During World War I, German prisoner-of-war camps were run by the 25 Army Corps Districts into which Germany was divided.[1][2] Around 2.4 million men were World War I prisoners of war in Germany.
Types of camp
Kriegsgefangenenlager (KGFL, "Prisoner of war camps") were divided into:
Internierungslager ("Internment Camp") for civilian enemy aliens.
Lazarett, military hospital for POWs.
List of camps by Army Corps districts
British, French and Portuguese prisoners, c.1918French colonial prisoners from North and West AfricaFrench POWs at work at a farm in Westscheid bei Mennighüffen
Guards Corps (Berlin)
Mannschaftslager
Döberitz. A large camp 13 kilometres (8 mi) from Berlin holding Russian, Polish, French, and British prisoners, including men of the Royal Naval Division captured at the Siege of Antwerp.
Spandau. Camp for POWs working at a chemical factory.
Zossen. A camp 30 km (20 mi) south of Berlin for British and French troops from India and Africa. The POWs were subjected to propaganda urging them to revolt against their "colonial masters" with little result[3]
Internierungslager
Havelberg. For 4,500 internees of various nationalities, including nearly 400 British Indians
Grabow. Formerly a military camp, consisting of eight compounds of six barracks each.
Merseburg An assembly camp holding up to 25,000 prisoners, from which men were drafted to work camps.
Quedlinburg. A camp 4 km (2+1⁄2 mi) from the town, holding 12,000 men.
Wittenberg. A camp 4.2 hectares (10+1⁄2 acres) in area at Klein Wittenberg, 3 km (2 mi) from the city. Eight compounds held 13,000 men.
Zerbst. A camp at an infantry drill ground 3 km (2 mi) north of the city. It held up to 15,000 men, but there were 100,000 registered there, the majority engaged in industry and agriculture.
Minden. A camp 5 km (3 mi) from the town with 18,000 men.
Münster. There were four camps: Münster I was outside the city in open farming country, Münster II was at the racecourse (Rennbahn), Münster III was a former Army barracks, and Münster IV was reserved for Russian prisoners.
Limburg an der Lahn. A camp holding 12,000 men in which Irish prisoners were concentrated for the purpose of recruiting for the Irish Brigade.
Meschede. The camp, just outside the town, held 10,000 POWs.
Wahn. Located 30 km (20 mi) south-east of Cologne at the Wahner Heide Artillery practice camp. The camp had 35,000 men on its register, and was a parent camp for work camps in the district.
Lazarett
Aachen. Nine hospitals for British POWs awaiting repatriation.
Parchim. A camp built on a former cavalry drill ground 5 km (3 mi) from the town. It held 25,000 men, with up to 45,000 more assigned to work camps registered there.
Lazarett
Bremen. A garrison hospital and also a work camp attached to Soltau.
Hamburg Reserve Lazarett VII was a ward of the central prison at Fuhlsbüttel. Reserve Lazarett III was at the Eppendorfer Krankenhaus, and at Veddel there was a Lazarett for Navy personnel.
Holzminden. For 500–600 British officers (plus approximately 100–160 other ranksorderlies). Housed in a former cavalry barracks (built 1913). The site of a noted tunnel escape in July 1918.
Osnabrück. Camp located in a former artillery barracks.
Holzminden. For approximately 4,000–5,000 civilian internees, mainly Polish, Russian, French and Belgian, and including a small number of Britons. Comprised two camps, one for men, the other for women and children.
Kempten. British prisoners quartered in the hospital there.
XIV Army Corps (Karlsruhe)
Offizierlager
Karlsruhe. Two camps; one in the grounds of the Karlsruher Schloss contained naval and, later, aviation officers, the other, the former Europäischer Hof, was known as "The Listening Hotel", and was an interrogation centre.
Ingolstadt. The camps were located in the city fortifications; fortresses 8, 9 & 10. As a camp for persistent escapers, it was the World War I counterpart to Colditz. Documented in the book The Escaping Club by Alfred John Evans.
Ingolstadt. Situated on the edge of the town, holding 4,000 men.
Mannheim Located 3 km (2 mi) outside of the city. From February 1917 it used as a clearing or exchange camp for British prisoners of war awaiting repatriation. Held 10,000 men.
Internierungslager
Rastatt Camp for French civilians. During 1918 it was used as a military transit camp.
Czersk. A camp for Russian POWs, to which British prisoners were also later sent.
Danzig (Troyl) The "camp" consists of barges moored on the bank of the Vistula River, each containing from 100 to 500 men. The administration block, kitchen, and other facilities of the camp are on shore. Men from the failed Irish Brigade were sent here.[4]
