CAPTIVES: Prisoners of War and Internees 1939-1945

Millions of people were held captive during the Second World War, including those in the armed services and civilians who were classified as enemy aliens or potentially dangerous foreigners. They found themselves interned or deported overseas. The prisoners had hugely varied experiences based on their nationality, race, where they were captured and whether they were in the services or a civilian internee. For almost all, physical escape was impossible, but for many plotting to break out of their camp or finding a form of escapism through other means like music, art, writing or falling in love were sources of solace, hope and sometimes resistance. On the Declaration of War on 3rd September 1939, some 73,000 UK resident Germans and Austrians became classed as 'enemy aliens'. The Geneva Convention of 1929 had established rules and duties of captors and captives, but many of these laws did not cover the internment of civilians, nor were they applied fully by Japan. Over 170,000 Allied soldiers, sailors and air personnel found themselves POWs under Nazi or Italian authority during World War Two. Germany had 248 POW Camps in Germany itself and the occupied territories of Eastern Europe. There were over 190,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners in the Far East and approximately 35,756 of these prisoners died in captivity (27% compared to the 4% who died in Europe). Notorious examples of the ill treatment included the forced 'death marches' and the building of the Thai-Burma railway in which countless atrocities were inflicted on prisoners. The book covers Colditz, Stalag Luft III, Stanley Internment Camp, Changi Camp, Ilag VIII and the Isle of Man Civilian Internment Camp. Captives include Peter Gardner, Peter Butterworth, and Gladys Skillett among the 10 examples, and life inside covers entertainment, theatre, sport, education and medical treatments. The Wooden Horse Escape and the Great Escapes and Oswald Jov's treachery are recounted along with liberation and the aftermath including disbanding M19 and war crimes trials. The appendices help you with your own research into British and Commonwealth POWs and internees - where records and archives are held. 144 very well illustrated pages, includes colour and archive documents.