From the Department of Hopes and Dreams: the Red Cross, St. John, and POWs (WWII)

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2798

I assembled a little collection of WWII Red Cross and St. John charity pamphlets--what they all share is a sense unity, duty, perseverance, and hope. They are all published between 1942 and 1944, the majority coming in the summer of 1943--a wicked bad time for the Allies, perhaps the worst time since the Nazi onslaught of Europe. Five of these pamphlets directly addressed trying to help the prisoners of war held by Nazi Germany, and portrayed some healthy and sustaining images of the possibilities of POW life, as well as what would seem to be a high chance of delivery all manner of goods to the prisoners to make their time behind barbed wire somewhat more bearable. (Several of these short pamphlets are reproduced below, while the covers of four of them follow):

For the sake of security and the conduct of the war, there was considerable censorship  as well as a not-altogether-free reporting of the progress of campaigns and casualties. For present purposes, limiting myself to the U.S. and U.K., there were significant hearts-and-minds efforts conducted to support the general national will, and these Red Cross and St. John pamphlets were no doubt one small cog in vast array of other efforts which attempted to diminish the growth of fear and keep people focused on the positive responses that could be mustered in the time of war. 

For example, What the Red Cross & St. John Organization is Doing for Them. Prisoners of War. April 1943 discussed next-of-kin parcels, books and indoor recreations (“boredom and depression are deadly enemies in prison life and must be conquered...”), sports and games (“Conditions for sports vary from camp to camp...”), invalid comforts, occupation for invalids, and “do the parcels arrive?” The overall message: “The prisoners rely on you!” This must have made an enrmous impact on the general reader, instilling some sense of hope for the fate of the POW. 

I haven't yet seen any similar publication addressing the POWs in the hands of the Japanese, a situation entirely different from the German camps. The US and British POWs held by the Germans were far better off than those held by the Japanese. The American death rate in German POW camps was about 1.2% and the British about 3.5%. The numbers are far worse for those held by the Japanese, the death rate being 33% for the Americans and 25% for the British. (The death rates for German soldiers held by the U.S. Was only .15% (less than 1%) while those in Brit custody was an even smaller .03%.)--See Ferguson, Niall (2004), "Prisoner Taking and Prisoner Killing in the Age of Total War: Towards a Political Economy of Military Defeat", War in History, 11 (2), p. 186.

There are five pamphlets that are dedicated to collecting and (hopefully) distributing goods to prisoners of war of Nazi Germany:

 

 

Some of the pamphlets from this small collection include:

• What the Red Cross & St. John War Organization is Doing for Them. Prisoners of War. April 1943. 6pp, trifolded. Excellent piece of home-front propaganda.

• The Student Prisoner. The Work if the Educational Books Section of the Prisoner of War Department of the Red Cross & St. John. March, 1944. 6pp, trifold.

• What the Red Cross & St. John has done for Your Prisoner of War, September 1944. 8pp. Interesting marginal drawings and photos.

• British and Dominion Prisoners of War, Some Questions Answered. British Red Cross Society and Order of St John. March 1944. 6pp, trifold.

• The Work of the British Red Cross & St. John. March, 1944. 7x5", trifolded single sheet into 6pp, photos. POWs, Relief to Air-Raid Sufferers, help for CD workers.

• The Work of the British Red Cross & St. John. September 1944, 7”x5', 8pp. POWS, the hospital lbrary, under fives.

• What the Red Cross & St. John Does for the Sick and Wounded. May 1943. 7x5", April, 1943. bifolded, 4pp, photos.

• What the Red Cross & St. John War Organization Does and How it is Financed. August, 1943. Financed. 7x5", 6pp.

• What the Red Cross & St. John is Doing. (POWs, Help for Next of kin, Wounded & Missing, help for Russia...) April, 1943. 7x5", trifolded single sheet into 6pp.

• What the Red Cross & St. John Does for the Sick and Wounded. May 1943. 7x5", May 1943.8pp, about 20 photos.

• Country Homes, What the Red Cross & St. John is Doing for the Under-Fives. 7x5", August, 1943. Trifolded, 6pp, photos.

• Not for One Moment Must We Forget... “ July 1943. 6pp, trifold. Illustrated with photos. The title comes from a line in a Churchill speech extolling the world not to forget the incredible effort and losses of the Soviet Union.

• Red Cross & St. John Hospital Library—More Books Urgently Needed. January 1944, 6pp, trifold.