ABSTRACT
The prisoners captured by the Germans were rapidly segregated, with Flemish elements and Walloons possessing specific skills released back into civilian life. This left just the professional soldiers and the remaining Walloon soldiers to endure long-term imprisonment in Germany. They numbered around 100,000 in early 1941 and this was reduced to a little more than 70,000 by 1944, with the men spread across Oflags and Stalags in most of the Reich’s Wehrkriese (military districts). Officers and NCOs were consigned to enforced idleness inside camps, while soldiers were put to work in many different sectors of the economy and with very variable working conditions. Inevitably they came into closer contact with the German civil population when sent out to work on farms or industrial enterprises – something that led to increased incidences of illicit fraternisation. With no protecting power, the Belgian administration created organisations to monitor the prisoners’ welfare and negotiate with the Germans. In addition, the Belgian Red Cross mounted a major campaign to ensure that prisoners received food and personal parcels from their families at home. German attempts to propagandise their Belgian prisoners fell largely on stony ground save for a small number of Flemish officers who were recruited into the SS or the police.
