Diaries of captives
Diaries of captives
Diaries of prisoners and captives are historical and valuable documents for understanding this inhuman dimension of war. Tortures such as severe beatings with all kinds of hard objects, imposing medical restrictions on sick prisoners and not paying attention to the health of the captives, as well as restrictions on the performance of religious rituals and trying to deviate captives from their Islamic principles are among the noteworthy issues.[1]
concepts
Diary or personal autobiography is a record written by the person themselves about the external and internal aspects of their lives, which includes the social environment, actions, behavior, mentalities, thoughts and emotions of the person. This type of historical-literary writing can possibly reflect social, political, and cultural issues of a certain period.
history of development
Iran's history since the middle of King Naser`s reign, under the influence of new trends, has witnessed the formation of this writing style or genre, which has changed both in terms of quality and quantity in parallel with different periods; As it can be claimed, in critical events such as revolution and war, we see its expansion in the two mentioned dimensions. The constitutional revolution, the fall of the Qajar dynasty and the rise of the Pahlavi regime, the Islamic revolution and the eight-year war between Iraq and Iran are examples supporting the claim that many people regardless of social class ,age, gender etc. in the years of the event or afterward have tried to reflect their impressions and observations of the event in question in their diaries or personal autobiographies.[1]
The diaries of the captives
The diaries of Iranian captives during the 8 year war is indeed a case in point for personal autobiographies since they represent versions of war events and the circumstances of Iraq`s camps at the time as narrated and discerned by the captives. These memories have been recorded and published immediately following their liberation till now, and if they are properly and thoroughly examined and verified with reference to the relevant documents and records, they will doubtless play an important role in understanding the developments related to war, particularly in identifying the enemy's performance; A function that can be completely subsumed within the circle of violence.[1]
See also
bibliography
Saeed Najjar