Provides the first comprehensive analysis of the history of returning German POWs after the Second World War, explored as a history of memory both during Germany's division and after unification. Millions of former German soldiers (known as Heimkehrer, literally "homecomers," or returnees) returned from captivity as prisoners of war at the end of the Second World War, an experience that had profound effects on German society and touched almost every German family. Based on extensive archival research and oral history interviews, this book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the history of the German returnees, explored as a historyof memory, both during Germany's division and after unification. At its core lies the question of how the experiences of war captivity were transformed into individual and collective memories. The book argues that memory of the experience of captivity and return is complex and multilayered and has been shaped by postwar political and social frameworks. Christiane Wienand is a historian and works in Heidelberg, Germany. She holds a PhD in Historyfrom University College London.

Of the 2.3 million National Servicemen conscripted during the Cold War, 4,200 attended the secret Joint Services School for Linguists, tasked with supplying much-needed Russian speakers to the three services. After training, they were sent to the front lines in Germany and elsewhere to snoop on Soviet aircraft in real time. Posted to RAF Gatow in Berlin, ideally placed for signals interception, author Douglas Boyd came to know Hitler's devastated former capital. Pulling no punches, he describes SIGINT work, his subsequent arrest by armed Soviet soldiers, and how he was locked up without trial in solitary confinement in a Stasi prison. The Solitary Spy is a unique first-hand account of the terrifying experience of incarceration and interrogation in an East German political prison, from which Boyd eventually escaped, one step ahead of the KGB.

'I think prison has done me very little harm and some good. I am now far better read, far less smug and conceited, far more tolerant and considerably more capable of looking after myself' In 1930, twenty-one-year-old Roger Mortimer was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards and spent the next eight years stationed at Chelsea Barracks. He lived a fairly leisurely existence, with his parents' house in Cadogan Square a stone's throw away, and pleasant afternoons were whiled away at the racecourse or a members' club. Admittedly things got a little tricky in Palestine in 1938, when Roger, now a captain, found himself amid the action in the Arab Revolt. The worst, however, was yet to come. In May 1940, while fighting the Germans with the British Expeditionary Force in the Battle of Belgium, he was knocked unconscious by an exploding shell. When he came round he was less than delighted to find that he was a prisoner of war. Thus began a period of incarceration that would last five long years, and which for Roger there seemed no conceivable end in sight. Vintage Roger is Roger Mortimer at his witty, irreverent best, exuding the charm and good humour that captured the nation's hearts in Dear Lupin and Dear Lumpy. Steadfastly optimistic and utterly captivating, these letters, written to his good friend Peggy Dunne from May 1940 to late 1944, paint a vivid portrait of life as a POW.

NORMAN CROSS was the site of the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp constructed during the Napoleonic Wars. Opened in 1797, it was more than just a prison: it was a town in itself, with houses, offices, butchers, bakers, a hospital, a school, a market and a banking system. It was an important prison and military establishment in the east of England with a lively community of some 7,000 French inmates. Alongside a comprehensive examination of the prison itself, this detailed and informative book, compiled by a leading expert on the Napoleonic era, explores what life was like for inmates and turnkeys alike - the clothing, food, health, education, punishment and, ultimately, the closure of the depot in 1814.

The time was 7.40 p.m., the date 15 February 1942. The light was fading fast, the Allied forces were encircled, and the bombardment was relentless, as Singapore fell to the Japanese. Discarding their weapons, the Lancashire Loyals quietly withdrew to their quarters, where they 'composed themselves as best they could for the silent ordeal of the night, numbed and galled by the bitterness of enforced surrender'. So began three and half years of incarceration at Keijo POW camp in Korea. This is the previously untold story of the brave Lancastrians who endured, told by Chris Given-Wilson, whose father was one of those captured. It is a story of brutality, starvation and disease, but also one of survival, determination and creativity. Among the many ways the prisoners sought to keep their spirits up were the staging of surprisingly sophisticated shows, complete with Gloria d'Earie, the resident female impersonator; the growing of fresh vegetables to improve their health; and the regular publication of Nor Iron Bars (co-edited by the author's father), with its satirical portrayals of camp life. Copies of this banned journal were successfully concealed from the guards to be smuggled home, and can be seen at the Lancashire Infantry Museum. Chris Given-Wilson writes with warmth and humour, to reveal both the best and the worst of human nature. This book should be read by everyone, but perhaps especially all proud Lancastrians.

Stalin's Gulag at War places the Gulag within the story of the regional wartime mobilization of Western Siberia during the Second World War. Far from Moscow, Western Siberia was a key area for evacuated factories and for production in support of the war effort. Wilson T. Bell explores a diverse array of issues, including mass death, informal practices such as black markets, and the responses of prisoners and personnel to the war. The region's camps were never prioritized, and faced a constant struggle to mobilize for the war. Prisoners in these camps, however, engaged in such activities as sewing Red Army uniforms, manufacturing artillery shells, and constructing and working in major defense factories. The myriad responses of prisoners and personnel to the war reveal the Gulag as a complex system, but one that was closely tied to the local, regional, and national war effort, to the point where prisoners and non-prisoners frequently interacted. At non-priority camps, moreover, the area's many forced labour camps and colonies saw catastrophic death rates, often far exceeding official Gulag averages. Ultimately, prisoners played a tangible role in Soviet victory, but the cost was incredibly high, both in terms of the health and lives of the prisoners themselves, and in terms of Stalin's commitment to total, often violent, mobilization to achieve the goals of the Soviet state.

Over 185,000 British military servicemen were captured by the Germans during the First World War and incarcerated as prisoners of war (POWs). In this original investigation into their experiences of captivity, Wilkinson uses official and private British source material to explore how these servicemen were challenged by, and responded to, their wartime fate. Examining the psychological anguish associated with captivity, and physical trials, such as the controlling camp spaces; harsh routines and regimes; the lack of material necessities; and, for many, forced labour demands, he asks if, how and with what effects British POWs were able to respond to such challenges. The culmination of this research reveals a range of coping strategies embracing resistance; leadership and organisation; networks of support; and links with 'home worlds'. British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany offers an original insight into First World War captivity, the German POW camps, and the mentalities and perceptions of the British servicemen held within.

This book discusses the experience of nearly 100,000 French colonial prisoners of war captured by Nazi Germany during World War II. Raffael Scheck shows that the German treatment of French colonial soldiers improved dramatically after initial abuses, leading the French authorities in 1945 to believe that there was a possible German plot to instigate a rebellion in the French empire. Scheck illustrates that the colonial prisoners' contradictory experiences with French authorities, French civilians, and German guards created strong demands for equal rights at the end of the war, leading to clashes with a colonial administration eager to reintegrate them into a discriminatory routine.

Preserved within this book is the diary of Lieutenant Walter J. Hinkle. The diary begins in the spring of 1941 as he prepared for a new assignment in the Philippines. After Japan attacked the Philippines in early December, Hinkle was wounded and taken to a hospital for surgery. When the Philippines fell in May 1942, he became a prisoner of war at the Davao Penal Colony, where his wound refused to heal and his right leg was amputated below the knee. As a bed-ridden invalid, Hinkle wrote about his life as a prisoner of the Japanese. To prevent the growing diary from being confiscated by camp guards, Hinkle concealed it within a false compartment built into his wooden leg. His 136,000-word diary offers a rare and very personal account of one of the longest periods of Japanese military captivity experienced by any American during the Second World War. Hinkle's writings are supplemented by excerpts from several other diaries for context. These additional writers include a Japanese soldier, Filipino local, Bataan Death March survivor, and Davao Penal Colony escapee.

'Endlessly fascinating. Cram's story sizzles with adventure.' Giles Milton, Sunday Times

A genuinely new Second World War story, The 21 Escapes of Lt Alastair Cram is a riveting account of the wartime exploits of Alastair Cram, brilliantly told by the American author, David Guss. Cram was taken prisoner in North Africa in November 1941, which began a long odyssey through twelve different POW camps, three Gestapo prisons and one asylum. He became a serial escapee – fleeing his captors no fewer than twenty-one times, including his final, and finally successful, escape from a POW column in April 1945.

Perhaps the most dramatic of his attempts was from Gavi, the ‘Italian Colditz’. Gavi was a maximum-security prison near Genoa for the pericolosi, the ‘most dangerous’ inmates because of their perpetual hunger to escape. It was here that Alastair met David Stirling, the legendary founder of the SAS, and cooked up the plan for what would become the ‘Cistern Tunnel’ escape, one of the most audacious but hitherto little-known mass escape attempts of the entire war.

A story of courage in the face of extraordinary odds, it is a testament to one man's dogged determination never to give up.

Over 185,000 British military servicemen were captured by the Germans during the First World War and incarcerated as prisoners of war (POWs). In this original investigation into their experiences of captivity, Wilkinson uses official and private British source material to explore how these servicemen were challenged by, and responded to, their wartime fate. Examining the psychological anguish associated with captivity, and physical trials, such as the controlling camp spaces; harsh routines and regimes; the lack of material necessities; and, for many, forced labour demands, he asks if, how and with what effects British POWs were able to respond to such challenges. The culmination of this research reveals a range of coping strategies embracing resistance; leadership and organisation; networks of support; and links with 'home worlds'. British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany offers an original insight into First World War captivity, the German POW camps, and the mentalities and perceptions of the British servicemen held within.

Soon after the end of World War II, a majority of the nearly 7 million Japanese civilians and servicemen who had been posted overseas returned home. Heeding the call to rebuild, these veterans helped remake Japan and enjoyed popularized accounts of their service. For those who took longer to be repatriated, such as the POWs detained in labor camps in Siberia and the fighters who spent years hiding in the jungles of islands in the South Pacific, returning home was more difficult. Their nation had moved on without them and resented the reminder of a humiliating, traumatizing defeat. Homecomings tells the story of these late-returning Japanese soldiers and their struggle to adapt to a newly peaceful and prosperous society. Some were more successful than others, but they all charted a common cultural terrain, one profoundly shaped by media representations of the earlier returnees. Japan had come to redefine its nationhood through these popular images. Yoshikuni Igarashi explores what Japanese society accepted and rejected, complicating the definition of a postwar consensus and prolonging the experience of war for both Japanese soldiers and the nation. He throws the postwar narrative of Japan's recovery into question, exposing the deeper, subtler damage done to a country that only belatedly faced the implications of its loss.

This fascinating book tells the forgotten story of four to five thousand British civilians who were interned at the Ruhleben camp near Berlin during the First World War and formed a unique community in the heart of enemy territory. The civilians included academics, musicians, businessmen, seamen and even tourists who had been in Germany for only a few days when war broke out. This book takes a fresh look at German internment policies within an international context, using Ruhleben camp as a particular example to illustrate broader themes includeing the background to the German decision to intern 'enemy aliens'; Ruhleben as a 'community at war'; the role of civilian internment in wartime diplomacy and propaganda; and the place of Ruhleben in British memory of the war. This study will be of interest to all scholars working on the First World War, and to all those concerned with the broader impact of modern conflicts on national identities and community formation. -- .

During the First World War, hundreds of thousands of Germans faced incarceration in hundreds of camps on the British mainland. This is the first book on these German prisoners, available in paperback, almost a century after the conflict. The book covers the three different types of internees in Britain in the form of: civilians already present in the country in August 1914; civilians brought to Britain from all over the world; and combatants. Using a vast range of contemporary British and German sources, the volume traces life experiences through initial arrest and capture, to life behind barbed wire, to return to Germany or to the remnants of the ethnically cleansed German community in Britain. The book will prove essential reading for anyone interested in the history of prisoners of war or the First World War and will also appeal to scholars and students of twentieth-century Europe and the human consequences of war. -- .

First printed in 1930 as the second edition of a 1920 original, this book tells the exciting story of twenty nine British officers imprisoned by the Germans during WWI in the Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp, who escaped through a tunnel on the night of 23-24 July 1918. Durnford, who was a witness to many of the events described and interviewed many of the surviving escapees, writes in a relaxed and subjective style that is easy to read and engrossing. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in 'this simple tale of a strategically unimportant but highly successful sideshow, in Germany, in the dog days of 1918'.

In this groundbreaking study, Heather Jones provides the first in-depth and comparative examination of violence against First World War prisoners. She shows how the war radicalised captivity treatment in Britain, France and Germany, dramatically undermined international law protecting prisoners of war and led to new forms of forced prisoner labour and reprisals, which fuelled wartime propaganda that was often based on accurate prisoner testimony. This book reveals how, during the conflict, increasing numbers of captives were not sent to home front camps but retained in western front working units to labour directly for the British, French and German armies - in the German case, by 1918, prisoners working for the German army endured widespread malnutrition and constant beatings. Dr Jones examines the significance of these new, violent trends and their later legacy, arguing that the Great War marked a key turning-point in the twentieth-century evolution of the prison camp.

'The extraordinary story of one of the most audacious escape attempts of the Second World War' Dan Snow In Northern Poland in 1940, at the Nazi war camp Stalag XX-A, two men struck up an unlikely friendship that was to lead to one of the most daring and remarkable wartime escape stories ever told. Antony Coulthard was the privately educated son of wealthy parents and he had a first-class honours degree in modern languages from Oxford. Fred Foster was the son of a bricklayer from Nottinghamshire - he had left school with no qualifications aged 14. This seemingly mismatched young pair bonded in the prison camp, and hatched a plan to disguise themselves as advertising executives working for Siemens. They would simply walk out of the camp, board a train - and head straight into the heart of Nazi Germany. Which is precisely what they did. Their route into Germany was one that no one would think to search for escaped PoWs. This breathtakingly audacious plan involved 18 months of undercover work, including Antony (nicknamed 'The Professor' by fellow inmates) spending 3 hours every evening teaching Fred to speak German. They set off for the Swiss border via Germany, doing some sightseeing along the way in Munich and Berlin, taking notes of strategic interest while eating in restaurants and drinking beer with Nazi officers, just yards from Hitler's HQ. But could they make it out alive? Perfect for fans of The Last Escape by John Nichol and Escaping Hitler by Monty Halls.

In this moving memoir a young man comes of age in an age of violence, brutality, and war. Recounting his experiences during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, this account brings to life the shocking day-to-day conditions in a Japanese labor camp and provides an intimate look at the collapse of Dutch colonial rule. As a boy growing up on the island of Java, John Stutterheim spent hours exploring his exotic surroundings, taking walks with his younger brother and dachshund along winding jungle roads. His father, a government accountant, would grumble at the pro-German newspaper and from time to time entertain the family with his singing. It was a fairly typical life for a colonial family in the Dutch East Indies, and a peaceful and happy childhood for young John. But at the age of 14 it would all be irrevocably shattered by the Japanese invasion. With the surrender of Java in 1942, John's father was taken prisoner. For over three years the family would not know if he was alive or dead. Soon thereafter, John, his younger brother, and his mother were imprisoned. A year later he and his brother were moved to a forced labor camp for boys, where they toiled under the fierce sun while disease and starvation slowly took their toll, all the while suspecting they would soon be killed. Throughout all of these travails, John kept a secret diary hidden in his handmade mattress, and his memories now offer a unique perspective on an often overlooked episode of World War II. What emerges is a compelling story of a young man caught up in the machinations of a global war-struggling to survive in the face of horrible brutality, struggling to care for his disease-wracked brother, and struggling to put his family back together. It is a story that must not be forgotten.

In this groundbreaking new study, Heather Jones provides the first in-depth and comparative examination of violence against First World War prisoners. She shows how the war radicalised captivity treatment in Britain, France and Germany, dramatically undermined international law protecting prisoners of war and led to new forms of forced prisoner labour and reprisals, which fuelled wartime propaganda that was often based on accurate prisoner testimony. This book reveals how, during the conflict, increasing numbers of captives were not sent to home front camps but retained in western front working units to labour directly for the British, French and German armies in the German case, by 1918, prisoners working for the German army endured widespread malnutrition and constant beatings. Dr Jones examines the significance of these new, violent trends and their later legacy, arguing that the Great War marked a key turning-point in the twentieth century evolution of the prison camp.

Allied victory in the Pacific celebrates its sixtieth anniversary in August. Among the celebrants will be a small, largely forgotten group reliving nightmares of captivity. Dutch, English, Australian and American prisoners of war worked among more than a quarter of a million Asians--so called romushas--forced by the Japanese to build railways in Burma and Sumatra. Conditions were desperate: between 50 and 80 per cent of the romushas did not survive, not least because many were torpedoed in transit. The sinking of just the Junyo Maru resulted in the deaths of 4000 Asian workers and 1500 POWs. In Traces of War Jan Banning has interviewed and photographed 24 Dutch and Indonesian survivors. His haunting images show them as they worked, naked from the waist up. Their words elicit, with a matter-of-fact disinterest, the misery of their constant understanding of death. Unsurprisingly, they have hitherto been loath to discuss their ordeals.

Eric Roberts was conscripted in 1939 into the 1/5 Sherwood Foresters. After service in France and evacuation from Brest in 1940, the Battalion were sent to the Far East arriving in Singapore three weeks before the surrender. Eric became a prisoner of the Japanese and was sent to the Burma-Thai Railway. His Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Colonel Lilly who was later to become the inspiration for Colonel Nicholson in the film Bridge on the River Kwai. Eric's fianc e, Eunice Lowe, learnt of his capture by chance from a friend. Amidst speculation that Eric had escaped, Eunice began a campaign to learn the truth but it was not until 26 May 1943 that she received confirmation that he was a POW. From 1942 to 1945, while suffering extreme hardship and abuse from his captors, Eric was permitted to send just three postcards. Despite Eunice writing every week, only a handful were received by him in late 1944\. After liberation, Eric returned home and married Eunice in 1946. Fortunately, Eric wrote a graphic memoir of his captivity in the post-war years and Eunice's correspondence has been preserved. The two combined make for an unusual and moving record of a young couple's testing yet very different experiences.

Did you know that Winston Churchill spent his twenty-fifth birthday as a prisoner of war? Or that he fought in the trenches during the First World War? Churchill once had dinner with the king in No. 10's air-raid shelter, and his chickens lived in a shed, built by Winston, called 'Chickenham Palace'. These and many other fun facts about this great historical figure and his life are all contained within this little book, which, together with more than 100 illustrations, will delight Churchill fans everywhere!

"This story by Robert Jenkins of his four decades in North Korea represents a rare opportunity to view life in one of the most reclusive societies in the world, offering unprecedented insights for both specialists and the general reader."--Robert Scalapino, University of California, Berkeley
"This is an incredible story of betrayal, love and the search for redemption. Robert Jenkins is a modern-day Robinson Crusoe, isolated from the outside world, and relying on his wits to survive in a nightmarish parody of a nation where nothing is as it seems. Living in constant fear and violence, Jenkins's efforts to grow food, dig a well, heat his home, generate electricity and to find companionship, trust and ultimately love, lend this rough and ready narrative an unexpected depth. Set within the bizarre and Orwellian surroundings of North Korea during the late 20th century, Jenkins's account is like no other I've ever read."--Jasper Becker, author of "Rogue Regime: The Continuing Threat of North Korea"
"Charles Jenkins' memoir is a genuinely unique account of the only American ever to live in North Korea for most of his life and return to write about it. Part biography, part eyewitness testimony, part apology, this book takes Mr. Jenkins from a childhood in the segregated South to a U.S. Army ruling the roost in South Korea in the 1950s, to a North Korea that saw him as a real-life Martian, but a valuable one for use in Cold War propaganda."--Bruce Cummings, Chairman of the History Department at the University of Chicago

The Japanese captured 1500 Australian civilians during World War II. They spent the war interned in harsh, prison-like camps throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Civilian internees - though not members of the armed forces - endured hardship, privation and even death at the hands of the enemy. This book, first published in 2007, tells the stories of Australian civilians interned by the Japanese in World War II. By recreating the daily lives and dramas within internment camps, it explores how captivity posed different dilemmas for men, women and children. It is the first general history of Australian citizens interned by the Japanese in World War II.

Hailed as Newby's 'masterpiece', Love and War in the Apennines is the gripping real-life story of Newby's imprisonment and escape from an Italian prison camp during World War II. After the Italian Armistice of 1943, Eric Newby escaped from the prison camp in which he'd been held for a year. He evaded the German army by hiding in the caves and forests of Fontanellato, in Italy's Po Valley. Against this picturesque backdrop, he was sheltered for three months by an informal network of Italian peasants, who fed, supported and nursed him, before his eventual recapture. 'Love and War in the Apennines' is Newby's tribute to the selfless and courageous people who were to be his saviours and companions during this troubled time and of their bleak and unchanging way of life. Of the cast of idiosyncratic characters, most notable was the beautiful local girl on a bike who would teach him the language, and eventually help him escape; two years later they were married and would spend the rest of their lives as co-adventurers. Part travelogue, part escape story and part romance, this is a mesmerising account of wisdom, courage, humour and adventure, and tells the story of the early life of a man who would become one of Britain's best-loved literary adventurers.