The exhibition shows the extent to which the Reich Ministry of Labour supported the Nazi dictatorship. Portrayed until now as having had little influence, the ministry participated in the discrimination against particular sections of the population and played a major role in organising the deployment of forced labour. The impact of labour and welfare policy on people both within the German Reich and in the German-occupied territories is illustrated through case studies. Biographies of civil servants working at the Reich Ministry of Labour highlight their individual scope for action during the Nazi period.

The exhibition is based on the findings of the Independent Commission of Historians set up in 2013 to research the history of the Reich Ministry of Labour during the Nazi era.