Stalag

Model Stalag Luft III .

Photo of the main gate, the entrance to the Stalag IV-B ( Mühlberg ).

The main street is Stalag IV-B.

Stalag (short name for German Stammlager - main camp) - camps of the German armed forces ( Wehrmacht ), Luftwaffe (Stalag Luft) and Kriegsmarine (Marlag) for prisoners of war from the ranks during the Second World War .

The individual name of the camp consisted of the Roman numeral of its military district and a capital letter according to the time sequence of its creation.

All the stalagas were subordinate to the High Command of the Wehrmacht , and since November 1944 - the SS . They detained soldiers with the rank of privates and non-commissioned officers . At first, the camps were designed to accommodate 10,000 people, later the average number of prisoners increased to 30,000. In 1941, there were 80 lodges in the Third Reich ; in the VI military district ( Munster ) - it also included Sauerland - there were eight of them. The Stalags were regional administrative, transit and distribution units for organizing the work of prisoners of war prisoners, as well as for managing their lives.

After registering personal data and, as a rule, a superficial medical examination a few days later, according to the distribution of the labor exchange, prisoners of war fell into the labor squads in the headquarters department.

Most of the prisoners of war in the camp (about 90%) were involved in work. In the camp there were only those prisoners of war who, by injury, illness and exhaustion, were no longer able to work, as well as prisoners of war who were placed at the disposal of labor groups.