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Bourke Joanna, “Wartime Rape: The Politics of Making Visible,” Liberal Democracies at War. Conflict and Representation, London, New York: Bloomsbury, 2013.
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Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva. 27 July 1929, <https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/305>, accessed March 20, 2022.
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Gluck Sherna Berger, and Daphne Patai (eds.), Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History, London & New York: Routledge, 1991.
Henry Nicola, “Theorizing Wartime Rape: Deconstructing Gender, Sexuality, and Violence,” Gender & Society, vol. 30, no. 1, Feb. 2016, 44-56.
Henry Nicola, War and Rape: Law, Memory, and Justice, London & New York: Routledge, 2011.
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Lilly J. Robert et al. (eds.), La face cachée des GI’S: les viols commis par des soldats américains en France, en Angleterre et en Allemagne pendant la Seconde guerre mondiale, 1942-1945, Paris : Payot & Rivages, 2008.
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Pattinson Juliette, “‘Playing the Daft Lassie with Them’: Gender, Captivity and the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War,” European Review of History: Revue Européenne d’histoire, vol. 13, no. 2, June 2006, 271-92.
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Portelli Alessandro, “The Peculiarities of Oral History,” History Workshop, vol. Autumn, 1981, no. 12, 1981, 96-107.
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Summerfield Penny, “Public Memory or Public Amnesia? British Women of the Second World War in Popular Films of the 1950s and 1960s,” The Journal of British Studies, vol. 48, no. 4, Oct. 2009, 935-57.
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Thomson Alistair, “Anzac Memories. Popular Memory Theory Into Practice in Australia,” The Oral History Reader, Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, 342-53.
Tobia Simona, “Conclusions: Interrogation, Interviewing and Questioning in the Twentieth Century,” Interrogation in War and Conflict: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Analysis, Routledge, 268-91.
Tobia Simona, “In Enemy Hands. Allied Prisoners’ Interrogation Experiences and Memories in the Second World War,” Journal of War & Culture Studies, vol. 9, no. 4, Oct. 2016, 288-302.
Twomey Christina, “Australian Nurse Pows: Gender, War and Captivity,” Australian Historical Studies, vol. 36, no. 124, Oct. 2004, 255-74.
Twomey Christina, “POWs of the Japanese: Race and Trauma in Australia, 1970-2005,” Journal of War & Culture Studies, vol. 7, no. 3, Aug. 2014, 191-205.
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Notes
Hereafter: POW or plural POWs. The author is grateful to all those who supported her work for this article with their time, advice and guidance, particularly Professor Hilary Footitt, Senior Reference Specialist for the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project Megan Harris, USHMM Senior Historian Patricia Heberer Rice, Project Coordinator Ina Navazelskis and Archivist James Gilmore.
Juliette Pattinson, Lucy Noakes, and Wendy Ugolini, “Incarcerated Masculinities: Male POWs and the Second World War,” Journal of War & Culture Studies 7, no. 3, August 2014, 180.
The differences between a prisoner of war, a political prisoner, a civilian internee, and concentration camp inmate are substantial from the legal point of view, as the Hague Conventions on the Laws and Customs of War and the Third Geneva Convention of 1929 both refer to ‘lawful combatants’ who qualify as prisoners of war. But in archives the differences between definitions of political prisoners or internees versus prisoners of war are more porous, and in personal accounts narrators may often define their experiences as prisoner of war even when they cannot formally be considered as such. For a comparative discussion of these categories. Ilse Dorothee Pautsch, “Review: Prisoners of War and Internees in the Second World War: A Survey of Some Recent Publications,” Contemporary European History 12, no. 2, 2003, 225-38; Felicia Yap, “Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees of the Japanese in British Asia: The Similarities and Contrasts of Experience,” Journal of Contemporary History, 2020, 31.
Juliette Pattinson, “‘Playing the Daft Lassie with Them’: Gender, Captivity and the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War,” European Review of History: Revue Européenne d’histoire 13, no. 2, June 2006, 271-92; Juliette Pattinson, Noakes, and Ugolini, op. cit.; Juliette Pattinson, Behind Enemy Lines: Gender, Passing, and the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press, 2007 ; Simona Tobia, “In Enemy Hands. Allied Prisoners’ Interrogation Experiences and Memories in the Second World War,” Journal of War & Culture Studies 9, no. 4, October 2016, 288-302; Christina Twomey, “Australian Nurse Pows: Gender, War and Captivity,” Australian Historical Studies 36, no. 124, October 2004, 255-74; Christina Twomey, “POWs of the Japanese: Race and Trauma in Australia, 1970-2005,” Journal of War & Culture Studies 7, no. 3, August 2014, 191-205.
Simona Tobia, “Conclusions: Interrogation, Interviewing and Questioning in the Twentieth Century,” in Interrogation in War and Conflict: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Analysis, Studies in Intelligence Series, London & New York: Routledge, 2014, 268-91.
Christina Twomey, “Australian Nurse Pows,” op. cit., 274.
Alessandro Portelli, “The Peculiarities of Oral History,” History Workshop, Autumn 1981, no. 12, 1981, 96-105.
<https://www.ushmm.org/information/about-the-museum>, accessed March 18, 2022.
Judith Tydor Baumel, “‘You Said the Words You Wanted Me to Hear But I Heard the Words You Couldn’t Bring Yourself to Say’: Women’s First Person Accounts of the Holocaust,” The Oral History Review, no. 1, January 1, 2000, 17.
These results were obtained in March 2022.
These oral histories have been collected since the 1980s both by the museum’s oral historians and by other institutions such as the National Council of Jewish Women in Cleveland or the Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies (to name two partner institutions linked to the sources used in this article). The museum also partners with teams outside the U.S., who carry out interviews in languages other than English. The vast majority of these teams were located in Eastern Europe because that was a cost-effective way for the USHMM to collect materials. At the same time, the women who were most likely to have been interrogated as political prisoners were from countries in Eastern Europe. This does not mean that women in other countries, such as France, did not have the same experience, but that it was less likely to have been collected by this particular institution (this information was collected in an interview conducted by the author with USHMM project coordinator Ina Navazelskis and archivist James Gilmore).
Accessed in September 2021.
Library of Congress (LOC), VHP - Helene Stewart collection.
Leisa D. Meyer, “Creating G.I. Jane: The Regulation of Sexuality and Sexual Behavior in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II,” Feminist Studies 18, no. 3, 1992, 581; Lucy Noakes, “Gender, War and Memory: Discourse and Experience in History,” Journal of Contemporary History 36, no. 4, October 2001, 663-72.
Penny Summerfield, “Gender and War in the Twentieth Century,” The International History Review 19, no. 1, March 1997, 13-15.
Alistair Thomson, Anzac Memories: Living with the Legend, Clayton, Vic: Monash University Press, 2013, loc. 510.
Penny Summerfield, Histories of the Self. Personal Narratives and Historical Practice, London and New York: Routledge, 2019, 108.
Penny Summerfield, “Culture and Composure,” op. cit.; Penny Summerfield, Reconstructing Women’s Wartime Lives: Discourse and Subjectivity in Oral Histories of the Second World War, Manchester, New York: Manchester University Press, 1998; Alistair Thomson, “Anzac Memories. Popular Memory Theory Into Practice in Australia,” in The Oral History Reader, London ; New York: Routledge, 2016, 342-53.
Alistair Thomson, Anzac Memories, op. cit., l. 540.
Penny Summerfield, Reconstructing Women’s Wartime Lives, op. cit., 20.
In oral history, the expression ‘secondary analysis’ is understood as the study of pre-recorded interviews. These can have been conducted by the same researcher or, as is the case of this paper, they may have been collected previously in a context different from that of the current study and deposited at sound archives. In this case, the interviews are part of the sound archive of the VHP of the Library of Congress and of the USHMM, Washington D.C. The theoretical framework for this type of analysis must therefore consider the context of interview collection and the type of archive where they are held.
Juliette Pattinson, Lucy Noakes, and Wendy Ugolini, op. cit., 180.
Sherna Berger Gluck and Daphne Patai (eds.), Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History, New York: Routledge, 1991, 1.
A model of this type of analysis is proposed in Marie-Françoise Chanfrault-Duchet, “Narrative Structures, Social Models, and Symbolic Representation in the Life Story,” in Women’s Words. The Feminist Practice of Oral History, New York: Routledge, 1991, 77-92.
Portelli has defined the concept of history-telling as different from that of storytelling as one that takes into careful consideration the intersubjective relationship between interviewer and interviewee, as well as the fact that personal recollections are woven into public narratives and narrative units of anecdotes or tales are part of a complex framework. Alessandro Portelli, “History-Telling and Time: An Example from Kentucky,” The Oral History Review 20, no. 1, March 1, 1992, 51-52.
A discussion of the presumed vulnerability of female wartime captives and of its representation in popular culture and media of the 1940s and be found in Christina Twomey, “Australian Nurse Pows: Gender, War and Captivity,” Australian Historical Studies 36, no. 124, October 2004, 255-74.
To cite but a few examples: Juliette Pattinson, Lucy Noakes, and Wendy Ugolini, op. cit. Simona Tobia, “In Enemy Hands. Allied Prisoners’ Interrogation Experiences and Memories in the Second World War” op. cit.,; Christina Twomey, “POWs of the Japanese,” op. cit.,
Penny Summerfield, “Culture and Composure,” op. cit., 71.
J. Ryan Stackhouse, “Gestapo Interrogations. Myths and Realities,” in Interrogation in War and Conflict. A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Analysis, Studies in Intelligence Series, Milton Park and New York: Routledge, 2014, 76.
A discussion of popular representations of the Gestapo and the SS would be very interesting, but it is beyond the purposes of this paper.
The Secret Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British organization created in 1940 to conduct intelligence operations behind enemy lines. Its ‘France Section’ included 37 female agents led by Vera Atkins until 1945. The SOE was dissolved after the war in 1946.
For a clear discussion on the ways in which the vocabularies “available to narrators […] make some matters easier or more difficult to talk about.” Penny Summerfield, Histories of the Self, op. cit., 115-16.
Christina Twomey, “Australian Nurse Pows” op. cit. Juliette Pattinson, Noakes, and Ugolini, op. cit., 179.
Simona Tobia, “In Enemy Hands”, op. cit., 291.
For a more articulated discussion on the question of vulnerability, especially in relation to experiences of brutality and solitary confinement. Ibidem, 292-94; 297-300.
This study looks at case studies from the western allied forces. For future studies, the Red Army would represent an interesting comparison for the combat roles of women.
Juliette Pattinson, Behind Enemy Lines, op. cit.; Juliette Pattinson, “‘Playing the Daft Lassie with Them,’” op. cit.
Marie-Françoise Chanfrault-Duchet, “Narrative Structures, Social Models, and Symbolic Representation in the Life Story,” op. cit., 80-81.
This is consistent with the representation of the Gestapo or SS interrogation existing in publicly available narrative frameworks, for example in many films, documentaries, books and in popular culture in general, such as Odette (Herbert Wilcox, 1950) or Carve Her Name with Pride (Lewis Gilbert, 1958), which celebrated the heroism of SOE agents captured in France, as well as many others on the experience of the resistance.
Penny Summerfield, “Culture and Composure,” op. cit., 92.
USHMM - RG-50.146.0005. « C’était atroce », « C’était terrible », « Ça c’était quelque chose the terrible ».
USHMM - RG-50.045.0006.
USHMM - RG-50.091.0062.
USHMM - RG-50.091.0062.
LOC, VHP - Helene Stewart collection.
The interviewer in this case is a woman, too and her name is Ina Miller.
Marie-Françoise Chanfrault-Duchet, “Narrative Structures, Social Models, and Symbolic Representation in the Life Story,” op. cit., 77.
Ibid, 78.
Penny Summerfield, Histories of the Self, op. cit., 117-27.
Christina Twomey, “Australian Nurse Pows,” op. cit., 274.
Juliette Pattinson, “‘Playing the Daft Lassie with Them,’” op. cit., 271-292.
Ibid., 277-78.
Christina Twomey, “Australian Nurse Pows,” op. cit., 255.
Summerfield, Histories of the Self, op. cit., 116.
LOC, VHP - Helene Stewart collection.
USHMM - RG-50.091.0062.
USHMM - RG-50.030.0474.
USHMM - RG-50.091.0062.
USHMM - RG-50.030.0474.
Baumel, “‘You Said the Words You Wanted Me to Hear But I Heard the Words You Couldn’t Bring Yourself to Say,’” op. cit., 48.
Penny Summerfield, Reconstructing Women’s Wartime Lives, op. cit., 20.
Ibid., 16-19.
USHMM - RG 50.045.0006.
LOC, VHP - Helene Stewart collection
Marie-Françoise Chanfrault-Duchet, “Narrative Structures, Social Models, and Symbolic Representation in the Life Story,” op. cit., 77.
Ibid., 78.
Ibid., 77-79.
Joanna Bourke, op. cit., 362.
Nicola Henry, War and Rape: Law, Memory, and Justice, Abingdon, New York: Routledge, 2011, 4; Nicola Henry, “Theorizing Wartime Rape: Deconstructing Gender, Sexuality, and Violence,” Gender & Society 30, no. 1, February 2016, 44-56.
Juliette Pattinson, “‘Playing the Daft Lassie with Them,’” op. cit., 280-281.
Joanna Bourke, “Wartime Rape: The Politics of Making Visible,” in Liberal Democracies at War. Conflict and Representation, London: Bloomsbury, 2013, 137.
USHMM - RG-50.030.0197.
USHMM - RG-50.030.0197.
Joanna Bourke, “Wartime Rape: The Politics of Making Visible,” op. cit., 135.
Ibid. Robert J. Lilly and François Le Roy, “L’armée américaine et les viols en France: Juin 1944-mai 1945,” Vingtième Siècle. Revue d’histoire 75, no. 3, 2002, 109; Robert J. Lilly et al., La face cachée des GI’S: les viols commis par des soldats américains en France, en Angleterre et en Allemagne pendant la Seconde guerre mondiale, 1942-1945, Paris: Payot & Rivages, 2008. Sociologist Robert Lilly found ample evidence of rape perpetrated by American soldiers in France and Germany, but he also wrote that only an estimate of 5% of wartime rape victims denounced the crime. Some narratives can be found in the depositions gathered for the trials and these are mostly focused on refusal and fear of death. However, the social taboo on rape and the limited numbers of complaints also explain the difficulty in finding publicly available personal narratives on this issue. Albeit interesting, a compared analysis of female self-consciousness in narratives of captivity and of rape is therefore not achievable unless relevant sources can be accessed.
Penny Summerfield, Reconstructing Women’s Wartime Lives, op. cit.,; Penny Summerfield, Histories of the Self, op. cit.,; Summerfield, “Culture and Composure,” op. cit.; Penny Summerfield, “Gender and War in the Twentieth Century” op. cit.
The estimated numbers of women enlisted in all branches of the armed forces in the U.S. in World War II is 350.000, but they were not deployed for combat or given arms training. For a discussion on the impact of this development on American society. “Skirted Soldiers: The Women’s Army Corps and Gender Integration of the U.S. Army during World War II,” 2021, 9; Jane Meyer, “Creating G.I. Jane” op. cit.,; Joanna Bourke, An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in Twentieth-Century Warfare, London: Granta Books, 2000.
Summerfield, “Culture and Composure.”
Ibid.
Article III of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War includes a clear understanding that POWs should be spared any type of humiliation and for this reason there is an expectation of difference in treatment based on the sex of prisoners: “Prisoners of war are entitled to respect for their persons and honor. Women shall be treated with all consideration due to their sex.” “Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva.” July 27, 1929, ICRC Databases, <https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/305>, accessed March 18, 2022.
Penny Summerfield, “Culture and Composure,” op. cit., 71.
USHMM - RG-50.045.0006.
USHMM - RG-50.091.0062.
LOC, VHP - Helene Stewart collection.
USHMM - RG-50.030.0474.
Marie-Françoise Chanfrault-Duchet, op. cit., 79-80.
USHMM - RG-50.045.0006.
Marie-Françoise Chanfrault-Duchet, op. cit., 79-80.
LOC, VHP - Helene Stewart collection.
USHMM - RG-50.146.0005.
USHMM - RG-50.045.0006.
See for example: USHMM - RG-50.030.0197; RG-50.091.0062 .
Marie-Françoise Chanfrault-Duchet, op. cit., 79-80.
Ibid., 78.
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