Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war (POW, PoW, or PW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. Laws exist to ensure prisoners of war are treated humanely and diplomatically. Nations vary in their dedication to following these laws.

Treatment of POWs

The treatment of prisoners of war can depend on the resources, social attitudes and policies of the governments and militaries in question. For instance, in World War II, Soviet prisoners of Nazi Germany and German prisoners of the Soviet Union were often treated with neglect and brutality. The Nazi Regime regarded Soviet POWs as being of a lower racial order, and many Soviet POWs were consequently subject to enforced labour or were murdered in keeping with The Third Reich's policy of "racial purification." An official justification used by the Germans for this policy was the fact that the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva convention. Prisoners from Britain and the US were generally treated much better by the Germans. On the Soviet side, German POWs were regarded as having forfeited their right to fair treatment, because of the widespread crimes committed against Soviet civilians during their invasion campaign. This combined with the fact that much of the Soviet workforce was now in the hands of Nazi Germany, also led to employment of many German POWs as forced labour (this forced labour was in keeping with that imposed on Soviet civilians for a range of criminal and political crimes).

Related Topics:
World War II - Soviet - Nazi Germany

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In the Pacific Theater, some of the harshest treatment of POWs were dealt by the Japanese. Prisoners held by Japanese armed forces were subject to brutal treatment, including forced labour, medical experimentation, vivisection, starvation rations, beatings for escape attempts, and were denied medical treatment. Whereas Allied POWs had a death rate of about 2% to 4% in German POW camps, the death rate in Japanese camps was generally in the range of 20% to 35%. This was due in part to physical maltreatment by the Japanese, but was exacerbated by malnutrition and lack of medicines, particularly antimalarial drugs. Similarly, during the Vietnam War, American service members captured by North Vietnam were routinely beaten and tortured in violation of their status as prisoners of war.

Related Topics:
Japanese - Antimalarial drugs - Vietnam War - North Vietnam

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