Author Talk with historian Dr Kristen Alexander

Historian Dr Kristen Alexander will join us at the Memorial to discuss the post-liberation experiences of the Australian Airmen at Stalag Luft III.

Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Time: 12.30 pm - 1.30 pm

Location: Theatre, Australian War Memorial

About Dr Kristen Alexander

Kristen is a writer and researcher with a deep passion for Australia's aviation history.

A visiting fellow at UNSW Canberra, her research focuses on Second World War Australian airmen, prisoners of war, and their families. In 2022, she was awarded the Australian War Memorial’s Bryan Gandevia Prize for Australian military–medical history. Her works include Clive Caldwell Air Ace and Australia’s Few and the Battle of Britain. Her sixth book, Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III, was awarded the Anzac Memorial Trustees Military History Prize in the 2024 NSW Premier’s History Awards.

'Liberated but never truly free': Stalag Luft III's POWs Return

In April and May 1945, thousands of Allied prisoners of war were liberated from German POW camps, including 345 Australian airmen – known as kriegies – who had been incarcerated in Stalag Luft III. It was a time of great joy, but also uncertainty. They had eagerly anticipated their eventual release, but, for many, it did not mark the end of their war or captivity. They may have been liberated, but they were never truly free.

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, Dr Kristen Alexander counterpoints the elation of liberation and homecoming by highlighting one of the many legacies of captivity: trauma. Although not all former prisoners of war successfully negotiated the distressing long-term consequences of wartime incarceration, the majority proved resilient.