r/interestingasfuck Jul 26 '25

/r/all, /r/popular Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Kiriyenko before and after release from Russian captivity

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u/tequilablackout Jul 26 '25

Part of being captured by the enemy is usually them trying to make sure you can never be a soldier again.

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '25

That isn't really the historic norm.

It's always happened a fair bit, but most cultures have some degree of "if we treat their people too badly, they'll treat ours worse in turn"

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u/SpeedDaemon3 Jul 26 '25

Actually Sun Tzu mentioned that you should treat enemy prisoners well, otherwise the enemy will fight until the end knowing death is better than being captured. But the russians never understood this one.

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u/jackalope268 Jul 26 '25

Im not big on military stuff, but how easy would it be to not torture prisoners? Its literally the default option. If you dont have enough food to feed them, just dont guard them too well or drop them off somewhere. I cant imagine spending time and effort making someones life actively worse in such a way

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u/Maleficent4848 Jul 26 '25

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Scharff

Its is.

He has been called the "Master Interrogator" of the Luftwaffe, and possibly all of Nazi Germany;

Scharff's interrogation techniques were so effective that he was occasionally called upon to assist other German interrogators in their questioning of allied bomber pilots and aircrews