Nails,tacks, and hinges: the archaeology of Camp Monticello,a World War II prisoner of war camp

ABSTRACT

“Provost Marshall General does not concur in the construction of outdoor dance floors at Monticello Internment Camp … Outdoor dance floors would be of no use at an internment camp,” the brigadier general responded to the chief of engineers in 1943. Camp Monticello, located in southeast Arkansas, was an Italian prisoner of war camp constructed according to a set of standardized building plans. Despite the brigadier general’s insistence that Camp Monticello “conform as far as possible to the standard plan,” archaeological research that combines archival research with a metal detector survey shows that the plans were influenced by local politics, access to materials, environmental conditions, and the everyday activities of the prisoners of war.     

The Long Arm of the Third Reich

Mission histories and autobiographies dealing with the internment of Germans from New Guinea in Australia during World War II remember the shock and hardship of the initial detention and the journey from New Guinea to Australia, stories of funny events and good times in the camps, and the struggle with the Australian bureaucracy to get back to New Guinea. The time of enthusiastic or reluctant commitment to National Socialist leadership and ideology has had hardly any space in personal memories or written history, neither in mission accounts nor in Australian war histories. This article examines the politics of Tatura Camp 1, where most Germans from New Guinea were interned, within the context of wider Australian and German internment policies. The Germans from New Guinea were not cut off from the outside world behind barbed wire, but became entangled in a net of interacting and conflicting agencies. By examining the role of the German Reich and Switzerland, and their interaction with the Australian government, military authorities, and internees, the article shifts away from national histories of internment, which set the interning nation as the central reference point, to transnational histories.     

For want of a nail? Proxies for analysing POW and guard access to supplies at a Confederate prison camp

ABSTRACT

Camp Lawton is a Confederate camp for Union PoWs in Georgia, USA. Built in 1864, inhabited for six weeks, and abandoned in advance of Sherman’s march to the sea, it is the focus of an ongoing research project. One of the key questions, yet unresolved, concerning Civil War POW camps is the lack of PoW access to essential supplies. Historical debates rage over the intentionality of these depravations, with a recurring argument asserting a universal privation, for guards and PoWS. The archaeology of internment camps can end this debate. Presented here are interpretations from recent fieldwork via an unlikely source: the machine-cut nail, analysed as a proxy in the absence of traditional evidence of subsistence and supply. Present in large numbers in PoW and guard areas, but clearly not architectural, this paper explores a narrative where nails, and the purpose for which they were put to, were not wanting.     

Repatriating the Japanese from New Caledonia, 1941–46

This paper considers the negotiations for the repatriation of the Japanese residents of New Caledonia who were transferred to Australia for internment after the outbreak of the Asia-Pacific theatre of World War II. It shows that whilst the Japanese residents’ place of origin was New Caledonia, it was deemed instead to be Japan, and they were repatriated to Japan either as part of the Anglo–Japanese civilian exchange of September 1942 or after the cessation of hostilities. The paper also shows that the Australian government had security concerns regarding the Japanese before and during the war but was willing to repatriate the Japanese to New Caledonia after the war should the New Caledonian authorities have been willing to accept them back. The New Caledonian authorities’ decision not to accept the Japanese back in New Caledonia resulted in their repatriation to Japan even though some expressed the wish to return to New Caledonia.     

The militarisation of aerial theatre: air displays and airmindedness in Britain and Australia between the world wars

ABSTRACT

Aerial theatre, the use of aviation spectacle to project images of future warfare, national power and technological prowess, was a key method for creating an airminded public in the early twentieth century. The most significant and influential form of aerial theatre in interwar Britain was the Royal Air Force Display at Hendon, in which military aircraft put on impressive flying performances before large crowds, including an elaborate set-piece acting out a battle scenario with an imaginary enemy. Hendon was emulated by other air displays in Britain and in Australia, even civilian ones. Indeed, the inability of the much smaller Royal Australian Air Force to regularly project spectacle on the scale of Hendon across a much larger nation created a gap which civilian aviation organisations then tried to fill. Hendon thus helped to propagate a militarised civilian aerial theatre, and hence airmindedness, in both Britain and Australia.     

Military Curfew, Race-Based Internment, and Mr. Justice Rutledge

The story is well known. A few months after Pearl Harbor, a curfew was imposed on West Coast residents of Japanese ancestry, including American citizens. Then they were confined at internment camps around the country. This tragic episode continues to generate scrutiny, including three new books last year. ¹ But there is at least one story, as yet untold, that will be of particular interest to students of the Supreme Court. Why did Justice Wiley Rutledge, the Court's newest member, who was known for his unyielding allegiance to civil liberties, join the majority in allowing internment?     

Original DocumentsRoyal Letters and other Documents Amongst the Municipal Records of the City of Exeter

Four-post buildings were found in the Outer Camp on a 1 in 6 slope, facing north-east. They had been rebuilt several times since their foundation c. 900 B.C. and were burnt c. 420 B.C. The village was then reduced to the Inner Camp but within a hundred years the Outer Camp was probably re-occupied. The hillfort was finally abandoned following a fire at about the time of the Roman advance C.A.D. 50.     

‘Samudayik Shakti’: Working-class feminism and social organisation in Subhash Camp,New Delhi

This article illustrates the intersections between architecture and agency in Subhash Camp, a squatter settlement in New Delhi, by ‘situating activism in place’. It highlights the significance of place in social action by examining the architecture of everyday places—the house, the street and the square—as the sites of both individual transformations and collective consciousness. Through observations of the activities of and interviews with members of Samudayik Shakti, a women's organisation and a men's panchayat, this article highlights a number of related processes in Subhash Camp: how different women experienced different places through everyday spatial practices; how the spatial practices in these places were shaped by different social structures at different scales, from the family to the state; how the architecture of these places was significant both as sites of control and of emancipation of women's bodies; and how this dynamic contributed to the making of social action in Subhash Camp.     

Matéo Maximoff's La Septième fille: A Roma Testimony of Internment and Assimilation

Set in the internment camp at Lannemezan where the author and his family spent two years, Matéo Maximoff's La Septième fille gives a voice to a minority group that has suffered from negative stereotypes since its arrival in France in the Middle Ages. In that work, Maximoff, the first authentic Roma novelist, blends folklore and oral tradition with historical fact, chronicling the conditions in the camp at Lannemezan even as he spins a supernatural tale worthy of the most gifted of conteurs. Informed by historical sources and ethnographic studies, this article suggests that La Septième fille may be read as a metaphor for the internment of the Roma by the Vichy regime and the policies aimed at ‘socialising’ and forcing them to become sedentary, policies that began during the Third Republic and that continued well into the twentieth century. La Septième fille is one of the rare literary works (along with Didier Daeninckx's La Route du Rom, 2003) to treat the little-known Vichy initiative of interning Roma—the majority of whom were French citizens—in 31 camps around France.     

A ‘New Angle of Vision’: British Imperial Reappraisal of Hong Kong during the Second World War

This paper examines the involvement of British officials at the Stanley Internment Camp in Hong Kong in the perpetuation of imperial ideals during the Second World War, as well as in the eventual restoration of British rule to the territory. It highlights the debates that were conducted within the camp on issues of post-war reconstruction, as well as the strategies that were devised by the internees in anticipation of the new social, economic and political orders of the post-war colonial world. The paper also highlights similar discussions that transpired within the Changi Camp in Singapore and the Lintang Camp in Sarawak (Borneo) as supplementary case studies. Remarkably, many of these ideas ran in parallel with secret planning in London, where Hong Kong and Malayan governments-in-exile conceived revamped colonial administrations following the envisaged defeat of the Japanese. A number of these wartime schemes were even implemented after the Japanese surrender in August 1945, with significant impact on the phase of post-war British imperial revival.     

The Imperialism of Internment: Boer Prisoners of War in India and Civic Reconstruction in Southern Africa, 1899–1905

During the course of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902, over 9,000 captured Boers were sent abroad to India as prisoners of war. Using hitherto unexamined sources, this article explores how, during their internment and repatriation, British officials and administrators across the empire collaborated in a concerted attempt to transform the imperial enemy into colonial collaborator. This involved a necessarily intercolonial effort to conduct a successful programme of ‘re-education’ capable of cultivating ‘white’ British virtues in preparing Boer POWs for their future rights and duties in reconstructing Southern Africa upon their repatriation. In so doing, the government of India and other colonial officials across the empire thus recapitulated their ideal of Britain’s imperial project in the Boer POW camps. Highlighting the intercoloniality of this process, India’s viceroy, Lord George Curzon, played as prominent a role as did the War Office, or South Africa’s soon-to-be pro-consul, Lord Alfred Milner. The microcosmic imperialism of Boer internment thus reveals a great deal about the nature and structure of power within the British Empire, and emphasises the value of an intercolonial or transcolonial perspective in examining the complex, global consequences of the Anglo-Boer War.     

“The ideal home of the South”: The Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate soldiers' home and the institutionalization of Confederate veterans in Virginia

For more than half a century, the Robert E. Lee Camp Soldiers' Home in Richmond, Virginia, provided shelter, food, and medical care to some of the South's neediest Confederate veterans. Applications to the Lee Camp home offer valuable insight into the post-war experiences of a substantial number of Confederate veterans and highlight the enduring effects of the Civil War upon those who fought in it. For such men, the long-term physical and economic ramifications of the conflict largely exceeded the capabilities of existing avenues of social assistance and necessitated the augmentation of state-based welfare efforts. Moreover, applications to the Lee Camp soldiers' home indicate some of the cultural assumptions which informed the home's application process and demonstrate the duality of purpose that has often been regarded by historians as a key characteristic of Confederate veterans' welfare.     

Cameroonian Schutztruppe Soldiers in Spanish-Ruled Fernando Po during the First World War: A ‘Menace to the Peace’?1

When the German forces were ousted from Cameroon in early 1916, they fled south to neutral Spanish Guinea. Tens of thousands of Cameroonians joined them. Over 20,000 African soldiers and hangers-on were eventually accommodated by the Spanish authorities on the island Fernando Po, off the Cameroonian coast. Despite mounting Allied pressure on Spain to disband and repatriate the troops, they remained on the island until after armistice. They were largely under German control, and received military training during their internment. The delayed repatriation of Cameroonian soldiers, in 1919, had a pronounced effect on their communities at home.     

The Materiality of Mental Health at the Morrissey World War I Internment Camp

Historical Archaeology - To date, very little is known archaeologically about First World War–era internment camps, especially in Canada, where this history was actively erased through the...     

The Battle of Saipan in Japanese Civilian Memoirs: Non-combatants,Soldiers and the Complexities of Surrender

In Japan, ‘Saipan’ refers both to a nearby tropical holiday, and to the site of a battle that annihilated Japanese troops, embroiled the large population of Japanese residents on the island and ultimately spelled the end of the Japanese empire, now within the reach of bombers. In other places, and particularly amongst the Allies, Saipan conjures up images of civilians jumping to their death rather than facing capture, leading to simplistic assessments about fanaticism being rife across all sections of Japanese society; to a focus on suicide that overshadows the true extent of the battle’s collateral damage; and to largely unexamined statements about military exploitation of civilians and the murder of civilians in extremis. This article uses the memoirs of civilian survivors of the battle to reflect on the civilian experience of the battle of Saipan, relationships between Japanese combatants and non-combatants during the fighting, and the complexities of surrender.     

REVIEWS

Ancient Ruins and Archæology. By L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine C. de Camp. Published by Rigby Ltd., Adelaide, 1965 (also published by Doubleday & Co. Inc. U.S.A. and Souvenir Press Ltd. London). Pp. 1–294. Illustrated. Price 47/6 Aust. (A$4.75).     

‘History from the inside’ South African Prisoner-of-War Experience in Work Camp 1169, Dresden, 1943–1945

This article narrates the experiences of white English-speaking South African Prisoners-of-War in Dresden Work Camp 1169 during the Second World War. Work Camp 1169 was populated predominantly by South African servicemen, and the availability of their memoirs and diaries, as well as first-hand interviews with some of the former inmates of this camp, provide an opportunity to analyse their experiences in terms of national identity, how well they adapted to captivity and how they managed relationships between themselves, their captors and the German citizens with whom they came into contact.     

Why protect civilians? Innocence,immunity and enmity in war

The issue of civilians in war has risen to new heights in international political consciousness in recent years. The principle of civilian protection has been at once the justification for war and the main guide to the conduct of such wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan ands most recently in Iraq. The so-called new wars of the 1990s have seen a consistent pattern of massive civilian atrocity and the new policies of massive global terrorism are similarly intent on civilian attack. It remains to be seen how well those pursuing the war against terror will hold to the civilian ethic. In truth, the idea of the civilian is a deeply contested one and has more usually been rejected than embraced by those who pursue war, political violence and terror. The simple power of the idea itself and the humanitarian sentiment that accompanies it to produce the notion of 'innocent civilians' cannot be relied upon to make a reality of civilian protection. Instead, the case for civilian identity and civilian protection must be determinedly and continuously argued in war. This means recognizing the main sources of political, passionate and practical objection to the civilian idea and taking them on one by one as they arise. Repeatedly arguing the case for civilian rights must be at the very heart of political, military, humanitarian and religious endeavour. Arguments of prudence and self-interest must be made alongside much deeper and more difficult moral arguments about people's innocence, their identity and their relationship to war. Holding fast to the civilian ethic in the face of terror and war requires significant moral argument and moral leadership from politicians, military commanders and ordinary people alike.     

Stable Isotope Analysis Reveals Variations in Human Diet at the Poundbury Camp Cemetery Site

Stable isotope analysis was undertaken on 48 individuals from Iron Age, Roman and Post-Roman periods of the Poundbury Camp Cemetery, Dorchester, England. Variations in diet, reflected by the stable isotope values, were observed between individuals from the different time periods. Differences in diet within the Late Roman period were particularly interesting, as we found that the isotope values could be related to burial type. We also found evidence of possible immigrants at Poundbury; individuals that may have come to the site from a warmer climate.     

Military and Civilian Governance in the Western Borderlands of the Russian Empire during the First World War

On the whole, the civilian and military authorities were able to coordinate and compromise in governing Russia’s western borderlands during the First World War, despite constant military interference in civilian governance and a certain apathy in the center, both of which contributed to administrative disunity from the onset of the war.