本文檢視受制於德國強制勞役的人們學習德語、以及如何處理這個語言的過程，同時亦針對上述過程在這群人的後續生活裡所發展之狀況提出了進一步的觀察。文中一方面探討被遣送至德國的人們如何學習或者抗拒德語，他們出於什麼原因這麼做，成效又如何。另一方面，對原來就會說德文的人而言（無論是作為母語或是外語），戰時的經驗是否改變了他們在二戰期間以及後續生活中對德語的使用，與看待德國社會與文化的方式。根據國際強制勞役者典藏計畫（International Forced Labourers’ Documentation Project，德國哈根大學，2004-2007）中的80位前二戰強制勞役者的生命故事訪談資料，本文將探索勞役及語言學習的關係，析論語言在建立社會角色與身份上的影響，以及語言與暴力的交互作用。

The article examines how people acquired the German language and have dealt with it while being subjected to forced labour under German command. It also follows up how these processes developed over the further courses of the lives of the people concerned. This comprises to explore how people who were deported to Germany acquired the language or how and why or rather to what extent and effect they refused to do so. It will also be taken into consideration if and how people who already knew German as their mother tongue or as a foreign language changed their use of it and their outlook on German society and culture on the whole during World War II and in the life after as a result of their wartime experiences. Based on 80 life story interviews with former World War II forced labourers from the stock of the International Forced Labourers’ Documentation Project (Hagen University, Germany, 2004-2007), this article will trace the intersection of forcible exploitation through labour and language acquisition, how language influences the establishment of social roles and identities and the interplay of language and violence.