Belgian prisoners of war in World War II
During
225,000 men, approximately 30 percent of the strength of the
Background
Belgian involvement in
Capture and deportation
Virtually all the soldiers of the Belgian army who were not killed in action were captured at some point during the fighting in May 1940, but most of these prisoners were either released unofficially at the end of hostilities or escaped from poorly-guarded compounds in Belgium and went home.[4] Escaped prisoners who returned home were rarely arrested by the Germans, and there was no systematic attempt to recapture former Belgian soldiers who had left German captivity in 1940.[5]
Shortly after the Fall of France, the remaining Belgian soldiers in captivity were deported to prisoner-of-war camps (Kriegsgefangenenlager) in Germany, Austria and Poland. For the Germans, the Belgian prisoners represented a source of cheap labor which could be used in agriculture and factories after the conscription of most German workers.[4] Belgian prisoners were again segregated by rank, with officers being sent to Oflags (an abbreviation for Offizierslager) and NCOs and other ranks being sent to Stalag (or Stammlager) camps.
Around 225,000 soldiers, representing around 30 percent of the total force mobilised in 1940, were deported in this way.
Release and repatriation
Flamenpolitik
From the start of the detentions, the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler were directly concerned in policy relating to the Belgian prisoners of war.[8] From the start of the invasion, German soldiers had orders to segregate Flemish soldiers from their Walloon counterparts.[8] The release of all Flemish soldiers already in captivity was ordered on 6 June 1940, but only had a limited real effect.[8] The favourable treatment of Flemish prisoners of war formed part of the Flamenpolitik (Flemish Policy) and had an explicit racialist foundation, since Nazi ideology argued that the Flemish were "Germanic" and therefore racially superior to the Walloons. It also hoped to encourage Flemish people to view Germany more favourably, paving the way for an intended annexation of the Greater Netherlands into the Greater Germanic Reich (Großgermanisches Reich).[4] The Germans began actively repatriating Flemish prisoners of war in August 1940.[7] By February 1941, 105,833 Flemish soldiers had been repatriated.[7]
Repatriation and escape
Initially, the German Military Administration in Belgium viewed the continued detention of all Belgian prisoners as temporary and undesirable. Both Alexander von Falkenhausen, head of the Military Administration, and Eggert Reeder, responsible for the civilian administration, viewed the continued detention and segregation of Belgian prisoners by ethnicity as unnecessarily divisive and harmful to civil order in Belgium.[4] On 15 July 1940, the Military Administration even announced the imminent release of all Belgian prisoners, although this was later condemned as a mistake.[8] The detention of prisoners who worked in specialist jobs in civilian life created numerous problems in Belgium until all prisoners in specialist occupations were released.[8]
Because the Germans did not round up escaped prisoners once returned home,[5] attempts to escape were relatively common. A total of 6,770 attempted escapes from camps in Germany are known.[13]
Effects in German-occupied Belgium
Charity collections in honor of the prisoners were common in occupied Belgium. The
Post-war Recognition
A total of 165,000 soldiers received the brevet des prisonniers after the war, acknowledging their continued status as war veterans during their captivity.[9] A medal, the Prisoner of War Medal 1940–1945, was established in 1947.
See also
- L'Obstinée — a masonic lodge created by Belgian prisoners at Oflag XD
- French prisoners of war in World War II
- German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war
- Belgium in World War II
Citations
References
- ^ Le Soir 1990.
- ^ a b Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1941, p. 99.
- ^ a b Yapou 1998.
- ^ a b c d Warmbrunn 1993, p. 187.
- ^ a b Warmbrunn 1993, pp. 187–8.
- ^ a b CLHAM, p. 2.
- ^ a b c d CLHAM, p. 4.
- ^ a b c d e f Warmbrunn 1993, p. 186.
- ^ a b Warmbrunn 1993, p. 188.
- ^ Keegan 2005, p. 96.
- ^ Warmbrunn 1993, p. 188-9.
- ^ a b Le Soir 1991.
- ^ Warmbrunn 1993, p. 189.
- ^ Catalogue officiel 1973, pp. 37–8.
Bibliography
- Bailly, Michel (2 February 1990). "Forces et faiblesses de l'armée belge en 1940 à la veille de la guerre". Le Soir. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
- Bailly, Michel (15 April 1991). "Guerre 40-45: Les prisonniers de guerre". Le Soir. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
- Belgium: The Official Account of What Happened, 1939–40. London: Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1941. OCLC 4025429.
- Catalogue officiel 1973: Belgique, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Europa. Brussels: CSBNTP. 1973.
- "Ceux de XIIIB: Recueil de Textes extraits du Mensuel de L'Amicale des Anciens Prisonniers de Guerre du Stalag XIIIB" (PDF). Centre Liégois d'Histoire et d'Archaeologie Militaire. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-14-303573-2.
- Warmbrunn, Werner (1993). "The Germans and Belgian Prisoners of War". The German Occupation of Belgium 1940-1944. American University Studies 122. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-1-4539-0997-3.
- Yapou, Elizer (1998). "4: Belgium: Disintegration and Resurrection". Governments in Exile, 1939–1945. Jerusalem.
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Further reading
- Weisner, Michael (2005). "Wer die Macht hat, hat Recht." De Belgische krijgsgevangenen in Duitsland en de Conventie van Genève, 1940-1945 (PDF) (Degree thesis). Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
- De Wilde, Maurice (1982). "De Belgische krijgsgevangenen". België in de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Vol. III: De nieuwe orde. Kapellen: DNB/Uitgeverij Peckmans. pp. 101–25. ISBN 90-289-9786-5.
- Tanguy, Alain (1987). Le Grand Livre d'Or du Prisonnier de Guerre Belge 1940-1945. Brussels: Editions du Livre d'Or.
- Gillet, E. (1990). "Histoire des sous-officiers et des soldats belges prisonniers de guerre, 1940-1945". Revue belge d'histoire militaire. 28 (1): 45–78.
- Hautecler, Georges (1974). "La vie religieuse des prisonniers de guerre belges (1940-1945): faits et documents". Cahiers d'Histoire de la seconde guerre mondiale. 3 (1): 49–64.