The Resistance of New Zealand POWs in Asia during the Second World War

Abstract

This article examines the New Zealand prisoner of war experience in Asia during the Second World War. Even though conditions were deplorable, POWs engaged in acts of resistance. While some accounts described overt actions that realigned experiences with traditional narratives of wartime contribution, this paper analyses the impact of subtler actions, such as stoicism in response to physical punishment, a refusal to accept the bleakness of their surrounds, and taking their survival into their own hands by instituting basic medical practices. These acts of resistance helped prisoners to imbue their ordeal with meaning by combating the enemy in the only terms available to them.