Memorial Stone for Eastern Workers at the Cemetery Dornbirn-Hatlerdorf

During World War II, thousands of prisoners of war, foreign and forced laborers were compelled to work primarily in armaments industries and during the construction of power plants in Vorarlberg. Particularly poor working conditions were endured by those referred to as "OstarbeiterInnen," residents of the occupied Soviet territories who were deported into the German Reich. Many men and women died as a result of forced labor, and there were cases of forced sterilizations and forced abortions. On the cemetery in Dornbirn-Hatlerdorf, initially wooden grave crosses, since 1975 several stone crosses and a memorial stone, commemorate the "OstarbeiterInnen" who died in Dornbirn or were killed there, as well as their deceased infants and young children.