World War I Prisoners of War in Germany - The Prisoners and Historiography

The Prisoners and Historiography

Historiography has played a vital role in emphasizing and giving the proper place due to the theme of World War I prisoners of war, though at first it ignored them and they were only gradually rehabilitated. The historiography of the Great War can be divided into three phases. The first is the military and diplomatic phase. Antoine Prost and Jay Winter (2004) speak of preserving the national atmosphere. Captivity was absent from all that was written on the conflict at the time. For instance, in 1929 Jean Norton Cru published a study of writings by former combatants: “The goal of this book is to give an image of the war according to those who saw it up close”. None of the 300 collected writings was by a former prisoner of war. The second phase was social, and the third is the social-cultural phase, wherein the prisoners have retaken their place.

The first French book to describe the conditions of prisoners’ captivity appeared in 1929. Georges Cahen-Salvador described his book as a “tribute to the truth”. However, it was not until the end of the 20th century that historians conducted research on this subject. Annette Becker, Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau and Odon Abbal are among this group.

In Germany, one of the few complete studies of the phenomenon was written by a university professor, Uta Hinz. As for Italy, Giovanna Procacci’s book Soldati e prigionieri italiani nella grande guerra. Con una raccolta di lettere inedite discusses Italian prisoners through their letters. Several studies have been published in other countries but the subject remains little discussed overall.