Popular entertainments as survival strategies in prisoner-of-war camps during World War II

This chapter discusses the measures taken by prisoners of war to cope with the humiliation of capture and incarceration, with particular examples drawn from the experiences of British and Commonwealth troops in German camps. For members of the armed forces, whether professional soldiers or volunteers, the process of humiliation began at the moment of capture. It was after all an admission of failure whether in the face of overwhelming enemy numbers, failed lines of communication, or simply running out of ammunition. Suddenly they found themselves deracinated and individually helpless as they began the long marches to prisoner-of-war camps or were loaded into overcrowded cattle trucks for a journey that might take several days. At least, however, there was a sense of eventual destination. Yet arrival marked the beginning of a very different kind of humiliation, as personal belongings were stripped away and as they were reduced to undifferentiated members of a herd: it reinforced the sense of pointlessness and loss of temporality. Time now stood still. Many succumbed, overwhelmed by being cut off from the past and facing a future that seemed to have no end in sight. Yet others developed strategies of mutual reinforcement. Typically, these involved the creation of communities of interest within which memory, both in its collective and public manifestations, played a key role. Of these the most significant and enduring were the concert parties and theatrical organisations which flourished in all prisoner-of-war camps