Explore, analyse and imagine

Preparation and Planning

There is little preparation required for this lesson.
You will need to make enough copies of the Student Worksheets for each student as the exercises require independent study.
You will need ICT access to show the Slides to students.
There is a lot of information provided for episode 3 so you may wish to allow students longer than suggested to digest this information and complete their characterisation grid.
Some students may have relatives who have been prisoners of war so the subject should be tackled carefully.
There is enough material in this Lesson Plan to spread the topic across two lessons if you wish.

About the MOD Topic

Student Worksheets 5-9 contain information on the experiences of several Prisoners of War (POW) from the First World War (1914-1918), Second World War (1939-1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953). If required more information can be found at the Royal Navy Museum's "Sea Your History" website – www.seayourhistory.org.uk. There were around 200,000 British servicemen taken prisoner of war during the Second World War, 135,000 of which were captured in Europe. By contrast Germany captured some 5.7 million Russian POWs during the Second World War.

The Geneva Convention:
Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention protects captured military personnel, some guerrilla fighters and certain civilians. It applies from the moment a prisoner is captured until he or she is released or repatriated. One of the main provisions of the convention makes it illegal to torture prisoners and states that a prisoner can only be required to give their name, date of birth, rank and service number (if applicable).

However, nations vary in their dedication to following these laws, and historically the treatment of POWs has varied greatly. During the 20th century, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany were notorious for atrocities against prisoners during the Second World War. The German military used the Soviet Union's refusal to sign the Geneva Convention as a reason for not providing the necessities of life to Russian POWs. North Korean and North Vietnamese forces routinely killed or mistreated prisoners taken during those conflicts.

Further Opportunities for Learning

If the facilities are available students could make video recordings of their interviews before watching them and assessing their own performance. They could then record the interview again and attempt to improve on their first performance.
Students could be divided into groups of four and asked to write a script in which they play prisoners of war in an internment camp. The play should reflect the conditions outlined in the information on Student Worksheets 5-9. Students could then perform the plays for the rest of the class.

Student worksheet answers

Download the teachers notes PDF to access the answers for this lesson.