BONDARENKO, YE. YU. FOREIGN PRISONERS-OF-WAR IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST [114-156]

Author: O. ZHELEZNIAK, A. PARKHOMENKO ... Бондаренко Е. Ю. Иностранные военнопленные на Дальнем Востоке России (114-156 гг.) ... Бондаренко Е. Ю. Иностранные военнопленные на Дальнем Востоке России (114-156 гг.) (Bondarenko, Ye. Yu. Foreign Prisoners-of-War in the Russian Far East [114-156]). Vladivostok: Far Eastern University Press, 2002, 228 pp. ... The readers of Far Eastern Affairs very familiar with the author of this monograph from several articles she wrote in the 10s on Japanese prisoners- of-war in the Far East (The Long Road Home from Captivity, Harsh Russian Captivity, and so on). During these years, Ms. Bondarenko gradually extended her research studies and began publishing articles in Russia and the APR on the prisoners-of-war of other nationalities who ended up in camps in the Far East. These long years of research became part of the monograph under review. ... The past 20th century went down in human history not only for the tens of millions of victims in the two World Wars and multitude of local conflicts, but also for its comparable figures regarding prisoners-of-war. During the years of World War I, the latter amounted to more than 10 million people, and after World War II this number increased to 35 million. Since the end of this war, more than 150 local wars and armed conflicts have taken the lives of 20 million people. Correspondingly, the number of prisoners-of-war was just as high. As the recent U. S. and British operation in Iraq showed, the prisoner-of-war is still urgent. The question of prisoners-of-war and their legal protection is still very much on the agenda. In so doing, it is extremely beneficial and important to look at the in retrospect. ... This monograph consists of four chapters, but its very extensive introduction is just as interesting. It sets forth the biography and historiography of this problem, which no one has analyzed until now (pp. 15-35). A number of authors have covered this topic, but Ms. Bondarenko is the first to look at the in its individual manifestations as a whole and primarily makes use of archive documents that became available at the end of the 180s. This made it possible to reveal the truth about such important aspects as the forced of prisoners-of-war, their everyday living conditions, and the political brainwashing Japanese prisoners were subjected to in Soviet camps. ... The author presents her evaluation of several archive depositories that could be of interest to researchers. She also reviews foreign publications on the prisoners-of-war problem. She notes that numerous articles, more than two thousand ... Pages. 154 ... memoirs of former prisoners-of-war, and an eight-volume anthology have been published in Japan. All of them, which deserve attention to one extent or another, are not based on documental facts and in most cases subjective in nature, full of everyday details and descriptions of the workday. ... The first chapter of this study takes a look at the problems of foreign prisoners-of-war in the Far East during World War I. ... The second chapter analyzes the role of foreign prisoners-of-war as the situation developed in the Russia's Far East during the years of foreign intervention and the civil war of 118-122. ... The monograph primarily focuses on the topic of Japanese prisoners-of-war held in camps in the Russian Far East between September 145 and December 156. The next two chapters of the monograph devoted to this subject. These chapters the most pertinent. More than fifty years have passed since the end of World War II, but Russian-Japanese post-war regulation has still not been fully tied up. One of the bones of contention during the Russian-Japanese talks was and still is the of Japanese prisoners-of-war brought into Soviet territory after the Quantong Army was routed. The author notes that some Japanese researchers place it in the same category as the territorial problem (p. 21). The fact that the Soviet Union made prisoners-of-war work, writes the author, was in keeping with the provisions of international law (p. 11). But holding them prisoner for long years in order to use them as cheap violates the provisions of international agreements and cannot be justified. Item 4 of Article of the Potsdam Declaration, writes the author, talks directly about the need for Japanese armed forces personnel to return home as quickly as possible. This requirement also applied to the Soviet Union as a party to this declaration. This provision was observed by other allies. But the Soviet Union delayed repatriation of Japanese prisoners-of-war for more than four years, and so- called military criminals for more than 11 years, subjecting them to forced labor (p. 11). The author maintains that the long years prisoners-of- war were kept in Soviet camps violated the norms of international law (p. 10). ... The Soviet leadership planned to use Japanese prisoners-of-war as cheap even before the war with Japan.