Where Do We Go from Here?

This chapter draws all the pieces of the American-run German POW system together, returning again to the Geneva Convention and to the recommendations of Matschullat. It reviews the American policies that proved problematic and the outcomes of the systems that proved to be successful. From these will spin questions and ideas about the efficacy of the Geneva Convention and our global responsibilities to future POWs and why. But Chapter 14 goes one step further by linking all state peace and violence to what occurred in the American POW camps. It ties state decisions regarding war and the care of people exposed to war to that of POWs and suggests using these lessons in all future instances of state or organized violence.