Stalag
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[[Image:Model Stalag Luft III.jpg|thumb|A model of one compound of the massive Stalag Luft III]]
In [[Germany]], '''Stalag''' was a term used for [[prisoner-of-war camp]]s. Stalag is an abbreviation for "'''Sta'''mm'''lag'''er", itself a short form of the full name "Mannschaftsstamm und -straflager".
== Legal definitions ==
According to the [[Third Geneva Convention]] of [[1929]] and its predecessor, the [[Hague Convention of 1907]], [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/lawofwar/hague04.htm#iart4 Section IV, Chapter 2], those camps were only for [[prisoners of war]], not civilians. Stalags were operated in both [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] and intended to be used for non-commissioned personnel ([[Enlisted rank]]s in [[US Army]], [[Other ranks]] in [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] forces). [[Officer (armed forces)|Officers]] were held in separate camps called '''[[Oflag]]'''. 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.
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.
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.
According to the Nazi ideology, Slavic people were regarded as ''rassisch minderwertig'' ("racially inferior"). Because of that, the treatment of Slavic prisoners of war was much worse than the treatment of Anglo-American, Canadian, Belgian, Italian, or French prisoners. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet, Polish, etc., prisoners died in Stalags as a result of this inhumane treatment.
== ''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 III]], a large POW camp near [[Żagań|Sagan]], [[Silesia]], (Now Żagań, [[Poland]]), was the site of spectacular escape attempt (later filmed as ''[[The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape]]''). 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]].
The largest [[Germany|German]] [[World War II]] POW camp was [[Stalag VII-A]] at Moosburg, Germany. Over 110,000 Allied soldiers were imprisoned there. It was liberated by the [[U.S. 14th Armored Division]] following a short battle with SS soldiers of the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division on [[29 April]], [[1945]].
==In popular culture==
{{fictioncruft}}
The soldiers in the show ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' were imprisoned in fictitious Stalag 13. (An actual [[Oflag XIII-A|Stalag XIII]] was created in 1939 at [[Langwasser]] near [[Nuremberg]] from a former [[SA]] camp, but closed in 1940 and dispersed as three camps: Stalag XIII-A in [[Rhineland-Palatinate]], and [[Oflag XIII-B]] [[Weiden]] and [[Stalag XIII-C]] in [[Lower Franconia]]. [[OFLAG XIII-B]] was a camp for officer POWs in which the son-in-law of U.S. General [[George S. Patton]] was held and a rescue attempt made by [[Task Force Baum]].)
The WW II play "Stalag 17", which was made into the 1953 movie ''[[Stalag 17]]'', was set in Stalag XVII-B, located near [[Krems]], [[Austria]].
A castle in Saxony in what was the German Democratic Republic (GDR, now part of the Federal Republic of Germany) was made by the Nazis into a Stalag. It was called Colditz Castle and was used for those allied officers who had previously made several unsuccessful escape attempts. Many books have been written about the daring successful and unsuccessful escapes from Colditz including "Escape From Colditz".
==See also==
* [[Oflag]]
* [[Marlag]]
* [[List of POW camps in Germany]]
* [[Stalag fiction]]
==References==
<references />
==External links==
* {{fr}} [http://www.nos-racines.fr/guefangue La GUEFANGUE - La Vie des prisonniers de guerre Français en Basse-Bavière - 1939-1945 par Roger DEVAUX]
*[http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/RollofHonour/POW/Camp_list.htm German prisoner of war camps]
*[http://www.lamsdorfreunited.co.uk Lamsdorf Reunited]
*[http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2007/09/06/documentary_looks_at_nazi_porn_in_israel/5000/ Documentary looks at Nazi porn in Israel]
*[http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeitskommando_10001 Arbeitskommando 10001 in Ruckenwaldau (now Wierzbowa, Lower Silesia - Poland), Agency Camp German Stalag VIII-A.]
* [http://www.moosburg.org/info/stalag/laglist.html List of POW camps in Germany and occupied territories]
[[Category:World War II POW camps|Germany]]
[[Category:Nazi Germany]]
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