Less Than Slaves: Jewish Forced Labor and the Quest for Compensation

by Benjamin B. Ferencz, Telford Taylor

As a United States war crimes investigator during World War II, Benhamin B. Ferencz participated in the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. He returned to Germany after the war to help bring perpetrators of war crimes to justice and remained to direct restitution programs for Nazi victims. In Less Than Slaves, Ferencz describes the painstaking efforts that were made to persuade German industrial firms such as I. G. Farben, Krupp, AEG, Rheinmetall, and Daimler-Benz to compensate camp inmates who were exploited as forced laborers. The meager outcome of these efforts emerges from searing pages that detail the difficulties confronted by Ferencz and his dedicated colleagues. This engrossing narrative is a vital resource for all who are concerned with the moral, legal, and practical implications of the recent significant increase in the number of compensation claims by victims of persecution. First published in 1979, Ferencz's penetrating firsthand account returns to print with the author's evaluation of its historical significance and current relevance.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, Jewish

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[J. N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still sneer at any Mercedes when it drives past me because of the companies in this book who benefited from unpaid Jewish slave labor and then denied any wrongdoing. These poor people (if they even survived) were then asked to PROVE they even worked at these factories, since the companies themselves were denying their existence. Absolutely eye-opening and disgusting on behalf of German history.

[Reuvenc]

I found the sixth chapter, "The Shark Who Got Away", particularly infuriating but that emotion was kind of thick on the ground with this book, no, with this subject matter in general, well, with this world.

[Joy Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotionless fact-based history of the daily lives of many Jews forced to work at German factories, producing tools/food for Germany to profit off of. Then for decades after (if they even survived) being denied any basic compensation or even acknowledgement of their trials. Absolutely eye-opening and disgusting on behalf of German history.

[Sara Goldenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written.