James Quinn
“ ‘You Have No Place’: The Captivity and Homecoming of the French prisoners of war, 1940-1945”
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Abstract
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Approximately 1.6 million French prisoners of war were held in Germany from 1940 to 1945. These prisoners were slave laborers and almost entirely cut off from France. In an attempt to increase domestic political support, the Vichy government exploited the prisoners by portraying them as dependent and loyal to the regime. This propaganda stigmatized the prisoners by depicting their captivity as mild and identifying them as supporters of an authoritarian regime. Due to this faulty impression many returnees experienced difficulty reintegrating into civilian society upon their homecoming. The prisoners were seen by some as not having served honorably, not having suffered to the same extent as those back home, and being guilty of betraying the republican principles of France. Preliminary research by other historians indicates that a large percentage of the returnees developed what today would be diagnosed as post traumatic stress disorder.
Research on these prisoners will make a valuable contribution to the study of the long-term psychological and social costs of warfare, both to individuals and societies. Veterans and war victims who develop disabilities represent a continuing cost societies must bear long after the conclusion of a conflict. A greater understanding of how these disabilities are formed and how to reduce their prevalence will benefit not only returning veterans, but also societies during the transition period from war to peace.
Though the generous support offered by the Center for European Studies I will be able to spend two months in Paris this summer researching archival holdings and discussing my approach with scholars and private and public historical organizations working in areas related to my own subject.
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