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Nazi Germany operated around 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps (German: Kriegsgefangenenlager) during World War II (1939-1945).[1]
Germany signed the Third Geneva Convention of 1929, which established norms relating to the treatment of prisoners of war.
- Article 10 required PoWs be lodged in adequately heated and lighted buildings where conditions were the same as for German troops.
- Articles 27-32 detailed the conditions of labour. Enlisted ranks were required to perform whatever labour they were asked if able to do, so long as it was not dangerous and did not support the German war-effort. Senior Non-commissioned officers (sergeants and above) were required to work only in a supervisory role. Commissioned officers were not required to work, although they could volunteer. The work performed was largely agricultural or industrial, ranging from coal- or potash-mining, stone quarrying, or work in saw mills, breweries, factories, railroad yards, and forests. PoWs hired out to military and civilian contractors were supposed to receive pay. The workers were also supposed to get at least one day a week of rest.
- Article 76 ensured that PoWs who died in captivity were honourably buried in marked graves.
Unsurprisingly, Nazi Germany disobeyed these rules, resulting in the deaths of millions of prisoners.[2]
