Captivity in Twentieth Century Warfare: Archives, History, Memory

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Captivity in Twentieth Century Warfare: Archives, History, Memory

Organizer
Institut d’histoire du temps présent, Paris
Venue
Location
Paris
Country
France
From - Until
17.11.2011 - 18.11.2011
Website
www.ihtp.cnrs.fr
By
Fabien Théofilakis

Prisoners of war in the twentieth century: A rapidly growing field of study

The twentieth century, so often described as a century of warfare, largely ignored the experience of the prisoner of war. However, over the past decade the prisoner as an historical actor has taken on a threefold significance. First, the prisoner has been the subject of a wave of new scientific research, particularly since the year 2000, in France, but also elsewhere in Europe and the Anglo American world. Second, despite being long forgotten in national collective memory, the prisoner of war has recently become the subject of a remarkable resurgence of public interest. Third, captivity represents one of those historical categories which, precisely because it was seen as marginal for so long, provides an invaluable insight into the dynamics of military, cultural and ideological mobilisation more generally across both the public and private sphere at the very core of the societies. Through captivity, the combatant figure of the defeated enemy passed from the front to the much less visible captivity experience away from the battlefield; in a similar way, the prisoner took on a subordinate role in cultural discourse and representations. Therefore this very fruitful perspective for studying the phenomenon of the wartime fighter has lead to define four thematic axes:

- Language and ‘traces’ of captivity: artistic as intellectual works during and after captivity
- The role of the law and camp systems: administrative organisation and surveillance, the management of individual captives and the politics of mass captivity, military and juridical norms, prisoner treatment and the use of violence
- Interactions between captivity and societies: the relationship between captives and wartime or postwar societies, civic mobilisation in support of prisoners, official and private discourses, representations of captivity
- Capture and liberation – two experiences that demarcate captivity: interpersonal encounters as well as logistical management, diachronic approach, taking asymmetrical conflicts into particular account

For this reason, each conference session will conclude with a ‘commentator’ who will provide an interdisciplinary analysis of the session debate : specialists from other disciplines in social sciences will be invited to propose for each themes an interpretation based upon their own subjects of study or methodology in order to open out a space for shared discussion. The conference tries to reassess the link between the archives and historical research. To do this, each session will integrate a presentation focused on a particular archive collection, literal or iconographic, French or foreign, discovered or rediscovered, in the form of flash archives.

Finally, this conference will also go beyond the strictly academic framework to illustrate how the study of captivity can also meet the creative process. The conference will end with a reading from thoughts written in Oflag and a concert of music composed in captivity.

Programm

THURSDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2011

09:00 - 09:30 Arrival and Registration
09:30 - 10:00 Welcome remarks from the host institutions
- Christian Ingrao, Directeur de l’Institut d’histoire du temps présent (IHTP)
- Hervé Drévillon, Directeur à l’Institut de Recherche stratégique de l’Ecole militaire (IRSEM) / Université de Paris I – Sorbonne

Presentation of the Conference problematic
- Fabien Théofilakis, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre - la Défense / University of Augsburg
- Anne-Marie Pathé, Head of archives at the IHTP

10:00 - 10:30 Opening Speech
• John Horne, Trinity College (Dublin)
10:30 - 13:15 Language and « traces » of captivity during and after captivity
Chair : Annette Becker Université Nanterre-La Défense / Centre d'histoire de l'art et d'histoire des représentations (CPF) / Institut Universitaire de France

- Iris Rachaminov, Tel-Aviv University: « The Disruptive Comforts of Drag: (Trans)gender Performances in WWI Internment Camps »
- Matthias Reiβ, University of Exeter: « Half-Naked Nazis: Masculinity and Gender in German POW Camps in the USA during World War II »
- Peter Schöttler, IHTP / Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschicht (Berlin): « Fernand Braudel, prisonnier en Allemagne et l'histoire du temps présent »
- Suzanne Snizek, Trinity Western University (Langley BC), St. Georges School and Douglas College: « Music Making in Civilian Internment »
- Commentator Véronique Moulinié, anthropologue, Inst. interdisciplinaire d’anthropologie contemporaine (iiAC) – Laboratoire d’anthropologie et d’histoire de l’institution de la culture (Lahic – CNRS, Carcassonne)

12:45 - 13:00 Flash Archives
- Patricia Gillet, Archives nationales de France (Paris): « De nouvelles sources à explorer aux Archives Nationales »

14:30 - 14h45 Film Extracts from Etablissement de communication et de production audiovisuelle de la Défense
- Violaine Challeat-Fonck, ECPAD: « Images des prisonniers de guerre: panorama des fonds de l’ECPAD »

14:45 - 17:30 Camp systems, International law and humanitarian aid
Chair : Jörg Echternkamp, Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Potsdam)
- Heather Jones, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE - Department of International History): « Humanitarian intervention, breaches of international law and western POW’s »
- Rüdiger Overmans, Fribourg: « The fate of the Jewish POWs in German Hands »
- Delphine Debons, Institut universitaire d'histoire de la médecine et de la santé publique (Lausanne): « Lorsque le droit entrave l'action humanitaire. L'exemple de l'assistance spirituelle aux prisonniers de guerre durant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale »
(temporary title)
- Sylvie Thénault, Centre d’Histoire Sociale du XXème siècle – CNRS :« L'internement : une forme de captivité de guerre ? »
- Commentator: Jean-Paul Pancracio, juriste, directeur d'études à l'IRSEM

16:50 – 17:10 Flash Archives
- Daniel Palmieri, International Committee of the Red Cross: « Archives d’une institution humanitaire en guerre »

General Discussion

FRIDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2011
09:15 - 12:30 Interactions between captivity and societies Chair: Felicia Yap, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
- Sarah Frank, Trinity College: « Les prisonniers de guerre indigènes pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale »
- Georg Kreis, Europainstitut der Universität Basel: « Le traitement des prisonniers de guerre soviétiques en Suisse, de l’évasion à l’extradition vers l’URSS »
- Patrizia Dogliani, Università di Bologna: « D’alliés à ennemis. Les prisonniers de l'Armée allemande en Italie, 1945-1947 »
- Fabien Théofilakis, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre / University of Augsburg: « ‘Il est si gentil, ce Rodolph !’ : les PGA au contact des populations civiles françaises (1944-1948) »
- Commentator: Stéphane Dufoix, sociologue, Université Paris Ouest-Nanterre-La Défense (Sophiapol) – Institut Universitaire de France

11:00 - 11:20 Extracts from films: ECPAD
- Violaine Challeat-Fonck, ECPAD: « L’ennemi dans les reportages militaires »

11:20 - 12:00 Flash Archives
- Jörg Morré, Museum Berlin-Karlshorst: « Archives des captivités soviético-allemandes »
- Alain Alexandra, Bureau des archives des victimes des conflits contemporains, Service Historique de la Défense (BAVCC – SHD, Caen)

General Discussion

AFTERNOON
14:30- 16:00 Perceptions of the enemy and limited experiences: from capture to liberation
Modérateur : Pieter Lagrou, Université libre de Bruxelles/ EURHISTXX
- Bob Moore, University of Sheffield: « Perceptions of Axis Captives in the British Isles, 1939-1948 »
- Raffael Scheck, Colby College Waterville, Maine: « French Officers as Jailers of Their Own Men? - The ‘Indigenous’ Prisoners under French Cadres, 1943-44 »
- Raphaëlle Branche, Paris I Centre d’Histoire Sociale du XXe siècle – CNRS: « Le Front de Libération Nationale algérien (FLN) face aux soldats français prisonniers »
- Pierre Journoud, IRSEM: « Le rôle des prisonniers de guerre américains dans le rapprochement entre les Etats-Unis et le Vietnam »
- Commentator: Jérôme Larché, doctor, research associate at la Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, former member of governing board of Médecins du Monde

16:00-16:15 Flash Archives

- Aldo Battaglia, Bibliothèque de documentation internationale contemporaine (BDIC), Nanterre

General Discussion

16:40- 18:00 Round Table: Wartime captivity from one century to another (20th-21st Cent.)
Moderator: Hervé Drévillon, IRSEM / Université de Paris I – Sorbonne
Panelists: Daniel Palmieri, CICR (Geneva)
Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Colonel Goya, IRSEM
Christophe Bouton, Université de Bordeaux 3, SPH, Institut Universitaire de France
General Discussion

18:00-18:30 Closing remarks
Henry Rousso, Directeur de recherche CNRS - IHTP

Closing Night: 19:00 - 20:00
A reading of pages from the Georges Montgrédien archive
A French Officer, prisoner in Germany, 1939-1945
Concert : Récital Suite de Huyton (Suzanne Snizek)
Concerto for flute and violins, flute Musical piece composed in a British internment camp, 1940.
Performed by Suzanne Snizek and musicians of Mélo’dix

Contact (announcement)

Email: captivite2011@ihtp.cnrs.fr

www.ihtp.cnrs.fr
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Published on
14.10.2011
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