Editing Prisoner of war (section)

===Treatment of POWs by the Axis===

====Empire of Japan====

{{See also|Far East prisoners of war|Japanese war crimes}}
[[File:Bosbritsurrendergroup.jpg|thumb|Troops of the [[Suffolk Regiment]] surrendering to the Japanese after the [[Fall of Singapore|Battle of Singapore]], 1942]]
The [[Empire of Japan]], which had signed but never ratified the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebSign?ReadForm&id=305&ps=S |title=International Humanitarian Law – State Parties / Signatories |publisher=Icrc.org |date=27 July 1929 |access-date=14 April 2012}}</ref> did not treat prisoners of war in accordance with international agreements, including provisions of the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Conventions]], either during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] or during the [[Pacific War]], because the Japanese viewed surrender as dishonorable. Moreover, according to a directive ratified on 5 August 1937 by [[Emperor Hirohito]], the constraints of the Hague Conventions were explicitly removed on Chinese prisoners of war.<ref>Akira Fujiwara, ''Nitchû Sensô ni Okeru Horyo Gyakusatsu'', Kikan Sensô Sekinin Kenkyû 9, 1995, p. 22</ref>

Prisoners of war from China, the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Japanese-occupied Asia, held by Japanese imperial armed forces were subject to murder, torture (both physical and psychological), beatings, extrajudicial punishment, [[Slavery in Japan|slavery]], [[Unit 731|medical experiments]], starvation rations, poor medical treatment and [[Chichijima incident|cannibalism]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japanese-troops-ate-flesh-of-enemies-and-civilians-1539816.html|author=McCarthy, Terry|title=Japanese troops ate flesh of enemies and civilians|newspaper=The Independent|date=12 August 1992|location=London|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512013235/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japanese-troops-ate-flesh-of-enemies-and-civilians-1539816.html|archive-date= 12 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cooksontributeb29.com/uploads/5/8/6/5/5865941/b29_fukubayashi.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405180657/http://www.cooksontributeb29.com/uploads/5/8/6/5/5865941/b29_fukubayashi.pdf|archive-date= 5 April 2023|title=An excellent reference for Japan and the treatment of US Airmen Pows is Toru Fukubayashi, "Allied Aircraft and Airmen Lost over Japanese Mainland" 20 May 2007. (PDF File 20 pages)}}</ref> The most notorious use of forced labour was in the construction of the Burma–Thailand [[Death Railway]]. After 20 March 1943, the Imperial Navy was ordered to kill prisoners of war taken at sea.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Felton |first1=Mark |title=Slaughter at Sea: The Story of Japan's Naval War Crimes |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-84415-647-4 |pages=252|publisher=Pen & Sword Maritime }}</ref> After the [[Armistice of Cassibile]], Italian soldiers and civilians in East Asia were taken as prisoners of war by Japanese armed forces and subject to the same conditions as other POWs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tsuyoshi |first1=Masuda |title=Forgotten tragedy of Italian war detainees |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/816/ |website=nhk.or.jp |publisher=NHK World |access-date=30 June 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406111747/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/816/|archive-date= 6 April 2023}}</ref>
[[File:March of Death from Bataan to the prison camp - Dead soldiers.jpg|thumb|Thousands of US and Filipino POWs died on the [[Bataan Death March]], April 1942]]
According to the findings of the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East|Tokyo Tribunal]], the Japanese captured 350,000 POWs, of which 131,134 came from Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Of these 131,134 POWs, 35,756 died while detained, the death rate of Western prisoners was thus 27.1 per cent, seven times that of Western POWs under the Germans and Italians.<ref name="hidden">{{cite book |author=Yuki Tanaka |author-link=Yuki Tanaka (historian) |title=Hidden Horrors |date=1996 |publisher=Avalon Publishing |isbn=978-0813327181 |pages=2, 3}}</ref> The death rate of Chinese was much higher. Thus, while 37,583 prisoners from the United Kingdom, 28,500 from the Netherlands, and 14,473 from the United States were released after the [[surrender of Japan]], the number for the Chinese was only 56.<ref name =hidden/><ref>[[Herbert Bix]], ''[[Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan]]'', 2001, p. 360</ref> The 27,465 US Army POWs captured in the Pacific Theater, including Filipinos, had a 40.4 per cent death rate.<ref>Statistical and Accounting Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, U.S. Department of the Army, ''Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths in World War II. Final Report, 7 December 1941–31 December 1946,'' page 5</ref> The War Ministry in Tokyo issued an order at the end of the war allowing local commanders to kill remaining POWs without formal orders from Tokyo.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/e_atrocities.html Japanese Atrocities in the Philippines] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030727223501/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/e_atrocities.html|date=27 July 2003}}". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="4" |Number of Western Allied POWs and Death Rate Under the Japanese<ref>Based on data in "Horyo Saishū Ronkoku Fuzoku-sho 'B'", Kykutō Kokusai Gunji Saiben No. 337, February 19, 1948.</ref><ref name="hidden" />
|-
!Country
!Number of POWs
!Number of Deaths
!Death Rate
|-
|Australia
|21,726
|7,412
|34.1
|-
| Canada||1,691
|273
|16.1
|-
| New Zealand||121
|31
|25.6
|-
|The Netherlands||37,000
|8,500
|22.9
|-
|United Kingdom||50,016
|12,433
|24.8
|-
|United States
|21,580
|7,107 
|32.9
|-
|Total
|132,134 
|35,756
|27.1
|}

No direct access to the POWs was provided to the [[International Red Cross]]. Escapes among the [[European descent|prisoners of European descent]] were almost impossible because of the difficulty of hiding in Asiatic populations.<ref>''Prisoners of the Japanese : POWs of World War II in the Pacific'', by Gavan Daws, {{ISBN|0-688-14370-9}}</ref>

Allied POW camps and ship-transports became accidental targets of Allied attacks. The number of deaths which occurred when Japanese "[[hell ship]]s"—unmarked transport ships in which POWs were transported in harsh conditions—were attacked by [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] [[submarine]]s was particularly high. Gavan Daws has calculated that "of all POWs who died in the Pacific War, one in three was killed on the water by friendly fire".<ref>{{cite book|last=Daws|first=Gavan|title=Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific|year=1994|publisher=Scribe Publications|isbn=1-920769-12-9|pages=295–297|location=Melbourne}}</ref> Daws states that 10,800 of the 50,000 POWs shipped by the Japanese were killed at sea<ref>Daws (1994), p. 297</ref> while Donald L. Miller states that "approximately 21,000 Allied POWs died at sea, about 19,000 of them killed by friendly fire."<ref>{{cite book|first = Donald L.|last = Miller|title = D-Days in the Pacific|page = 317|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zRd-z7amBj0C&pg=PA317|publisher = Simon and Schuster|date = 2008|isbn = 978-1439128817}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Life in the POW camps was recorded at great risk to themselves by artists such as [[Jack Bridger Chalker]], [[Philip Meninsky]], [[Ashley George Old]], and [[Ronald Searle]]. Human hair was often used for brushes, plant juices and blood for paint, toilet paper as the "canvas". Some of their works were used as evidence in the trials of Japanese war criminals.

Female prisoners (detainees) at [[Changi Prison]] in Singapore, recorded their ordeal in seemingly harmless prison quilt embroidery.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Threads of life : a history of the world through the eye of a needle|last=Hunter|first=Clare|publisher=Spectre (Hodder & Stoughton)|year=2019|isbn=978-1473687912|location=London|pages=50–58}}</ref>

<gallery widths="140" heights="140">
File:Portrait of "Dusty" Rhodes by Ashley George Old.jpg|Water colour sketch of "Dusty" Rhodes by [[Ashley George Old]]
File:POWs Burma Thai RR.jpg|Australian and Dutch POWs at Tarsau, Thailand in 1943
File:Army nurses rescued from Santo Tomas 1945h.jpg|[[Angels of Bataan|U.S. Army Nurses]] in [[Santo Tomas Internment Camp]], 1943
File:Navy Nurses Rescued from Los Banos.jpg|[[United States Navy Nurse Corps|U.S. Navy nurses]] rescued from Los Baños Internment Camp, March 1945
File:Gaunt allied prisoners of war at Aomori camp near Yokohama cheer rescuers from U.S. Navy. Waving flags of the United... - NARA - 520992.tif|Allied prisoners of war at Aomori camp near [[Yokohama]], Japan, waving flags of the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands in August 1945
File:Canadian POWs in Manilla Philippines 1945.gif|Liberated Canadian POWs arriving in Manilla, Philippines, 1945
File:Aso Mining POWs.jpg|Malnourished Australian POWs forced to work at the Aso mining company, August 1945
File:Giving a sick man a drink as US POWs of Japanese, Philippine Islands, Cabanatuan prison camp.jpg|POW art depicting [[Raid at Cabanatuan#POW camp|Cabanatuan prison camp]], produced in 1946
File:LeonardGSiffleet.jpg|Australian POW [[Leonard Siffleet]] captured at New Guinea moments before his execution with a Japanese [[shin gunto]] sword in 1943
File:Japanese atrocities imperial war museum K9923.jpg|Captured soldiers of the British Indian Army executed by the Japanese
</gallery>

====Germany====
=====French soldiers=====
{{main|French prisoners of war in World War II}}
After the French armies surrendered in summer 1940, Germany seized two million French prisoners of war and sent them to camps in Germany. About one third were released on various terms. Of the remainder, the officers and non-commissioned officers were kept in camps and did not work. The privates were sent out to work. About half of them worked for German agriculture, where food supplies were adequate and controls were lenient. The others worked in factories or mines, where conditions were much harsher.<ref>Richard Vinen, ''The Unfree French: Life under the Occupation'' (2006) pp. 183–214</ref>

=====Western Allies' POWs=====
{{see also|Belgian prisoners of war in World War II}}
Germany and Italy generally treated prisoners from the [[British Empire]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]], France, the U.S., and other western Allies in accordance with the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|Geneva Convention]], which had been signed by these countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cicr.org/ihl.nsf/WebSign?ReadForm&id=305&ps=P |title=International Humanitarian Law – State Parties / Signatories |publisher=Cicr.org |access-date=14 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205211218/http://www.cicr.org/ihl.nsf/WebSign?ReadForm&id=305&ps=P |archive-date=5 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Consequently, western Allied officers were not usually made to work and some personnel of lower rank were usually compensated, or not required to work either. The main complaints of western Allied prisoners of war in [[Wehrmacht|German]] POW camps—especially during the last two years of the war—concerned shortages of food.
[[File:American POWs AF Museum.jpg|left|thumb|Representation of a "Forty-and-eight" boxcar used to transport American POWs in Germany during World War II]]
Only a small proportion of western Allied POWs who were Jews—or whom the Nazis believed to be Jewish—were killed as part of [[the Holocaust]] or were subjected to other [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] policies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/jewish-american-pows-europe#:~:text=An%20estimated%209%2C000%20American%20Jews,of%20both%20pride%20and%20peril.&text=Around%20500%2C000%20American%20Jews%20served,risk%20should%20they%20be%20captured.|title=Pride and Peril: Jewish American POWs in Europe|website=The National WWII Museum |date=26 May 2021 |access-date=21 April 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405180657/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/jewish-american-pows-europe|archive-date= 5 April 2023}}</ref> For example, Major [[Yitzhak Ben-Aharon]], a [[Palestinian Jew]] who had enlisted in the British Army, and who was captured by the Germans in [[Greek Campaign|Greece in 1941]], experienced four years of captivity under entirely normal conditions for POWs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/Gallery+of+People+(Biographies)/Ben+Aharon+Yitzhak.htm |title=Ben Aharon Yitzhak |publisher=Jafi.org.il |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318070158/http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/Gallery+of+People+(Biographies)/Ben+Aharon+Yitzhak.htm |archive-date=18 March 2012 }}</ref>

A small number of Allied personnel were sent to concentration camps, for a variety of reasons including being Jewish.<ref>See, for example, [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=295291169228827 Joseph Robert White, 2006, "Flint Whitlock. Given Up for Dead: American GIs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611020900/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=295291169228827 |date=11 June 2007 }} (book review)</ref> As the US historian Joseph Robert White put it: "An important exception ... is the sub-camp for U.S. POWs at [[Berga, Thuringia|Berga an der Elster]], officially called ''[[Arbeitslager|Arbeitskommando]] 625'' [also known as ''[[Stalag IX-B]]'']. Berga was the deadliest work detachment for American captives in Germany. 73 men who participated, or 21 percent of the detachment, perished in two months. 80 of the 350 POWs were Jews."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Inskeep |first=Steve |date=30 May 2005 |title='Soldiers and Slaves' Details Saga of Jewish POWs |language=en |pages=1 |work=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/2005/05/30/4672288/soldiers-and-slaves-details-saga-of-jewish-pows |access-date=10 January 2023}}</ref> Another well-known example was a group of 168 Australian, British, Canadian, New Zealand and US aviators who were held for two months at [[Buchenwald concentration camp]];<ref>See: [https://web.archive.org/web/20230207180457/https://www.rcafassociation.ca/heritage/history/buchenwald/allied-officers-deported-to-buchenwald-klb-club-archives/ Royal Canadian Air Force Association, "Allied Officers Deported to Buchenwald"] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20071114105127/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil:80/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1575 National Museum of the USAF, "Allied Victims of the Holocaust"].</ref> two of the POWs died at Buchenwald. Two possible reasons have been suggested for this incident: German authorities wanted to make an example of ''[[terror bombing|Terrorflieger]]'' ("terrorist aviators") or these aircrews were classified as spies, because they had been disguised as civilians or enemy soldiers when they were apprehended.

[[File:Pow telegram.jpg|thumb|Telegram notifying parents of an American POW of his capture by Germany]]
Information on conditions in the stalags is contradictory depending on the source. Some American POWs claimed the Germans were victims of circumstance and did the best they could, while others accused their captors of brutalities and forced labour. In any case, the prison camps were miserable places where food rations were meager and conditions squalid. One American admitted "The only difference between the stalags and concentration camps was that we weren't gassed or shot in the former. I do not recall a single act of compassion or mercy on the part of the Germans." Typical meals consisted of a bread slice and watery potato soup which was still more substantial than what Soviet POWs or concentration camp inmates received. Another prisoner stated that "The German plan was to keep us alive, yet weakened enough that we wouldn't attempt escape."<ref>Ambrose, pp 360{{full citation needed|date=September 2021}}</ref>

As the Red Army approached some POW camps in early 1945, German guards forced western Allied POWs [[The March (1945)|to walk]] long distances towards central Germany, often in extreme winter weather conditions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.b24.net/powMarch.htm|title=Death March from Stalag Luft 4 during WWII|website=www.b24.net|access-date=26 October 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705073356/https://www.b24.net/powMarch.htm|archive-date= 5 July 2017}}</ref> It is estimated that, out of 257,000 POWs, about 80,000 were subject to such marches and up to 3,500 of them died as a result.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Guests of the Third Reich|url=https://guestsofthethirdreich.org/liberation/|access-date=26 October 2020|website=guestsofthethirdreich.org|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407045309/https://guestsofthethirdreich.org/liberation/|archive-date= 7 April 2023}}</ref>

=====Italian POWs=====
{{main|Operation Achse|Italian military internees|Massacre of the Acqui Division}}

In September 1943 after the Armistice, Italian officers and soldiers in many places waiting for orders were arrested by Germans and Italian fascists and taken to internment camps in Germany or Eastern Europe, where they were held for the duration of the war. The International Red Cross could do nothing for them, as they were not regarded as POWs, but the prisoners held the status of "[[Italian military internees|military internees]]". Treatment of the prisoners was generally poor. The author [[Giovannino Guareschi]] was among those interned and wrote about this time in his life. The book was translated and published as ''My Secret Diary''. He wrote about semi-starvation, the casual murder of individual prisoners by guards and how, when they were released (now from a German camp), they found a deserted German town filled with foodstuffs that they (with other released prisoners) ate.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}. It is estimated that of the 700,000 Italians taken prisoner by the Germans, around 40,000 died in detention and more than 13,000 lost their lives during the transportation from the Greek islands to the mainland.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.anrp.it/le-porte-della-memoria/|title = Le porte della Memoria|access-date = 12 November 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406111751/http://www.anrp.it/le-porte-della-memoria/|archive-date= 6 April 2023}}</ref>

=====Eastern European POWs=====
{{Main|German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war|German atrocities committed against Polish prisoners of war}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B21845, Sowjetische Kriegsgefangene im Lager.jpg|left|thumb|An improvised camp for Soviet POWs. Between June 1941 and January 1942, the Nazis killed an estimated 2.8&nbsp;million Soviet prisoners of war, whom they viewed as "[[Untermensch|subhuman]]".<ref>Daniel Goldhagen, ''Hitler's Willing Executioners'' (p. 290)—"2.8&nbsp;million young, healthy Soviet POWs" killed by the Germans, "mainly by starvation ... in less than eight months" of 1941–42, before "the decimation of Soviet POWs ... was stopped" and the Germans "began to use them as laborers".</ref>]]

Between 1941 and 1945 the Axis powers took about 5.7&nbsp;million Soviet prisoners. About one million of them were released during the war, in that their status changed but they remained under German authority. A little over 500,000 either escaped or were liberated by the Red Army. Some 930,000 more were found alive in camps after the war. The remaining 3.3&nbsp;million prisoners (57.5% of the total captured) died during their captivity.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/world_war_2/3037296.html |title= Soviet Prisoners of War: Forgotten Nazi Victims of World War II |publisher= [[Historynet.com]] |access-date= 14 April 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080330210330/http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/world_war_2/3037296.html |archive-date= 30 March 2008 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> Between the launching of [[Operation Barbarossa]] in the summer of 1941 and the following spring, 2.8&nbsp;million of the 3.2&nbsp;million Soviet prisoners taken died while in German hands.<ref>{{cite book|last= Davies|first= Norman|title= Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory|publisher= Pan Books|location= London|year= 2006|page= 271|isbn= 978-0-330-35212-3|title-link= Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory}}</ref> According to Russian military historian General [[Grigoriy Krivosheyev]], the Axis powers took 4.6&nbsp;million Soviet prisoners, of whom 1.8&nbsp;million were found alive in camps after the war and 318,770 were released by the Axis during the war and were then drafted into the Soviet armed forces again.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite web |url= http://gpw.tellur.ru/page.html?r=facts&s=losses |title= Report at the session of the Russian association of WWII historians in 1998 |publisher= Gpw.tellur.ru |access-date= 14 April 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120320223821/http://gpw.tellur.ru/page.html?r=facts&s=losses |archive-date= 20 March 2012 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> By comparison, 8,348 Western Allied prisoners died in German camps during 1939–45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael Burleigh |title=The Third Reich – A New History |publisher=Hill and Wang |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8090-9325-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/thirdreichnewhis00burl/page/512 512–513] |author-link=Michael Burleigh |url=https://archive.org/details/thirdreichnewhis00burl/page/512 }}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 192-208, KZ Mauthausen, Sowjetische Kriegsgefangene.jpg|thumb|Naked Soviet prisoners of war in [[Mauthausen concentration camp]]]] 
The Germans officially justified their policy on the grounds that the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention. Legally, however, under article 82 of the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|Geneva Convention]], signatory countries had to give POWs of all signatory and non-signatory countries the rights assigned by the convention.<ref name="art%2E%2082">{{cite web |url= http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebART/305-430083?OpenDocument|title= Part VIII: Execution of the convention #Section I: General provisions |access-date= 29 November 2007}}</ref> Shortly after the German invasion in 1941, the USSR made Berlin an offer of a reciprocal adherence to the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Conventions]]. Third Reich officials left the Soviet "note" unanswered.<ref>Beevor, ''Stalingrad''. Penguin 2001 {{ISBN|0-14-100131-3}} p. 60</ref><ref>James D. Morrow, ''Order within Anarchy: The Laws of War as an International Institution'', 2014, p. 218</ref>

====Romania====
=====Soviet POWs=====
Between 1941 and 1944, 91,060 Soviet prisoners of war were captured by the [[Romanian Army]]. Until August 1944, 5,221 Soviet prisoners died in Romanian camps mainly to disease during winter. The POWs were treated according to the 1929 Geneva Convention, which was ratified by Romania on 15 September 1931. Initially, the prisoners were held in five POW camps in [[Vulcan, Brașov|Vulcan]], [[Găești]], [[Drăgășani]], [[Alexandria, Romania|Alexandria]] and [[Slobozia]]. By 1942, the number reached 12 camps of which 10 were in Romania, and two in [[Transnistria Governorate|Transnistria]] at [[Tiraspol]] and [[Odesa]]. As the frontline moved further away, the captured prisoners were given to German POW camps, and then they were transferred to Romanian ones after requests from the Romanian authorities.<ref name="Dutu1">{{cite web|url=https://alesandrudutu.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/prizonieri-de-razboi-sovietici-in-romania-1941-1944/|title=Prizonieri de război sovietici în România (1941–1944)|language=ro|first=Alesandru|last=Duțu|date=25 November 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Bess7.JPG|thumb|left|Soviet POWs escorted by a Romanian cavalryman in 1941]]
In the winter of 1941/1942, the conditions of the POW camps were unsatisfactory, leading to the deaths of prisoners due to various diseases. The conditions were improved in 1942 when, by order of Marshal [[Ion Antonescu]], the organisations leading the camps were to permanently control how the prisoners were accommodated, cared for, fed, and used. Due to some problems that arose with the food allowance in 1942, it was decided that the prisoners were to be fed like the Romanian troops, with an allocated 30 [[Romanian leu|lei]] per soldier per day.<ref name="Dutu1"/>

In accordance with Article 27 of the Geneva Convention, the POWs were used in various productive activities. In return for providing work, the prisoners were granted payment and accommodation, as well as free time for cleaning, rest, and religious or other activities by their employers, according to the contracts signed with the commanders of the prison camps. The main workplaces for prisoners were in agriculture and industrial enterprises, but also in forestry, civil works, and in service of the POW camps.<ref name="Dutu1"/>

For correspondence with their families, the prisoners were provided with postcards. However, most of these were not used as the POWs feared reprisals from the Soviet authorities upon learning that they were prisoners in Romania. The punishment of POWs in the Romanian camps was applied following the regulations of the Romanian Army. Executions by firing squad were few. The escapees who were caught and did not commit any acts of sabotage or espionage were tried by [[court-martial]] and sentenced to prison terms from 3–6 months to several years. After 23 August 1944, the Soviet POWs were handed over to the Soviet headquarters.<ref name="Dutu1"/>

=====Western Allies' POWs=====
[[File:Bucharest Day 2 - Institutul Teologic (9337908278).jpg|thumb|The {{ill|Bucharest Faculty of Orthodox Theology|ro|Facultatea de Teologie Ortodoxă a Universității din București}}, the former Normal School used as Camp No. 13 during the war]]
The first Americans were captured in Romania following [[Operation Tidal Wave]]. The airmen were interned at first in the court of the Central Seminary in [[Bucharest]], with the wounded airmen taken to the no. 415 Hospital in [[Sinaia]]. After Marshal Antonescu's visits, a new camp was to be set up, and the prisoners were to be treated according to the Geneva Convention. In September, all 110 POWs were transferred to the villas belonging to the Brașov and Giurgiu City Halls at [[Timișul de Jos]], in the newly established Camp No. 14 (''Lagărul de prizonieri nr. 14'').<ref name="Dutu2">{{cite web|url=https://alesandrudutu.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/1943-1944-prizonieri-de-razboi-americani-si-englezi-in-romania/|title=1943 – 1944. Prizonieri de război americani și englezi în România|language=ro|first=Alesandru|last=Duțu|date=2 August 2015}}</ref> The excellent living conditions at the camp earned it the nickname "gilded cage", with the prisoners describing it as "probably the best prison camp in the world".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://historia.ro/sectiune/general/prizonierii-americani-in-colivia-de-aur-de-la-2317030.html|title=Prizonierii americani în "colivia de aur" de la Timișu de Jos|language=ro|first=Alexandru|last=Armă|access-date=29 March 2024}}</ref> The treatment of the Allied POWs was overseen by Princess [[Catherine Caradja]], who was nicknamed "The Angel of Ploiești" by the airmen.<ref name="reunion">{{cite web|url=https://www.iar80flyagain.org/operatiunea-reunion-i/|title=Operatiunea Reunion (I)|language=ro|website=iar80flyagain.org|date=28 October 2022}}</ref>

In the spring of 1944, with the increasing number of American and British prisoners due to the [[Western Allied campaign in Romania|restarted air campaign]], a new camp was set up in Bucharest.<ref name="Dutu2"/> Camp No. 13 from Bucharest was initially located within the barracks of the [[Michael the Brave 30th Guards Brigade|6th Guard Regiment "Mihai Viteazul"]], in a frequently bombed area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aircrewremembered.com/tichborne-lawrence-franklin.html|title=No. 40 Squadron Wellington X ME990 -R F/O. Lawrence Franklin Tichborne|website=aircrewremembered.com|date=October 2018}}</ref> It was later moved to the [[Normal School]] on St. Ecaterina Street. In June 1944, the non-commissioned officers were transferred to a wing of the {{ill|"Regina Elisabeta" Military Hospital|ro|Spitalul Universitar de Urgență Militar Central „Dr. Carol Davila"}}. After 23 August, at the request of the prisoners to be organised into a military unit, General [[Ioan Mihail Racoviță|Mihail Racoviță]] approved the transfer of 896 POWs to the barracks of the 4th [[Vânători (military unit)|Vânători]] Regiment. All Western Allied POWs were evacuated to Italy during [[Operation Reunion]] from 	31 August to 3 September.<ref name="Dutu2"/><ref name="reunion"/>