Concentration camp

A concentration camp is a large detention center created for political opponents, aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, often during a war. The term refers to situations where the internees are persons selected for their conformance to broad criteria without judicial process, rather than having been judged as individuals. Camps for prisoners of war are usually considered separately from this category, although informally (and in some other languages) they may also be called concentration camps. The word "concentration" indicates a regional concentration, but it also implies the crowded, and often unhealthy, state of the facilities.

Netherlands

During WWII, one of few official Nazi concentration camp complexes in western Europe located outside of Germany and Austria was near 's-Hertogenbosch, known in German as Herzogenbusch, see List of subcamps of Herzogenbusch. Still another one was camp Westerbork, which served as a transit camp (Durchgangslager) of Jews (Dutch and refugees) and Gypsies to extermination camps of Auschwitz and Sobibór. (Westerbork had been built in 1939 by the Dutch government for interning Jewish refugees.)

Related Topics:
WWII - Nazi - 's-Hertogenbosch - German - List of subcamps of Herzogenbusch - Westerbork - Gypsies - Auschwitz - Sobibór - Dutch

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