During World War I, German prisoner-of-war camps were run by the 25 Army Corps Districts into which Germany was divided.Steuer (2008) Ch.13, pp.3-6 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: Mannschaftslager ("Enlisted Men's Camp") for private soldiers and NCOs. Offizierslager ("Officer Camp") for commissioned officers. Internierungslager ("Internment Camp") for civilian enemy aliens. Lazarett, military hospital for POWs.
List of camps by Army Corps districts
Guards Corps (Berlin) Mannschaftslager Döberitz. A large camp from Berlin holding Russian, Polish, French, and British prisoners, including men of the Royal Naval Division captured at the Siege of Antwerp. Dyrotz near Wustermark. Lazarett Berlin. Located on Alexandrinenstrasse.
I Army Corps (Königsberg) None found.
II Army Corps (Stettin) Mannschaftslager Altdamm. Three camps holding 15,000 men. Schneidemühl. Located from the town this was a centre for work camps in the region, holding 40,000–80,000 men. Stargard. Stettin. Stralsund. Lazarett Thorn.
III Army Corps (Berlin)
Mannschaftslager Brandenburg an der Havel. Camp for Naval and Merchant Marine personnel. Cottbus. A sub-camp of Merzdorf. Crossen an der Oder. Frankfurt an der Oder. from the town, holding 18,000 men. Guben. from the town. Merzdorf. Müncheberg. Spandau. Camp for POWs working at a chemical factory. Zossen. A camp 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 resultSteuer (2008) Ch.11, p.6 Internierungslager
Havelberg. For 4,500 internees of various nationalities, including nearly 400 British Indians
IV Army Corps (Magdeburg) Offizierlager Burg bei Magdeburg. Camp for 900 prisoners. Halle. Camp in a disused factory. Magdeburg. Camp on an island in the river. Torgau. Two camps in Bruckenkopf Barracks and in Fort Zinna. Mannschaftslager Gardelegen. Camp opened in September 1914. 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 from the town, holding 12,000 men. Wittenberg. A camp in area at Klein Wittenberg, from the city. Eight compounds held 13,000 men. Zerbst. A camp at an infantry drill ground 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. Internierungslager
Ruhleben. Camp for up to 4,500 internees from Berlin located at a racecourse.
V Army Corps (Posen) Mannschaftslager
Lauban. Sagan. A camp from the town holding 6,000 men. Skalmierschütz. A very large camp for Russians and Romanians to which British and American prisoners were sent in early 1918. Sprottau A camp from the town, and also a Lazarett for prisoners with tuberculosis. Stralkowo. A camp from the town holding mainly Russians and Romanians, and British from March 1918.
VI Army Corps (Breslau) Offizierlager Gnadenfrei. Situated in a former boys school. Neisse. Located in former military academy in the centre of the town. Schweidnitz. Mannschaftslager Lamsdorf. A camp at a military training ground that was reopened during World War II as Stalag VIII-B. Neuhammer. A clearing camp for Upper Silesia. 100,000 men were registered there, but were mostly in work camps under its administration. Lazarett Beuthen. Two large Lazaretts, containing British prisoners from early 1918.
VII Army Corps (Münster) Offizierlager Gütersloh. Originally a sanatorium. Werl. Located in a Franciscan monastery. Wesel Mannschaftslager Burg Steinfurt. A camp for British prisoners. Dortmund. Duisburg. Dülmen. Düsseldorf. Erfurt. Held 15,000 men. Friedrichsfeld. Camp holding 35,000 men. Hammerstein. A camp for Russian prisoners. Heilsberg Minden. A camp 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. Sennelager. Three camps just north of Paderborn, named Senne I, II & III. Stendal. The camp lay north-east of the town, and was the parent camp for a number of work camps, holding 15,000 men. Tuchel. A camp for Russians and Romanians, also holding British and American prisoners from 1918. Lazarett Paderborn.
VIII Army Corps (Coblenz) Offizierlager Crefeld. There was also a Lazarett there.
Mannschaftslager 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 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. Coblenz. Cologne. Several hospitals. British prisoners were treated either in the Garrison Lazarett I or the Kaiserin Augusta Schule Lazarett VI. Trier. Officer prisoners were treated in the Reserve Lazarett IV (Horn Kaserne).
IX Army Corps (Altona) Offizierlager Augustabad, Neubrandenburg. A former hotel holding British officers. Conrad O'Brien-ffrench was held there. Fürstenberg. Mannschaftslager Güstrow. Situated in pine-woods from the town. It held 25,000 men, with a further 25,000 assigned to work camps registered there. Lübeck. A camp for men employed at the docks. Also a reserve Lazarett. Neumünster Parchim. A camp built on a former cavalry drill ground 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.
X Army Corps (Hannover)
Offizierlager Bad Blenhorst near Nienburg Celle. At Scheuen, and until late 1916 also Reserve Lazarett I (St Joseph). Clausthal. Hesepe nr. Osnabrück. Holzminden. For 500–600 British officers (plus approximately 100–160 other ranks orderlies). 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. Ströhen. Schwarmstedt. Wahmbeck. At a hotel holding mostly officers from the merchant service. Mannschaftslager Göttingen. Hameln. Located from Hameln, and the parent camp of many work camps. Munster. Camp opened in 1914 near Soltau on Lüneburg Heath Salzwedel. Soltau. The camp held 35,000 men, but had 50,000 assigned to work camps registered there. Lazarett Hanover. Lazarett V was in the Royal War School, and there was another at the Garrison Lazarett. Internierungslager
Celle Castle. For civilians and ex-officers. 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.
XI Army Corps (Cassel) Offizierlager Bad Colberg. Camp housed in a former sanatorium. Mannschaftslager Langensalza. Opened in 1914, the camp held 10,000 men. Ohrdruf. Located on a former Army training ground and held 15,000 men.
XII Army Corps (Dresden) Offizierlager Bischofswerda. Königstein. French and Russians held in the Fortress. Mannschaftslager Bautzen Königsbrück. Held 15,000 men.
XIII Army Corps (Stuttgart) Mannschaftslager Heilbronn Sub-camp of Stuttgart. Stuttgart. Two camps; one in the city in an abandoned factory building, the other in a disused factory outside. Ludwigsburg. Lazarett 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. Freiburg. Located in an old university building. Heidelberg. In barracks from town. 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. Villingen. The camp was in a disused barracks. Weingarten near Karlsruhe. Mannschaftslager Ingolstadt. Situated on the edge of the town, holding 4,000 men. Mannheim Located 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.
XV Army Corps (Strasbourg) Offizierlager Strasbourg
XVI Army Corps (Metz) Metz. Known as Lazarett Saint-Clément.
XVII Army Corps (Danzig) Mannschaftslager 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.
XVIII Army Corps (Frankfurt-am-Main) Offizierlager Bingen am Rhein Friedberg Griesheim nr. Frankfurt Mainz. The camp was in the grounds of the Mainz Citadel, and held 700 POWs. Rosenberg. Located in Festung Rosenberg above the town of Kronach. Charles de Gaulle was held as a POW there. Weilburg. POWs were held in a three-storied school-house. Mannschaftslager Darmstadt Located from the town on a cavalry exercise ground. Giessen Görlitz. Held 14,000 POWs. Lazarett Jülich Kreuznach. For up to around 600 prisoner-patients.
XIX Army Corps (Leipzig) Offizierlager Döbeln Mannschaftslager Chemnitz. The camp was located in the Friedrich-August Kaserne. Zwickau. The camp held 10,000 POWs.
XX Army Corps (Allenstein) Mannschaftslager Arys Osterode Located at a locomotive works. A sub-camp of Preußisch Holland. Preußisch Holland. The camp held 15,000 POWs, with up to 35,000 assigned to various work camps registered there.
XXI Army Corps (Saarbrücken) Offizierlager Neunkirchen. Located in a former monastery. Saarbrücken. In a former school. Saarlouis Zweibrücken. British officers were first sent there in 1916.
I Royal Bavarian Army Corps (Munich) Mannschaftslager Landsberg am Lech Lechfeld. Held 10,500 POWs. Puchheim. Located on a military airfield from Munich. Held 12,000 POWs. Lazarett Munich. The large war school in the Mars Platz is used as a hospital, and there is another known as Lazarett B.
II Royal Bavarian Army Corps (Würzburg) Offizierlager Würzburg. Located in Festung Marienberg. Mannschaftslager Hammelburg Germersheim. Held 6,000 men. Würzburg. Outside the town on a high hill.
III Royal Bavarian Army Corps (Nürnberg) Mannschaftslager Amberg. Held 5,000 POWs. Bayreuth. Held 5,000 POWs. Landau Nuremberg. Located from the town on an old training ground of the Nuremberg Garrison. Lazarett Erlangen. For officers only.
Others Offizierlager Eutin Graudenz Lahr. British from 1917. Landshut Ludwigshafen. From 1917. Münden. Camp for up to 600 officers located in a former factory from the town. Osnabrück Pforzheim. From early 1918. Strasbourg Mannschaftslager Cassel (Niederzwehren). Held 20,000 POWs. Constance. All officers and men for internment in Switzerland are concentrated here. Held 15,000. Deutsch Gabel Camp for merchant seamen under Austrian administration.