Captivity and repatriation of German army prisoners of war held in Russia (1914-1922): a review of foreign historiography

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive historiographical analysis of research dedicated to German prisoners of war in Russia and their repatriation after the First World War. Based on the scholarly contributions of leading Western researchers, the transformation of methodological approaches to studying military captivity is revealed – from traditional military-political history to sociocultural, anthropological, and gender studies. Particular attention is paid to the works of G. Davis, who was among the first to examine POW camps as specific social communities and analyze the activities of humanitarian organizations in providing assistance to POWs. The article investigates R. Nachtigal’s contribution to studying regional aspects of the captivity system, particularly his research on the deployment of German POWs in constructing the Murmansk Railway and ethnic discrimination in the camps, as well as his proposed periodization of the repatriation process. The significance of G. Wurzer’s works, based on studies of regional Siberian archives with attention to psychological aspects of captivity, is highlighted. The article analyzes J. Oltmer’s approach, which examines the POW issue within the context of migration processes, and A. Rachamimov’s innovative research on cultural and gender aspects of camp life. The article reveals historiographical divergences regarding the assessment of mortality rates and political orientations of prisoners during the revolutionary period. Specific aspects of the Russian captivity system are analyzed, including its geographical dispersion from border regions to Siberia and Turkestan, ethnic discrimination, and the extensive use of prisoners in various economic sectors. The peculiarities of German POW repatriation after the First World War and the roles of the League of Nations and Fridtjof Nansen’s mission in organizing their return to their homeland are examined. The research establishes that approximately 32,000-34,000 German prisoners of war were repatriated by March 1922; however, a significant number remained in the former Russian Empire for various reasons. Prospective directions for further research are identified, i.e. studying aspects of German prisoners’ captivity in Ukrainian territories, investigating the fate of prisoners who did not return to their homeland, and comparative analysis of captivity systems across belligerent states. The article demonstrates that the historiography of German POWs in Russia and their repatriation reflects the general tendency in historical science of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries toward interdisciplinarity and the expansion of methodological tools.