Stalag
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, stalag (ˈʃtalak) was a term used for prisoner-of-war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
s. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager.
Legal definitions
According to the Third Geneva ConventionThird Geneva Convention
The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was first adopted in 1929, but was significantly updated in 1949...
of 1929 and its predecessor, the Hague Convention of 1907, Section IV, Chapter 2, those camps were only for prisoners of war, not civilians. Stalags were operated in both World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and intended to be used for non-commissioned personnel (Enlisted rank
Enlisted rank
An enlisted rank is, in most Militaries, any rank below a commissioned officer or warrant officer. The term can also be inclusive of non-commissioned officers...
s in US Army, Other ranks
Other Ranks
Other Ranks in the British Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force are those personnel who are not commissioned officers. In the Royal Navy, these personnel are called ratings...
in British Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
forces). Officers
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
were held in separate camps called Oflag
Oflag
An Oflag was a prisoner of war camp for officers only, established by the German Army in both World War I and World War II in accordance with the requirements of the Geneva Convention ....
. In World War II, the German Air Force operated Stalag Luft in which flying personnel, both officers and non-commissioned officers were held. The German Navy operated Marlag 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 detailed 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 the Nazi ideology, Slavic people were regarded as rassisch minderwertig ("racially inferior").
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 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, collected mail, International Red Cross packages and then delivered to the individual Arbeitskommando. Likewise any individuals that were injured in work, or became ill, were returned to the Lazarett (medical care facilities) at the parent stalag.Best-known stalags
Stalag Luft IIIStalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
, a large prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp near Sagan
Zagan
Zagan may refer to:*Zagan - a demon in the Ars Goetia*Żagań - a town in west Poland...
, Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
, Germany (now Żagań, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
), was the site of a spectacular escape attempt (later filmed as The Great Escape
The Great Escape (film)
The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...
). On March 24, 1944, 76 Allied prisoners escaped through a 110 m (approx 360 feet) long tunnel. 73 were recaptured within two weeks. 50 of them were executed by order of Hitler in the Stalag Luft III murders
Stalag Luft III murders
The Stalag Luft III murders was a war crime 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 a total of 76 successful escapees, 73 were recaptured, mostly within days of...
.
The largest German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
prisoner of war camp was Stalag VII-A
Stalag VII-A
During World War II, Stalag VII-A was Germany's largest prisoner-of-war camp, located just north of the town of Moosburg in southern Bavaria. The camp covered an area of 35 ha. . It served also as a transit camp through which prisoners, including officers, were processed on their way to other camps...
at Moosburg, Germany. Over 130,000 Allied soldiers were imprisoned there. It was liberated by the U.S. 14th Armored Division
U.S. 14th Armored Division
The 14th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. It remains on the permanent rolls of the Regular Army as an inactive division, and is eligible for reactivation should the need ever arise...
following a short battle with SS soldiers of the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division on 29 April 1945.
In popular culture
The airmen in the show Hogan's HeroesHogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
were imprisoned in fictitious Stalag Luft 13 near Hammelburg
Hammelburg
Hammelburg is a town in the district of Bad Kissingen, in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Franconian Saale, 25 km west of Schweinfurt...
.
The World War II play Stalag 17, which was made into the 1953 movie Stalag 17
Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
, was set in Stalag XVII-B, located near Krems, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
The movie Hart's War
Hart's War
Hart's War is a 2002 film about a World War II prisoner of war based on the novel by John Katzenbach starring Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard and Marcel Iureş...
was set in Stalag VI-A, near Hemer/Iserlohn in Military District VI
In Israel of the 1950s-60s, "stalag"
Stalag (pornography)
In the early post-shoah Israel , Stalag , was the name for certain types of pornographic magazines or erotic stories, whose main theme was about female SS-officers who enact abusive sexual practices upon male Jewish prisoners, and sometimes also the reverse theme, the male Jewish prisoners' sexual...
was a generic term for pornographic material with a theme of sadistic
Sadism
Sadism is the derivation of pleasure as a result of inflicting pain or watching pain inflicted on others. Aspects of it include:* Sadomasochism* Sadism and masochism as medical terms, sadism and masochism as paraphilia...
sexual activity between female SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officers and male Jewish concentration camp prisoners. In 2007, Ari Libsker
Ari Libsker
Ari Libsker featured in The New York Times and won several awards.-Film Making:One of his first ones, Circumcision dealt with the effect of circumcision on the sex life of Jewish people, connecting it to castration. Channel 2 tried to censor the movie and in the end broadcast it at a late hour...
made a film on this topic, entitled Stalags
Stalags (film)
Stalags is a 2007 documentary film produced by Barak Heymann and directed by Ari Libsker. The film examines the history of Stalags, pornography books that featured sexy female Nazi officers sexually abusing camp prisoners...
.
External links
La GUEFANGUE - La Vie des prisonniers de guerre Français en Basse-Bavière - 1939-1945 par Roger DEVAUX- German prisoner of war camps
- 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