The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

by William L. Shirer

The clothing of the Eastern workers was likewise completely inadequate. They worked and slept in the same clothing in which they had arrived from the East. Virtually all of them had no overcoats and were compelled to use their blankets as coats in cold and rainy weather. In view of the shortage of shoes many workers were forced to go to work in their bare feet, even in winter… Sanitary conditions were atrocious. At Kramerplatz only ten children’s toilets were available for 1,200 inhabitants… Excretion contaminated the entire floors of these lavatories… The Tartars and Kirghiz suffered most; they collapsed like flies [from] bad housing, the poor quality and insufficient quantity of food, overwork and insufficient rest.