stalag

noun

sta·​lag ˈstä-ˌläg 

: a German prison camp during World War I and World War II for noncommissioned officers or enlisted members of enemy armed forces

broadly : prison camp sense 2

Examples of stalag in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

German shepherds seemed to patrol every yard, as if guarding some suburban stalag. — Literary Hub, 25 Feb. 2026

To keep captive spirits up in the stalag, the prisoners staged makeshift plays. — Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2017

There are worse places to begin a search for the sources of Egypt's current political earthquake than in the company of a middle-aged French soldier imprisoned in a German stalag during World War II. — Robert Zaretsky, Foreign Affairs, 10 Feb. 2011

Word History

Etymology

German, short for Stammlager base camp, from Stamm base + Lager camp

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined above