Although the numbers of Italian civilians forced into working for the Third Reich were significant, their story was neglected in the public memory of post-fascist Italy. They were not even taken into consideration in the compensation measures for victims and the persecuted issued by the governments which had taken over in the Kingdom of the South and then in the Republic. Regarding the latter aspect, the decision to consider voluntariness as a discriminating factor was crucial: since it was impossible to assess who had accepted job offers for work in the Reich, and who instead had been the victim of…
