South African Prisoner-Of-War experience during and after World War II : 1939-c.1950

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis narrates and analyses the experiences of a sample of South Africans who werecaptured during the Second World War. The research is based on oral testimony, memoirs,archival evidence and to a lesser degree on secondary sources. The former prisoners-of-war(POW) who participated in the research and those whose memoirs were studied were allcaptured at the Battle of Sidi Rezegh in November 1941 or during the fall of Tobruk in June1942.The aim of the research is to present oral and written POW testimony in order to augment thedearth of knowledge regarding South African POW historical experience. The scope of theresearch includes the decision to volunteer for the Union Defence Force, the experiences inNorth Africa, capture and initial experiences in the so-called 'hell camps of North Africa', thetransportation to Italy and life in the Italian prison camps, events surrounding the ItalianArmistice and the consequent escape attempts thereafter. For those POWs who did notescape, the experience of captivity continued with transport to Germany, experiences inGerman camps, including working in labour camps and the Allied bombing campaign.Lastly, the end of the war and the experience of liberation, which in most cases includedforced marches, are dealt with before the focus turns once again towards South Africa and theexperience of homecoming and demobilisation. The affective and intellectual experiences ofthe POWs are also investigated as their personal experience and emotions are presented andexamined. These include the experience of guilt and shame during capture, the acceptance ornon-acceptance of captivity, blame, attitudes towards the enemy and towards each other, aswell as the experience of fear and hope, which was especially relevant during the bombingcampaign and during periods when they were being transported between countries andcamps. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the POW experience which looks at aspectsrelating to identity among South African POWs.The final conclusion is drawn that the POW identity took precedence over national identity.As a result of the strong POW identity and their desire for complete freedom and desire toclaim individuality, the POWs did not, on the whole, display great interest in becominginvolved in South African politics after the war even though many of them strongly disagreedwith the Nationalist segregationist ideologies that claimed increasing support between 1945and 1948.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University