Ostarbayter is a German term for the identification of persons who were exported by the Nazis from the eastern occupied territories, mainly from the Reich Commissariat Ukraine, during the Second World War for forced labor in Germany.

The exportation of workers to the Reich was not foreseen by fascist occupation plans. However, when it became clear that a rapid victory on the Eastern Front would not be achieved, in November 1941 the forced deportation of workers to Germany began. For 1941-44, the total number of Ostarbeiters was 2.8 million, including 2.2 million Ukrainians. Most of the Ostarbeiters worked in private enterprises.

The productivity of ostarbeiters was quite high and was 60-80% among men compared to the productivity of German workers, and among women - 90-100%. In Germany, ostarbeiters lived in special camps under the strict supervision of administrative and police special services. Wages accounted for 30% of the wage paid by a German worker, of which the bulk went to food and housing. For trying to escape, ostarbeiters were punished by death or detention at a concentration camp.

Ostarbiteers wore the obligatory discriminatory "Ost." In June 1944, they were replaced by national honors - for Ukrainians - a trident. Most of the Ostarbeiters were forcibly repatriated in the USSR after the war, where almost all were accused of "treason" and repressed.