PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
RECORDS INFORMATION Leaflet No: 111
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[Note: this and all other PRO Records Information leaflets are (c)Crown Copyright, but may be freely reproduced except for sale or advertising purposes.  Copies should always include this Copyright notice -- please respect this.]   (C) Crown Copyright, May 1990


PRISONERS OF WAR AND DISPLACED PERSONS
1939-1953: DOCUMENTS IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
The Public Record Office holds a substantial quantity of material relating to prisoners of war and displaced persons during the Second World War and after. The present leaflet is intended as a general guide to those
records which are either wholly or mainly concerned with both Allied and enemy POWs, 1939-1945, and with ex-POWs and DPs in the immediate post-war period.
There is also a section dealing with the Korean War, 1950-1953.

The majority of the records to which reference is made in the leaflet concern policy and administration, and do not contain detailed information on individuals. There are, however, a number of nominal lists of (mainly British and Allied) POWs among the records, which provide certain personal details.

[[SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1945: PRISONERS IN BRITISH HANDS]]

The War Office was responsible for the custody of POWs of all services.
The War Diaries of the Directorate of Prisoners of War are in WO 165/59-71, and minutes and reports of the Imperial Prisoners of War Committee meetings can
also be found there. Registered Papers concerning prisoners both during and after the war are in WO 32 code 91. The Medical Historian's Papers in WO 222 include reports on the health of POWs and on the work of POW hospitals.
Some selected War Diaries of hospitals, depots and camps are in WO 177/1833-1855, and selected Diaries of POW camps can be found in WO 166; there is a general index at the beginning of this class. In addition,
War Diaries of units of the British Army contain material on POW camps, labour companies etc. in various theatres of war. These can in most cases be identified from the indexes to the appropriate class lists. Numerous
files on individual POW camps in the United Kingdom are among the records of the Prisoners of War Section of the London-based Control Office for Germany and
Austria (FO 939)

Lists of POW and internment camps are among the Military Headquarters Papers: Home Forces, in WO 199/404-409.  Nominal lists of enemy POWs temporarily interned in the Tower of London can be found in WO 94/105.

The War Diary of MI 19, the division of Military Intelligence responsible for the interrogation of enemy POWs, is in WO 165/41. Records of the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) and of the Prisoners of War Interrogation Section can be found in WO 208. Many of these files are closed for 75 years, although the CSDIC reports in WO 208/4117-4212 are now open.  A few interrogation reports on German POWs in 1944 exist in the files of the Control Commission for Germany: Internal Affairs and Communications Division, in FO 1050/169. Interrogation
reports on enemy airmen among the records of the Air Ministry's Directorate of Intelligence (AIR 40) are closed for 75 years. Some debriefings of enemy POWs can be found in the files concerning the Prisoners of War Campaign conducted by the Political Warfare Executive of the Foreign Office, in FO 898/320-330.

Correspondence with the United States authorities on policy concerning POWs in general can be found among the papers of the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington (CAB 122). The Operational Papers of the Prime Minister's Office (PREM 3/363 and 364) contain material relating to both enemy and Allied POWs. Correspondence between the British government, the Red Cross and the Protecting Powers, including inspection reports on POW camps, is among the records of the Consular (War) Department of the Foreign
Office, in FO 916. In addition, the Home Office Internment (General) Files in HO 215 contain a large amount of material on Home Office involvement with
the internment of enemy aliens and POWs. Correspondence between the Home
Office and the Prisoners of War Information Bureau (UK) and general correspondence concerning the treatment of interned enemy aliens is in HO 213/494-498.
The few surviving records of the PWIB itself are in WO 307. CO 968/33-36 contain correspondence of the Colonial Office Defence section relating to internment policy in the British Colonies, and include lists of enemy
POWs in various colonial territories. Correspondence about the employment of Italian merchant seamen taken prisoner is in MT 9 code 106.

The Prisoners of War and Internees Files in the Admiralty and Secretariat Papers (ADM 1 code 79) contain documentation on many aspects of the Royal
Navy's involvement with the capture and internment of enemy and Allied POWs, naval and other services. Similar correspondence and papers are to be found in the Prisoners of War and Internees files in the Admiralty
and Secretariat Cases (ADM 116 code 79). Many of these files contain lists of Royal Navy personnel interned in enemy camps, although they are not identifiable from the class lists.


SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1945: PRISONERS IN ENEMY HANDS

The War Office Registered Files (WO 32 code 91) and the Directorate of Military Operations Collation Files (WO 193/343-359) both contain material on Allied POWs. The Military Headquarters Papers: SHAEF (GI Division) contain files relating to the organisation of the Prisoners of War Executive and reports on Allied POWs (WO 219/1402, 1448-1474).