Officers cannot 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 Corps were held in special camps called Stalag Luft, but were accorded the required preferential treatment.

In general the German Army complied with the provisions of the Geneva Convention (1929) 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 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" (in fact, the Geneva Convention required the same treatment for non-participating country's POWs) .

See also

• List of POW camps in Germany for complete list of Oflags by military districts.
• Geneva Convention (1929)
• Third Geneva Convention text (1949)