prisoner of war
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prisoner of war
A soldier or another person involved in combat who was captured by the opposing side during a war. The more common form of the lemma today is 'der Kriegsgefangene' (the prisoner of war).
Sein Großvater war fünf Jahre lang ein Kriegsgefangener in Russland.
His grandfather was a prisoner of war in Russia for five years.
The word is made up of 'Krieg' (war), with a linking -s, and 'Gefangener' (prisoner). A 'Gefangener' is a person who has been 'gefangen' (captured). So it literally describes a person captured in war.
Tausende Soldaten wurden als Kriegsgefangener in Lager gebracht.
Thousands of soldiers were taken to camps as prisoners of war.
The state of being a prisoner of war is described with the noun 'die Kriegsgefangenschaft' (captivity as a prisoner of war). Typical verbs with it are 'in Kriegsgefangenschaft geraten' (to become a prisoner of war) or 'aus der Kriegsgefangenschaft fliehen' (to escape from captivity as a prisoner of war).
Nach dem Ende des Krieges kehrte er aus der Kriegsgefangenschaft zurück.
After the end of the war, he returned from captivity as a prisoner of war.
In this form, 'der Kriegsgefangener' is a regular masculine noun. It is declined like other nouns ending in -er, for example in the genitive 'des Kriegsgefangeners'.
Das Schicksal des Kriegsgefangeners war lange ungewiss.
The fate of the prisoner of war remained uncertain for a long time.
prisoner / captive
'der Gefangene' and 'der Kriegsgefangener' both refer to a person who is not free and is being held. 'der Gefangene' is more general: it can be a person in prison or someone in captivity. 'der Kriegsgefangener' more specifically means a person who was captured by the opposing side during a war. In modern German, the form 'der Kriegsgefangene' is more common. The words can be confused because every prisoner of war is also a 'Gefangener', but not every 'Gefangener' is a prisoner of war.
Nach dem Krieg kehrten viele Kriegsgefangene erst spät nach Hause zurück.
After the war, many prisoners of war returned home only much later.
Der Gefangene durfte nur kurz mit seiner Familie telefonieren.
The prisoner was only allowed to speak briefly with his family on the phone.