The construction of International Humanitarian Law and the norms regarding protection of prisoners of war have evolved as a reaction to the horrors of war. After September 11 and the following war on terrorism the notion of POWs has been widely debated. The USA holds prisoners at the navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba without granting them status as POWs; this thesis is placing the treatment of these detainees within a historical context. The norm concerning rights of POWs is today both internationalized and institutionalized, but that has not always been the case. This thesis illuminates how the norms have evolved during World War I, World War II and Vietnam War; finally the war against terrorism and the treatment of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay is analyzed. The intention of the thesis is to use a historical overview of the evolution of IHL, and the rights of POWs in particular, to formulate a wider assumption about the implication of IHL in the war against terrorism and the future. The thesis adopts a theory which combines constructivism and John Rawls´ theory of justice and uses constructivist ideas about the nature of the international system applied to Rawls´ notion of justice. The constructivist theory and ontology are the basis of the theoretical framework of this thesis and Rawls´ definition of justice as the base of social institutions are viewed from a constructivist perspective. IHL and the norms regarding protection of POWs are thus considered as social facts, constructed and upheld through social interaction between states.

Univ., Diss. u.d.T.: Strebel, Bernhard: Der Lagerkomplex des KZ Ravensbrück: Studien über Terror, Zwangsarbeit und Vernichtung--Hannover, 2001. / Literaturverz. S. [575] - 598.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Sociology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Between 1915 and 1918, the Swedish Red Cross organised transportation and exchanges of prisoners of war between Russia, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During 1917, some particularly sick prisoners were sent to Norway and Denmark to be hospitalised. This paper studies the aid effort to prisoners of war by the Swedish Red Cross during World War One by studying their work with these prisoner exchanges. By doing this, the study aims to answer the question of how the Swedish Red Cross cooperated with states to conduct exchanges of prisoners of war. This is done through a qualitative method of analysis of the material, during which Nye’s theory of interdependence is employed as a tool for the analysis. The four dimensions of interdependence (sources, benefits, relative costs, and symmetries) are used to generate operationalized research questions and to analyse the results. These transportations were a massive administrative undertaking for the Swedish Red Cross and required cooperation from all involved states to run smoothly. The Russian revolution and subsequent civil war, lack of coal and oil, and animosity between the belligerent nations created problems repeatedly threatening the cooperations. The study concludes that the cooperation was based on administrational work by the Swedish Red Cross together with material, financial and medical contributions from the states. The study also concludes that the main sources of interdependence were the mutual need to exchange prisoners between the belligerent states. For them the main benefit was getting their compatriots back; for the Red Cross and neutral states, it was recognized as a humanitarian actor. The Swedish Red Cross and the neutral states were the more sensitive actors, while the belligerent states were the more vulnerable actors. The cooperation was relatively symmetrical but slightly skewed in the favour of the belligerent states

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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.

Ce travail permet de découvrir, à travers le prisme des pratiques corporelles, les conditions de vie des Français, prisonniers de guerre, déportés, requis pour le travail, déplacés de force dans le IIIe Reich entre 1940 et 1945. Croisant des archives institutionnelles, françaises et allemandes avec des témoignages, l’étude révèle que la forme et la fonction des activités physiques vécues sur le sol allemand dépendent à la fois des mécanismes sociaux et d’enjeux politiques puissants. Ainsi, les traitements réservés aux Français jugés capables d’intégrer la Grande Europe répondent à une sorte d’embrigadement savamment orchestré répondant au nom de Betreuung. Dans ce cadre, les prisonniers de guerre comme les travailleurs requis disposent d’une certaine latitude pour organiser leur vie quotidienne. Les compétitions, les spectacles ou les séances d’éducation physique qu’ils mettent sur pied s’inspirent de leurs pratiques antérieures tout en s’adaptant au contexte dans lequel ils vivent. Ils sont aidés dans leurs projets par les services délocalisés de Vichy, Mission Scapini pour les prisonniers, Délégation Bruneton pour les requis, qui entendent, par ce biais préserver un certain contrôle sur eux en vue de les faire adhérer à la Révolution nationale. Il en est tout autre pour ceux que les nazis jugent comme des « ennemis ». Ces derniers sont confrontés à des pratiques physiques participant à leur élimination à plus ou moins longue échéance. Si ces dernières préservent l’apparence de jeux ou d’entraînement sportif, elles constituent au mieux des punitions, au pire des tortures, qui couplées aux coups et aux privations multiples aboutissent à la destruction méthodique des corps. / This research aims at finding out through body activities what the living conditions of the French people, the prisoners of war, the deported people and those sent to work by force, were in the 3rd Reich between 1940 and 1945. Based on both French and German institutional archives and testimonies, the study argues that the form and meaning of physical activities experienced of the German soil depended simultaneously on both social and powerful political processes. Thus, what was reserved for the French people who were considered capable of integrating the Big Europe reflected a kind of skillfully orchestrated indoctrination under the name of Betreuung. In this case the prisoners of war and the required ones had a certain flexibility to organize their everyday life. The competitions, the performances and the lessons of physical education which they set up were inspired by their previous experiences and were adapted thanks to the particular context they lived in. In addition they were helped in their projects by some decentralized departments of the Vichy Government, such as the Mission Scapini for the prisoners, the Bruneton delegation for the required people, all leading to keep a certain control over the people and to urge them to join the “National Revolution”. It was however totally different for those considered as “enemies” by the Nazis. These people had to face physical practices which aimed at killing them at more or less long term. The practices kept the appearance of games and sports training, but they actually were punishments, or even tortures, which, in addition to privations and numerous hardships ended in the methodical destruction of the bodies.

Cette étude est focalisée sur la Grande guerre du Nord (1700-1721) et le destin des Suédois en Biélorussie et en Russie. Cette guerre est représentée de manière différente dans l'historiographie suédoise, russe et biélorusse. Nous essayons de comparer ces diverses approches dans notre première partie. Nous étudions, par la suite, les différents aspects de la vie des Carolins. Nous voyons ainsi que ces derniers sont présents pendant la guerre en Biélorussie, et que certains d'entre eux y restent. En Russie, en revanche, il s'agit de prisonniers de guerre, capturés essentiellement à Poltava. Ces Carolins constituent un apport important dans le développement de la Russie et nous le montrons à travers les exemples de Saint-Pétersbourg et de la Sibérie. Nous achevons cette thèse en étudiant la question de leur descendance en Russie et en Biélorussie, ainsi que celle de la mémoire, jusqu’à nos jours, de la Grande guerre du Nord. / This study focuses on the Great Northern War (1700-1721) and on the destiny of Swedes in Belarus and Russia. The Swedish, Belarusian and Russian historiography use different ways to depict this war. We compare these various approaches in the first part of this thesis. Then, we study the different aspects of the Carolin's life: in Belarus they were present during the war and some of them stayed there. In Russia the question is about prisoners of war captured after the Battle of Poltava (1709), who brought a big contribution in the development of Russia, such as in Sankt-Petersburg and in Siberia. In Russia some Carolins took root too : we study the question of their descendants in Russia and Belarus, but also the question of the memory of Great Northern War until our days.

The cruelty of Military Police guards at Abu Ghraib prison contributed to American shame and questions regarding how such cruelty emerges. The accepted approach of "situational attribution theory" - based upon Zimbardo's (1973, 2007) social psychological perceptions and results of the Stanford Prison Experiment - proposed that personality or "disposition" has little role in the emergence of such cruelty. Termed "institutional cruelty," this manuscript presents the possibility that understandings and preventive measures afforded by situational attribution theory can be extended via acknowledgement of a greater role played by disposition. Psychoanalytic and object relations approaches are presented to this end. The manuscript addresses the most puzzling characteristics of institutional cruelty: 1) rapidity of onset, taking days or, at most, weeks for initial expression, 2) emergence in ordinary, normal individuals, and 3) emergence in the "mock" situation of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Criminological, organizational culture, and social psychological theories are explored for their application to institutional cruelty. / by Paul Hofacker. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography and footnotes. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

La captivité était une situation transitoire qui conduisait soit à l’esclavage soit à la libération. Pendant le période de VIe à XIe s. on voit les captifs assumer des rôles divers: comme soldats, agriculteurs, porteurs d’idéologie, de culture et de savoirs. Une série des questions se posent à propos de leur libération en termes de rançon, échange de prisonniers, et leur statut social et civil. La théorie impériale ne correspondait pas toujours à la réalité des sociétés concernant ce sujet. Par conséquent, la recherche touche à des questions militaires et diplomatiques et aussi avec les domaines de la culture et de l'intelligence militaire et révèle enfin comment Byzance elle-même et les «autres» perçu. Par une approche multidimensionnelle et en termes de méthodologie sur l'analyse critique des sources primaires et de comparaison, mon objectif principal est de décrire la position de l'État et de l'Église « vis-à –vis » la question particulière et de son évolution. La recherche commence à une époque où l’attitude à l’égard des prisonniers de guerre héritée du monde romain est en train de changer sous l’impact du christianisme ; elle se termine à une période où les échanges des prisonniers avec les Arabes, devenus une routine, perdent de l’actualité et les guerres avec les Bulgares battent le plein. La présente étude démontre les mutations de la loi byzantine et son impact sur le traitement à l'égard des problèmes divers concernant les prisonniers de guerre. Etudier l'ère particulière peut éclaircir ce sujet afin d'en déduire si l'attitude de Byzance différait envers ses ennemis et donc les captifs chrétiens et non-chrétiens. / The state of captivity is a transitional situation which leads either to slavery or to freedom. During 6th-11th c. prisoners under captivity could have various occupational roles. In addition, they could be bearers of a different ideology, culture and knowledge. A series of questions arise about their release in terms of ransom, prisoner exchange, and their social and civil status. Imperial theory was not always corresponding at the societies’ reality concerning this issueTherefore, the research is dealing with military and diplomatic questions and also with the spheres of culture and military intelligence and finally reveals how Byzantium perceived itself and the ‘others’. Based on a multidimensional approach and in terms of methodology on the critical analysis of primary sources and comparison, my main aim is to describe the position of both State and Church “vis-à-vis” the particular issue and its evolution. The starting point of my research is set on a period, when the attitude towards prisoners of war as it was inherited from the Roman world, begins to change due to the influence of Christianity and reaches up to a point, when exchanges of prisoners with the Arabs were consolidated and the wars with the Bulgarians had started. The present study demonstrates the changing face of the byzantine law and its impact on the treatment towards the diverse problems concerning prisoners of war. Studying the particular era can shed light on this topic in order to infer whether Byzantines’ attitude differed towards his enemies and therefore Christians and non-Christians captives.