This is a partial original Arbeitsbuch (labor book) issued to Martha Höfer, née Thierfelder, in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Though created under the bureaucratic framework established by the Nazi regime, this example is notable for its issuance date of January 13, 1945—just months before the war’s end—and its continued administrative use into the early postwar era under Allied occupation. This fragment includes the front and rear covers and several key interior pages filled with personal and occupational details, offering a tangible glimpse into the continuity and collapse of German civil administration during this chaotic transitional period.

Martha Höfer was born on April 22, 1927, in Selmeczi, a town in the German-populated region of Slovakia (then part of Hungary), and was listed as “deutsch” in nationality and “verwitwet” (widowed) at the time of registration. She attended Volksschule (primary school) from 1927 to 1935, and by early 1945 had been assigned work in agriculture—likely under some form of compulsory labor or family-based assignment. Her listed employer was Paul Thierfelder, presumably a relative, and the type of work is noted as “landwirtschaft” (agricultural labor).

The issuing labor office (Arbeitsamt) was located in Annaberg, Saxony, with the district branch in Thum (“Thm” on the cover stamp), and the dated entry indicates that her labor placement was made official on January 13, 1945. Although this document retains the visual hallmarks of wartime-era labor books, including the slogan Achtet die Arbeit (“Respect Labor”) embossed on multiple pages, its issuance so late in the war—combined with its sparse usage—illustrates the rapid disintegration of Reich-era recordkeeping and the survival of these practices into the Allied-controlled postwar administration.

This Arbeitsbuch serves as a rare civilian artifact from the final phase of World War II and the fragile early months of the postwar period. It represents a young woman’s life caught in the administrative machinery of a collapsing regime, preserved through a document that outlasted the political system that created it. While incomplete, the document provides a unique window into the lived civilian experience in 1945 Germany, especially for women conscripted or compelled into agricultural work as the labor force thinned during the final stages of war and occupation.

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