I have a s.s question?

Question

Who were the people who treated their prisoners of war the worst out of all the nations and kings and rulers and dictators of ALL TIME?

Answer 1

There truly cannot be a firm answer to your question, because treatment of prisoners tended to be quite bad as you go back in history, and eventially you end up before recorded history (or at least recorded in the detail we have with respect to the 20th century). The concept of treating "prisoners of war" with respect is really a modern concept.

I don't know lots of detail about the Mongols. One example I am aware of is the Balkan peninsula in the Middle Ages and earlier -- that was a really nasty place for torture and slow death by methods like impaling.

But going back to WW II (as suggested by your heading) -- I would vote for the Japanese as being worse than the SS, and I know a fair amount about both. The Germans actually did not treat prisoners of war (as opposed to interned civilians) all that badly (leaving aside incidents were POWs were simply shot in violation of the Geneva conventions -- which is at least not torture).

My great-uncle (an Austrian professor of foreign languages at the time), was drafted into the German army in WW II, and because of his age (he had fought in WW I), he was assigned to be an interpreter in a POW camp for allied officers (OFLAG) in what is now northern Poland. I have his journal and photographs. He said the officers were generally treated well. They had sports teams and an orchestra. They were not tortured. The main thing he complains of is that the interrogators had secret rules for when someone gave an answer that indicated he was a "war criminal" (as opposed to a regular POW), and if the person gave the wrong answer he was shot. My great-uncle (who was anti-Nazi) quickly learned how to "accidentally mis-translate" answers given by the officers that might risk their lives.

If you know anything about the treatment of allied troops by the Japanese (for example, the Bataan Death March), you will understand my point. the Japanese culture trained people to die rather than be captured, and captured enemy soldiers were dispised and severely mistreated.

Answer 2

Wow, that's a pretty broad question. It would take an entire book to answer it properly, but I'll take a shot here. In the ancient world, the Assyrians had "after-battle parties" where the favored game was to tie prisoners of war to poles and slowly flay them alive (remove all their skin by cutting it away in strips). The object of this "game" was to see who could keep their prisoner alive without his skin the longest; then they would take turns rubbing rock salt on him. Pretty ruthless.
As for more modern abuses of prisoners of war, I'd have to say that the Japanese soldiers in World War II and the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam conflict were quite nasty and cruel. I'd rather not elaborate on some of the things they did, you can research them on your own.

Answer 3

The Vikings weren't exactly choir boys either.
And, of course in later times there was good old Hitler. Medical experiments and starving can't be much fun. The Soviets didn't exactly give their prisoners 5 star rooms either. Think Siberia.

Answer 4

That's tough, but I'd give my vote to the Mongols under Genghis Khan. He tortured, raped and murdered many thousands.