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Reference Databases

British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 – On Ancestry

This fee-paying database is a misnomer in that it includes Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and South African prisoners-of-war. This adds to its usefulness. Information includes Service and POW numbers. The Regimental information can also be useful. 



Australian War Memorial, WW2, Nominal Roll


The AWM database (freely available on-line) states whether or not the service member was a prisoner-of-war but does not indicate whether the captives were in German or Japanese camps. The Regimental/Unit information can be a helpful indicator in determining this detail. The advantage of this site over the others is that it provides the member's full name and their date and place of birth information. Further, it indicates if the member died during his or her service.




Forces War Records - UK

The database demands an annual or monthly fee and is for British service members only, though it does cover all wars since Napoleonic era. It usually has three entries for each POW, one for being posted as 'missing', a second for being posted as a POW, and a third posted after liberation in 1945. The example below shows two entries and a few show just one so there is a lack of consistency. The 1945 postings always show a POW number. And if the member died during internment it displays additional details but they vary from record to record. Frustratingly for researchers, the record almost never shows forenames, just initials.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum On-Line Cenotaph

This free on-line database can be very useful. It's worst feature is that it is not comprehensive. I found that not all New Zealand POWs were listed. The strength of this database is that it encourages others, especially family members, to contribute information. This includes post-WW2 events such as marriage, children, death details, etc. It has space for entering POW information but I found just one record where this had been completed. I also found the NZ Nominal Roll some use, if only that it provided or confirmed forenames.






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