these are different types of cards – identification documents related to the place of employment. These documents were issued by larger establishments that had the resources to keep self-employment records. They serve as an identity document – a pass in the workplace and its surroundings, in case of identity control by the Werkschutz – industrial security guards or police authority. This contained information about current job, nationality (for example, by placing the letter “P”) and the accommodation. Sometimes, in the absence of pictures of the bearer, the document was valid only after the presentation of another document with a photograph. Due to the fact that Ausweis card in the workplace could be quickly destroyed, it was sometimes secured by a cover or in a special metal cover. In GG the Ausweis card (or Arbeitskarte) protected the people from being deported for forced labor during the round-up or random police checks. In 1943, however, there was a large number of forged identity card with the consequence that the occupation authorities ceased to pay attention to this type of document during the inspection – Ausweis card no longer protected from deportation to the Reich. It was also easy to verify its correctness by checking the information contained in it in the database of the Labor Office. Ausweis card, like other documents relating to forced labor, carried sometimes annotations from the Allied authorities, the Polish administration or humanitarian organizations.
