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Comment by ck2 | Hacker News Reader

Internment is a revisionist word to make it sound less harsh. They were concentration camps.

"Concentration camp" has been used to describe Nazi death camps for a long time, and has come to be more-or-less synonymous. None of the Japanese camps systematically killed people, as far as I know. Manzanar was an atrocity, but it was not in the same league as Dachau. To call them both by same name is misleading.

That said, 'internment camp' sounds far too weak. From what I've read, every piece of property they couldn't carry was taken, and they were rounded up and forced to live in horse-stalls for the duration of the war. Every single family, as far as I know, had to not only suffer the indignity of being held without cause, but then had to rebuild from zero after the war. I can't think of a better term, but it needs one.

Concentration camp (KZ) sounds about right. The term for places like Dachau and Auschwitz is Vernichtungslager (extermination camp). A concentration camp is not set up for industrial mass-murder of its prisoners.

In modern English the distinction is not consistently made. Sometimes you see extermination camps and concentration camps talked about, but other times you see both talked about just as 'concentration camps'.

I certainly agree. Concentration camp is an umbrella term, both in German and English. However, if we're talking about the exact type of camps, it makes sense use the proper words and inform readers of the distinction. It's only fair to the victims to use appropriate language and not play down the severity of their situation.

Yes, I agree. To be clear, I do prefer using the term "concentration camps" to refer to what the US did to the Japanese, but I understand that others object to that and find their objections fairly reasonable.

I wouldn't necessarily argue the use of "concentration camps," but as I said in this thread, my grandparents and many of their family and friends were interned and they all use "internment camp" as the preferred nomenclature. They have generally avoided the use of "concentration camp."

Concentration camp and extermination camp are widely distinguished. It is fair to call concentration camps "concentration camps."

Yes, "interment camp" is a euphemism for "concentration camp", but to be fair at about the same time "concentration camp" become a euphemism for "death camp".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment#Concentration_camp

> Yes, "interment camp" is a euphemism for "concentration camp", but to be fair at about the same time "concentration camp" become a euphemism for "death camp".

And "concentration camp" is itself a euphemism for "prison camp". So its probably better if we strip out the euphemisms and refer to:

1. "Prison camps", and

2. "Death camps" (or, even more accurately, "Extermination camps")

(Recognizing that the second is a subset of the first, not a disjoint category.)

And avoid "concentration camps" and "internment camps" entirely.

"Concentration camp" is just a Boer War-era euphemism for "prison camp".

Concentration is a revisionist word to make it sound more harsh. They were internment camps.

Concentration camps are where you send people to die.

I'm not sure wether to chalk that up to ignorance or just a cultural understanding of the word. I realize here in the US, "Concentration Camp" has become synonymous with the Nazi death camps. However, a concentration camp is just another word for a place to intern people. A death camp is where people are sent do die.

The term "concentration camp" really only came to mean "death camp" during/after WWII. Before then it was used more or less literally, a camp where people are concentrated (which is not to say that they were not often brutal and deadly... but the purpose of the camps was not extermination)

"the American encampment in a higher ethnic concentration of Japanese" doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily.

I'm not sure what the distinction is you're trying to make. That calling them 'interment camps' is somehow better than 'concentration camps'? Both words refer to holding a designated group of people, perceived to be a threat against their will without evidence or trial.

The distinction he is trying to make is quite clear... The term 'concentration camp' has a far greater negative connotation associated with it for glaringly obvious reasons...

Fortunately, there is a good historical and photographic record, and it's actually presented to students of US history in school.

I can't say I agree. My grandparents were interned at Tule Lake and they (along with my other Japanese-American family) prefer "internment" as the nomenclature.

"Concentration camp" implies something else entirely, to them.

Please point me to the source showing that we used them to manufacture munitions, or to the one showing me that we gassed and burned them.

Is there a reason I'm being downvoted? There are almost no parallels (beyond the most literal) between a concentration camp and an internment camp.

He is using the term "concentration camp" in the original sense of the term to mean "prison camp". What we call "Nazi Concentration Camps" were often "death camps" and/or "labor camps", but those are not what he means by "concentration camp".

"Internment Camp" is a euphemism for "concentration camp", which is itself a euphemism for "prison camp". "Concentration camp" has also come to be a euphemism for "extermination camp".

So:

  Is a:                          | Can be called a [...] Camp
  --------------------------------------------------------------------
  Prison camp                    | Internment, Concentration
  Prison camp with labor         | Internment, Concentration, Labor
  Extermination camp             | Concentration, Extermination, Death

He is talking about the first line, you are talking about the third. In modern English, the term "concentration camp" is most strongly associated with the third.

(Actually, IIRC some Japanese prison camps were in fact labor camps, though I think the work they did was almost entirely agricultural. No bomb-assembly to my knowledge.)

@dragonwriter suggests avoiding the terms "concentration" and "internment" entirely and only using "prison" and "extermination" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6260756). I think this is a reasonable suggestion.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com