Reichsarbeitsministerium file carrier. Collection

Contact Kazerne Dossin Documentation Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu The Reichsarbeitsministerium or RAM was created in 1919 as the successor of the Reichsarbeitsamt established the previous year. The Ministerium was responsible for establishing labour laws and the social policy in both the Weimar republic and the Third Reich. In the 1920s the Ministerium mostly focussed on the development of a national social policy including the care for war invalids, legislation regarding working hours and unemployment insurance. As of 1933 the institute’s focus shifted to activating and mobilising the German labour market. In 1936 the Ministerium started establishing a large work force to support the military rebirth of Germany. After the start of the Second World War in 1939, the Reichsarbeitsministerium was led by a Generalbevollmächtigte für den Arbeitseinsatz and participated in claiming forced labourers from the occupied territories. In 2017 a German research commission presented its first results on the role played by the Reichsarbeitsministerium in the Third Reich. This object is a file carrier used by the Antwerp department of the Reichsarbeitsministerium to store index cards regarding labour during the war.