Stalag

Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager, literally "main camp for enlisted prisoners of war" (officers were kept in an "Oflag").

During World War II these latter provisions were consistently breached, in particular for Russian, Polish, and Yugoslav prisoners.

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.

[4] The sub-camps were administered by the parent stalag, which maintained personnel records and collected mail and International Red Cross packages and then delivered them to the individual Arbeitskommando.

Any individuals who were injured in work, or became ill, were returned to the Lazarett (medical care facilities) at the parent stalag.

Of these, 73 were recaptured within two weeks, and 50 of them were executed by order of Hitler in the Stalag Luft III murders.

[1] Stalag III-C is notable for the escape of US paratrooper Joseph Beyrle, who subsequently joined a Soviet tank battalion commanded by Aleksandra Samusenko, which returned to liberate the camp.