfather passed that I realized I really knew nothing about my family. Thank you so much to Ms. Knab for helping to fill in some gaps!
February 25, 2024
This has been on my reading list for a while. My grandmother was a forced laborer in Nazi Germany, and to my knowledge, never really spoke of it. It was important for me to learn about this history. Unfortunately, forced laborers were often not (and still are usually not) recognized as victims of the war. This book gave some much-needed insight into that experience, and the first-person accounts are so powerful. Thank you Sophie Hodorowicz Knab for writing this.
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December 30, 2025This is one of those books that I cannot give a fair rating due to the subject. Non-fiction book about how the Polish people were treated by the Germans during WWII. Some of them ended up in concentration camps, but they all faced discrimination and treated as enslaved people. They lived in absolutely horrible conditions.
March 24, 2021
I read this with my book club. It was as a very difficult read, but I learned about an aspect of history that I never knew.
August 24, 2024
This was an extremely tough book to get thru.
November 17, 2024
I was not aware that the Polish people were ranked as subhuman by the Nazis along with the Jews. That they, too, wore required to wear the letter P on their clothes when they left Poland as literal slaves in Germany. In fact, until recently, I was totally unaware that Hitler ordered the death of all Polish people , just like the Jews, in concentration camps or working them to death. Approximately the same number of Polish people were murdered by the Nazis as were the Jews! Intriguing. Why is the world unaware of the genocide? Real stories.
April 17, 2017
This book is unbelievable. Could not believe how never heard of this part of WWII. How people survived is remarkable. What the polish went through was beyond belief. Such hatred the Germans had toward the polish. A must read.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews