![Street StaLag IV B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Street_StaLag_IV_B.JPG)
In
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, stalag (; ) was a term used for
prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...
s. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for ''Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager'', a literal translation of which is "War-prisoner" (i.e. POW) "enlisted" "main camp". Therefore, technically "stalag" simply means "main camp".
Legal definitions
According to the
Third Geneva Convention
The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was first adopted in 1929, but significantl ...
of 1929 and its predecessor, the
Hague Convention of 1907
The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were amo ...
, Section IV, Chapter 2, these camps were only for
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
, not civilians. Stalags were operated in both
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and were intended to be used for non-commissioned personnel (
enlisted rank
An enlisted rank (also known as an enlisted grade or enlisted rate) is, in some armed services, any rank below that of a commissioned officer. The term can be inclusive of non-commissioned officers or warrant officers, except in United States m ...
s in the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
and
other ranks in
British Commonwealth
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
forces).
Officers
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
were held in separate camps called ''
Oflag
An Oflag (from german: Offizierslager) was a type of prisoner of war camp for officers which the German Army established in World War I in accordance with the requirements of the 1899 Hague Convention, and in World War II in accordance with the r ...
''. During World War II, the ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' (German air force) operated ''Stalag Luft'' in which flying personnel, both officers and non-commissioned officers, were held. The ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' (German navy) operated ''
Marlag
Marlag und Milag Nord was a Second World War German prisoner-of-war camp complex for men of the British and Canadian Merchant Navy and Royal Navy. It was located around the village of Westertimke, about north-east of Bremen, though in some sourc ...
'' for Navy personnel and ''Milag'' for Merchant Navy personnel.
Civilians who were officially attached to military units, such as war correspondents, were provided the same treatment as military personnel by the Conventions.
The Third Geneva Convention, Section III, Article 49, permits non-commissioned personnel of lower ranks to be used for work in agriculture and industry, but not in any industry producing war material. Further articles of Section III detail conditions under which they should work, be housed and paid. During World War II these latter provisions were consistently breached, in particular for Russian, Polish, and Yugoslav prisoners. According to Nazi ideology,
Slav
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
ic people were regarded as ''rassisch minderwertig'' ("racially inferior").
Starvation was a deliberate policy in the Stalags, particularly with regard to Soviet prisoners of war. The camps consisted of a field with barbed wire around it, in which thousands of people were crammed together. There was usually no room to sit or lie down. Also, there was often no shelter from the weather, which could be very cold in the Polish and Belarusian winter. The food provided was too little to keep the prisoners alive. In the Soviet Stalags, the death rate during the entire war was 57.5 percent, although during the last months of 1941 this rate must have been much higher. In comparison, the mortality rate for Stalags for Western Allies was below 5 percent.
More Soviet prisoners of war died every day in Nazi camps during the Autumn of 1941 than the total number of Western Allied POWs in the entire war.
Prisoners of various nationalities were generally separated from each other by barbed-wire fences subdividing each stalag into sections. Frequently prisoners speaking the same language, for example British Commonwealth soldiers, were permitted to intermingle.
''Arbeitskommandos''
At each Stalag the German Army set up sub-camps called ''
Arbeitskommando
''Arbeitslager'' () is a German language word which means labor camp. Under Nazism, the German government (and its private-sector, Axis, and collaborator partners) used forced labor extensively, starting in the 1930s but most especially duri ...
'' to hold prisoners in the vicinity of specific work locations, whether factories, coal-mines, quarries, farms or railroad maintenance. These sub-camps sometimes held more than 1,000 prisoners, separated by nationality. The sub-camps were administered by the parent stalag, which maintained personnel records and collected mail and
International Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
packages and then delivered them to the individual ''Arbeitskommando''. Any individuals who were injured in work, or became ill, were returned to the ''Lazarett'' (medical care facilities) at the parent stalag.
Notable stalags
Stalag Luft III
, partof = ''Luftwaffe''
, location = Sagan, Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland)
, image =
, caption = Model of the set used to film the movie ''The Great Escape.'' It depicts a smaller version of a single compound in ''Stalag ...
, a large
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
camp near
Sagan,
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
, Germany (now Żagań,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
), was the site of an escape attempt (later filmed as ''
The Great Escape''). On 24 March 1944, 76
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
prisoners escaped through a 110 m (approximately 360 feet) long tunnel. Of these, 73 were recaptured within two weeks, and 50 of them were executed by order of
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
in the
Stalag Luft III murders
The Stalag Luft III murders were war crimes perpetrated by members of the Gestapo following the " Great Escape" of Allied prisoners of war from the German Air Force prison camp known as Stalag Luft III on March 25, 1944. Of the 76 successful escap ...
.
The largest
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
prisoner of war camp was
Stalag VII-A
Stalag VII-A (in full: ''Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager VII-A'') was the largest prisoner-of-war camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, located just north of the town of Moosburg in southern Bavaria. The camp covered an area of . It ser ...
at
Moosburg
Moosburg an der Isar (Central Bavarian: ''Mooschbuag on da Isa'') is a town in the ''Landkreis'' Freising of Bavaria, Germany.
The oldest town between Regensburg and Italy, it lies on the river Isar at an altitude of 421 m (1381 ft). ...
, Germany. Over 130,000 Allied soldiers were imprisoned there. It was liberated by the
U.S. 14th Armored Division
The 14th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army assigned to the Seventh Army of the Sixth Army Group during World War II. It remains on the permanent roll of the Regular Army as an inactive division, and is eligible ...
following a short battle with SS soldiers of the
17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division on 29 April 1945.
[
]Stalag III-C
Stalag III-C was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp for Allied soldiers. It was located on a plain near the village of Alt Drewitz bei Küstrin then located in the Neumark of the province of Brandenburg (now Drzewice, Kostrzyn nad O ...
is notable for the escape of US paratrooper Joseph Beyrle
Joseph R. Beyrle (russian: Джозеф Вильямович Байерли; romanized: ''Dzhozef Vilyamovich Bayyerli''; August 25, 1923 – December 12, 2004) is the only known American soldier to have served in combat with both the United Stat ...
, who subsequently joined a Soviet tank battalion commanded by Aleksandra Samusenko
Aleksandra Grigoryevna Samusenko (russian: Александра Григорьевна Самусенко, uk, Олександра Григорівна Самусенко, Oleksandra Hryhorivna Samusenko; 1922 – 3 March 1945) was a Soviet T-34 ...
, which returned to liberate the camp.
In popular culture
*The airmen in the show ''Hogan's Heroes
''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom set in a Nazi German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast ...
'' were imprisoned in fictitious "Luft Stalag 13" near Hammelburg
Hammelburg is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It sits in the district of Bad Kissingen, in Lower Franconia. It lies on the river Franconian Saale, 25 km west of Schweinfurt. Hammelburg is the oldest winegrowing town (''Weinstadt'') in Franconi ...
.
*The World War II play ''Stalag 17'', which was made into the 1953 movie ''Stalag 17
''Stalag 17'' is a 1953 American war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner of war camp "somewhere on the Danube". Their compound holds 630 Sergeants representi ...
'', was set in Stalag XVII-B, located near Krems, Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
.
*The movie ''Hart's War
''Hart's War'' is a 2002 American war drama film about a World War II prisoner of war (POW) camp based on the novel by John Katzenbach. It stars Bruce Willis as Col. William McNamara and Colin Farrell as Lt. Thomas Hart. The film co-stars Terrence ...
'' was set in Stalag VI-A, near Hemer/Iserlohn in Military District VI.
*In Israel of the 1950s–1960s, " stalag" was a generic term for pornographic material with a theme of sadistic
Sadism may refer to:
* Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation
* Sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the s ...
sexual activity between female SS officers and prisoners of war. In 2007, Ari Libsker
Ari Libsker ( he, ארי ליבסקר, born 1972 in Haifa), is an Israeli filmmaker and journalist. He has made several documentaries. His film '' Stalags'' (2008) featured in ''The New York Times'' and won several awards. In March 2012 he curate ...
made a film on this topic, entitled '' Stalags''.
*In 1993, the British TV movie ''Stalag Luft'', starring Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
, featured a prisoner of war camp in which the German guards have abandoned the prisoners.
*In the 2012 film ''Red Tails
''Red Tails'' is a 2012 American war film directed by Anthony Hemingway in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American United States ...
'', Ray "Ray Gun" Gannon, one of the Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army ...
, is imprisoned as a POW in Stalag 18 and is part of an escape from the camp.
See also
* List of POW camps in Germany For lists of German prisoner-of-war camps, see:
* German prisoner-of-war camps in World War I
* German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II
Nazi Germany operated around 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps (german: Kriegsgefangenenlager) during World War ...
References
External links
La GUEFANGUE - La Vie des prisonniers de guerre Français en Basse-Bavière - 1939-1945 par Roger DEVAUX
Lamsdorf Reunited
* Arbeitskommando 10001 in Ruckenwaldau (now Wierzbowa, Lower Silesia - Poland), Agency Camp German Stalag VIII-A.
List of POW camps in Germany and occupied territories
* :pl:Stalag Luft II {{in lang, pl
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...