By the time of the armistice on 22 June, approximately 1.8 million French soldiers were in captivity; a figure representing roughly 10 percent of the total adult male population of France at the time. One of the terms of the Compiègne Armistice was that French prisoners would remain in German custody until the end of the war which was thought to be imminent. French prisoners came from all backgrounds, regions and civilian occupations within France and also included a substantial number of soldiers from the French colonial empire. Nevertheless, approximately a third of all French prisoners of war were French farmers or
peasants and, in some regions, the total proportion of agricultural workers captured was much higher. This created labour shortages in many civilian occupations, particularly agriculture which was largely unmechanised. During the
interwar period, France had experienced considerable immigration from elsewhere in Europe. In particular, a large number of
Poles and
Spanish republicans, who had emigrated to France, subsequently served in the French army and were captured by the Germans. These foreign prisoners were often singled out for worse treatment. In 1944 and 1945, as the German situation deteriorated, provision of food to POW camps became more sporadic and
starvation became a problem. As
Soviet troops advanced westwards, camps in the east were evacuated and moved on foot, in so-called
death marches, away from the front in extremely poor conditions.
Prison camps , in
Görlitz Initially most French prisoners were detained in France, but after repeated escapes, the Germans decided to move the vast majority to new camps in Germany and Eastern Europe. Conditions in camps varied considerably geographically and over time. Conditions were particularly poor in the summer of 1940, when facilities proved insufficient to accommodate the large number of new POWs, and in the particularly cold winter that same year. Gradually, as prisoners were repatriated, relieving overcrowding, conditions generally improved. From 1943, however, as the war on the
Eastern Front turned against Germany, conditions worsened and the food supply became more precarious. Some camps were purpose-built, like
Stalag II-D, but others could be former barracks, asylums or fortresses. Prisoners were generally divided into camp by rank. Officers, given different status to other ranks, were imprisoned in
Oflags (short for
Offizierslager or "Officers' Camp") while
NCOs and other ranks were imprisoned in
Stalags (or
Stammlager, "Main Camp"). Each
Stalag included numerous
Arbeitskommandos (work unit) outside the camp itself, some of which could be hundreds of kilometers away. The vast majority of prisoners ( 93 percent) were not confined behind barbed wire, but instead worked in German factories or in farms, sometimes without guards. Prisoners arriving in camps were divided into groups by the Germans. Mostly, this consisted of bringing soldiers of similar backgrounds (
Communists,
Jews or
Bretons) together for administrative purposes and to limit their interaction with other prisoners. Although this sorting of soldiers generally occurred on a small scale only, a camp was established at
Lübeck for French prisoners dubbed "enemies of the Reich", where they could be detained in isolation. Prisoners considered rebellious, however, were often sent to special camps in which conditions were extremely poor.
Daily life Within
Stalags and
Oflags, prisoners had substantial amounts of leisure time. Letters and parcels from home could take months to arrive in camps and be distributed by the
Red Cross; consequently, most had little regular contact with their families. The Red Cross also provided food, books, sports equipment and musical instruments, as well as information and letters. Thanks to the access to books, the historian
Fernand Braudel wrote most of his influential work ''
La Méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l'époque de Philippe II (1949), which established the analytical concept of the longue durée'', while in captivity in Germany. near
Trier Numerous clubs, bands, sports teams and societies operated within the camps. In Stalag IX-A, French prisoners established both
symphony and
jazz orchestras and a choir. An informal "temporary university" was also established in the same camp. The future French President
François Mitterrand delivered a series of lectures on the
ancien régime to his fellow prisoners in another camp.
Jean-Paul Sartre also delivered lectures on philosophy. Drama was also extremely popular and, despite only having very limited resources, numerous plays were staged. Politically, the prisoners of war in Germany were given virtually more freedom than civilians in occupied France. In accordance with the
Geneva Conventions, French prisoners elected
hommes de confiance (Men of trust) from among their number to represent their interests. The Germans attempted to encourage prisoners to adopt Nazi or collaborationist ideologies, even supporting the creation of a pro-German newspaper, ''Le Trait d'Union
, for prisoners and pro-Vichy Cercles Pétain'' groups existed in many separate camps. Although Pétain was generally supported by the prisoners,
Pierre Laval who was Petain's
de facto Prime Minister was extremely unpopular. Laval's re-promotion in 1942 following his dismissal in December 1940, together with the failure of his
Relève system, widely undermined support for Vichy among prisoners.
Work and forced labour , 1942 Most French prisoners of war were not held in camps for most of the war, but instead, over 93 percent of French prisoners of war lived and worked on
Kommandos of work details. Under the terms of the
Geneva Convention NCOs were, like officers, exempted from work during captivity, but Germans often forced them to work. Workers were fed but virtually their entire wages were paid directly to the German army and prisoners were only allowed to retain 70
pfennigs per day. Work
Kommandos were very variable, but those in agriculture were generally considered better than ones in factories or mining, where conditions were worse and prisoners were vulnerable to
Allied bombing raids. In rural areas of Germany, French prisoners replaced locals conscripted into the German army as agricultural labourers. Guarding
Kommandos came to be regarded as an unnecessary waste of manpower - it was thought unlikely that a prisoner would attempt to escape in a country where he did not know the language. This meant that, in practice, prisoners were allowed a wider measure of freedom compared to the camps. They were often viewed with curiosity by the German rural population, and the French prisoners were often allowed to mix quite freely with German civilians. Although unlawful, many French prisoners began relationships with German women.
African and Asian prisoners . Around 120,000 prisoners from the French colonies were captured during the Battle of France. Most of these troops, around two-thirds, came from the French North African possessions of
Tunisia,
Morocco and, particularly,
Algeria. Around 20 percent were from
French West Africa. The rest were from
Madagascar and
Indochina. Influenced by
Nazi racial ideology, German troops summarily killed between 1,000 and 1,500 black prisoners during the Battle of France. Among those captured who narrowly escaped execution was
Léopold Sédar Senghor, an academic who would become the first President of
independent Senegal in 1960. Unlike their white compatriots, the colonial prisoners of war were imprisoned in
Frontstalags in France rather than being brought to Germany. By keeping colonial soldiers in France on the pretext of preventing the spread of
tropical diseases, the Germans also wanted to prevent the "
racial defilement" (
Rassenschande) of German women outlawed by the
Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Black troops were treated worse than their white compatriots, and some of them were used for "degrading"
anthropological experiments or subjects of medical testing into diseases. Although the living conditions for black soldiers gradually improved, they were still considerably lower than those of white French soldiers. The
mortality rate among black soldiers was also considerably higher. Some colonial troops were repatriated before the end of the war. Around 10,000 North African prisoners were released in 1941. Escapes and repatriations reduced the number of colonial prisoners of war to 30,000 by July 1944. With the Allied advance through France in 1944, between 10–12,000 prisoners were transported to
Stalags in Germany where they were held until the end of the war. Former colonial prisoners of war were demobilised in 1944 but received less compensation than their white counterparts. A
mutiny among former prisoners at
Thiaroye in
French Senegal on 30 November 1944 was repressed with violence. ==Other prisoners of war==