Oflag and Stalag

Camps were designated by the Roman numeral of the military district and a letter, for example Oflag II C Woldenberg or Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf. Prisoners in Stalags were sent out to work in labour detachments in farming and industry; officers were not obliged to work. Airmen went to Luftwaffe camps (Stalag Luft), sailors to Kriegsmarine camps. After the September Campaign several hundred thousand Polish soldiers were in German captivity, more than ten thousand of them officers; the largest Oflag for Poles was Woldenberg.

Towards Western prisoners the Germans broadly observed the Geneva Convention. Soviet prisoners were deliberately treated inhumanely: of some 5.7 million taken, about 3.3 million died. After the Warsaw Uprising capitulated in 1944, Home Army soldiers, women among them, were also sent to Oflags and Stalags.