Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishing them, prosecuting them for war crimes , exploiting them for their labour , recruiting or even conscripting them as their own combatants, collecting military and political intelligence from them, or indoctrinating them in new political or religious beliefs.[1] For most of human history, depending on the culture of the victors, enemy combatants on the losing side in a battle who had surrendered and been taken as prisoners of war could expect to be either slaughtered or enslaved .[2] gladiators could be prisoners of war, categorised according to their ethnic roots as Samnites , Thracians , and Gauls (Galli ).[3] Iliad Lycaon for example.
Typically, victors made little distinction between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although they were more likely to spare women and children. Sometimes the purpose of a battle, if not of a war, was to capture women, a practice known as raptio Rape of the Sabines involved, according to tradition, a large mass-abduction by the founders of Rome. Typically women had no rights , and were held legally as chattels .[citation needed [4] [need quotation to verify
In the fourth century AD, Bishop Acacius of Amida , touched by the plight of Persian prisoners captured in a recent war with the Roman Empire, who were held in his town under appalling conditions and destined for a life of slavery, took the initiative in ransoming them by selling his church's precious gold and silver vessels and letting them return to their country. For this he was eventually canonized.[5]
Middle Ages and Renaissance Mongol riders with prisoners, 14th century
During Childeric 's siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève (later canonised as the city's patron saint) pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so.[6]
Many French prisoners of war were killed after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.[7]
In the later Middle Ages , a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat but eliminate their enemies. In Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades .[8] Cathars once they'd taken the city of Béziers , the Papal Legate Arnaud Amalric famously replied, "Kill them all, God will know His own [b]
Likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed ; their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the social status of the captive.
In feudal Japan, there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, who were for the most part summarily executed.[9]
The expanding Mongol Empire was famous for distinguishing between cities or towns that surrendered, where the population were spared but required to support the conquering Mongol army, and those that resisted, where their city was ransacked and destroyed , and all the population killed. In Termez , on the Oxus : "all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain" .[10]
The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, with the goal of this constant warfare being to collect live prisoners for sacrifice .[11] Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed.[12] [13]
During the early Muslim conquests , Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners. Aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved.[14] [15]
Typically, victors made little distinction between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although they were more likely to spare women and children. Sometimes the purpose of a battle, if not of a war, was to capture women, a practice known as raptio Rape of the Sabines involved, according to tradition, a large mass-abduction by the founders of Rome. Typically women had no rights , and were held legally as chattels .[citation needed [4] [need quotation to verify
In the fourth century AD, Bishop Acacius of Amida , touched by the plight of Persian prisoners captured in a recent war with the Roman Empire, who were held in his town under appalling conditions and destined for a life of slavery, took the initiative in ransoming them by selling his church's precious gold and silver vessels and letting them return to their country. For this he was eventually canonized.[5]
During Childeric 's siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève (later canonised as the city's patron saint) pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so.[6]
Many French prisoners of war were killed after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.[7]
In the later Middle Ages , a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat but eliminate their enemies. In Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades .[8] Many French prisoners of war were killed after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.[7]
In the later Middle Ages , a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat but eliminate their enemies. In Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades .[8] Cathars once they'd taken the city of Béziers , the Papal Legate Arnaud Amalric famously replied, "Kill them all, God will know His own [b]
Likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed ; their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the social status of the captive.
In feudal Japan, there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, who were for the most part summarily executed.[9]
The expanding Mongol Empire was famous for distinguishing between cities or towns that surrendered, where the population were spared but required to support the conquering Mongol army, and those that resisted, where their city was ransacked and destroyed , and all the population killed. In Termez , on the Oxus : "all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain" .[10]
The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, with the goal of this constant warfare being to collect live prisoners for sacrifice .[11] Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed.[12] [13]
During the early Muslim conquests , Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners. Aside from thos
The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, with the goal of this constant warfare being to collect live prisoners for sacrifice .[11] Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed.[12] [13]
During the early Muslim conquests , Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners. Aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved.[14] [15] [16] Muhammad made it the responsibility of the Islamic government to provide food and clothing, on a reasonable basis, to captives, regardless of their religion; however if the prisoners were in the custody of a person, then the responsibility was on the individual.[17] Banu Qurayza . Females and children of this tribe were divided up as ghanima (spoils of war) by Muhammad.[18]
The 1648 Peace of Westphalia , which ended the Thirty Years' War , established the rule that prisoners of war should be released without ransom at the end of hostilities and that they should be allowed to return to their homelands.[19]
There also evolved the right of parole , French for "discourse", in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to esc
There also evolved the right of parole , French for "discourse", in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations and the freedom of the prison. If he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity.
European settlers captured in North America Early historical narratives of captured Europeans settlers, including perspectives of literate women captured by the indigenous peoples of North America , exist in some number. The writings of indigenous peoples of North America , exist in some number. The writings of Mary Rowlandson , captured in the chaotic fighting of King Philip's War , are an example. Such narratives enjoyed some popularity, spawning a genre of the captivity narrative , and had lasting influence on the body of early American literature, most notably through the legacy of James Fenimore Cooper 's The Last of the Mohicans John R. Jewitt , an sailor who wrote a memoir about his years as a captive of the Nootka people on the Pacific Northwest coast from 1802 to 1805.
French Revolutionary wars and Napoleonic wars The earliest known purposely built prisoner-of-war camp was established at Norman Cross , England in 1797 to house
The earliest known purposely built prisoner-of-war camp was established at Norman Cross , England in 1797 to house the increasing number of prisoners from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars .[citation needed The average prison population was about 5,500 men. The lowest number recorded was 3,300 in October 1804 and 6,272 on 10 April 1810 was the highest number of prisoners recorded in any official document. Norman Cross Prison was intended to be a model depot providing the most humane treatment of prisoners of war. The British government went to great lengths to provide food of a quality at least equal to that available to locals. The senior officer from each quadrangle was permitted to inspect the food as it was delivered to the prison to ensure it was of sufficient quality. Despite the generous supply and quality of food, some prisoners died of starvation after gambling away their rations. Most of the men held in the prison were low-ranking soldiers and sailors, including midshipmen and junior officers, with a small number of privateers . About 100 senior officers and some civilians "of good social standing", mainly passengers on captured ships and the wives of some officers, were given parole d'honneur Peterborough although some further afield in Northampton , Plymouth , Melrose and Abergavenny . They were afforded the courtesy of their rank within English society. During the Battle of Leipzig both sides used the city's cemetery as a lazaret and prisoner camp for around 6000 POWs who lived in the burial vaults and used the coffins for firewood. Food was scarce and prisoners resorted to eating horses, cats, dogs or even human flesh. The bad conditions inside the graveyard contributed to a city-wide epidemic after the battle.[20] [21]
Prisoner exchanges The extensive period of conflict during the American Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815), followed by the Anglo-American War of 1812 , led to the emergence of a cartel system for the exchange of prisoners , even while the belligerents were at war. A cartel was usually arranged by the respective armed service for the exchange of like-ranked personnel. The aim was to achieve a reduction in the number of prisoners held, while at the same time alleviating shortages of skilled personnel in the home country.
American Civil War At the start of the civil war a system of paroles operated. Captives agreed not to fight until they were officially exchanged. Meanwhile, they were held in camps run by their own army where they were paid but not allowed to perform any military duties.[22] Dix–Hill Cartel was suspended; Confederate officials approached Union General Benjamin Butler, Union Commissioner of Exchange, about resuming the cartel and including the black prisoners. Butler contacted Grant for guidance on the issue, and Grant responded to Butler on 18 August 1864 with his now famous statement. He rejected the offer, stating in essence, that the Union could afford to leave their men in captivity, the Confederacy could not.[23] American Civil War , accounting for nearly 10% of the conflict's fatalities.[24] Camp Sumter , located near Andersonville, Georgia , 13,000 (28%) died.[25] Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois, 10% of its Confederate prisoners died during one cold winter month; and Elmira Prison in New York state, with a death rate of 25% (2,963), nearly equalled that of Andersonville.[26]
Amelioration During the 19th century, there were increased efforts to improve the treatment and processing of prisoners. As a result of these emerging conventions, a number of international conferences were held, starting with the Brussels Conference of 1874, with nations agreeing that it was necessary to prevent inhumane treatment of prisoners and the use of weapons causing unnecessary harm. Although no agreements were immediately ratified by the participating nations, work was continued that resulted in new conventions being adopted and becoming recognized as international law that specified that prisoners of war be treated humanely and diplomatically.
Hague and Geneva Conventions Chapter II of the Annex to the During the 19th century, there were increased efforts to improve the treatment and processing of prisoners. As a result of these emerging conventions, a number of international conferences were held, starting with the Brussels Conference of 1874, with nations agreeing that it was necessary to prevent inhumane treatment of prisoners and the use of weapons causing unnecessary harm. Although no agreements were immediately ratified by the participating nations, work was continued that resulted in new conventions being adopted and becoming recognized as international law that specified that prisoners of war be treated humanely and diplomatically.
After the F
After the French armies surrendered in summer 1940, Germany seized two million French prisoners of war and sent them to camps in Germany. About one third were released on various terms. Of the remainder, the officers and non-commissioned officers were kept in camps and did not work. The privates were sent out to work. About half of them worked for German agriculture, where food supplies were adequate and controls were lenient. The others worked in factories or mines, where conditions were much harsher.[62]
Western Allies' POWs Germany and Italy generally treated prisoners from the British Empire and Commonwealth , France, the U.S., and other western Allies in ac
Germany and Italy generally treated prisoners from the British Empire and Commonwealth , France, the U.S., and other western Allies in accordance with the Geneva Convention , which had been signed by these countries.[63] German POW camps—especially during the last two years of the war—concerned shortages of food.
—or whom the Nazis believed to be Jewish—were killed as part of
the Holocaust or were subjected to other
antisemitic policies.
[dubious – discuss [citation needed For example, Major
Yitzhak Ben-Aharon , a
Palestinian Jew who had enlisted in the British Army, and who was captured by the Germans in
Greece in 1941 , experienced four years of captivity under entirely normal conditions for POWs.
[64] Telegram notifying parents of an American POW of his capture by Germany
However, a small number of Allied personnel were sent to concentration camps, for a variety of reasons including being Je
However, a small number of Allied personnel were sent to concentration camps, for a variety of reasons including being Jewish.[65] Berga an der Elster , officially called Arbeitskommando 625Stalag IX-B [citation needed Another well-known example was a group of 168 Australian, British, Canadian, New Zealand and US aviators who were held for two months at Buchenwald concentration camp ;[66] Terrorflieger
Information on conditions in the stalags is contradictory depending on the source. Some American POWs claimed the Germans were victims of circumstance and did the best they could, while others accused their captors of brutalities and forced labour. In any case, the prison camps were miserable places where food rations were meager and conditions squalid. One American admitted "The only difference between the stalags and concentration camps was that we weren't gassed or shot in the former. I do not recall a single act of compassion or mercy on the part of the Germans." Typical meals consisted of a bread slice and watery potato soup which, however, was still more substantial than what Soviet POWs or concentration camp inmates received. Another prisoner stated
Information on conditions in the stalags is contradictory depending on the source. Some American POWs claimed the Germans were victims of circumstance and did the best they could, while others accused their captors of brutalities and forced labour. In any case, the prison camps were miserable places where food rations were meager and conditions squalid. One American admitted "The only difference between the stalags and concentration camps was that we weren't gassed or shot in the former. I do not recall a single act of compassion or mercy on the part of the Germans." Typical meals consisted of a bread slice and watery potato soup which, however, was still more substantial than what Soviet POWs or concentration camp inmates received. Another prisoner stated that "The German plan was to keep us alive, yet weakened enough that we wouldn't attempt escape."[67]
As Soviet ground forces approached some POW camps in early 1945, German guards forced western Allied POWs to walk long distances towards central Germany, often in extreme winter weather conditions.[68] [69]
In September 1943 after the Armistice, Italian officers and soldiers that in many places waited for clear superior orders, were arrested by Germans and Italian fascists and taken to German internment camps in Germany or Eastern Europe, where they were held for the duration of World War II. The International Red Cross could do nothing for them, as they were not regarded as POWs, but the prisoners held the status of "military internees ". Treatment of the prisoners was generally poor. The author Giovannino Guareschi was among those interned and wrote about this time in his life. The book was translated and published as "My Secret Diary". He wrote about the hungers of semi-starvation, the casual murder of individual prisoners by guards and how, when they were released (now from a German camp), they found a deserted German town filled with foodstuffs that they (with other released prisoners) ate.[citation needed . It is estimated that of the 700,000 Italians taken prisoner by the Germans, around 40,000 died in detention and more than 13,000 lost their lives during the transportation from the Greek islands to the mainland.[70]
Eastern European POWs [72] Between the launching of
Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941 and the following spring, 2.8 million of the 3.2 million Soviet prisoners taken died while in German hands.
[73] According to Russian military historian General
Grigoriy Krivosheyev , the Axis powers took 4.6 million Soviet prisoners, of whom 1.8 million were found alive in camps after the war and 318,770 were released by the Axis during the war and were then drafted into the Soviet armed forces again.
[74] By comparison, 8,348 Western Allied prisoners died in German camps during 1939–45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).
[75] [72] Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941 and the following spring, 2.8 million of the 3.2 million Soviet prisoners taken died while in German hands.
[73] According to Russian military historian General
Grigoriy Krivosheyev , the Axis powers took 4.6 million Soviet prisoners, of whom 1.8 million were found alive in camps after the war and 318,770 were released by the Axis during the war and were then drafted into the Soviet armed forces again.
[74] By comparison, 8,348 Western Allied prisoners died in German camps during 1939–45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).
[75] The Germans officially justified their policy on the grounds that the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention. Legally, however, under article 82 of the Geneva Convention , signatory countries had to give POWs of all signatory and non-signatory countries the rights assigned by the convention.[76] Hague Conventions . Third Reich officials left the Soviet "note" unanswered.[77] [78] Nikolai Tolstoy recounts that the German Government – as well as the International Red Cross – made several efforts to regulate reciprocal treatment of prisoners until early 1942, but received no answers from the Soviet side.[79] fight to the death , and automatically excluded any prisoner from the "Russian community".[80] [need quotation to verify
Some Soviet POWs and forced labourers whom the Germans had transported to Nazi Germany were, on their return to the USSR, treated as traitors and sent to gulag prison-camps.
Treatment of POWs by the Soviet Union Main articles:
POW labor in the Soviet Union ,
Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union ,
Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union ,
forced labourers whom the Germans had transported to
Nazi Germany were, on their return to the USSR, treated as traitors and sent to
gulag prison-camps.
According to some sources, the Soviets captured 3.5 million Axis servicemen (excluding Japanese) of which more than a million died.[81] Battle of Stalingrad , where the Soviets captured 91,000 German troops in total (completely exhausted, starving and sick) of whom only 5,000 survived the captivity.
German soldiers were kept as forced labour for many years after the war. The last German POWs like Erich Hartmann , the highest-scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare , who had been declared guilty of war crimes but without due process , were not released by the Soviets until 1955, two years after Stalin died.[82]
Polish As a result of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers became prisoners of war in the Soviet Union . Thousands of them were executed; over 20,000 Polish military personnel and civilians perished in the Katyn massacre .[83] Anders ' 80,000 evacuees from Soviet Union gathered in the United Kingdom only 310 volunteered to return to Poland in 1947.[84]
Out of the 230,000 Polish prisoners of war taken by the Soviet army, only 82,000 survived.[85]
Japanese After the Soviet–Japanese War , 560,000 to 760,000 Japanese prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet Union. They were captured in Manchuria , Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands , then sent to work as forced labor in the Soviet Union and Mongolia .[86] [87] [88] German soldiers were kept as forced labour for many years after the war. The last German POWs like Erich Hartmann , the highest-scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare , who had been declared guilty of war crimes but without due process , were not released by the Soviets until 1955, two years after Stalin died.[82]
As a result of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers became prisoners of war in the Soviet Union . Thousands of them were executed; over 20,000 Polish military personnel and civilians perished in the Katyn massacre .[83] Anders ' 80,000 evacuees from Soviet Union gathered in the United Kingdom only 310 volunteered to return to Poland in 1947.[84]
Out of the 230,000 Polish prisoners of war taken by the Soviet army, only 82,000 survived.[85]
Japanese After the Soviet–Japanese War , 560,000 to 760,000 Japanese prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet Union. They were captured in Manchuria , Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands , then sent to work as forced labor in the Soviet Union and Mongolia .[86]
Out of the 230,000 Polish prisoners of war taken by the Soviet army, only 82,000 survived.[85]
After the Soviet–Japanese War , 560,000 to 760,000 Japanese prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet Union. They were captured in Manchuria , Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands , then sent to work as forced labor in the Soviet Union and Mongolia .[86] [87] [88] [89] [90]
Americans John H. Noble . Careful scholarly studies have demonstrated this is a myth based on a misinterpretation of a telegram that was talking about Soviet prisoners held in Italy.[91] Treatment of POWs by the Western Allies Battle of Iwo Jima, over 20,000 were killed and only 216 were taken prisoner.
[110] Of the 30,000 Japanese troops that defended
Saipan , fewer than 1,000 remained alive at battle's end.
[111] Japanese prisoners sent to camps fared well; however, some Japanese were killed when trying to surrender or were massacred
[112] just after they had surrendered (see
Allied war crimes during World War II in the Pacific ). In some instances, Japanese prisoners were tortured by a variety of methods.
[113] A method of torture used by the Chinese
National Revolutionary Army (NRA) included suspending the prisoner by the neck in a wooden cage until they died.
[114] In very rare cases, some were beheaded by sword, and a severed head was once used as a football by Chinese National Revolutionary Army (NRA) soldiers.
[115] After the war, many Japanese POWs were kept on as Japanese Surrendered Personnel until mid-1947 by the Allies. The JSP were used until 1947 for labor purposes, such as road maintenance, recovering corpses for reburial, cleaning, preparing farmland etc. Early tasks also included repairing airfields damaged by Allied bombing during the war and maintaining law and order until the arrival of Allied forces to the region. Many of them were also pressed into combat as extra troops due to a lack of manpower amongst the Allied forces.
Italians In 1943, Italy overthrew Mussolini and became a co-belligerent with the Allies. This did not mean any change in status for Italian POWs however, since due to the labour shortages in the
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