Introduction: Prisoners of the Asia-Pacific War – Forgotten Locales, Transimperial Links, and Selective Memorialisation

Abstract

This introduction explores the major contributions of the special issue in broadening understanding of captivity in the Asian and Pacific theatres during the Second World War. First, it decentralises national narratives, highlighting the transnational and diasporic identities of both military and civilian prisoners and the colonial and decolonialising contexts that shaped their experiences. Second, it foregrounds specific memories of wartime captivity that have been marginalised by dominant war narratives and post-war decolonial struggles. Lastly, it underscores the diverse experiences, institutions, and memory practices of captivity, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of wartime captivity and its memorialization.