This book will present new research findings on the Australian prisoner of war experience throughout the twentieth century, and will represent the first significant publication on the experiences of Australian prisoners of war from across conflicts spanning the twentieth century, from the First World War to Korea.
In the conflicts of the 20th century a total of 35,000 Australians had the misfortune of being prisoners of war. There exist many popular myths and stereotypes regarding the Australian prisoner of war experience. Popular movies and TV shows such as The Great Escape and Hogan's Heroes depict captivity in Germany in both world wars as a ‘boys' own' adventure of escape and daring, with prisoners cleverly outwitting their captors.
The experiences of prisoners of the Japanese in the Second World War, in contrast, are often viewed through the lens of horror associated with Japanese brutality: notably, the Burma-Thailand Railway and the Sandakan Death March.
This book will demonstrate that no single narrative can describe the Australian prisoner of war experience.
