[HN Gopher] The Economic Organization of a POW Camp
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       The Economic Organization of a POW Camp
        
       Author : BerislavLopac
       Score  : 28 points
       Date   : 2022-11-23 09:17 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (fermatslibrary.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (fermatslibrary.com)
        
       | scrappyjoe wrote:
       | Thank you for posting this. It covers pretty much every aspect of
       | Econ 101, in a far more interesting and realistic manner than any
       | university textbook I've read.
        
       | samizdis wrote:
       | A fascinating read, and it touches on many, many aspects of WWII
       | PoW camp life as described by Eric Williams [1] in _The Tunnel_ ,
       | which is contemplative and introspective, in contrast to the
       | heroic and dramatic tone of _The Wooden Horse_ , to which it is
       | the prequel. (A film [2] of _The Wooden Horse_ was made in the
       | 1950s.)
       | 
       | I first read _The Tunnel_ at age 11, and have read it at least
       | once a year since. I 've gone through so many copies; they just
       | fell apart because of the heavy use. I have no idea why I find
       | the book so compelling; perhaps just the wonderfully observed
       | details of everyday life in captivity, and the skill of the
       | author in portraying the characters with real depth and humanity.
       | 
       | A brief check online suggests that _The Tunnel_ is still
       | available in print, but it 's also available online [3].
       | 
       | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Williams_(writer)
       | 
       | [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wooden_Horse
       | 
       | [3] https://libgen.is/fiction/4CF098F04259F652F7819408A28B0FC4
        
       | aaron695 wrote:
        
       | ggm wrote:
       | The protecting powers insisted on a per capita minimum of some
       | things and parcels of surplus value were delivered regularly. It
       | altered the economics. Accumulated surplus could be seized, by
       | camp authorities or for redistribution by the prisoners self
       | appointed authority or for "X" (escape and subversion)
       | 
       | Russian POWs had a different economy: they had no protecting
       | powers having not signed the geneva conventions. As did
       | concentration camp victims. Primo Levi wrote in "the periodic
       | table" about stealing welding ignition bars to scrape down to
       | size and resell as lighter flints, to survive.
       | 
       | Prisoners sold art and crafts. Prisoners bartered goods from the
       | red Cross parcels for favours. There was probably a complex
       | exchange of goods for favours, for sex, and sex for goods. Within
       | the prisoners and with guards and wider society.
       | 
       | Scarcity value and exchange value and inflation were probably as
       | distorted as in eve online.
       | 
       | Kurt Vonnegut wrote about labouring in a maltose syrup factory,
       | and working to clear bodies in Dresden. Non commissioned and
       | other ranks POW worked for cents per day, mandatory sometimes.
       | Officers did not have to work.
       | 
       | Solzhenitsyn writes in "Ivan Denisovich" of the economy of the
       | gulag. Not a POW camp but perhaps not dissimilar?
       | 
       | The economics of survival are complicated. Primo Levi carried
       | lifelong burdens as a camp survivor. He's on record in "the
       | drowned and the saved" and "is this a man" as saying to survive
       | demanded compromises to avoid being what he calls a "musselman"
       | fated to die sooner or later.
        
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       (page generated 2022-11-24 23:01 UTC)