Internment of Enemy Aliens during the World Wars

Abstract

Abstract The article offers a historical approach to one of the most understudied areas of international humanitarian law by focusing on the successes and shortfalls of the two international armed conflicts with the highest numbers of civilians interned in global history. Through the study of State practice during Word War I and Word War II, the author addresses the causes and justifications that led to massive internment of enemy aliens, the practical determination of the need of those measures, and the role of ethnicity for internment. Lessons drawn from those experiences not only clarify and humanize abstract legal provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions but also warn about harmful deviations from the intended purpose of those norms for future cases.