Prisoner of war: Difference between revisions

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Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the [[enemy combatant]]s still in the field (releasing and [[Repatriation|repatriating]] them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, using civilians to deter attacks on active military targets, punishing them, prosecuting them for [[war crime]]s, [[exploitation of labour|exploiting them for their labour]], recruiting or even [[Conscription|conscripting]] them as their own combatants, collecting military and political intelligence from them, or [[Indoctrination|indoctrinating]] them in new political or religious beliefs.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.ajol.info/index.php/smsajms/article/viewFile/42654/9522 |author=John Hickman |title=What is a Prisoner of War For |journal=Scientia Militaria |volume=36 |issue=2 |date=2002 |access-date=14 September 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032030/http://www.ajol.info/index.php/smsajms/article/viewFile/42654/9522|archive-date=26 March 26, 2023}}</ref>

Typically, victors made little distinction between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although they were more likely to spare women and children. Sometimes the purpose of a battle, if not of a war, was to capture women, a practice known as ''[[raptio]]''; the [[Rape of the Sabines]] involved, according to tradition, a large mass-abduction by the founders of Rome. Typically women had no [[women's rights|rights]], and were held legally as [[Personal property|chattel]]s.{{Citation needed|date= July 2018}}<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.nwhp.org/resources/womens-rights-movement/history-of-the-womens-rights-movement/|title= History of the Women's Rights Movement|last1= Eisenberg|first1= Bonnie|last2= Ruthsdotter|first2= Mary|date= 1998|website= www.nwhp.org|language= en-US|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180712154817/http://www.nwhp.org/resources/womens-rights-movement/history-of-the-womens-rights-movement/|archive-date= 12 July 2018|url-status= dead}}</ref>{{qn|date=April 2019}}

In the fourth century AD, Bishop [[Acacius of Amida]], touched by the plight of Persian prisoners captured in a recent war with the Greek Empire, who were held in his town under appalling conditions and destined for a life of slavery, took the initiative in ransoming them by selling his church's precious gold and silver vessels and letting them return to their country. For this he was eventually [[Canonization|canonizedcanonised]].<ref>

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King [[Henry V of England|Henry V]]'s English army killed many French prisoners of war after the [[Battle of Agincourt]] in 1415.<ref>"But when the outcries of the lackies and boies, which ran awaie for feare of the Frenchmen thus spoiling the campe came to the kings eares, he doubting least his enimies should gather togither againe, and begin a new field; and mistrusting further that the prisoners would be an aid to his enimies, or the verie enimies to their takers in deed if they were suffered to live, contrarie to his accustomed gentleness, commended by sound of trumpet, that everie man (upon pain and death) should uncontinentlie slaie his prisoner. When this dolorous decree, and pitifull proclamation was pronounced, pitie it was to see how some Frenchmen were suddenlie sticked with daggers, some were brained with pollaxes, some slaine with malls, others had their throats cut, and some their bellies panched, so that in effect, having respect to the great number, few prisoners were saved." [[Raphael Holinshed]], ''Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland'', quoted by Andrew Gurr in his introduction to {{cite book | last1 = Shakespeare | first1 = William | last2 = Gurr | first2 = Andrew | title = King Henry V | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2005 | page = 24 | isbn = 0-521-84792-3}}</ref> This was done in retaliation for the French killing of the boys and other non-combatants handling the baggage and equipment of the army, and because the French were attacking again and Henry was afraid that they would break through and free the prisoners towho would rejoin the fight againagainst the English.

During the [[early Muslim conquests]] of 622–750, Muslims routinely captured large numbers of prisoners. Aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or [[Muslim slavery|enslaved]].<ref>{{cite book|last = Crone |first = Patricia|date= 2004 |pages = 371–372|title = God's Rule: Government and Islam |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=w7VlOIivYnEC&pg=PA371 |publisher = Columbia University Press |isbn = 978-0231132909}}</ref><ref>Roger DuPasquier. ''Unveiling Islam''. Islamic Texts Society, 1992, p. 104</ref> Christians captured during the Crusades were usually either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom.<ref>{{cite book |last= Nigosian |first= S. A. |title= Islam. Its History, Teaching, and Practices |url= https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo |url-access= registration |publisher= Indiana University Press |year= 2004 |location= Bloomington |page= [https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo/page/115 115]}}</ref> During his lifetime ({{circa | 570}} – 632), [[Muhammad]] made it the responsibility of the Islamic government to provide food and clothing, on a reasonable basis, to captives, regardless of their religion; however, if the prisoners were in the custody of a person, then the responsibility was on the individual.<ref>Maududi (1967), ''Introduction of Ad-Dahr'', "Period of revelation", p. 159.</ref> The freeingOn certain occasions where Muhammad felt the enemy had broken a treaty with the Muslims he endorsed the mass execution of male prisoners waswho highlyparticipated recommendedin battles, as in the case of the [[Banu Qurayza]] in 627. The Muslims divided up the females and children of those executed as ''ghanima'' (spoils of war).<ref>{{byCite whombook|datelast=NovemberLings|first=Martin|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9195533|title=Muhammad: 2020}}<!--his mustahabb?life -->based ason athe charitableearliest act.sources|date=1983|publisher=Inner Traditions International|isbn=0-89281-046-7|location=New York|pages=229–233|oclc=9195533}}</ref>

In Europe, the treatment of prisoners of war became increasingly centralizedcentralised, in the time period between the 16th and late 18th century. Whereas prisoners of war had previously been regarded as the private property of the captor, captured enemy soldiers became increasingly regarded as the property of the state. The European states strove to exert increasing control over all stages of captivity, from the question of who would be attributed the status of prisoner of war to their eventual release. The act of surrender was regulated so that it, ideally, should be legitimizedlegitimised by officers, who negotiated the surrender of their whole unit.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Peter H.|title='Prisoners in early modern warfare' in Prisoners in War|year=2010|publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0199577576}}</ref> Soldiers whose style of fighting did not conform to the battle line tactics of regular European armies, such as [[Cossacks]] and [[Croats (military unit)|Croats]], were often denied the status of prisoners of war.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Batelka|first=Philipp|title=Zwischen Tätern und Opfern: Gewaltbeziehungen und Gewaltgemeinschaften|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|year=2017|isbn=978-3-525-30099-2|pages=107–129}}</ref>

The earliest known purpose-built [[prisoner-of-war camp]] was established at [[Norman Cross Prison|Norman Cross]] in Huntingdonshire, England in 1797 to house the increasing number of prisoners from the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1006782|desc=Site of the Norman Cross Depot for Prisoners of War|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1006782|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405180656/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1006782|url-status=dead|archive-date= April 5, April 2023}}</ref> The average prison population was about 5,500 men. The lowest number recorded was 3,300 in October 1804 and 6,272 on 10 April 1810 was the highest number of prisoners recorded in any official document. [[Norman Cross Prison]] was intended to be a model depot providing the most humane treatment of prisoners of war. The British government went to great lengths to provide food of a quality at least equal to that available to locals. The senior officer from each quadrangle was permitted to inspect the food as it was delivered to the prison to ensure it was of sufficient quality. Despite the generous supply and quality of food, some prisoners died of starvation after gambling away their rations. Most of the men held in the prison were low-ranking soldiers and sailors, including midshipmen and junior officers, with a small number of [[privateers]]. About 100 senior officers and some civilians "of good social standing", mainly passengers on captured ships and the wives of some officers, were given ''parole'' outside the prison, mainly in [[Peterborough]] although some further afield. They were afforded the courtesy of their rank within English society.

During the [[Battle of Leipzig]] both sides used the [[Alter Johannisfriedhof|city's cemetery]] as a [[Lazaretto|lazaret]] and prisoner camp for around 6,000 POWs who lived in the [[Burial vault (tomb)|burial vaults]] and used the coffins for firewood. Food was scarce and prisoners resorted to eating horses, cats, dogs or even human flesh. The bad conditions inside the graveyard contributed to a city-wide epidemic after the battle.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb10604517.html?pageNo=305 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227060150/https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb10604517.html?pageNo=305 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 February 2019 |language=de |author-link=Johann Friedrich Rochlitz |author=Rochlitz |title=Collected Works vol 6 |date=1822 |page=305ff |via=Munich Digitization Center}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.leipzig-lese.de/index.php?article_id=393 |language=de |title=Die Aufzeichnungen des Totengräbers Ahlemann 1813 |website=leipzig-lese.de |access-date=21 April 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407051349/https://www.leipzig-lese.de/streifzuege/geschichte/die-aufzeichnungen-des-totengraebers-ahlemann-1813/|archive-date=April 7, April 2023}}</ref>

At the start of the American Civil War a system of paroles operated. Captives agreed not to fight until they were officially exchanged. Meanwhile, they were held in camps run by their own army where they were paid but not allowed to perform any military duties.<ref>{{cite book|author=Roger Pickenpaugh|title=Captives in Blue: The Civil War Prisons of the Confederacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWOfsOceCNUC&pg=PA57|year=2013|publisher=University of Alabama Press|pages=57–73|isbn=978-0817317836}}</ref> The system of exchanges collapsed in 1863 when the Confederacy refused to exchange black prisoners. In the late summer of 1864, a year after the [[Dix–Hill Cartel]] was suspended, Confederate officials approached Union General Benjamin Butler, Union Commissioner of Exchange, about resuming the cartel and including the black prisoners. Butler contacted Grant for guidance on the issue, and Grant responded to Butler on 18 August 1864 with his now famous statement. He rejected the offer, stating in essence, that the Union could afford to leave their men in captivity, the Confederacy could not.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/ande/historyculture/grant-and-the-prisoner-exchange.htm |title=Myth: General Ulysses S. Grant stopped the prisoner exchange, and is thus responsible for all of the suffering in Civil War prisons on both sides – Andersonville National Historic Site |publisher=U.S. National Park Service) |date=18 July 2014 |access-date=28 July 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307202416/https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/grant-and-the-prisoner-exchange.htm|archive-date= 7 March 7, 2023}}</ref> After that about 56,000 of the 409,000 POWs died in prisons during the [[American Civil War]], accounting for nearly 10% of the conflict's fatalities.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2008/01/national_life_after_death.html |title=National Life After Death |author=Richard Wightman Fox |date=7 January 2008 |magazine=Slate |access-date=10 December 2012 |archive-date=15 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615092827/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2008/01/national_life_after_death.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Of the 45,000 Union prisoners of war confined in [[Camp Sumter]], located near [[Andersonville, Georgia]], 13,000 (28%) died.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/11andersonville/11facts1.htm |title=Andersonville: Prisoner of War Camp-Reading 1 |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=28 November 2008|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821213258/http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/11andersonville/11facts1.htm|archive-date= 21 August 21, 2013}}</ref> At [[Camp Douglas (Chicago)|Camp Douglas]] in Chicago, Illinois, 10% of its Confederate prisoners died during one cold winter month; and [[Elmira Prison]] in New York state, with a death rate of 25% (2,963), nearly equalled that of Andersonville.<ref>Hall, Yancey (1 July 2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20030707041320/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0701_030701_civilwarprisons.html "US Civil War Prison Camps Claimed Thousands"]. ''National Geographic News''. </ref>

During the 19th century, there were increased efforts to improve the treatment and processing of prisoners. As a result of these emerging conventions, a number of international conferences were held, starting with the Brussels Conference of 1874, with nations agreeing that it was necessary to prevent inhumane treatment of prisoners and the use of weapons causing unnecessary harm. Although no agreements were immediately ratified by the participating nations, work was continued that resulted in new [[treaty|conventions]] being adopted and becoming recognizedrecognised as [[international law]] that specified that prisoners of war be treated humanely and diplomatically.

Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention protects captured [[military personnel]], some [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] fighters, and certain [[civilians]]. It applies from the moment a prisoner is captured until his or her release or repatriation. Under the 1949 [[Geneva Conventions]], POWs acquires the status of [[protected persons]], meaning it is a war crime by the detaining power to deprive the rights afforded to them by the Third Convention's provisions.<ref name="JWEFS">{{cite web|url=https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/protected-persons/|title=The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law: Protected Persons|publisher=[[Doctors Without Borders]]}}</ref> Article 17 of the Third Geneva Convention states that POWs can only be required to give their [[name]], [[date of birth]], [[Military rank|rank]] and [[service number]] (if applicable).

To be entitled to prisoner-of-war status, captured persons must be [[lawful combatant]]s entitled to combatant's privilege—which gives them immunity from punishment for crimes constituting lawful acts of war such as killing [[enemy combatant]]s. To qualify under the [[Third Geneva Convention]], a combatant must be part of a [[chain of command]], wear a "fixed distinctive marking, visible from a distance", bear arms openly, and have conducted military operations according to the [[laws and customs of war]]. (The Convention recognizesrecognises a few other groups as well, such as "[i]nhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units".)

* Treated humanely with respect for their persons and their honorhonour

* Not compelled to give any information except for name, age, rank, and service number<ref>{{cite web|title=Geneva Convention|url=http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/texts/doc_geneva_con.html|publisher=Peace Pledge Union|access-date=6 April 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821130538/http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/texts/doc_geneva_con.html|archive-date= August 21, August 2007}}</ref>

In addition, if wounded or sick on the battlefield, the prisoner will receive help from the International Committee of the Red Cross.<ref>{{cite web|title=Story of an idea- the Film| date=5 May 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwB-Y6FUjY| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/oIwB-Y6FUjY| archive-date=29 October 2021|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|access-date=6 April 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[The United States Military Code of Conduct]] was promulgated in 1955 via [[s:Executive Order 10631|Executive Order 10631]] under [[U.S. President|President]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] to serve as a moral code for United States service members who have been taken prisoner. It was created primarily in response to the breakdown of leadership and organizationorganisation, specifically when U.S. forces were POWs during the [[Korean War]].

Since the [[Vietnam War]], the official U.S. military term for enemy POWs is EPW (Enemy Prisoner of War). This name change was introduced in order to distinguish between enemy and U.S. captives.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7DE1239F93AA25751C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | title=War in the Gulf: P.O.W.'s; U.S. Says Prisoners Seem War-Weary | first=Eric | last=Schmitt | date=19 February 1991|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407051341/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/19/world/war-in-the-gulf-pow-s-us-says-prisoners-seem-war-weary.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|archive-date=April 7, April 2023}}</ref>

In 2000, the U.S. military replaced the designation "Prisoner of War" for captured American personnel with "Missing-Captured". A January 2008 directive states that the reasoning behind this is since "Prisoner of War" is the international legal recognizedrecognised status for such people there is no need for any individual country to follow suit. This change remains relatively unknown even among experts in the field and "Prisoner of War" remains widely used in the Pentagon which has a "POW/Missing Personnel Office" and awards the [[Prisoner of War Medal]].<ref name="Missing-Captured">{{cite magazine|last=Thompson |first=Mark |url=http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/05/17/pentagon-we-dont-call-them-pows-anymore/ |title=Pentagon: We Don't Call Them POWs Anymore |magazine=Time |date=17 May 2012 |access-date=28 July 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408085511/https://nation.time.com/2012/05/17/pentagon-we-dont-call-them-pows-anymore/|archive-date=April 8, April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/130018p.pdf |title=Department of Defense Instruction January 8, 2008 Incorporating Change 1, August 14, 2009 |access-date=28 July 2014 |archive-date=4 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104014239/http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/130018p.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

There was much harsh treatment of POWs in Germany, as recorded by the American ambassador (prior to America's entry into the war), James W. Gerard, who published his findings in "My Four Years in Germany". Even worse conditions are reported in the book "Escape of a Princess Pat" by the Canadian George Pearson. It was particularly bad in Russia, where starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike; a quarter of the over 2&nbsp;million POWs held there died.<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PP7uMQdgv5AC&pg=PA240 Disobedience and Conspiracy in the German Army, 1918–1945] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225172617/https://books.google.com/books?id=PP7uMQdgv5AC&pg=PA240&dq&hl=en |date=25 December 2022 }}''". Robert B. Kane, Peter Loewenberg (2008). [[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]. p. 240. {{ISBN|0-7864-3744-8}}</ref> Nearly 375,000 of the 500,000 [[Austro-Hungarian]] prisoners of war taken by Russians perished in [[Siberia]] from [[smallpox]] and [[typhus]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/28/archives/375000-austrians-have-died-in-siberia-remaining-125000-war.html |title=375,000 Austrians Have Died in Siberia; Remaining 125,000 War Prisoner...—Article Preview—The |newspaper=New York Times |date=8 April 2012 |access-date=14 April 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032437/https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/28/archives/375000-austrians-have-died-in-siberia-remaining-125000-war.html|archive-date= March 26, March 2023}}</ref> In Germany, food was short, but only 5 per cent died.<ref>Richard B. Speed, III. ''Prisoners, Diplomats and the Great War: A Study in the Diplomacy of Captivity.'' (1990)</ref><ref>Ferguson, ''The Pity of War.'' (1999) Ch 13</ref><ref>Desmond Morton, ''Silent Battle: Canadian Prisoners of War in Germany, 1914–1919.'' 1992.</ref>

While the Allied prisoners were sent home at the end of the war, the same treatment was not granted to [[Central Powers]] prisoners of the Allies and Russia, many of whom had to serve as [[forced labour]], e.g. in France, until 1920. They were released after many approaches by the [[ICRC]] to the [[Allied Supreme Council]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/57JQGQ|title=Search results – Resource centre|work=International Committee of the Red Cross|date=3 October 2013|access-date=9 April 2010|archive-date=19 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719030032/http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/57JQGQ|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Prisoners of war from China, the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the Philippines held by Japanese imperial armed forces were subject to murder, beatings, extrajudicial punishment, brutal treatment, [[Slavery in Japan|slavery]], [[Unit 731|medical experiments]], starvation rations, poor medical treatment and [[Chichijima incident|cannibalism]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japanese-troops-ate-flesh-of-enemies-and-civilians-1539816.html|author=McCarthy, Terry|title=Japanese troops ate flesh of enemies and civilians|newspaper=The Independent|date=12 August 1992|location=London|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512013235/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japanese-troops-ate-flesh-of-enemies-and-civilians-1539816.html|archive-date= 12 May 12, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cooksontributeb29.com/uploads/5/8/6/5/5865941/b29_fukubayashi.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405180657/http://www.cooksontributeb29.com/uploads/5/8/6/5/5865941/b29_fukubayashi.pdf|archive-date= 5 April 5, 2023|title=An excellent reference for Japan and the treatment of US Airmen Pows is Toru Fukubayashi, "Allied Aircraft and Airmen Lost over Japanese Mainland" 20 May 2007. (PDF File 20 pages)}}</ref> The most notorious use of forced labour was in the construction of the Burma–Thailand [[Death Railway]]. After 20 March 1943, the Imperial Navy was ordered to kill prisoners of war taken at sea.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Felton |first1=Mark |title=Slaughter at Sea: The Story of Japan's Naval War Crimes |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-84415-647-4 |pages=252|publisher=Pen & Sword Maritime }}</ref> After the [[Armistice of Cassibile]], Italian soldiers and civilians in East Asia were taken as prisoners of war by Japanese armed forces and subject to the same conditions as other POWs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tsuyoshi |first1=Masuda |title=Forgotten tragedy of Italian war detainees |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/816/ |website=nhk.or.jp |publisher=NHK World |access-date=30 June 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406111747/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/816/|archive-date= 6 April 6, 2023}}</ref>

According to the findings of the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East|Tokyo Tribunal]], the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1 percentper cent, seven times that of POWs under the Germans and Italians.<ref name =hidden>{{cite book|author =Yuki Tanaka|title = Hidden Horrors |date =1996|pages = 2, 3|publisher = Avalon Publishing|isbn = 978-0813327181}}</ref> The death rate of Chinese was much higher. Thus, while 37,583 prisoners from the United Kingdom, Commonwealth, and Dominions, 28,500 from the Netherlands, and 14,473 from the United States were released after the [[surrender of Japan]], the number for the Chinese was only 56.<ref name =hidden/><ref>[[Herbert Bix]], ''[[Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan]]'', 2001, p. 360</ref> The 27,465 [[United States Army]] and [[United States Army Air Forces]] POWs in the Pacific Theater had a 40.4 per cent death rate.<ref>{{cite news |title=World War II POWs remember efforts to strike against captors |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/world_war_ii_pows_remember_the.html |newspaper=The Times-Picayune |date=5 October 2012 |access-date=23 June 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130141927/https://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/world_war_ii_pows_remember_the.html|archive-date=30 January 30, 2023}}</ref> The War Ministry in Tokyo issued an order at the end of the war to kill the remaining POWs.<ref>"[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/e_atrocities.html title=Japanese Atrocities in the Philippines] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030727223501/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/e_atrocities.html |date=27 July 2003 }}". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)</ref>

Only a small proportion of western Allied POWs who were [[Jew]]s—or whom the Nazis believed to be Jewish—were killed as part of [[the Holocaust]] or were subjected to other [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] policies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/jewish-american-pows-europe#:~:text=An%20estimated%209%2C000%20American%20Jews,of%20both%20pride%20and%20peril.&text=Around%20500%2C000%20American%20Jews%20served,risk%20should%20they%20be%20captured.|title=Pride and Peril: Jewish American POWs in Europe|website=The National WWII Museum |date=26 May 2021 |access-date=21 April 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405180657/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/jewish-american-pows-europe|archive-date= 5 April 5, 2023}}</ref> For example, Major [[Yitzhak Ben-Aharon]], a [[Palestinian Jew]] who had enlisted in the British Army, and who was captured by the Germans in [[Greek Campaign|Greece in 1941]], experienced four years of captivity under entirely normal conditions for POWs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/Gallery+of+People+(Biographies)/Ben+Aharon+Yitzhak.htm |title=Ben Aharon Yitzhak |publisher=Jafi.org.il |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318070158/http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/Gallery+of+People+(Biographies)/Ben+Aharon+Yitzhak.htm |archive-date=18 March 2012 }}</ref>

A small number of Allied personnel were sent to concentration camps, for a variety of reasons including being Jewish.<ref>See, for example, [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=295291169228827 Joseph Robert White, 2006, "Flint Whitlock. Given Up for Dead: American GIs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611020900/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=295291169228827 |date=11 June 2007 }} (book review)</ref> As the US historian Joseph Robert White put it: "An important exception ... is the sub-camp for U.S. POWs at [[Berga, Thuringia|Berga an der Elster]], officially called ''[[Arbeitslager|Arbeitskommando]] 625'' [also known as ''[[Stalag IX-B]]'']. Berga was the deadliest work detachment for American captives in Germany. 73 men who participated, or 21 percent of the detachment, perished in two months. 80 of the 350 POWs were Jews."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Inskeep |first=Steve |date=30 May 2005-05-30 |title='Soldiers and Slaves' Details Saga of Jewish POWs |language=en |pages=1 |work=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/2005/05/30/4672288/soldiers-and-slaves-details-saga-of-jewish-pows |access-date=2023-01-10 January 2023}}</ref> Another well-known example was a group of 168 Australian, British, Canadian, [[New Zealand]] and US aviators who were held for two months at [[Buchenwald concentration camp]];<ref>See: [https://web.archive.org/web/20230207180457/https://www.rcafassociation.ca/heritage/history/buchenwald/allied-officers-deported-to-buchenwald-klb-club-archives/ Royal Canadian Air Force Association, "Allied Officers Deported to Buchenwald"] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20071114105127/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil:80/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1575 National Museum of the USAF, "Allied Victims of the Holocaust"].</ref> two of the POWs died at Buchenwald. Two possible reasons have been suggested for this incident: German authorities wanted to make an example of ''[[terror bombing|Terrorflieger]]'' ("terrorist aviators") or these aircrews were classified as spies, because they had been disguised as civilians or enemy soldiers when they were apprehended.

As the Red Army approached some POW camps in early 1945, German guards forced western Allied POWs [[The March (1945)|to walk]] long distances towards central Germany, often in extreme winter weather conditions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.b24.net/powMarch.htm|title=Death March from Stalag Luft 4 during WWII|website=www.b24.net|access-date=26 October 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705073356/https://www.b24.net/powMarch.htm|archive-date= 5 July 5, 2017}}</ref> It is estimated that, out of 257,000 POWs, about 80,000 were subject to such marches and up to 3,500 of them died as a result.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Guests of the Third Reich|url=https://guestsofthethirdreich.org/liberation/|access-date=26 October 2020|website=guestsofthethirdreich.org|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407045309/https://guestsofthethirdreich.org/liberation/|archive-date= 7 April 7, 2023}}</ref>

In September 1943 after the Armistice, Italian officers and soldiers in many places waiting for orders were arrested by Germans and Italian fascists and taken to internment camps in Germany or Eastern Europe, where they were held for the duration of the war. The International Red Cross could do nothing for them, as they were not regarded as POWs, but the prisoners held the status of "[[Italian military internees|military internees]]". Treatment of the prisoners was generally poor. The author [[Giovannino Guareschi]] was among those interned and wrote about this time in his life. The book was translated and published as ''My Secret Diary''. He wrote about semi-starvation, the casual murder of individual prisoners by guards and how, when they were released (now from a German camp), they found a deserted German town filled with foodstuffs that they (with other released prisoners) ate.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}. It is estimated that of the 700,000 Italians taken prisoner by the Germans, around 40,000 died in detention and more than 13,000 lost their lives during the transportation from the Greek islands to the mainland.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.anrp.it/le-porte-della-memoria/|title = Le porte della Memoria|access-date = 12 November 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406111751/http://www.anrp.it/le-porte-della-memoria/|archive-date= April 6, April 2023}}</ref>

According to some sources, the Soviets captured 3.5&nbsp;million [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis]] servicemen (excluding Japanese), of whom more than a million died.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rees |first=Simon |url=http://www.historynet.com/historical_conflicts/8556717.html?featured=y&c=y |title=German POWs and the Art of Survival |publisher=Historynet.com |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219031006/http://www.historynet.com/historical_conflicts/8556717.html?featured=y&c=y |archive-date=19 December 2007 }}</ref> One specific example is that of the German POWs after the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], where the Soviets captured 91,000 German troops in total (completely exhausted, starving and sick), of whom only 5,000 survived the captivity.

As a result of the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] in 1939, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers became [[Polish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union (after 1939)|prisoners of war in the Soviet Union]]. Thousands were executed; over 20,000 Polish military personnel and civilians perished in the [[Katyn massacre]].<ref name="Fischer">[[Benjamin Fischer (historian)|Benjamin Fischer (historian)]], "[https://web.archive.org/web/20000816221054/http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter99-00/art6.html The Katyn Controversy: Stalin's Killing Field]", ''[[Studies in Intelligence]]'', Winter 1999–2000. </ref> Out of [[Władysław Anders|Anders]]' 80,000 evacuees from the Soviet Union in the United Kingdom, only 310 volunteered to return to Poland in 1947.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/czytelnia/michael_hope.htm |author=Michael Hope|title=Polish deportees in the Soviet Union |publisher=Wajszczuk.v.pl |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216171614/http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/czytelnia/michael_hope.htm |archive-date=16 February 2012 }}</ref>

In Britain, German prisoners, particularly higher-ranked officers, were housed in luxurious buildings where [[Covert listening device|listening devices]] were installed. A considerable amount of military intelligence was gained from [[eavesdropping]] on what the officers believed were private casual conversations. Much of the listening was carried out by German refugees, in many cases Jews. The work of these refugees in contributing to the Allied victory was declassified over half a century later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-britains-german-born-jewish-secret-listeners-helped-win-world-war-ii/|title=How Britain's German-born Jewish 'secret listeners' helped win World War II|first=Robert|last=Philpot|website=www.timesofisrael.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407045310/https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-britains-german-born-jewish-secret-listeners-helped-win-world-war-ii/|archive-date=April 7, April 2023}}</ref>

In February 1944, 59.7% of POWs in America were employed. This relatively low percentage was due to problems setting wages that would not compete against those of non-prisoners, to union opposition, as well as concerns about security, sabotage, and escape. Given national manpower shortages, citizens and employers resented the idle prisoners, and efforts were made to decentralizedecentralise the camps and reduce security enough that more prisoners could work. By the end of May 1944, POW employment was at 72.8%, and by late April 1945 it had risen to 91.3%. The sector that made the most use of POW workers was agriculture. There was more demand than supply of prisoners throughout the war, and 14,000 POW repatriations were delayed in 1946 so prisoners could be used in the spring farming seasons, mostly to thin and block [[sugar beets]] in the west. While some in Congress wanted to extend POW labour beyond June 1946, President Truman rejected this, leading to the end of the program.<ref name="histpow">{{Cite web |title=History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army 1776–1945 |author=George G. Lewis |author2=John Mehwa |work=Center of Military History, United States Army |date=1982 |access-date=16 August 2020 |url= https://history.army.mil/html/books/104/104-11-1/cmhPub_104-11-1.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405180657/https://history.army.mil/html/books/104/104-11-1/cmhPub_104-11-1.pdf|archive-date=5 April 5, 2023}}</ref>

In 1946, the UK held over 400,000 German POWs, many having been transferred from POW camps in the US and Canada. They were employed as labourers to compensate for the lack of manpower in Britain, as a form of [[war reparations|war reparation]].<ref name="Renate Held 2008">Renate Held, "Die deutschen Kriegsgefangenen in britischer Hand – ein Überblick [The German Prisoners of War in British Hands – An Overview] (in German)" (2008)</ref><ref>Eugene Davidsson, "The Trial of the Germans: An Account of the Twenty-Two Defendants Before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg", (1997) pp. 518–519 "the Allies stated in 1943 their intention of using forced workers outside Germany after the war, and not only did they express the intention but they carried it out. Not only Russia made use of such labour. France was given hundreds of thousands of German prisoners of war captured by the Americans, and their physical condition became so bad that the American Army authorities themselves protested. In England and the United States, too, some German prisoners of war were being put to work long after the surrender, and in Russia thousands of them worked until the mid-50s."</ref> A public debate ensued in the U.K.UK over the treatment of German prisoners of war, with many in Britain comparing the treatment to the POWs to [[Slavery|slave labour]].<ref name="German migrants">{{cite book | author = Inge Weber-Newth |author2=Johannes-Dieter Steinert | title = German migrants in post-war Britain: an enemy embrace | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hSxK1Hus-BIC | access-date = 15 December 2009 | year = 2006 | publisher = Routledge | isbn =978-0-7146-5657-1| pages = 24–30 | chapter = Chapter 2: Immigration policy—immigrant policy | quote = Views in the Media were mirrored in the House of commons, where the arguments were characterized by a series of questions, the substance of which were always the same. Here too the talk was often of slave labour, and this debate was not laid to rest until the government announced its strategy.}}</ref> In 1947, the Ministry of Agriculture argued against repatriation of working German prisoners, since by then they made up 25 percentper cent of the land workforce, and it wanted to continue having them work in the UK until 1948.<ref name="German migrants"/>

The "[[London Cage]]", an [[MI19]] prisoner of war facility in [[London]] used during and immediately after the war to interrogate prisoners before sending them to prison camps, was subject to allegations of torture.<ref name='Secrets'>{{cite news | first=Ian | last=Cobain | title=The secrets of the London Cage | date=12 November 2005 | url =https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/12/secondworldwar.world | work =The Guardian | access-date = 17 January 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404012234/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/12/secondworldwar.world|archive-date= April 4, April 2023 }}</ref>

POWs were also transferred among the Allies, with for example 6,000 German officers transferred from Western Allied camps to the Soviets and subsequently imprisoned in the [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]], at the time one of the [[NKVD special camps in Germany 1945–50|NKVD special camps]].<ref>"Ex-Death Camp Tells Story of Nazi and Soviet Horrors" ''New York Times'', 17 December 2001</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Butler|first=Desmond|date=17 December 2001|title=Ex-Death Camp Tells Story of Nazi and Soviet Horrors|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/17/world/ex-death-camp-tells-story-of-nazi-and-soviet-horrors.html|access-date=30 December 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328012225/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/17/world/ex-death-camp-tells-story-of-nazi-and-soviet-horrors.html|archive-date=March 28, March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CEFDA163EF934A25751C1A9679C8B63 | work=The New York Times | title=Ex-Death Camp Tells Story of Nazi and Soviet Horrors | first=Desmond | last=Butler | date=17 December 2001|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328012225/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/17/world/ex-death-camp-tells-story-of-nazi-and-soviet-horrors.html|archive-date= March 28, March 2023}}</ref> Although the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention, the U.S. chose to hand over several hundred thousand German prisoners to the Soviet Union in May 1945 as a "gesture of friendship".<ref>Edward N. Peterson, The American Occupation of Germany, pp. 42, 116, "Some hundreds of thousands who had fled to the Americans to avoid being taken prisoner by the Soviets were turned over in May to the Red Army in a gesture of friendship."</ref> U.S. forces also refused to accept the surrender of German troops attempting to surrender to them in [[Saxony]] and [[Bohemia]], and handed them over to the Soviet Union instead.<ref>Niall Ferguson, "Prisoner Taking and Prisoner Killing in the Age of Total War: Towards a Political Economy of Military Defeat" War in History 2004 11 (2) 148–192 p. 189, (footnote, referenced to: [[Heinz Nawratil]], Die deutschen Nachkriegsverluste unter Vertriebenen, Gefangenen und Verschleppter: mit einer übersicht über die europäischen Nachkriegsverluste (Munich and Berlin, 1988), pp. 36f.)</ref>

Although thousands of Japanese servicemembers were taken prisoner of war, most fought until they were killed or committed suicide. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]], over 20,000 were killed and only 216 were taken prisoner of war.<ref>{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | author-link = Samuel Eliot Morison | orig-year = 1960 | year = 2002 | title = Victory in the Pacific, 1945 |series=Volume 14 of ''[[History of United States Naval Operations in World War II]]'' | publisher = University of Illinois Press | location = Urbana | isbn = 0-252-07065-8 | oclc = 49784806}}</ref> Of the 30,000 Japanese troops that defended [[Saipan]], fewer than 1,000 remained alive at battle's end.<ref>[http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-saipan.htm Battle of Saipan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103221858/http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-saipan.htm |date=3 November 2012 }}, historynet.com</ref> Japanese prisoners of war sent to camps fared well; however, some were killed when attempting to surrender or were massacred<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/1495651/American-troops-murdered-Japanese-PoWs.html American troops 'murdered Japanese PoWs'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019164056/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/1495651/American-troops-murdered-Japanese-PoWs.html|date=19 October 2018}}, "American and Australian soldiers massacred Japanese prisoners of war" according to The Faraway War by Prof Richard Aldrich of Nottingham University. From the diaries of Charles Lindberg: as told by a US officer, "Oh, we could take more if we wanted to", one of the officers replied. "But our boys don't like to take prisoners." "It doesn't encourage the rest to surrender when they hear of their buddies being marched out on the flying field and machine-guns turned loose on them." On Australian soldiers attitudes [[Eddie Stanton]] is quoted: "Japanese are still being shot all over the place", "The necessity for capturing them has ceased to worry anyone. Nippo soldiers are just so much machine-gun practice. Too many of our soldiers are tied up guarding them."</ref> just after doing so (see [[Allied war crimes during World War II#The Pacific|Allied war crimes during World War II in the Pacific]]). In some instances, Japanese prisoners of war were tortured through a variety of methods.<ref name=cnn19969623>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9609/23/rare.photos/index.html| title=Photos document brutality in Shanghai| publisher=CNN| date=23 September 1996| access-date=8 June 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406225846/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9609/23/rare.photos/index.html|archive-date= 6 April 6, 2023}}</ref> A method of torture used by the Chinese [[National Revolutionary Army]] (NRA) included suspending prisoners by the neck in wooden cages until they died.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9609/23/rare.photos/image2.lg.jpg CNN] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514134201/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9609/23/rare.photos/image2.lg.jpg |date=14 May 2011 }} 23 September 1996 image 2</ref> In very rare cases, some were beheaded by sword, and a severed head was once used as a football by Chinese National Revolutionary Army (NRA) soldiers.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9609/23/rare.photos/image3.lg.jpg CNN] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514134150/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9609/23/rare.photos/image3.lg.jpg |date=14 May 2011 }} 23 September 1996 image 3</ref>

[[File:SerbianYugoslav detaineesEPWs detained in Kosovo by the USMC's 26th MEU (July 1999).jpg|thumb|[[Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslav]] POWs during the [[Kosovo War]] in 1999]]

During the [[Korean War]], the North Koreans developed a reputation for severely mistreating prisoners of war (see [[Korean War POWs detained in North Korea#Treatment of POWs by North Korean and Chinese forces|Treatment of POWs by North Korean and Chinese forces]]). Their POWs were housed in three camps, according to their potential usefulness to the North Korean army. Peace camps and reform camps were for POWs that were either sympathetic to the cause or who had valued skills that could be useful to the North Korean military; these enemy soldiers were indoctrinated and sometimes conscripted into the North Korean army. While POWs in peace camps were reportedly treated with more consideration,<ref name="Three">{{cite web|date=April 1997|title=Chinese operated three types of POW camps for Americans during the Korean War|url=http://www.kpows.com/thechineseconnection.html|access-date=30 March 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419114222/http://www.kpows.com/thechineseconnection.html|archive-date= 19 April 19, 2023}}</ref> regular prisoners of war were usually treated very poorly.

During the [[Vietnam War]], the [[Viet Cong]] and [[North Vietnamese Army]] took many [[U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War|United States servicemembers as prisoners of war]] and subjected them to mistreatment and torture. Some American prisoners of war were held in the prison known to US POWs as the [[Hanoi Hilton]]. Communist Vietnamese held in custody by [[South Vietnam]]ese and American forces [[Côn Sơn Island#"Tiger cages"|were also tortured]] and badly treated.<ref name="south-viet">{{cite magazine|title=In South Vietnamese Jails|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/10775|access-date=30 November 2009|last1=Thanh|first1=Ngo Ba|last2=Luce|first2=Don|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409075649/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1970/11/05/in-south-vietnamese-jails/|archive-date= April 9, April 2023}}</ref> After the war, millions of South Vietnamese servicemen and government workers were sent to [[Re-education camp (Vietnam)|"re-education" camps]], where many perished.

As in previous conflicts, speculation existed, without evidence, that a handful of American pilots captured during the Korean and Vietnam wars were transferred to the Soviet Union and never repatriated.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-29/news/mn-29122_1_korean-war |work=Los Angeles Times |first=Robert |last=Burns |title=Were Korean War POWs Sent to U.S.S.R? New Evidence Surfaces: Probe: Former Marine corporal spent 33 months as a prisoner and was interrogated by Soviet agents who thought he was a pilot |date=29 August 1993|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409184340/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-29-mn-29122-story.html|archive-date=April 9, April 2023}}</ref><ref>[http://www.nationalalliance.org/korea/korea04.htm pp 26–33 Transfer of U.S. Korean War POWs To the Soviet Union]. Nationalalliance.org. Retrieved on 24 May 2014. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714145328/http://www.nationalalliance.org/korea/korea04.htm |date=14 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.taskforceomegainc.org/USSR.html USSR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507133934/http://www.taskforceomegainc.org/USSR.html |date=7 May 2013 }}. Taskforceomegainc.org (17 September 1996). Retrieved on 2014-05-24 May 2014.</ref>

Regardless of regulations determining treatment of prisoners, violations of their rights continue to be reported. Many cases of POW massacres have been reported in recent times, including the murder of Israeli prisoners of war in the 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]] by their Egyptian captivescaptors, the [[13 October massacre]] in Lebanon by Syrian forces and [[Massacre of police officers in Eastern Sri Lanka in June 1990|June 1990 massacre]] in Sri Lanka.

Indian intervention in the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]] in 1971 led to the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|third Indo-Pakistan war]], which ended in Indian victory and overthe 90capture of 93,000 Pakistani POWs, they were later slowly repatriated in a deal with Pakistani President [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The True Story of India's Decision to Release 93,000 Pakistani POWs After 1971 War |url=https://thewire.in/history/the-untold-story-behind-indira-gandhis-decision-to-release-93000-pakistani-pows-after-the-bangladesh-war |access-date=14 May 2024 |website=thewire.in |language=en}}</ref>

In 1982, during the [[Falklands War]], prisoners were well-treated in general by both sides, with military commanders dispatching enemy prisoners back to their homelands in record time following the end of the war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/04/27/Falkland-Islands-a-gentlemans-war/9723388728000/|title=Falkland Islands: a gentleman's war|website=UPI|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517111554/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/04/27/Falkland-Islands-a-gentlemans-war/9723388728000/|archive-date= May 17, May 2022}}</ref>

In 1991, during the [[Gulf War]], American, British, Italian, and Kuwaiti POWs (mostly crew members of downed aircraft and special forces) were tortured by the Iraqi secret police. An American military doctor, [[Rhonda Cornum|Major Rhonda Cornum]], a 37-year-old flight surgeon captured when her Blackhawk UH-60 was shot down, was also subjected to sexual abuse.<ref>{{cite web |title=war story: Rhonda Cornum |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/war/5.html |work=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]] |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |access-date=24 June 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406094130/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/war/5.html|archive-date= April 6, April 2023}}</ref>

During the [[Yugoslav Wars]] in the 1990s, [[Serb]] paramilitary forces supported by [[Yugoslav People's Army|JNA]] forces killed POWs at [[Vukovar massacre|Vukovar]] and [[Škabrnja massacre|Škarbrnja]], while [[Bosnian Serb]] forces killed POWs at [[Srebrenica massacre|Srebrenica]]. A large number of surviving Croatian or Bosnian POWs described the conditions in Serbian concentration camps as similar to those in Germany in World War II, including regular beatings, torture and random executions.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

The last prisoners of the 1980–1988 [[Iran–Iraq War]] were exchanged in 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 |title=Threats and Responses: Briefly Noted; Iran-Iraq Prisoner Deal |author=Nazila Fathi|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=14 March 2003 |access-date=14 April 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226173810/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/14/world/threats-and-responses-briefly-noted-iran-iraq-prisoner-deal.html|archive-date= December 26, December 2022}}</ref>

During the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|invasion of Ukraine by Russia]], Ukrainian POWs have described being tortured by [[Russian Armed Forces|Russian forces]] using electrocution, beatings, and sexual abuse. Both sides of the conflict forced prisoners to be naked at times as a humiliating punishment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ukraine / Russia: Prisoners of war |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2022/11/ukraine-russia-prisoners-war |access-date=9 April 2023-04-09 |website=OHCHR |language=en|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231121747/https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2022/11/ukraine-russia-prisoners-war|archive-date=December 31, December 2022}}</ref>

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* aboutAbout 3&nbsp;million taken by USSR (474,967 died in captivity (>15%))<ref name=autogenerated1 /> (<br>Historian [[Rüdiger Overmans]] maintains that it seems entirely plausible, while not provable, that one million died in Soviet custody. <br>He also believes that there were men who actually died as POWs amongst those listed as missing-in-action.)<ref>Rüdiger Overmans: "Die Rheinwiesenlager 1945" in: Hans-Erich Volkmann (ed.): ''Ende des Dritten Reiches – Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Eine perspektivische Rückschau''. Herausgegeben im Auftrag des Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamtes. Munich 1995. {{ISBN|3-492-12056-3}}, p. 277</ref>

* unknownUnknown number in [[Yugoslavia]], [[Poland]], [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], [[Denmark]] (the death rate for German prisoners of war was highest in Yugoslavia with over 50%)<ref>Kurt W. Böhme: "Die deutschen Kriegsgefangenen in Jugoslawien", Band I/1 der Reihe: Kurt W. Böhme, [[Erich Maschke]] (eds.): ''Zur Geschichte der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen des Zweiten Weltkrieges'', Bielefeld 1976, {{ISBN|3-7694-0003-8}}, pp. 42–136, 254</ref>

* overOver 4.5 million taken by the Western Allies before the formal surrender of Germany, another three million after the surrender{{efn|see references on the pages [[Western Front (World War II)]] and [[North African Campaign (World War II)]]}}

* 1.3&nbsp;million unknown<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stern.de/politik/geschichte/kriegsgefangene-viele-kamen-nicht-zurueck-3548272.html |title=Kriegsgefangene: Viele kamen nicht zurück|publisher=Stern.de – Politik |date=6 February 2012 |access-date=14 April 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326033207/https://www.stern.de/politik/geschichte/kriegsgefangene-viele-kamen-nicht-zurueck-3548272.html|archive-date= March 26, March 2023}}</ref>

* {{cite encyclopedia | encyclopediaencyclopaedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | edition=CD | year=2002 | article=Prisoner of War}}

* George G. Lewis and John Mewha, ''History of prisoner of war utilizationutilisation by the United States Army, 1776–1945''; Dept. of the Army, 1955.