Nazi Germany operated around 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps (German : Kriegsgefangenenlager) during World War II (1939-1945). [1]
Germany signed the Third Geneva Convention of 1929, which established norms relating to the treatment of prisoners of war.
Unsurprisingly, Nazi Germany disobeyed these rules, resulting in the deaths of millions of prisoners. [2]
At the start of World War II, the German Army was divided into 17 military districts (Wehrkreis), which were each assigned Roman numerals. The camps were numbered according to the military district. A letter behind the Roman number marked individual Stalags in a military district.
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Sub-camps had a suffix "/Z" (for Zweiglager - sub-camp). The main camp had a suffix of "/H" (for Hauptlager - main camp).
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Some of these sub-camps were not the traditional POW camps with barbed wire fences and guard towers, but merely accommodation centers.
The camps for Allied airmen were run by the Luftwaffe independently of the Army.
The camp for Allied seamen was run by the Kriegsmarine independently of the Army.
Żagań is a town in western Poland, on the Bóbr river, with 25,731 inhabitants (2019). The town is the capital of Żagań County in the historic region of Silesia. Previously in the Zielona Góra Voivodeship (1975–1998), Żagań has been in the Lubusz Voivodeship since 1999.
Stalag Luft 7 was a World War II Luftwaffe prisoner-of-war camp located in Morzyczyn, Pomerania, and Bankau, Silesia. It held British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, French, Polish, South African, American and other Allied airmen.
"The March" refers to a series of forced marches during the final stages of the Second World War in Europe. From a total of 257,000 western Allied prisoners of war held in German military prison camps, over 80,000 POWs were forced to march westward across Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Germany in extreme winter conditions, over about four months between January and April 1945. This series of events has been called various names: "The Great March West", "The Long March", "The Long Walk", "The Long Trek", "The Black March", "The Bread March", and "Death March Across Germany", but most survivors just called it "The March".
In Germany, stalag was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager, literally "main camp for enlisted prisoners of war". Therefore, "stalag" technically means "main camp".
Norwegian POW Museum is a museum in Ostrzeszów, Poland devoted to the history of Norwegian World War II prisoners of war once interned in the POW camp in Ostrzeszów in German-occupied Poland.
Stalag XXI-A was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp located in Ostrzeszów in German-occupied Poland. It held mostly Polish, French and British POWs, but also Dutch, Belgian and Yugoslav.
Stalag VIII-B was a German Army prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, later renumbered Stalag-344, located near the village of Lamsdorf in Silesia. The camp initially occupied barracks built to house British and French prisoners in World War I. At this same location there had been a prisoner camp during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
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.
An Oflag 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 requirements of the Geneva Convention (1929).
Stalag VIII-D was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp (Stammlager) located at the outskirts of Teschen,. It was built in March 1941 on the grounds of a former Czech barracks. It was later known as Stalag VIII-B.
Stalag XIII-D Nürnberg Langwasser was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp built on what had been the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg, northern Bavaria.
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Stalag XIII-C was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp (Stammlager) built on what had been the training camp at Hammelburg, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany.
Oflag 64 was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp for officers located at Szubin a few miles south of Bydgoszcz, in Pomorze, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany. It was probably the only German POW camp set up exclusively for U.S. Army ground component officers. At most other camps there were several nationalities, although they were usually separated into national compounds.
Oflag XXI-B and Stalag XXI-B were World War II German prisoner-of-war camps for officers and enlisted men, located at Szubin a few miles southwest of Bydgoszcz, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany.
Harry Melville Arbuthnot Day, was a Royal Marine and later a Royal Air Force pilot during the Second World War. As a prisoner of war, he was senior British officer in a number of camps and a noted escapee.
Dulag Luft were Prisoner of War (POW) transit camps for German-captured members of the Air Force during World War II. Their main purpose was to act as collection and interrogation centres for newly captured aircrew, before they were transferred in batches to the permanent camps.
Oflag IX-A was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp located in Spangenberg Castle in the small town of Spangenberg in northeastern Hesse, Germany.
Stalag XXI-D was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp based in Poznań in German-occupied Poland, operated in 1940–1945. It held Polish, French, British, Belgian, Dutch, Serbian, Soviet and Italian POWs.
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Post VE Day sending of German PoWs to Alaska, to dismantle war equipment http://www.sitnews.us/Kiffer/POWCamp/021715_prisoners_of_war.html