- South African POWs during WWII, focusing on the psychological and cultural struggles they faced in captivity.
- She will also discuss how these soldiers struggled to reintegrate upon returning home.
- This event aims to shed light on a lesser-known part of South Africa’s wartime history.
In a small hall in Wynberg, history will come alive as Dr Karen Horn, a renowned war historian, recounts the little-known experiences of South African soldiers held captive during the Second World War.
On Saturday 23 November at 14:00 Horn’s talk aptly titled “History from the Inside: South Africans in Captivity during the Second World War” will give voice to these men, sharing stories that are as haunting as they are revealing.
The narrative begins not with battle cries but in the eerie quiet that followed capture, where soldiers found themselves plunged into disorientation and stripped of all familiar bearings. “The experience of capture and the first few days in captivity,” Horn explains, “were characterised by confusion, fear, and morbid humour.” These initial emotions marked a pivot from soldiers to prisoners, a transformation as unsettling as it was permanent.
The captured South Africans, like many other prisoners of war (POWs), had to adapt quickly to survive their new reality. Far from the expected scenes of warfare, days inside the camps were filled with a mixture of desperate distraction and resolute routine. “To make the most of the long days, POWs kept themselves busy with all manner of tasks,” says Horn. These included simple activities such as embroidery and bird-watching, yet also “the constant mental and physical discipline required for escape planning”.
South Africans faced unique cultural challenges in their captivity, often bound by shared language but separated by subtle cultural barriers. Many men found solace in routine, fashioning something like normality from the chaos around them. The POWs sought to give meaning to days that would otherwise stretch into a blur, a coping mechanism that enabled many of them to hold on to a sense of agency amid confinement.
Confusion, morbid humour
One of the more ironic twists came when these soldiers, finally liberated and sent home, found that the very emotions they used to cope in captivity resurfaced in their homecoming – this time, however, as shadows that refused to disappear.
“Ironically, upon their return home, feelings of confusion and morbid humour made an unwelcome return to their lives,” Horn reflects.
Homecoming should have been a relief, but for many, it was instead an unanticipated and lasting struggle.
Horn’s research as a fellow with the International Studies Group at the University of the Free State and the Military Academy at Saldanha has focused on the individual experiences of wartime, lending insight into the psychological toll faced by those who returned.
Her commitment to understanding these narratives is evident in her body of work, which delves into these soldiers’ lives and legacies. Her books, In Enemy Hands (2015) and the recently published Prisoners of Jan Smuts (2024), both explore these stories in depth.
For those who attend Horn’s talk, the experience promises to be one of solemn reflection. These are stories not often found in textbooks but preserved in memories, letters, and unspoken words.
Horn’s talk “History from the Inside: South Africans in Captivity during the Second World War” will take place on Saturday 23 November at 14:00 Event entry fee of R20.
