Introduction
It is well known that most war veterans spoke little about their war time experiences and it would seem that POW's spoke even less. I think initially, in those early post war years, there was probably some stigma attached to POW status, especially those that had been German prisoners. It must have seemed that they had had a 'good' war, safe from the dangers of bombing and military combat and treated 'well' in comparison to those who had been prisoners of the Japanese. One thing that marked POW's out from their comrades at remembrance parades was a lack of campaign medals ( see Longden, Sean, The Men they Left Behind, Constable 2008). Not having a row of campaign medals from different battles and theatres of war must have reinforced a sense for the men that perhaps others perceived them as not having done much in the war.
In the years following the end of the war popular entertainment fostered an image of German POW life as one of plucky japes and high jinks outwitting heir captors, whilst at the same time the horrors of the Japanese POW experience were being acknowledged through literature, film and TV. As time has gone on, however, more men have spoken about their experiences and with research undertaken by historians and others there is a greater interest in this topic. Consequently we are now beginning to understand the level of mistreatment and deprivation that POW's in German camps suffered. The situation is complex as there seems to have been a hierarchy of treatment. So that whilst we acknowledge that the British and white Commonwealth comrades were badly treated their non-white Commonwealth comrades for the most part were not treated so well and Polish and Russian prisoners even worse.
As interest in the German POW story has grown so there has developed a greater appreciation and acceptance that time served as a prisoner is war service to be proud of. Sadly most of the men who were prisoners are no longer with us but towards the end of their lives many did provide personal verbal and written accounts that give some insight into their experiences.
We honour their memories.
Becoming a Prisoner of War