German WWII Arbeitsbuch (Work Book), Deutsches Reich

A German labor record book issued under the Deutsches Reich, with a printed cover reading "DEUTSCHES REICH" and "ARBEITSBUCH", featuring a large state eagle above a wreathed swastika emblem. This document type was issued to workers as a mandatory employment record, used to track occupational history and labor placement within the state-controlled workforce system of the period.

The Arbeitsbuch was introduced by the Nazi state in 1935 as part of the Reich's labour control apparatus, administered through the Reichsanstalt fuer Arbeitsvermittlung und Arbeitslosenversicherung (Reich Institute for Labour Placement and Unemployment Insurance). Possession of the document became compulsory for employment, allowing authorities to monitor an individual's work history, skills, and availability, and later to direct labour toward priorities such as armaments production and the war economy. It functioned as an instrument of state control over the workforce, restricting workers' freedom to change jobs without official sanction and facilitating the mobilisation of labour, including foreign and forced workers, during the Second World War.