Concentration Camp Essays - Aftermath Of War, Prisoner Of War

Concentration Camp The article that this paper will be based and discussed upon is titled ?Berthe's prison diary,? written by Hanna Diamond. ?Berthe's prison diary? can be found in the August 1999 issue of History Today, volume 49, pages 43-49. During World War II, it was known that many people suffered. People suffered from the casualties of war, suffered because of their class, but especially because of their race. The group to suffer the most were the Jewish. Over 6 million were killed because of no crime but because of their race. ?Berthe's prison diary? is about a woman named Berthe A. and her experience in the French prisons for collaborators. Besides Berthe's personal experience in prison, through her diary, we also get accounts on how the other people were treated. France gets invaded on May 10, 1940 by the Nazis. On June 22, 1940, France signs treay of peace with the Nazis. Paris is liberated on August 25, 1944. The setting begins in the August of 1944 in Toulouse, France. It was a time of despair and confusion. France was in a chaos. People were hungry and were left in poor conditions. The Germans had finally left Toulouse after their defeat. Joy came at first to the French when the Liberation finally came, yet it soon turned to hatred and vengeance. There was hatred to those that had helped the Germans succeed and also for those that allied with the Germans. These people were labeled ?collaborators.' Even men and women that were seen with Germans were hated. They were tracked down and even arrested. Some were even attacked and worse, killed. Berthe A. was the director of laboratory research in the Faculty of Science at the University of Toulouse. On the twenty-second of August in 1944, at about three o'clock (according to Berthe), someone knocked on her door and soon enough Berthe was arrested. Of those that were arrested, many did not know why they were arrested or what was happening to them. It is only later that Berthe finds out that she was arrested because she was accused of being a collaborator because she had belonged to a group called ?Collaboration.' ?Collaboration' was a ?French group for continental unity' and was formed in the autumn of 1940. Berthe tells us through her diary that although she had paid subscription fees, she however, never attended any of the meetings or participated in any of the activities. Berthe as well as other suspected collaborators spent their first few months at the St Michel prison in the heart of Toulouse. In her cell, which held forty women, she realized what certain people she was placed with. The women, for the most part, were prostitutes from the brothels. These prostitutes were those that have served the Germans because the Germans had money and power. After the liberation, these women were especially targeted as victims. More often times, these women were taken to questioning and would return bruised and distressed. Some even had their heads saved and had swastikas painted on them. For the worst part, these women were marched around the streets naked where they returned morally and physically wounded. According to Berthe, although the prison authorities tried to make the women feel uncomfortable about where they were, many of the women supported each other. Even those of different class knew how to get along with each other. There was actually no sense of class. After about four weeks at St Michel, Berthe was transferred to the Camp of Noe (40km from Toulouse). Berthe then indicated that life was much more tolerable at the camp then at prison. For one thing, life was less severe and better organized. The environment was much more relaxed and more space was available. However, this environment this not last long. For there were soon more people getting arrested and the atmosphere became less comfortable. According to Berthe, most women were arrested because they carried out black market activities with the Germans or they had let the Germans take their room. Some even were believed to be the Germans' girlfriends. There were was also another group of women that was also arrested. And this was because they were involved with the group Malice. Others were arrested in place of their husbands or brothers that have escaped with the Germans. Most of the accusations, however, were almost impossible to prove. One of the biggest problems faced by authorities were what to charge people and what punishment was to