Prisoner-of-war Camp - World War I

World War I

The first international convention on prisoners of war was signed at the Hague Peace Conference of 1899. It was widened by the Hague Convention of 1907. The main combatant nations engaged in World War I abided by the convention and treatment of prisoners was generally good. The situation on the eastern front was significantly worse than the western front with prisoners in Russia being at risk from starvation and disease. In total during the war about eight million men were held in prisoner of war camps with 2.5 million prisoners in German custody, 2.9 million held by the Russian Empire and about 720,000 held by Britain and France.

Permanent camps did not exist at the beginning of the war. The unexpected large number of prisoners captured in the first days of the war by the German army created an immediate problem. By September 1914 the German army had captured over 200,000 enemy combatants. These first prisoners were held in temporary camps until 1915, by which time the prisoner population had increased to 652,000 living in unsatisfactory conditions. In response the government began the construction of permanent camps both in Germany and the occupied territories. The number of prisoners increased significantly during the war exceeding one million by August 1915, 1,625,000 by August 1916 and reaching 2,415,000 by the end of the war.

Geneva Conference

The International committee of the Red Cross held a conference in Geneva, Switzerland in September 1917. The Conference spoke of the war and the Red Cross spoke about the conditions that the civilians were living under was similar to those living in prisoner of war camps. The agreements made at the conference were that the Red Cross and all of its workers would provide prisoners of war people with mail, food parcels and clothes and medical supplies to the prisoners. The Red Cross spoke out to the France and Germany to exchange in prisoners through the words of “barbed wire disease” which is the symptoms of mental illness. It was said that the prisoners should be interned in Switzerland, a neutral country. There were a few countries that were not on the same terms as Germany and Austria-Hungary believed that harsh conditions would reduce the number of traitors. The countries in the east continued their fight to help the Red Cross with support. At the end of the war, a Franco-German agreement was made that both countries would exchange their prisoners but the French kept a small number while the Germans released all French prisoners.

Krasnoyarsk

Krasnoyarsk, Russia (Modern day Siberia) was located in the more northern area of the large country. Russia winters are infamous in older historic battles for its deadliness. There were no houses for a place that it made social community. A large number of deaths are accounted for people not being able to survive it. After the loss to the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese war, the Russians became weak and Tsar Nicholas had to do something for his country. He formed military camps to train for any upcoming war. One of those camps located in Krasnoyarsk, Russia (Modern day Siberia). It was considered to be a social community to derive the identity of the country. But the community did not consist of volunteers. Survival was difficult as breaking morals would’ve been necessary to live in the conditions. Unwillingness to obey orders would lead to punishment, usually death. Individuals in this camp could be conscripted for war while they live in concentration camps and prisons. There were over 50,000 tenants in the camp for the uses of transportation, agriculture, mining and machinery. Throughout World War I, Prisoners of war from other countries would be captured and sent to various camps including Krasnoyarsk. There was a point where a large mix of nationalities was together in Krasnoyarsk which included the likes of Bulgarians, Czechs, Poles and Germans. Many prisoners were nationalists and that led to violent acts within the camp. Militants would be forced to put down instigators and keep the camp running. Another notice is that these camps consisted of young men who had little education waiting to see the larger part of war was captured into labor instead.