Pow's Essay

Submitted By shelby1030
Words: 730
Pages: 3

Prisoners of War (POW’s) had been treated horribly with abuse and torture, while in other places were treated with respect of the Geneva Convention but were still starved. POW’s had been treated based on the countries such as being in Germany, Japan or Italy. For instance, the Germans were cruel people; they still respected the Geneva Convention so the prisoners were not treated horribly. They were given the basic essentials for life, but even then they were given small food portions, over worked and not given proper medical treatment. Likewise with the Italians, they treated their prisoners similar to Germany they also respected the majority of the Geneva Convention. But there have been personal accounts of prisoners being left out in the sun without food or water for two-to-three days. While on the other hand, in Japan the POW’s were treated completely different for the Japanese did not believe prisoners of war had any honour because they had surrendered to their enemy. Prisoners in Japan would be starved, beaten, denied medical treatment and were over worked in coal and sulphur mines. All in all, POW’s treatment differed on the country they were captured by.
The treatment of POW’s is protected underneath the Geneva Convention, and many countries followed these rules including Germany. The German’s treated the prisoners better than other countries in many ways. One way being, none of the prisoners would be mistreated. All soldiers were not to be abused or tortured, given food (slice of bread and soup) and clothing. Secondly, they were to work in factories and on farms while in captivity. Sadly, they also overworked these men and many would often die of exhaustion and malnutrition. Lastly, all POW’s were not allowed to be denied medical treatment, no matter the injury a doctor would treat the patient. The doctor would do bare minimal work and if they couldn’t help they may even release the prisoner, there was two hundred thirty seven soldiers released due to severe injury. All in all, the treatment of POW`s depended on where they were held captive.
Although Italy had signed the Geneva Convention they had not 100% followed it. There have been many accounts by POWs on their treatment in camps. Firstly, the prisoners were given the majority of the proper care they were supposed to. They had been given clothing, medical care and were not tortured or abused. Secondly, the prisoners were supposed to be given proper food rations, but there have been accounts on prisoners being left without food or water for days. This breaks articles eleven, twelve and thirteen of the Geneva Convention. Lastly, often the prisoners would be left without proper food and left to be working in the sun for days on end. This caused many of them to die from these cruel conditions. Over all, POW`s were treated differently in the different countries.
Japan did not agree with the Geneva