Life Behind Bars

Life Behind Bars

Almost every nation in the world took a fighting stance in World War 2, the bloodiest, deadliest, war ever known where tragedy had struck all around. Not one place was completely unscathed by the marks of yet another unnecessary war that had occurred once again. With more than thirty-eight million dead, many of them being innocent people, civilians all around had to endure the painful experiences that made a lasting impression on the world and will be remembered forever (Scholastic). During the time of the War, the superpower country of Germans began placing any enemy of theirs into camps that they controlled. These camps were called Internment camps which were confinements or prisons of people, in this case the British, without a trial (Oxford). The British Internment camps’ main impact was the strikes that they helped create together that represented the hurt and struggles they endured during their confinement not only suffering in the camps, but in the war itself as well.

In 1980, four hundred men and women prisoners banded together to create an uprising in hopes of making a difference. The protest movement was named the “Blanket Protest” which consisted of two major hunger strikes. The first hunger strike occurred the same year where the Irish Republican Prisoners made five demands in which were refused to grant. The demands were the following: No prisoner uniform, no prison work, free association with other prisoners, organize own educational and recreational, and one visit, letter, and package per week. After the prisoner’s demands were denied, ten men died, whom all though dying was better than giving into the system. Although the strike was ultimately a failure and crushed some spirits of the prisone...

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... reading material except the Bible (even religious magazines have been banned since my last visit), no pens or writing material, or TV, or radio, no hobbies or handcrafts, no exercise or recreation. They are locked in their cells for almost the whole of every day and some of them have been in this condition for more than a year and a half.

The conditions the prisoners endured were undeserved for any human being however, World War 2 was not fair and with the Nazis at the head of control, anything went (McGreevy Packet).

By the prisoners bonding together to stand up for their freedom in the camps, they were finally able to achieve their goal through all their pain, to take back their freedom painfully fighting for it. Despite enduring capture, imprisonment, and suffering within the internment camps, the people never gave up faith and hope that they would be free.