Nitti said:
Anyone know where the parole idea started.
afaik, the american parole system started because the rear logistics couldn't handle a comparatively high number of prisoners of war. just look how disgustingly everybody handled the pow.s they kept.
that would have been far less of a problem in europe, of course. as the distance between settlements is smaller, the infrastructur is better, lot's of unused dungeons in ancient castles etc.
in german the word
parole means some sort of a password for higher personnel (
losung for 'company grade' officers and
feldgeschreih vor basicly everybody) - a parole was set once a day in the epignomous parolebefehl which also held basic orders (mostly non tactical ones). we still have that in the tagesbefehl. a tagesbefehl in WW I might have ordered to be grateful for the leadership kaiser bill dispensend (probably on his birthday).
ferdinand von schill violated a parolebefehl in 1809 (that's an early example of the german fondness for disobeying orders for the greater good) but that got zilch to do with 'parole' as it's understood in the acw.
i really liked to see some source from @wehrkraftzersetzer (btw, that means somebody who undermines the will to fight in their own army)