Concentration camp

Please post your comments and suggestions for this article.

Comment by Dr L Luciuk on August 28th, 2010 at 10:45 am

Canada’s first national internment operations began in 1914 and lasted until 1920. Twenty-four concentration camps were established following the passage of the War Measures Act, and several thousand civilians were eventually confined, with many thousands more branded as “enemy aliens,” not because of anything they had done but only because of who they were, where they had come from. The majority of those internees were not Germans, Austrians or Turks but actually Ukrainians and other east Europeans who had been lured to Canada with promises of freedom and free land, emigrating here from the multicultural Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman Turkish and German empires. What little wealth they had was confiscated, they were forced to labour for the profit of their gaolers, they were subjected to a variety of other state-sanctioned censures, including restrictions of their freedom of speech, association and movement.

Over nearly 25 years a concerted effort spearheaded by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (www.uccla.ca) resulted in a redress settlement (May 2008) and the creation of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund (www.internmentcanada.ca)

Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on August 28th, 2010 at 11:45 am

Thank you for your comment. That information will be added to the article.

Comment by Rachel on April 23rd, 2011 at 1:30 pm

“Most of the Nazi concentration camps were destroyed after the war, though some were made into permanent memorials.”

This statement is very misleading.

Many of the Nazi concentration camps in what became East Germany after the war were turned into NKVD special camps, that is, concentration camps for East Germans. Those camps were turned into memorials only after 1989.

Comment by Rachel on April 23rd, 2011 at 1:32 pm

Also, this article is missing any information about Eisenhower’s death camps (Rheinwiesenlager) put up in Western Germany in 1945.

Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on April 23rd, 2011 at 3:17 pm

Thank you for your feedback. The article will be revised to include the information you suggested.

Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on May 16th, 2011 at 3:25 pm

The Rheinwiesenlager would be more appropriately included in the article on Prisoner of war. That article will be revised to include information on them.

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