An Oflag (from german: Offizierslager) was a type of

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 w ...

camp for

officer 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 ...

s which the German Army established in

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 ...

in accordance with the requirements of the 1899 Hague Convention, and in

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 opposing ...

in accordance with the requirements of the Geneva Convention (1929). Although officers were not required to work, at

Oflag XIII-B Oflag XIII-B was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp for officers ('' Offizierslager''), originally in the Langwasser district of Nuremberg. In 1943 it was moved to a site south of the town of Hammelburg in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, ...

(

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 Francon ...

) when the POWs asked to be able to work for more food, they were told the Geneva Convention forbade them from working.http://www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%20XIII-B/Prell/Prell-Donald.pdf In some Oflags a limited number of non-commissioned soldiers working as

orderlies In healthcare, an orderly (also known as a ward assistant, nurse assistant or healthcare assistant) is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and nursing staff with various nursing and medical interventions. The highest ...

were allowed to carry out the work needed to care for the officers. Officers of the Allied air forces were held in special camps called Stalags Luft but were accorded the required preferential treatment. The German Army camp commanders applied the Geneva Convention requirements to suit themselves. An example was as to the amount of food/meat to be provided to each POW. In

when a dead horse was brought into the camp, its total weight (including head, bones, etc.) was used in computing the amount each POW was to receive, which resulted in each POW receiving only a few ounces of meat per week. Red Cross parcels were seldom distributed. There were other notable exceptions to how the Geneva Convention was applied, for example the execution of recaptured prisoners, specifically from Stalag Luft 3 and

Oflag IX-C Oflag IX-C was a German prisoner-of-war camp for officers (''Offizierlager'') during World War II, located just to the south of the village of Molsdorf, near Erfurt in Thuringia. Camp history The camp housed women officers of the ''Armia Krajowa' ...

. However, the inhumane treatment of Soviet prisoners, soldiers as well as officers, did not comply with these provisions, according to Joseph Goebbels "because the Soviet Union had not signed the Convention and did not follow its provisions at all".

Aktion K

In March 1944 General der SS Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the head of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt, enacted the ''Kugel Erlass'' ("Bullet Decree"), or Aktion K known as Aktion Kugel. It declared that prisoners who had tried to escape and were recaptured, prisoners who could not work, and prisoners who refused to work would be executed. It also stated that all officer POWs (except the Americans and British) were to be eliminated. They were supposed to be shot but instead were usually overworked, denied needed medical care, and/or starved to death. American and British POWs were originally exempt from it (except in special cases – like air force bomber crews and commandos). The "Great Escape" at Stalag Luft III later that month caused the Germans to remove this protection from British POWs.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline
Oflag 64 Association web site

Aktion K

See also

References

External links