A Laboratory of Humanitarianism: Military and Civilian Captivity during the First World War

NLM History Talk
Scholarship on captivity in modern conflicts has mostly focused on its violent aspects and on the very real physical and mental suffering of prisoners of war. This presentation will instead show why the First World War provided a unique laboratory for experimenting with different kinds of humanitarian assistance to those experiencing prolonged incarceration and separation from their families. Building on Dr. Stibbe’s recently published research his talk will examine three different but overlapping approaches to humanitarian assistance: relief work, efforts to enforce and enhance existing international conventions, and pressures placed on captor nations to come to prisoner exchange agreements. The presentation will conclude by examining the legacy of these developments for cultural and medical understandings of wartime captivity in the inter-war period and beyond.

Air date: Thursday, May 5, 2022, 2:00:00 PM
Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local