All aspects of forced laborers' lives were constantly monitored. At their workplaces and in mass housing they had no space to care for their personal needs. Many punishments were carried out on site. But often forced laborers were turned over to the security authorities, specifically to the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt), which oversaw the Gestapo.
To ensure the most comprehensive surveillance possible, the Gestapo made use of auxiliary police, tips from the general population, and reports from workplace managers. In order to enforce discipline in the workplace, detect sabotage, and prevent undesired contact with Germans, the security authorities took brutal measures against forced laborers, particularly those from Poland and the Soviet Union. Possible punishments ranged from fines to imprisonment in a work camp and execution.
Whether serving as city police, camp employees, or informants—many Germans assisted the security authorities. One of the Gestapo's most important instruments of control were denunciations made by the populace.
→ "PROTECTING AGAINST THREATS IN THE DEPLOYMENT OF FOREIGNERS"
Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, RSHA) was responsible for monitoring forced laborers in the German Reich. It was the central authority of the Nazi persecution and killing apparatus. In September 1939 the security arm of the SS (SS-Sicherheitsdienst, SD) and the security police (including the criminal police and the Gestapo) were joined under the aegis of this authority.
The security police, and in particular the Gestapo, or secret police, were responsible for the surveillance and persecution of foreign workers. Over the course of the war, judicial authorities gave them an increasing amount of control over forced laborers. From 1943 onward, offences committed by workers from Poland or the Soviet Union were investigated exclusively by the Gestapo and punishments were issues without a trial.
During the war the majority of the Gestapo’s investigations were directed at forced laborers and relied on the help of urban police forces and local gendarmes in smaller communities.
