Cartooning Captivity in Stalag Luft III: how Percy Prune, Donald Duck, and Kriegie Joe Mediated Emotion and Narrated POW Life

This article explores how cartoon culture helped Australian airmen imprisoned in Stalag Luft III cope with captivity during the Second World War. By focusing on their adoption of ‘kriegie talk’ and the appropriation or creation of cartoon alter egos – Pilot Officer Percy Prune, Donald Duck, and Kriegie Joe – it examines the linguistic and visual practices through which prisoners of war (POWs) asserted identity and mediated emotion. These figures, recorded in wartime log books and camp newspapers, functioned as affective tools and narrative devices, enabling POWs to manage shame, negotiate moral dilemmas, and sustain martial masculinity. Ultimately, they told (and continue to relate) a story of emotional survival. By foregrounding the affective dimension of Stalag Luft III’s cartoon culture, this study contributes to the historiographies of captivity, cartooning, and the history of emotions.