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.

The United Kingdom

The term "concentration camp" was first used by the British military during the Boer War (1899-1902). Facing attack by Boer guerrillas, British forces rounded up the Boer women and children as well as black people living on Boer land, and sent them to 31 camps scattered around South Africa. This was done as part of a scorched earth policy to deny the guerrillas access to the supplies of food and clothing they needed to continue the war.

Related Topics:
Boer War - Boer - Guerrilla - South Africa

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The camps were situated at Aliwal North, Balmoral, Barberton, Belfast, Bethulie, Bloemfontein, Brandfort, Heidelberg, Heilbron, Howick, Irene, Kimberley, Klerksdorp, Kroonstad, Krugersdorp, Merebank, Middelburg, Norvalspont, Nylstroom, Pietermaritzburg, Pietersburg, Pinetown, Port Elizabeth, Potchefstroom, Springfontein, Standerton, Turffontein, Vereeniging, Volksrust, Vredefort and Vryburg.

Related Topics:
Aliwal North - Balmoral - Barberton - Belfast - Bethulie - Bloemfontein - Brandfort - Heidelberg - Heilbron - Howick - Irene - Kimberley - Klerksdorp - Kroonstad - Krugersdorp - Merebank - Middelburg - Norvalspont - Nylstroom - Pietermaritzburg - Pietersburg - Pinetown - Port Elizabeth - Potchefstroom - Springfontein - Standerton - Turffontein - Vereeniging - Volksrust - Vredefort - Vryburg

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Though they were not extermination camps, the Boer camps were noted for their poor nutrition and bad hygiene, and the associated high mortality rates (28,000 women and children died). The Boer situation was only relieved when Emily Hobhouse brought the conditions in the camps to the attention of the British public.

Related Topics:
Extermination camp - Emily Hobhouse

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During World War I, South African troops (then a part of the British Empire) invaded neighboring German South-West Africa. German settlers were rounded up and sent to concentration camps in Pretoria and later in Pietermaritzburg.

Related Topics:
World War I - South Africa - German South-West Africa - German - Pretoria - Pietermaritzburg

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The British interned German and Austrian aliens that they rounded up after the start of World War II, many being held in Douglas on the Isle of Man. The vast majority of them were freed within six months, having been found to be "friendly aliens" (mostly Jews); examples include Hermann Bondi and Thomas Gold and members of the Amadeus Quartet.

Related Topics:
Interned - German - Austria - World War II - Douglas - Isle of Man - Jews - Hermann Bondi - Thomas Gold - Amadeus Quartet

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After World War II British efforts to prevent Jewish emigration into Palestine led to the construction of camps in Cyprus where up to 30,000 Holocaust survivors were held at any one time to prevent their entry into Palestine. Over time 50,000 people were imprisoned in the camps and over 2,000 children born there. After the creation of the state of Israel the British government continued to hold 8,000 Jews of 'military age' and 3,000 of their wives in order to prevent them joining the fighting. They were released in February 1949 (Source: N. Bogner, The Deportation Island: Jewish Illegal Immigrant Camps on Cyprus 1946-1948, Tel-Aviv 1991 in Hebrew).

Related Topics:
Palestine - Cyprus - Hebrew

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During the 1954-60 Mau-Mau uprising in Kenya, camps were established to hold suspected rebels. It is unclear how many were held but estimates range up to 1.5 million - or practically the entire Kikuyu population. Between 130,000 and 300,000 are though to have died as a result. Maltreatment is said to have included torture and summary executions. In addition as many as a million members of the Kikuyu tribe were subjected to ethnic cleansing. (Sources: . R. Edgerton, Mau Mau: An African Crucible, London 1990 page 180; C. Elkins,?Detention, Rehabilitation & the Destruction of Kikuyu Society?in Mau Mau and Nationhood, Editors Odhiambo and Lonsdale, Oxford 2003 pages 205-7; C. Elkins, "Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End Of Empire In Kenya", 2005).

Related Topics:
Mau-Mau - Kenya - Kikuyu

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Alderney in the Channel Islands was the only place in the British Isles where German concentration camps were established. In January 1942, the occupying German forces established four camps, called Helgoland, Norderney, Borkum and Sylt (after the German North Sea islands), where captive Russians and other east Europeans were used as slave labour to build Atlantic Wall defences on the island. Around 460 prisoners died in the Alderney camps.

Related Topics:
Alderney - Channel Islands - 1942 - Helgoland - Norderney - Borkum - Sylt - German North Sea islands - Atlantic Wall

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During the Anglo-Irish War 12,000 Irishmen were held without trial. Between 1971 and 1976 the British had a policy of internment in Northern Ireland and used Long Kesh as an internment camp to house people believed by the government to be members of paramilitary organisations.

Related Topics:
Anglo-Irish War - Internment - Northern Ireland - Long Kesh

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