Captivity

In ancient times, prisoners were enslaved , forcibly resettled or killed. In the American states of the pre-Columbian era, prisoners were often made to sacrifice to the gods or simply kill . In ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek sources, captured enemy soldiers are called "living dead." For centuries, captives have stolen not only armed soldiers , but also ordinary residents ^[1] , all the more so since a clear line between a warrior and a civilian was often absent. Women and children could be seen as military booty . The practice of the ancient Egyptian rulers is known to bring up the children of the monarchs of subordinate states and territories at the Egyptian court.

A captured member of the privileged estate in the era of feudalism was of substantial value - for it could be a ransom . The most interesting is the story of the liberation of John II , for the liberation of which the franc was first struck from English captivity in France .

In the Middle Ages, various military leaders and rulers who were captured (for example, Prince of Moscow Vasily II of the Dark ) were redeemed.

According to modern international humanitarian law, the right to take prisoner belongs exclusively to the state in the person of its military bodies; private individuals cannot capture anyone in a war.

The object of captivity can only be persons who actually took part in hostilities. Therefore, it is not subject to:

• peaceful enemy subjects;
• correspondents who are in the armed forces ;
• according to the Hague conventions - the staff of hospitals and military infirmaries , as well as clergy.

On the other hand, only open and lawful participation in hostilities creates the right to captivity: spies , guides, traitors , etc., in case of capture, do not have the right to prisoner of war status. Also this status is deprived of mercenaries .

The legal status of prisoners of war is determined by three signs:

1. they are not criminals;
2. they are enemies who retain their citizenship;
3. they are military.

Therefore, they have the right to treatment and maintenance in accordance with the position that they occupied in their armed forces; forcing them to participate in hostilities against their homeland in any form is unacceptable. In the event of escape and subsequent subsequent capture, they cannot be punished. They are subordinate to military discipline and are subject to jurisdiction of a military court (according to Russian laws - before being transferred to the jurisdiction of civilian authorities).

The treatment of prisoners of war is governed by the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 . The International Committee of the Red Cross visits prisoners of war and monitors the conditions of detention and their treatment.

The state of captivity is established by the moment of capture, terminated by the conclusion of peace or the exchange of prisoners . Although the conclusion of peace is a general and unconditional basis for the release of all prisoners, but for various reasons, exceptions are allowed: prisoners are released in separate batches, or release is conditional on the obligation to send them for further service to a known locality. For example, Germany after the war of 1870 demanded that of the number of prisoners whose military service has not yet expired, 20 thousand were immediately sent to Algeria , and the rest should be placed across the Loire River. Prisoners of war of the German armed forces and their satellites , who appeared on the territory of the USSR as a result of World War II , did not change their status after the signing of the surrender by Germany .

During the Great Patriotic War, the USSR Armed Forces captured, according to accounting documents, 2,704 military personnel of the German armed forces and 735 thousand military personnel of the allied countries ( satellites ) of Germany. Almost 580 thousand military personnel died in captivity ^[2] .

227 thousand Soviet prisoners of war were repatriated from Germany in 1945 ^[3] .

In recent times , captured military personnel and civilians have been interned - expelled to neutral states , isolated or imprisoned in specially created "prisoner of war camps", the activities of which are regulated by the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War .

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  Captured Japanese soldiers. Khalkhin Gol , 1939

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  Russian soldiers in German captivity , 1915

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  Transportation of Soviet prisoners of war by the Germans, 1941

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  German prisoners of war. Ruins of Aachen , October 1944

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  Japanese prisoners after the battle of Okinawa , 1945

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  Captured Dushman , 1987. Afghanistan

• POWs of the First World War
• Soviet prisoners of war during the Great Patriotic War
• Prisoners of war in the USSR during the Second World War
• Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union
• Rocket order
• False captivity

in Russian

• Zhukov V.I. , Fedyakina L.V. Captivity: the sociology of lawlessness: monograph / ed. Academician of the RAS V.I. Zhukov; Free historical-sociological and psychological-pedagogical society ("VIPO"). - M .: VIPO, 2018 .-- 283 p. ISBN 978-5-9908488-9-4
• Kuzmin-Karavaev V.D. Military captivity // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

in other languages

• Chapman, Karl L. Handling and Interrogation of the Prisoners of War . // Infantry . - July-August 1971. - Vol. 61 - No. four.
• Manes, Donald L. Barbed Wire Command . // Military Review . - September 1963. - Vol. 43 - No. 9.

• Kaliningrad list of prisoners of war: Soldiers for whom there was no Victory ...