Thesis advisor: Bonnie Jefferson / “Any one of the prisoners would have been willing to die for his country” (Chesley 68). This quote summarizes the unbreakable will of heroic American Prisoners of War (POWs). This paper explores the personal narratives of four POWs who were held captive during World War II and four who were held during the Vietnam War and seeks to determine how their discourse affects American ideologies of war. By examining these narratives through narrative criticism and Kenneth Burke’s Rhetoric of Rebirth, this analysis shows how POWs reveal the sociopolitical environments of the countries in which they are held by structuring their experiences under a common framework. While the four narratives concerning World War II shed light on the differences in captivity between different countries in the Axis Powers, the narratives from the Vietnam War rationalize American involvement in the conflict. Even though the Vietnam War was one of the most misunderstood and unpopular events in American history, this paper shows how personal POW accounts can justify and garner support for American intervention into foreign affairs. These survival narratives reveal a depth of human strength in the face of horrible circumstances that becomes an inspiration for audiences of this discourse. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, Sept. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): Joe E. Tyner. Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-101, 103-109). Also available online.

Includes Fugitives and refugees in the Peloponnesian War, which is a study based on the third, unpublished part of the author's Thesis (Ph. D.--University of London, 1975). / Summary in Greek. Includes bibliographies and indexes.

Includes Fugitives and refugees in the Peloponnesian War, which is a study based on the third, unpublished part of the author's Thesis (Ph. D.--University of London, 1975). / Summary in Greek. Includes bibliographies and indexes.

This study analyzes the prisoner of war program in Texas and evaluates the Army's role in carrying out this assignment. Additional questions were, how were POWs treated? What problems did they create? How did civilians react to the presence of 50,000 prisoners?

No description available.

The internment of over 375,000 German prisoners of war has become a footnote in the broad history of the United States’ involvement in World War II. Yet for Algona, a small town in north-central Iowa, a POW camp allowed the community to contribute to the war effort and to have a real encounter with “the enemy.” The memory of Camp Algona, which housed over 10,000 German POWs during the war, has been preserved in the archive of the Camp Algona POW museum. Among the historical and military documents held in the archive is an extensive collection of material related to the activities of the camp’s choir, orchestra, and theater troupe. The archive holds extant concert programs, photographs, concert reviews from the camp newspaper, and the choir director’s scrapbook, which together document fifty-nine concerts given between October 1944 and December 1945. Archival documentation suggests that music, especially German music, was a prominent feature of Camp Algona’s culture, distinct from other artistic and creative endeavors. This suggests a narrative that conflicts with existing assumptions in the most comprehensive histories of German POW camps in America (such as Arnold Krammer’s Nazi POWs in America and Judith Gansberg’s Stalag, U.S.A.), which generally categorize music-making as one of many popular recreational activities. One commonly accepted view is that music, like other leisurely activities, was evidence of the United States’ adherence to the Geneva Convention of 1929, which stipulated that captors must provide adequate time and means for recreation and “intellectual diversion.” Yet, first-hand accounts, newspaper reviews, and other archival documents from Camp Algona suggest that the music performed by the choir and orchestra had myriad layers of meaning and functionality for the POWs. Camp Algona’s archive holds the largest known collection of music and music-related artifacts from a German POW camp in the U.S. Thus, assumptions or oversimplifications in existing literature are likely products of the lack of existing scholarship specifically related to music. The archival evidence from Camp Algona suggests that music-making by German POWs functioned as a facilitator of communal expressions of emotion, nationalism, and cultural pride. It also served as a cultural bridge between Iowans and POWs in the context of Christmas concerts and religious services involving civilians. Through critical exploration of this relatively new archive, it is possible to offer the first musicological perspective on the lives of German POWs in American during WWII, one that contributes to the existing historical literature and invites further scholarship and comparative study on music in POW camps in America.

This thesis describes the difficulties of the Confederacy in dealing with prisoners during the Civil War.

The captivity narratives have long been recognized as an important literary source. Most recently, scholars have viewed them in terms of their ethnographic value. Few, however, have considered them within the context of the history of New France. / This study attempts to draw attention to the richness and diversity of these documents. The chapters, built upon the basis of similarities among the narratives, explore different facets of the French colony during the years 1744-1763. Specifically, they discuss techniques of military interrogation, the Quebec prison for captives (1745-1747), French-Indian relations and how the writers of these tales viewed both the war and their enemies.

The purpose of this study is to examine and evaluate the development of prisoner of war administration in the United States. No full account of this phase of World War II history exists. This study is an attempt to fill that gap.When the United States officially entered World War II in December, 1941 the War Department plans for handling prisoners of war had not anticipated the transfer of thousands of war prisoners to the United States. Consequently, when War Department officials decided on this move in 1942, no detailed policies existed. Agreements resulting from the projected African campaign called for transfer of an undetermined number of German and Italian prisoners to the United States for internment. Prisoners began arriving in large numbers after May, 1943. Ultimately some 375,000 German soldiers were interned in a total of 155 base camps and 511 branch camps. The Geneva Convention of 1929, untested in war, along with post-World War I Army Regulations, provided the War Department with some guidelines, if only in theory and principle, upon which to formulate a prisoner of war program. The lack of precedents and experience in handling prisoners in this country was reflected both in the administrative and operational organization of the War Department and in its initial regulations. The Office of Provost Marshal General, which was responsible for policy formulation and operation of the prisoner of war program, underwent several reorganizations as its tasks became more complex and diffuse. Other agencies, in particular the Army Service Forces, also were restructured in an effort to promote greater operational and administrative efficiency. In this respect the War Department faced a serious shortage of qualified personnel who were experienced in prisoner of war administration. As a partial consequence, numerous camp administrative and guard personnel proved to be incompetent or completely unsuited for such work. The situation was particularly serious at the start of the prisoner of war program. Lack of adequate training further hampered efficient administration. Also, the multifariousness of early regulations along with the absence of any coordinated filing system caused much confusion in camp administration. Eventually an orderly manual was developed.Initial regulations prepared for the prisoner of war program were both general and vague. Matters of security were of primary concern. As fears of sabotage proved groundless the War Department adopted a more flexible and practical policy. A growing manpower shortage contributed to the extension of that policy as public officials and private individuals urged that prisoners of war relieve the labor shortage through their employment in agricultural and forest work. Although the War Department feared that escaped prisoners would present a security problem, such fears proved groundless.A far more serious problem resulted from efforts of Nazi elements in the camps to control inner camp government. Although War Department officials made concerted attempts to identify and segregate those prisoners believed to be promoting Nazism, their efforts were hampered by uncooperative camp administrators and by conflicting and uncoordinated policies. Nevertheless, a fairly effective segregation program was implemented. Disciplinary measures in the form of courts-martial and an administrative policy of "no work, no eat," helped control disturbances among the prisoners, whether these stemmed from Nazi influence or other causes.The War Department's failure to fully inform the public of the prisoner of war policies, along with news reports describing Nazi influence in the camps and good treatment of war prisoners, led to chargesthat it was "coddling" its prisoners. The resultant Congressional investigations exonerated the War Department and supported on legal and humanitarian grounds the good treatment accorded the German prisoners of war. In this respect the War Department adhered to the Geneva Convention with unusual perserverance. This policy paid dividends both in the reciprocal treatment accorded American prisoners in German hands and in its psychological and morale impact on the German Wehrmacht fighting in Europe.In general, morale in the prisoner of war camps remained high and was sustained through a variety of recreational and work activities. In this matter the Red Cross and YMCA provided much needed assistance. Other personal needs and requirements were attended to by representatives of the Swiss Legation, which served in the capacity of Protecting Power. A secret re-education program was implemented in early 1945.With the end of the war, agricultural and other interests exerted strong pressures in an effort to retain prisoners needed for agricultural labor. Other groups urged their immediate repatriation. Although the process of repatriation began in earnest in the fall of 1945, the need for manpower caused some delay in the completion of that process. The last large contingent of prisoners left the United States in July, 1946. Many of these prisoners were not directly repatriated but served instead as forced labor in reconstruction work in Allied countries in Europe.The American experience with German prisoners of war in this country was unique in modern American history. For this reason administrative policy had to evolve as the situation warranted. While the War Department may be justly criticized with regard to some personnel and policy matters, the overall program must be commended.