II.

Western Camps

Modern concentration camps appeared at the end of the 19th century. The Spaniards used them in Cuba during the Spanish-American War (1898), and the British established them for thousands of women and children during the Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa. In the West camps have been created several times during periods of war and national emergency. In France the government committed Spanish Republican refugees to reception centers in 1938 and added Jewish and other anti-Nazi refugees the following year. In Britain the government used Defense Regulation 18B in 1939 to send potentially disloyal citizens and refugees from enemy countries to internment camps.

During World War II the U.S. Army forced approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, from their primarily West Coast homes to ten concentration camps, many in the interior of the country. The U.S. government referred to these prisonlike camps as relocation centers. See also Japanese American Internment.