Throughout history, prisoners of war have been mistreated. In the early history of warfare, there was recognition of a prisoner of war status. The defeated enemy was either killed or enslaved by the victor (Encyclopedia Britannica). During the time of the Aztecs, a prisoner’s negotiation option was to have their heart cut out (Smallwood). Until 1929, no one cared about the treatment of Prisoners of war because there was no greater power to stop the captors from mistreating them. But when the Geneva Conventions were signed, there was something to stop the detaining power from inhumane treatment. Still, countries mistreated their prisoners of war. In WWII, Japanese POW camps tortured, performed Unit 731 experiments, and executed their prisoners (Historyonthenet.com, Listverse). In the Vietnam War, prisoners were kept in tiger cages, beaten with clubs, and sometimes even hung on metal hooks (Pribbinow, Smallwood). Even though the third and fourth Conventions protect POWs, militias, and citizens, the countries who signed them don’t always obey them. So, where is the line drawn? What are the rights and responsibilities of POWs and the detaining power?
You may have heard of the Geneva Convention in movies or television programs. Usually, the character is referring to the fourth Geneva Convention, written in 1949(Schading, Schading, Slayton 206-14), which is relative to the protection of citizens during a time of conflict. The Geneva Conventions are a series of documents generated by the world’s leading nations that set rules that apply to all conflicts, rules that apply to certain conflicts, and rules that are based on other international treaties (Schading, et.all. 206-14). The third Geneva Convention, which is relative to the treatme...
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POW Escape Thwarted. YouTube. National Geographic, 30 July 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
Pribbinow, Merle. "Treatment of American POWs in North Vietnam | Wilson Center." Treatment of American POWs in North Vietnam | Wilson Center. Wilson Center, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
Schading, Barbara, PH.D, Richard Schading, U.S.M.C., and Virginia R. Slayton, U.S. Army, RET. "Chapter 10: The Geneva Convnetion." A Civilian's Guide to the U.S. Military: A Comprehensive Reference to the Customs, Language & Structure of the Armed Forces. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest, 2007. 206-14. Print.
Smallwood, Karl. "10 Terrible Things Done To POWs." Listverse. N.p., 23 Feb. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
"World War Two - German Prisoner of War Camps." World War Two. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
"World War Two - Japanese Prisoner of War Camps." World War Two. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
In 1937, Japan started a war against China, in search of more resources to expand its empire. In 1941, during World War II, Japan attacked America which is when the Allies (Australia, Britain etc.) then declared war on Japan. Before long the Japanese started extending their territory closer and closer to Australia and started taking surrendering troops into concentration camps where they were starved, diseased and beaten. When they were captured, one survivor reports that they were told
The notorious detention camp, Bergen-Belsen, was constructed in 1940 and “was near Hanover in northwest Germany, located between the villages Bergen and Belsen” (jewishvirtuallibrary.org), hence the name. Originally, the “camp was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners” (jewishvirtuallibrary.org) but, Bergen-Belsen rapidly grew. “In the first eighteen months of existence, there were already five satellite camps.” (holocaustresearchproject.org). Eventually, the “camp had eight sections: detention camp, two camps for women, a special camp, neutrals camp, ‘star camp’, Hungarian Camp, and a tent camp.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, p.165) It also held prisoners who were too ill/weak to work at the “convalescent camp” (Bauer, Yehuda, p.359)
Weglyn, Michi. Years of Infamy The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1976. Print.
In North Vietnam in 1970 several soldiers, sailors and airman were killed, beaten, starved and confined in solitary confinement causing severe mental issues in prisons in North Vietnam. Many of the American Prisoners were pilots for the Army and Air Force shot down during the heavy bombing raids ordered by President Johnson in 1964. 1 For nearly 2,000 days, or six plus years many of these Americans imprisoned in Son Tay about 23 miles west of Hanoi in North Vietnam. After several reports to the Pentagon from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National security Agency (NSA), one of the greatest orchestrated prison rescue attempt was coordinated in a joint effort by the armed services. This operation exhibited extreme planning and attention to detail that forever changed the North Vietnamese treatment of American Prisoners of War (POWs).2
Holocaust concentration camps were located around Central or Eastern Europe (around Germany and Poland). Many of these camps were death camps that were created solely to murder in...
Bruce Elleman, Japanese-American Civilian Prisoner Exchanges and Detention Camps, 1941-1945 (New York City: Routledge, 2006), 55.
The only thing worse than being taken as a prisoner of war would be being killed in combat. Unfortunately, being taken as prisoner of war in world war two was the fate of many soldiers fighting. Their camps were supposed to be similar to an internment camp created for civilians, as stated by the Geneva Convention in 1929. A prisoner of war camp was supposed to allow the prisoners to write home to their families, get paid for doing non-war related jobs, and captives even got packages from the international Red Cross. While the camps were not made to be a five star hotel, the camps treated their captives well enough that they could live comfortably. In Japan, this was not the case. As explained in Unbroken, a biography about Louis Zamperini,
“Concentration camps (Konzentrationslager; abbreviated as KL or KZ) were an integral feature of the regime in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
Wars have essentially been the backbone of history. A war can make or break a country. As the result of war, a country can lose or gain territory and a war directly impacts a countries’ economy. When we learn about wars in schools we usually are taught about when they start, major events/ battles, and when they end. It would take a year or two to cover one war if we were to learn about everything. One thing that is commonly overlooked and we take for granted, is prisoners of war. Most people think of concentration camps and the millions of Jews that suffered when prisoners and war are mentioned in the same sentence. Yes it is terrible what happened during WWII, but what about our troops that were captured and potentially tortured trying to save the Jews? How did they suffer? Being captured as a prisoner of war is just an on the job hazard. In this paper I will explain what POWs went through and how it has changes between countries, and I will only scratch the surface.
The concentration camps were an important feature of the Nazi regime between 1933-1945 (Caplan and Wachsmann 17). The camps had harsh conditions and no regard for the acceptable legal norms of arrest and detainment adopted by constitutional democratic countries.
Robson, David. "Life in Camps." The Internment of Japanese Americans. San Diego, CA: Reference Point, 2014. N. pag. Print.
Owner, Website. "FEMA Concentration and Internment Camps." FEMA Concentration and Internment Camps. Freedom Files, 5 June 2012. Web. 23 May 2014.
During World War II American soldiers who were caught by the Japanese were sent to camps where they were kept under harsh conditions. These men were called the prisoners of war, also known as the POWs. The Japanese who were captured by the American lived a simple life. They were the Japanese internees of World War II. The POWs had more of a harsh time during World War II than the internees. While the internees did physically stay in the camps longer, the POWs had it worse mentally.
Kelman, Herbert C., Hamilton, V. Lee. “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience”. Writing & Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 266-277. Print.
... to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.” Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2002. On-line. Internet. 22 Feb. 2004. <http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm>.