The study of Civil War prisons is relatively new within the broader study of the Civil War. What little study there is tends to focus on bigger prison camps. It has been established in the historiography that prisoners suffered across the divided nation, but it has not been ascertained how the decisions and policies of the government, as well as the role of the press in those decisions, effected the daily lives of Civil War prisoners. Belle Isle, a Confederate Prison, and Point Lookout, a Union prison, will be analyzed for key differences to provide a fuller picture of life inside a Civil War prison camp, as well as how the press and government affected that daily life. It was discovered that the role of the government and the press was heavily influential in the lives of Civil War prisoners, leading to much suffering.

This thesis examines the interaction between the Union Prison System led by William Hoffman and the Confederate prisoners-of-war, specifically those held at Elmira, New York. By focusing on Hoffman's actions and decisions in the last year of the war, the Confederate death toll can be better understood. The treatise relies heavily on The War Of The Rebellion: A Compilation Of The Official Records Of The Union And Confederate Armies. Two studies were indispensable for this study: Hesseltine's Civil War Prisons: A Study In War Psychology, and Leslie's Hunter's Ph.D. Disseration, Warden For The Union: William Hoffman (1807-1884). The conclusions of my research are: (A) William Hoffman developed a change in actions in 1864, and (B) these actions continued in the last year of the war. As a result of his actions and other factors, Elmira had the highest percentage of death of any Union prison camp. Hoffman's actions led to a higher death rate of Confederate prisoners than has been previously recognized.

This dissertation concerns the legacy of the Nazi forced enlistment during World War II and focuses more precisely on the case of Alsace/Moselle. Many of these French men, enlisted by force from 1942 in the German army, were sent to the Eastern Front and experienced Soviet prison camps. The aim of this thesis is to examine how knowledge and memories about forced enlistment and Soviet captivity have been remembered, commemorated, communicated and passed on since the Alsatian/Mosellan POWs (Prisoners of War) carried the tokens of enemies or traitors when reintegrating their motherland, France. Four strategies dealing with the experiences of forced enlistment and of internment in Soviet prison camps are examined. I present how the first and most common strategy, i.e. avoidance, is contributing to an individual and collective construction of silence. Then I argue that a second strategy, the constitution of families of remembrance, is helping them to articulate and narrate their experiences (third strategy). The fourth strategy is the organisation of pilgrimages (emic term) to the former prison camp of Tambov, where the majority of the Alsatian/Mosellan POWs were gathered during the war. This last strategy actualises the issue of the transmission of the war experiences given that pilgrimages bring together three to four generations. Through fieldwork observations of the journeys I show how the pilgrims engage with a sense of the past. They remember and reassess the meaning of the past in terms of the social, cultural and political needs of the present. The importance of place and the aspect of self-in-place are thoughtfully analysed in order to highlight the process of passing on the memory of Tambov. I conclude by arguing that the agents of remembrance interviewed for the purpose of this thesis are engaged in turning the tangible and intangible legacies of World War II into heritage. This is done by releasing the legacy of forced enlistment and internment in Soviet prison camp from the private/familial sphere and inscribing it in the public sphere. Yet, the agency of the former POWs and their descendants shows how to let pass a past “that does not want to pass” in a contemporary European context.

SANTRAUKA Sovietinės okupacijos metu žuvo ir nukentėjo apie 350 tūkst. Lietuvos gyventojų. Visų jų atminimui nuo 1941 m. su pertraukomis buvo statomi įvairių tipų paminklai. Tyrimo objektas – rezistencijos dalyvių ir sovietinio genocido aukų įamžinimo paminklais procesas, jo ypatumai ir kylančios problemos, taip pat vietovių ir statinių, įamžintų paminklais, apskaitos ir įpaveldinimo klausimai. Jie iki šiol nenagrinėti ir nėra sulaukę tyrimo. Darbo tikslas – atskleisti Lietuvos gyventojų sovietinio genocido aukų ir rezistencijos dalyvių atminimo įamžinimo ir įpaveldinimo procesus bei su jais susijusias problemas. Tam įgyvendinti yra iškeliami šie uždaviniai: 1. nustatyti paminklų statybos etapus ir statytojų grupes, jas apibūdinti; 2. išsiaiškinti, kaip vykdoma vietovių ir statinių, pažymėtų paminklais, apskaita, koks šių objektų skirstymas; 3. apžvelgti, kaip vykdomi vietovių ir statinių tvarkymo bei įamžinimo darbai; 4. išsiaiškinti, kokios yra įamžinimo ir įpaveldinimo problemos. Tyrimo chronologija – tyrimas pradedamas XX a 5–uoju dešimtmečiu, kadangi jame prasidėjo pirmoji paminklų statymo banga ir įamžinimo darbai. Procesas nėra baigtinis, jis vyksta ir dabar, todėl apsibrėžiame 2006 m. Remiantis darbo tyrimu paminklų statyba sovietinio genocido aukų ir rezistencinio judėjimo dalyvių atminimui Lietuvoje vyko trimis etapais, kur memorialinių vietovių teritorijų tvarkymą, paminklų statybą ir memorialinių statinių ženklinimą vykdė įvairūs žmonės ir organizacijos, kuriuos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / SUMMARY OF MASTER’S WORK During the Soviet occupation, around 350,000 Lithuanian residents suffered and died. From 1941 on, with interruptions, monuments of various kinds have been built to commemorate all of them. The subject of this investigation is the process of immortalizing members of the resistance movement and victims of Soviet genocide in monuments, the specific features of and problems encountered in this process, as well as issues concerning the inventory and memorialization of sites and buildings recognized as monuments. These have not been the subject of any study hitherto and have not been the focus of investigation. The goal of this work is to disclose the processes and associated problems of commemorating and memorializing Lithuanian victims of Soviet genocide and members of the resistance. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were formulated: 1. to determine the phases of monument construction and groups of builders, and to characterize them; 2. to explain how inventory of sites and buildings recognized as monuments takes place and how these objects are categorized; 3. to survey how work is carried out for the maintenance and commemoration of sites and buildings; 4. to ascertain the nature of problems involved in commemoration and memorialization. Based on the work of our investigation, the construction of monuments commemorating victims of Soviet genocide and members of the resistance movement took place in three phases in Lithuania, a process in which... [to full text]