Recent from talks
Prisoners of war in World War II
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Prisoners of war in World War II
Prisoners of war during World War II faced vastly different fates due to the POW conventions adhered to or ignored, depending on the theater of conflict, and the behaviour of their captors. During the war approximately 35 million soldiers surrendered, with many held in the prisoner-of-war camps. Most of the POWs were taken in the European theatre of the war. Approximately 14%, or 5 million, died in captivity; out of these, 3 million fatalities were Soviets POWs, and one million, German POWs.
Early in World War II, Nazi Germany, overwhelmed by the number of POWs, released many, though some became used as forced labor. As the war progressed, POWs became strategic assets, increasingly used as forced labor, or considered an important leverage for reciprocal treatment. Within a few years of the war ending, most of POWs were repatriated, though notable exceptions persisted, with Axis POWs in Chinese and Soviet camps held into the 1950s.
The mortality rate was disproportionately high in the Eastern and Pacific theaters, where atrocities, forced labor, and starvation were common, especially for Soviet and Chinese captives under Axis powers and German POWs in Soviet hands. Axis POWs were treated very well by the Western Allies and very harshly by the USSR. Western Allied POWs generally experienced better conditions than most other belligerents, although their treatment by the Japanese was harsh.
Post-war trials, including the Nuremberg Trials, prosecuted violations of POW treatment, though public awareness of such crimes emerged much later, particularly in Germany, while in Japan and the USSR the issue is still mostly ignored. POWs of World War II were selectively depicted in popular culture, often romanticized in Western media through escape narratives like The Great Escape, while harsher realities, such as Soviet treatment of captives, or Axis treatment of non-Western captives, remain underrepresented.
Most prisoners, after being captured, spent the war in the prisoner of war camps. In the early phases of the war, following German occupation of much of Europe, Germany also found itself unprepared for the number of POWs it held. As a result of that, as well as for political reasons, it released many (particularly enlisted personnel) on parole (as a result, it released all the Dutch, the Danes, all Flemish Belgian, all Greeks, nine-tenths of the Poles, and nearly a third of the French captives; some, however, like Poles, were almost immediately forcibly conscripted as laborers). Later prisoners became valuable and were kept as guarantee of good treatment of the prisoners' kept by the other side, or directly used for hard (forced) labor. A small number were exchanged in prisoner exchanges, primarily between Italy and Germany and the Western Allies (approximately 6,000 Italian, 14,000 German, and 12,400 Allied POWs were exchanged in such a fashion).
The majority of POWs were released by the late 1940s. In most places they were warmly received by the populace, major exceptions included France, where society "preferred to forget about them", and the USSR, where they suffered from much discrimination. The last POWs of World War II were Germans and Japanese released from the USSR camps in 1956; some Japanese were held in China until 1964. A few exceptions include stories such as András Toma, considered the last POW of World War II released from captivity, who was discovered living in a Russian psychiatric hospital in 2000 and was returned to Hungary some fifty-six years after his capture.
In mid-90s Simon MacKenzie observed that "Obtaining an exact figure for the number of POWs [in WWII] is made virtually impossible by the inexactness or unavailability of the records kept by many of the belligerents". In some cases, where entire countries surrendered (for example, Belgians), most if not all soldiers who were not killed in action were captured at some point during the fighting, but many were quickly released unofficially; while others were imprisoned for years. Different estimates may or may not count all such groups as POWs. Likewise, German and Japanese soldiers held after their countries surrendered at the end of the war often were not categorized as prisoners of war (see Japanese Surrendered Personnel, Disarmed Enemy Forces and Surrendered Enemy Personnel.).
MacKenzie cites the figure of 35 million following the 1960s estimate by German historian Kurt W. Böhme. That estimate, considered conservative by MacKenzie, has been repeated in more recent works (such as by Christian Gerlach in the mid-2010s). Bob Moore, who in his monograph focused on the European theater, gave an estimate of "more than 20 million", which he considered inflated with the number of Axis troops that surrendered after the war.
Hub AI
Prisoners of war in World War II AI simulator
(@Prisoners of war in World War II_simulator)
Prisoners of war in World War II
Prisoners of war during World War II faced vastly different fates due to the POW conventions adhered to or ignored, depending on the theater of conflict, and the behaviour of their captors. During the war approximately 35 million soldiers surrendered, with many held in the prisoner-of-war camps. Most of the POWs were taken in the European theatre of the war. Approximately 14%, or 5 million, died in captivity; out of these, 3 million fatalities were Soviets POWs, and one million, German POWs.
Early in World War II, Nazi Germany, overwhelmed by the number of POWs, released many, though some became used as forced labor. As the war progressed, POWs became strategic assets, increasingly used as forced labor, or considered an important leverage for reciprocal treatment. Within a few years of the war ending, most of POWs were repatriated, though notable exceptions persisted, with Axis POWs in Chinese and Soviet camps held into the 1950s.
The mortality rate was disproportionately high in the Eastern and Pacific theaters, where atrocities, forced labor, and starvation were common, especially for Soviet and Chinese captives under Axis powers and German POWs in Soviet hands. Axis POWs were treated very well by the Western Allies and very harshly by the USSR. Western Allied POWs generally experienced better conditions than most other belligerents, although their treatment by the Japanese was harsh.
Post-war trials, including the Nuremberg Trials, prosecuted violations of POW treatment, though public awareness of such crimes emerged much later, particularly in Germany, while in Japan and the USSR the issue is still mostly ignored. POWs of World War II were selectively depicted in popular culture, often romanticized in Western media through escape narratives like The Great Escape, while harsher realities, such as Soviet treatment of captives, or Axis treatment of non-Western captives, remain underrepresented.
Most prisoners, after being captured, spent the war in the prisoner of war camps. In the early phases of the war, following German occupation of much of Europe, Germany also found itself unprepared for the number of POWs it held. As a result of that, as well as for political reasons, it released many (particularly enlisted personnel) on parole (as a result, it released all the Dutch, the Danes, all Flemish Belgian, all Greeks, nine-tenths of the Poles, and nearly a third of the French captives; some, however, like Poles, were almost immediately forcibly conscripted as laborers). Later prisoners became valuable and were kept as guarantee of good treatment of the prisoners' kept by the other side, or directly used for hard (forced) labor. A small number were exchanged in prisoner exchanges, primarily between Italy and Germany and the Western Allies (approximately 6,000 Italian, 14,000 German, and 12,400 Allied POWs were exchanged in such a fashion).
The majority of POWs were released by the late 1940s. In most places they were warmly received by the populace, major exceptions included France, where society "preferred to forget about them", and the USSR, where they suffered from much discrimination. The last POWs of World War II were Germans and Japanese released from the USSR camps in 1956; some Japanese were held in China until 1964. A few exceptions include stories such as András Toma, considered the last POW of World War II released from captivity, who was discovered living in a Russian psychiatric hospital in 2000 and was returned to Hungary some fifty-six years after his capture.
In mid-90s Simon MacKenzie observed that "Obtaining an exact figure for the number of POWs [in WWII] is made virtually impossible by the inexactness or unavailability of the records kept by many of the belligerents". In some cases, where entire countries surrendered (for example, Belgians), most if not all soldiers who were not killed in action were captured at some point during the fighting, but many were quickly released unofficially; while others were imprisoned for years. Different estimates may or may not count all such groups as POWs. Likewise, German and Japanese soldiers held after their countries surrendered at the end of the war often were not categorized as prisoners of war (see Japanese Surrendered Personnel, Disarmed Enemy Forces and Surrendered Enemy Personnel.).
MacKenzie cites the figure of 35 million following the 1960s estimate by German historian Kurt W. Böhme. That estimate, considered conservative by MacKenzie, has been repeated in more recent works (such as by Christian Gerlach in the mid-2010s). Bob Moore, who in his monograph focused on the European theater, gave an estimate of "more than 20 million", which he considered inflated with the number of Axis troops that surrendered after the war.