NKVD labor columns

This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In the Soviet Union of World War II, NKVD labor columns (Russian: рабочие колонны НКВД) were militarized labor formations created from certain categories of population, both fully rightful Soviet citizens, as well as categories of limited civil rights. They were primarily from the people of ethnicities associated with the countries that fought against the Soviet Union. The vast majority of them were ethnic Germans.^[1][2] In later literature these formations were informally referred to as "labor army", in an analogy with Soviet Labor armies of 1920–1921, although this term was not used in official Soviet documents in reference to 1941–1946.

Although persons of these categories were not permitted to serve in the Soviet Army, members of the labor columns were considered to be conscripted for military duty.^[1]