Geneva, 1929: the Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War

In the German soldier’s kit, as on the millions of leaflets dropped by the Americans behind enemy lines after the landings on June 6, 1944, the Geneva Convention of 1929 is displayed like an open sesame. During the Second World War, this legal text was brandished as a guarantee that prisoners of war would be treated “humanely”.

Drawn up in response to the unprecedented violence suffered by prisoners during the First World War, this new legislation was adopted on July 27, 1929 by 46 States, 37 of which subsequently ratified the text. It marked a significant step forward in the development of international humanitarian law, following on from the Hague Convention of 1899 (revised in 1907), which had consolidated the foundations of the law of war. However, the 1929 Convention crossed a new threshold by definitively recognizing a special status for captured soldiers, designed to protect them from the arbitrary actions of the forces that had captured them, as well as guaranteeing them conventional treatment.

It marks a significant step forward in the development of international humanitarian law, following on from the Hague Convention of 1899.

Its 97 articles, grouped into eight parts, govern the management of military prisoners from capture to repatriation: organization of camps, their discipline and satisfaction of the physical, spiritual and intellectual needs of the defeated; work assignments – now an obligation for non-commissioned officers – and detachment management; relations between captives and the outside world, etc. These standards make any abuse of the “most protected victims of war” – military prisoners – more measurable.

It took ten years of negotiations under the aegis of the International Committee of the Red Cross to reach this text, which officially recognizes the work of the Geneva-based organization in protecting captives. In theory at least, because from 1939 onwards, application of the convention varied according to theaters of operation and belligerent states. While the text was relatively well respected on the Western Front, some powers were clearly reluctant to apply it unequivocally, such as Nazi Germany with regard to Soviet prisoners of war. A legal text, the Convention’s application is subject to the will of States, which can be dictated by political and ideological considerations. Some then choose to interpret the provisions to their advantage, or ignore them altogether. The limitations brought to light by the Second World War led to the drafting of a new Geneva Convention in 1949 to ensure the protection of civilians; it was strengthened by the Additional Protocols of 1977, notably in favor of the victims of non-international armed conflicts.

The future museum’s collections, like its design, will place the Geneva Convention and, more broadly, international humanitarian law at the heart of the study of captivity. These legal frameworks offer a prism of analysis for both comparing different captivity regimes and weaving threads between the Second World War and the present day.

Fabien Théofilakis,
Senior Lecturer, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne
Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the future museum

Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, July 27th 1929. (link below)