Coping and material culture during Second World War internment: An historical archaeology investigation of agency and anglophone prisoners of war in Europe

This thesis explores the experience and culture of prisoner of war camps containing Allied PoWs in Europe during the Second World War. It seeks to discover more about the identity of PoWs and the universal elements of the experience of the Kriegie group (Chapter 2.4). It will identify cross-camp and cross-nationality similarities which counterbalance the uniqueness of individual biography and camp narratives. There is a rich seam of academic literature surrounding the lives and experiences of PoWs during this period, but there is a lack of discussion around the role of the material world and its interplay with PoW identity, the agency of the PoWs, and the way they shaped their camp life. The breadth of experience is an important issue for this thesis. Much existing work hinges on the experiences of small groups (e.g. British PoWs) or specific interests (e.g. theatre) but does not address the shared culture of the camps. This thesis uses common strands to explore the extent of universality in the Kriegie experience. Furthermore, alongside the lens of identity, this thesis highlights the agency which prisoners exercised, ways in which they chose to cope, and the impact these elements had on the wider Kriegie experience. Strong Structuration Theory has informed this research due to its ability to address the duality of structure and agency. Both factors influenced the experience of Kriegies during this period and structuration is able to address the role of agency in structure and the significance of structure in the choices which the PoWs made. The key conclusions of this thesis are threefold. A Kriegie identity was formed. It was part of a series of nested identities, but serves as an overarching identifier for men who similarly experienced the camps. Secondly, a level of cultural understanding was significant in the formation of Kriegies – PoWs needed a frame of reference to understand the culture of other prisoners. Thirdly, there were cultural objects and artefacts which were a key part of the Kriegie identity, the language and culture which grew through the camps allowed for some general conclusions to be drawn around common themes of camp life. It is impossible to provide a definitive answer to the question of a singular experience of PoW camps during this period. But it is possible to draw together commonalities of experience. The implications of this research are that the study of PoWs who fell outside of the Kriegie identity is much less represented in academic literature. When searching for information on the life of prisoners there is a strong presence of information from Kriegies due to the nature of their captivity (free time, lower mortality rates). This thesis also implies that there is much more room for broader studies of the PoW experience, and where the author hopes to expand on the Attributes Table and build a wider picture of the experience of these groups of PoWs