British and concentration camps?

is it true that the British developed concentration camps (without the negative connotations that has today)? My father said it was to intern Prussians during the Boer war, but Im not so sure.Anyone help me out?

 

Thats the first i heard about this! Would be interesting to hear more. :wtf:

 

Good question Buford, and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it were true:sad:

 

Actually yes Buford, your right. They were used as makeshift POW camps, also referred to as internment camps.

 

The concentration camps were a strategy used by the British after the first stage of the Boer war to weaken the guerillas by keeping the Afrikaans women and children (and so supplies) off the farms. It actually came from the Spanish in the Cuban war, but Hitler always said that the British started it.

Neither the Spanish nor the British meant them to be used for extermination. Quite barbaric, any way.

 

Yes solid info James. Surely "concentration camp" simply means a particular group of people are cruelly concentrated in one place? Death camps are a sinister twist on an already sick idea. Invented by people, of whatever nationality.

 

Agree, the Germans used the concentration camps on their own people well before the war, especially the political members who Hitler wanted rid of and anyone else who he felt was a threat. It was Hitler i believe who took it another step further and it was his disciples who ran or organised it..

 

I really enjoy learning in this forum. I have found that there is many pieces of information that were partials that have come full circle from reading in this forums.

 

Never heard of this

I've never heard about the British camps. This is interesting.

 

I have heard about these concentration camps but yes Hitler put his own sick twist on them. I wonder if he got the idea from the British and then just expaned on it in his own sick way?

 

It wouldn't surprise me if Hitler drew inspiration from the British concentration camps but he definitely took it steps further than what occurred in the First World War. Concentration camps were traditionally a method to intern POWs and political enemies and this is what the Nazi camps began as. Heinrich and Himmler (among others) only really started initiating the extermination policies within Nazi camps when the war was turning and supplies were running thin. It's still no excuse but I think that's an important aspect to note.

 

INTERNMENT CAMPS.
An internment camp is a large detention centre for political prisoners, enemy aliens etc., especially in time of war. The term is used for facilities where selected inmates are selected by some generalised criteria rather than being detained after the due process of law. The Geneva Convention provides for the protection of civilians during time of war, in the hands of an enemy, or under occupation by a foreign power. Prisoner of war camps are internment camps intended for the specific holding of an enemy's armed forces as defined in the Geneva Convention.

CONCENTRATION CAMP.

Is a guarded compound for the detention or imprisonment of aliens , political opponents etc. It has been suggested that the earliest use of concentration camps was in Poland in the 18th centuary during the Bar Confederation Rebellion, when the Russian Empire established 3 concentration camps for Polish rebel civilians awaiting deportation to Siberia. Also in the 1830's the US Government created
camps for the resettlement of the native american indian.
The term concentration camp became popular during the Boer war when the British used them in South Africa. 45 camps were built for Boer intenees and 64 for black Africans.

In the 20th centuary arbitary internment of civillians reached a climax with the Nazi Death Camps or Extermination camps. As a result the term carries many of the connotations , and is often used synonymously.
So it might not be a British invention.
Jasmor58