Oflag
An Oflag (from
Although officers were not required to work, at Oflag XIII-B (Hammelburg) when the POWs asked to be able to work for more food, they were told the Geneva Convention forbade them from working.[1][2] In some Oflags a limited number of non-commissioned soldiers working as orderlies were allowed to carry out the work needed to care for the officers. Officers of the Allied air forces were held in special camps called Stalags Luft but were accorded the required preferential treatment.
The German Army camp commanders applied the Geneva Convention requirements to suit themselves. An example was as to the amount of food/meat to be provided to each POW. In Oflag XIII-B when a dead horse was brought into the camp, its total weight (including head, bones, etc.) was used in computing the amount each POW was to receive, which resulted in each POW receiving only a few ounces of meat per week. Red Cross parcels were seldom distributed.[1][2]
There were other notable exceptions to how the Geneva Convention was applied, for example the execution of recaptured prisoners, specifically from
Aktion K
In March 1944
American and British POWs were originally exempt from it (except in special cases – like air force bomber crews and commandos). The "Great Escape" at Stalag Luft III later that month caused the Germans to remove this protection from British POWs.[citation needed]
See also
- List of POW camps in Germany
References
External links
Media related to Oflags at Wikimedia Commons- Oflag 64 Association web site
