In writing about an infantryman who was captured by the
Germans during World War 2 and put in a prisoner-of-war camp, I’ve learned some
interesting facts. He was in Stalag IV-B in eastern Germany. This camp had
prisoners from many countries, and he was with other English-speaking prisoners
in one section of the camp. The British had been there the longest, starting to
arrive after being captured in North Africa. One of the self-governed forms of
punishment among these prisoners entailed having a violator be “put in Coventry.”
This saying comes from approximately 1648 when Cromwell sent some Royalist soldiers to be
imprisoned in the town of Coventry. The local parliamentary supporters shunned
them.
In Stalag IV-B, the British used this same
form of shunning to punish a prisoner who had disobeyed rules, such as stealing
from other prisoners. It proved very effective. To be further isolated without communication
from your fellow prisoners served the person of enforcing discipline.
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