OST-Arbeiter

thumb|250px|"Nationality badges" () of from Russia, [[Ukraine and Belarus colored in accordance with their national flags: blue Saint Andrew's cross on white within a red oval (white-blue-red flag of Russia), yellow within blue badge with the Ukrainian trident and white and red badge in accordance to the white-red-white flag of Belarus. The badges were legally introduced on 19 June 1944 as replacements for the "OST" badges and practically implemented seemingly only after February 1945.]] '''''''' (, "Eastern worker") was a Nazi German designation for foreign workers gathered from occupied Central and Eastern Europe to perform forced labor in Germany during World War II. The Germans started deporting civilians at the beginning of the war and began doing so at unprecedented levels following Operation Barbarossa in 1941. They apprehended from the newly-formed German districts of Reichskommissariat Ukraine, District of Galicia (itself attached to the General Government), and Reichskommissariat Ostland. These areas comprised German-occupied Poland and the conquered territories of the Soviet Union. According to Pavel Polian, although the from most occupied territories were predominantly men, of the "eastern workers" taken from occupied Soviet territories over 50% were women, and of those from Poland nearly 30% were women. Eastern workers included ethnic Ukrainians, Poles, Belarusians, Russians, Armenians, Tatars, and others. Estimates of the number of range between 3 million and 5.5 million.

By 1944, most new workers were under the age of 16 because those older were usually conscripted for service in Germany; 30% were as young as 12–14 years of age when taken from their homes. The age limit was reduced to 10 in November 1943. were often the victims of rape, and tens of thousands of pregnancies due to rape occurred.