An Officers Only "Oflag" Prisoner Of War Camp (Offizierslager) Identification Tag

Steel, non-magnetic, stamped "Oflag XI A / 15159", tag is a half tag and separated at the slotted centre portion, two die-holes along the top edge, 20 mm x 60 mm, near extremely fine.

Footnote: An Oflag (Offizierslager) was a prisoner of war camp for officers only, established by the German Army in both the First World War and the Second World War, in accordance with the requirements of the Geneva Convention (1929) (or the 1899 Hague Convention in the First World War. Officers could not be required to work. A limited number of non-commissioned soldiers working as orderlies were allowed in Oflags, to carry out the work needed, to care for the officers. Officers of the Allied air forces were held in special camps called Stalags Luft but were accorded the required preferential treatment. In general, the German Army complied with the provisions of the Geneva Convention regarding care of officers of the armies of the western Allies, including Poland. There were notable exceptions, for example the execution of recaptured prisoners, specifically from Stalag Luft 3 and Oflag IX-C. However, the inhumane treatment of Soviet prisoners, soldiers as well as officers, did not comply with these provisions, according to Joseph Goebbels "because the Soviet Union had not signed the Convention and did not follow its provisions at all".