Being enslaved means waging a war of nerves, above all. The biggest spiritual weapon of a prisoner of war (Gefangene) is his patience¹ along with his high morale and ever-flourishing hope, in the line of a probable escape. He should be committed to the unwavering belief that someday, liberation is indeed bound to be a reality.

Famous Ottoman mariner Dragut got busted in the island of Corsica while taking some respite with his tiny navy. He got enslaved. He worked as a galérien/rower in enemy ships for three long years. In 1543 (chief Ottoman admiral) Hayreddin Barbarossa besieged Genoa and saved his good friend (Figures 1-3).

Figure 1: A representation of Dragut, Ottoman sailor (internet).

Figure 2: Martyrdom of Dragut at the age of 80, during the siege of Malta (internet).

Figure 3: Martyrdom of Dragut at the age of 80, during the siege of Malta (internet).

The famous Ottoman sailor mentions in his memoires about his encounter with the knight named la Valette, who had been a slave in Ottoman war ships for a time, until his ransom had got paid by his associates. Dragut thinks: “He, indeed, was an instructed man. Next to his mother tongue French; he used to speak Greek, Spanish and Italian²; and I now infer that he had captured Turkish and Arabic during slavery”. He addresses the knight from his seat:

-Well, it seems that slavery added to your immense treasure of languages. Now, we might as well engage in a repartee of swearing and insulting each other in the languages of the great Islamic poets!

The Knight replies:

-In whatever language you wish! I would be delighted, maestro! -looking at his chains- but in your present situation, it may not fall very appropriate.

Dragut:

- What can I say? A joke of the fate!

(Extrait du journal de Dragut Raïs, aux archives navales de sérail de Topkapi) [1].

High morale comes above all in days of captivity. An American captain [2] returning from Vietnam after years of imprisonment relates in his memoires that upon arrival in Florida, at the church ceremony organized in his honor, he emphasized his strong faith. He said that he survived thanks to his creed; he never forgot his acquaintances and compatriots; fortunately, he had some trustworthy friends; he never lost his belief in himself, his duty and country and of course in God- Almighty.

Comments of relevant scholars

Camp Blues or the prisoner psychosis or the barbed wire syndrome was mentioned as early as 1916 among the terms of La Haye Treaty between England and Germany [3]. Lack of affective and impulsive ties among the inmates and the obligation of living in promiscuous conditions in mobs are the main grounds for developing such psychological disorders (ibid).

Here, the adjective “impulsive” indicates “a spontaneous life drive orienting the individual towards survival” [4].

Reiwald [3] considers it worthwhile to narrate some lines from the diary of a French soldier, who spent time in a prison camp in Germany in 1916: “Waking up in an environment which has nothing to do with the concept of nobility; hearing the same banale swearing words all around; the same stuffy, smoky air all give a sense of strong nausia. The insipid stink of the crowd was infiltrating onto the depths of my soul from the ‘herd’ of human beings! A sheer male company³ devoid of women! This was another kind of loneliness, a scene from the hell!”

Reiwald [3] also notes that during World War Two; Swiss refugee camps were relatively more orderly, free and cleaner than all the other counterparts; but still the feeling of being abandoned persisted even in those places. He asserts that the solidarity among the British inmates used to constitute a certain exception. He also underlines the internal severe hierarchy of Nazi prisoners (Figure 4), who even did not refrairn from arranging some executions in case of “need”.

Figure 4: A Nazi camp (as visualized and drawn by the Author).

The special case of Turkish prisoners in the Korean war

If scholar-Reiwald had experienced the Korean War (Figures 5-8) and had witnessed the Turkish War Prisoners, at the time; he would have been more impressed, no doubt! There, Turks displayed a fantastic cohesion! A program broadcasted in the Turkish official television in 1990 compared the Turkish prisoners with other nationalities:

Figure 5: Return of wounded Turks from Korea (internet).

Figure 6: General Yazici, commandant of the Turkish deployment (internet).

Figure 7: General Yazici, being decorated by the Allied Commander (internet).

Figure 8: A sergeant adapts an orphan girl. Later he was not permitted to take her to Turkey. 60 Years later, now elderly retired-sergeant came together with his foster child! The touching re-union was made into a recent movie, titled Aylâ (internet).

With times discipline deteriorated in all groups and physically fit ones began persecuting the weaker ones. Incidents were breaking out often. The chaotic situation was being enjoyed by the Chinese “hosts”. One exception prevailed. Among Turks the superior-subordinate relations were still observed. Food was shared equally and fairly. The secret simply lays in strong traditions. Ranks had internalized values. Among plain soldiers, the better educated ones were naturally respected by the others.

Eventually the jealous jailers came and asked the secret formula openly. They got their answers, right away. If levels of education were equal the more elderly one had his say. The secret of the admired situation was summarized in those terms.

Here at this point, it should be pointed out that Turks were used to live in small communities (Gemeinschaft) rather than city environments (Geselschaft). Privacy⁴ was not such a desired virtue. The worst sanction was getting “ostracized” from one’s community.

A more interesting aspect of the issue is the genuine fraternity of the officers with the rank-and-file, despite the hierarchy! This paradox is best explained by a British journalist during the Balkan Wars in late Ottoman era. James [5] mentions about the brotherly attitude of officers towards the plain soldiers. He bases it on Mohammedan (Islamic) faith about the equality of all human beings in the eyes of Allah. He asserts that those used to the European way of forced discipline can never properly understand this topic.

Turkish soldiers fighting in Korea disregarded Poet-Nazim’s letter inviting them to surrender. In 1953 armistice got signed in Korea. Exchange of prisoners started. Released prisoners were questioned in American Headquarters in Tokyo and meanwhile Colonel Perry obtained important knowledge and came up with inferences of his own. It is based on data provided by him that Eugene Francis Kinkhead wrote his book about the “enemy collaborators” [6].

The Chinese told them that ranks are not valid any more. An American soldier once patted the nape of his officer and asked: Joe, where the hell have you been?” A Chinese authority watching the scene smiled delightedly. But the Turkish-Johnny was still loyal to his culture, history, homeland soil and superiors. He had always obeyed his father, his government, his army-superiors. He would not take a bath all-naked. When Talk was heard about venereal diseases he would blush. He would eat the uncleanly dog meat under the circumstances without complaint and also gulp all greenery he could lay his fingers on. Americans began emulating them in eating grass. Out of 6443 Americans 2643 died. All 229 Turks returned (ibid).

The link connecting fellow conscripts in the army is so strong that in difficult circumstances it mostly overweighs kinship. It is convenient to the character of the Anatolian boy and is further reinforced by the indoctrination provided by the officers, who are well-raised educators [7].

Other “scenes” from battles in closer times

One can see that in the Korean War ideology came into play often. The zeal of the fresh Chinese revolution did not subside yet: Chinese communists brainwashed American prisoners, thereby diminishing their resistance and also helping the process by dismissing primary⁵ groups. They succeeded in obtaining a certain degree of cooperation, in this manner [8].

As Meyers and Bradbury [9] inform us that; in the Geoje camp, Chinese prisoners did not display animosity against their American jailers, as civilians would do so. The difficulties they caused were far from being emotional. On the contrary; they were disciplined, planned, purposeful activities. Moreover; the communist leaders were easily organizing discontent into rebellion.

Bradbury and Kirkpatrick [10] notify us that during the Korean War; among nationalist Chinese soldiers one could talk about (naturally growing) feelings of amity and loyalty. Leaders of Red China; on the other hand; were trying to build up a morale upon political convictions. They were condemning all individual acts (like concealing the booty, personal bargains or fraternity, and all menace aiming the party’s superiority). This constant criticism and vigilance would in actuality contribute to loss of trust in the general ambiance.

Further facts and a famous social-psychology-experiment

Morali-Daninos [11] notes that in most battles the number of ranks and files who escape or surrender is bigger than those who got killed or wounded. One can deduce, he reasons, that the basic phenomenon is the loss of unity and solidarity, right there at the crucial moment.

Now; how can those defeated ones get along with one another in the prisoner camps, then? There are interesting psycho-drama studies regarding this topic. In a simulatory experiment by Zimbardo in 1973 at Stanford University; those playing the inmates displayed deindividuation and weakness and getting dependent on the strong ones.

Another desired by-product of showing low profile was getting unnoticed⁶ and thereby avoiding drudgery and heavy penalties more easily [12,13].

According to Reiwald [3], eventually the war-prisoner resembles a child who had lost his parents. He undergoes a regression one of the defense mechanisms or orientations or coping mechanisms in distress and recognizes the same behavior patterns in other fellow-prisoners. Only an over powerful and effective leader can get them together and realize some extraordinary achievement, he affirms.

A researcher named Bettelheim studied the reactions of inmates to stressful circumstances in Nazi concentration camps in 1943. He concluded that some of them were assuming the airs of their very oppressors, following the violence and persecution they had undergone.

As Bettelheim puts it; Nazi jailors inflicted demeaning physical and psychological torture tor ender their slaves infantile in mentality. They themselves appeared as figures of stern parents. Eventually the prisoners stooped to flattery for the sake of privileges. They started imitating⁷ the attire and speech style of their oppressors. They started warning one another to comply with the rules [14].

Impressions from a museum in America

Purposeful efforts to improve the existing conditions or attempts or at least hopes to evade can lead to very productive activities. Similar preoccupations⁸ are bound to be extremely health-provoking. As a matter of fact; is not occupation by itself a psychiatric therapy and rehabilitation method, after all?

Years ago, I was lucky to visit the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. In a section, products realized by the inmates of prison camps were displayed behind glass panes. It was amazing to see their multitude and versatility: A compass made of a half-razor-blade mounted on a cork-bedding; a pistol carved out of wood and dyed black by shoe polish to render a realistic appearance; bellows made of leather boot legs in order to blow air into a prospective tunnel; a heating stove made by adding together the lateral faces of tin cans got embedded in my memory.

Utilitarianism can make people produce wonders especially in life and death situations. There is an anecdote: They asked a literary figure which book he would like to read in a deserted island. The scholar said: “The art of building a bateau!”

Being a war-captive could be the lot of any military person indulged in fighting with the enemy. Despite international conventions signed by statesmen, which stipulate good-treatment of prisoners (Figure 9); there is no de-facto-guarantee for the well-being of a prisoner of war.

Figure 9: Signed conventions do stipulate that prisoners be treated gently (illustration by the Author).

Conditions may be too harsh and one’s mind may work solely in the line of alleviating the endured pain, for the time being, like Colonel Nicholson in the novel by Pierre Boulle, the Bridge over the River Kwai. The captive colonel goes ahead and builds the best possible bridge for his very jailers, the Japanese!

Ascetism induced by high morale and will-power appears to be the only spiritual support for the enslaved soldier to resist for the sake of liberation.

¹Patience is especially useful in tunneling, which proceeds very slowly. Wooden Horse is a novel based on a true story of tunnel digging. It was written by Eric Williams. The Author

²Dragut Raïs himself is known to be fluent in Italian

³Years ago, I was working for a state-owned pulp-and-paper plant in Anatolia. At one time a German specialist-engineer was fetched to remove certain technical problems. Herr Schreiber once made a grimace as we entered the company social facilities for dinner. He said “I hate this male company!”. He then decided to drive to a hotel’s restaurant within the nearby city, to get the same-quality meals at an enormously higher price, just for the sake of ambiance. I later narrated the incident to a Pharmacology professor while in Çukurova University. The faculty member reacted with the words: “He must have had a lot of money!” The Author

⁴Years ago, a Swiss student who had been through Turkey, pointed out that Turkish people were always in groups and never let alone, when it came to act socially. A warden in an interview once said:
- “I visited German jails and got surprised to see that a new-comer was ignored by the inmate lying in the upper bunk. The fellow pretended to be asleep. Here in our country, the new-comer is cordially received by the senior inmates”. The Author

⁵Indeed; face-to-face primary groups are of outermost importance for high morale. Based on the telling of German soldiers returning from Soviet camps; Russians established the food distribution on individual merit, thereby destroying comradeship. In such conditions physical proximity cannot provide even the minimum requirements of fraternity. One can stay indifferent to the starvation of the nearby fellow .

⁶In his great novel, Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck in one episode mentions the new face of Tom, who has just got out of jail. This is a face “trained not to Show his emotions” (to the powerful guards). After all; one can see that the author is quite aware of the fact that serving a sentence in prison tends to change one’s mimics. The Author

⁷North African Arab Muslim historiographer Ibn Khaldun asserted way back in the fourteenth century that; the defeated tend to emulate the attire, the weapons and the horse of the victorious. The Author

⁸It is known that in prisoner camps opened for German captives in America during World War II, educative activities were prominent. As Wikipedia notes with reference to G. Sytko; “the systematically taught courses [at some of those camps] were so successful that in May 1944 the German Ministry of Education and the OKW/Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ("Supreme Command of the Armed Forces") sent through the Red Cross detailed procedures for students to receive credit at German high schools and universities”.