In Enemy Hands. Allied Prisoners’ Interrogation Experiences and Memories in the Second World War

Abstract

Interrogation represents a crucial moment for prisoners of war, and this article examines the deep influence that cultural issues had on those who experienced interrogation during the Second World War. Memory, gender and race, are considered in relation to the collection of human intelligence not simply from the point of view of military and security studies, but — drawing on historical and memory studies — the impact on the people involved is examined as well. The wider aim is to analyse the relationship between war and culture in the Second World War and its aftermath.The article is part of a wider research on interrogation and questioning in the Second World War which received funding by the Kluge Center (Library of Congress), Washington, DC, and it is based on sources from the Veterans History Project collections at Library of Congress, Washington DC, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.