For the first time, the Chinese authorities acknowledged the existence of "preparation and residence" centers.

According to the head of the region, the camps for Muslim minorities provide "intensive training and accommodation" for those who, according to the authorities, are influenced by extremist ideas, as well as for those who are suspected of committing minor offenses.

A senior official in China's westernmost province of Xinjiang detailed for the first time the expanding network of internment camps, in what should be seen as another move by Beijing to defend the country's massive detentions of Muslim minorities amid growing global outrage.

In a rare interview with the state-run Xinhua news agency published on Tuesday, Xinjiang provincial governor Shohrat Zakir called the camps "vocational guidance and training institutes" that focus on "learning the country's common language, legislation, and also on the development of professional skills together with anti-extremism education.”

These centers are for "people under the influence of terrorism and extremism", for those who are suspected of committing minor offenses and do not deserve legal punishment, Zakir said, without saying how many people were interned or how long they were interned. are in the camps.

However, he said, an unknown number of "people in training" have come close to completing the training, or already meet the required level. They are expected to be able to complete "their education" by the end of the year, meaning they could soon be released, he said.

Zakir is the first senior Xinjiang official to speak publicly about the criticized camps. China is under increasing pressure over mass detentions and subsequent forced political formation. About a million ethnic Uighurs, as well as representatives of other Muslim communities in the region, became victims of this campaign.

The Xinjiang provincial leader's interview came after his leadership last week attempted to retroactively legitimize the existence of such camps, for which regional legislation was revised and the local government gained the right to open such camps in order to be able to "educate and transform" people under the impact of extremism.

According to Maya Wang, senior fellow at Human Rights Watch, Beijing's "clumsy excuses" are clearly a response to the international condemnation of the practice, but they won't dampen criticism.

Context

20 days in a re-education camp for Uighurs

Berlingske 04.07.2018

South China Morning Post: Why China maintains tight control over Xinjiang

South China Morning Post 09/14/2018

Uyghurs forced to surrender their passports

EurasiaNet 11.01.2017

South China Morning Post 10/12/2018

Sohu: Who is Islamizing faster - Russia or Europe?

Sohu 10.10.2018

“These camps continue to be completely illegal and unfair under both Chinese and international law; and the suffering and deprivation faced by about a million people cannot be pushed aside by propaganda,” she said.

In his interview, Zakir did not say anything about the detentions, however, according to him, these institutions provide "concentrated training" and "education with room and board," and security guards control the entrance.

According to Zakir, "trained people" study the official Chinese language in order to be able to deepen their knowledge in modern sciences, Chinese history and culture. It also requires the study of legislation, which should increase their "national and civic consciousness."

Vocational training is said to include courses to acquire skills for subsequent work in factories and other enterprises. We are talking about the production of clothing, food processing, assembly of electronic devices, printing, work in hairdressers, as well as in the field of e-commerce. Apparently, the companies participating in this project pay for the goods produced by the "disciples".

Although Zakir talked about language learning and vocational training, he evaded explaining what constitutes "anti-extremism classes" held in such camps.

However, former internees told the international media that they were forced to denounce their faith and were also forced to swear allegiance to the ruling Communist Party.

Omir Bekali, a Chinese-born Kazakh citizen sent to such a camp and later released, told the Associated Press earlier this year that detainees are politically indoctrinated there and forced to listen to lectures. about the dangers of Islam, and they are ordered to chant slogans before eating: “Thank you party! Thanks to the motherland!

The families of the detainees said that they did not have the opportunity to contact their loved ones, who "disappeared and then ended up in such camps."

However, in an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Zakir painted a rosy picture of life inside the internment camps: numerous sports facilities, reading rooms, computer labs, movie screening rooms, and areas where recitation, dance, and singing competitions are “frequently organized”.

“Many students said that they were previously under the influence of extremist thoughts and had never taken part in cultural and sports activities before. However, now they understand how colorful life can be,” he said.

This interview is the most detailed description of the previously denied internment camps from the Chinese government. Pressure from Western governments and international organizations is increasing, and so Beijing has moved from denial to active propaganda aimed at justifying the existing program. Chinese officials call it a "legitimate" and necessary approach to prevent people from becoming "victims of terrorism and extremism."

However, human rights activists and legal experts believe that such camps have no legal basis in China today, despite all attempts by the government to legitimize them.

“The authorities in Xinjiang seem to be under pressure, and this shows that international condemnation is working,” said Wang of Human Rights Watch. “What is needed today is for foreign governments and international organizations to make more intense efforts and move on to more meaningful actions.”

The US Congress is pushing for sanctions against Chinese officials who run internment camps, including Chen Quanguo, the province's party boss.

The European Parliament this month urged EU member states to raise the issue of mass internment in multilateral talks with China, while the new UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet last month called for observers to be allowed access to the region.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

In Internment and POW camps in Australia.

During the Second World War, the Australian authorities created a network of camps in the country. In these camps, for the period of hostilities, a contingent was moved, from those considered unreliable, from the inhabitants of Australia itself, as well as an unreliable contingent from the British metropolis and colonies. Subsequently, prisoners of war were placed in such camps, as well as an unreliable contingent from countries where hostilities were fought with the participation of the Australian and British armies.

Although this method of working with part of the population was not new to Australia, such camps were set up on the territory of the country during the First World War. True, in the First World War the contingent of such camps was limited; camps were used, as a rule, to identify and develop a part of unreliable residents. During the Second World War, in such camps began to put all the unreliable inhabitants of Australia, by origin from the countries of the opponents of Britain. This was especially true of the Japanese, who were forcibly sent to such camps. It also applied to Italians, Germans. Ethnic Finns, Hungarians, former residents of the Russian Empire (more than 30 countries in total), as well as persons who are members of various Nazi right-wing parties, also ended up in the camps.

map of camps in australia.

In total, during the Second World War, more than 7 thousand inhabitants passed through the camps, of which about 1.5 thousand citizens of Britain. During the war, there were also more than 8 thousand people sent there after the outbreak of hostilities, prisoners of war and citizens of the states where hostilities were fought.
It is worth noting that the living conditions of the citizens of Australia and the British colonies differed little from the life and life of prisoners of war. Both of them received the same allowance and lived in the same conditions. Very often they were placed together. The difference was that prisoners of war did not receive a monetary salary for their work.

Ensemble of Italian POWs at Camp Hay, New South Wales.

class of German children at Camp No. 3 Tatura, Victoria.

The camps were located on various converted sites, such as former prisons or old soldiers' camps, and were under the control of the military department. Internees and prisoners of war were recruited for various jobs, and they were also allowed to leave the camp. For example, Italian prisoners of war were allowed to leave even before the end of hostilities.

a prisoner-made park at Camp No. 1 Harvey, Western Australia.

interned Japanese and residents of the island of Java while picking tomatoes. Camp Galsworthy, New South Wales.

The camps existed until the very end of the war. The last camp was closed in January 1947. Thereafter, citizens of European descent were allowed to stay to live in Australia. In addition to Japanese citizens of war, there are also some Japanese of Australian origin. They were sent to Japan.

General view of the residential area at Camp Loveday, South Australia. This camp was one of the largest; during the war, about 5,000 people of various nationalities passed through it. The camp developed the cultivation of various agricultural crops, tobacco, and the production of various goods. The internees were engaged in deforestation. The prisoners were engaged in many outdoor activities, the camp also had its own golf club.

Soviet military personnel.

Story

The construction of the camp began after the German attack on the USSR. It was located in Södermanland south of Strengnäs. The camp was originally run by the Social Security Administration, however, in July 1941 it was taken over by the Internee Section ( Interneringsdetaljen), which was a structural unit of the Air Defense Department of the Swedish Defense Headquarters.

The camp was surrounded by barbed wire, there were searchlights in the corners. It consisted of simple barracks in which it was so cold in winter that it was necessary to constantly monitor the fire. With the advent of internees in it, at first it was guarded by soldiers of the Swedish army, but then they were replaced by reservists, who were much stricter about their duties. The commandant of the camp was Captain Karl Axel Eberhard Rosenblad (1886-1953).

On September 22, 1941, the first 60 Soviet sailors appeared in the camp, who reached the territorial waters of Sweden from the Baltic on the twentieth of September on two torpedo boats. On the destroyer "Remus" they were taken to Nynäshamn, and then to the camp near Büring. A few days later, another hundred Soviet troops arrived at the camp, having come to Sweden from Estonia. On December 31, 1941, there were 164 internees in the camp: 21 officers, 8 commissars and political officers, 5 quartermasters, 19 military engineers, 4 military technicians, 2 military assistants, 44 junior commanders, 1 deputy political officer ( "politruk (sergeants tjänsteställning)"), 51 sailors and 9 civilians. Of the officers, 5 people belonged to the ground units (among them was 1 lieutenant colonel and 2 majors).

The description of the Russians by a Swedish military official is curious:

“Russians seem to be kind-hearted people and always ready to help. They are like big children and have all the good qualities of such, but they can also be childishly cruel, for which there is a lot of evidence. There is some oriental cunning and cunning in them. The general educational level of Russian internees is quite high. There are no illiterates. Surprisingly, many of them are interested in classical literature and have a deep knowledge of the history of Russian literature. […] As a rule, they do not speak foreign languages, which is explained by the fact that they were isolated from the rest of Europe. However, many are trying to correct this shortcoming and study Swedish, German and even English in the camp. .

To occupy the internees, they were allowed to work in the field of logging and road construction, for which they were entitled to a payment of 1 crown per day (Swedes employed in the same work received 3 crowns).

The internees had different views on some political issues, which gave rise to conflicts among them. In this regard, the Swedish authorities divided the camp into sections "A" and "B", stretching barbed wire between them.

In 1943, the internees, dissatisfied with the conditions in the camp, went on a hunger strike, after which the Swedes somewhat weakened their guards and allowed them to move freely enough in a three-kilometer zone around the camp. At the same time, he had a star sewn onto his uniform, which was supposed to indicate to the local population that they were from the camp. A dance floor was also organized in the camp and an orchestra was created. Internees could even arrange dances with local girls.

In 1944, when the defeat of Germany became more and more obvious, Sweden, at the request of the USSR, secretly repatriated interned Soviet citizens. On October 1, the inhabitants of the Büring camp were lined up in front of the Swedish and Soviet military and announced that if someone wants to stay in Sweden, he must take a step forward. There were 34 of them. The rest in the same month were sent to the USSR in several batches.

On September 22, 2012, a stone dedicated to the memory of the Soviet soldiers held in the camp was installed in Büring.

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Excerpt characterizing Internment Camp No. III

A lump of snow cannot be melted instantly. There is a certain time limit before which no effort of heat can melt the snow. On the contrary, the more heat, the stronger the remaining snow.
Of the Russian military leaders, no one except Kutuzov understood this. When the direction of the flight of the French army along the Smolensk road was determined, then what Konovnitsyn foresaw on the night of October 11 began to come true. All the higher ranks of the army wanted to distinguish themselves, cut off, intercept, captivate, overturn the French, and everyone demanded an offensive.
Kutuzov alone used all his forces (these forces are very small for each commander in chief) to counteract the offensive.
He could not tell them what we are saying now: why fight, and block the road, and lose his people, and inhumanly finish off the unfortunate? Why all this, when one third of this army melted away from Moscow to Vyazma without a fight? But he spoke to them, deducing from his senile wisdom what they could understand - he spoke to them about the golden bridge, and they laughed at him, slandered him, and tore, and threw, and swaggered over the killed beast.
Near Vyazma, Yermolov, Miloradovich, Platov and others, being close to the French, could not resist the desire to cut off and overturn two French corps. Kutuzov, informing him of their intention, they sent in an envelope, instead of a report, a sheet of white paper.
And no matter how hard Kutuzov tried to keep the troops, our troops attacked, trying to block the road. The infantry regiments, as they say, with music and drumming went on the attack and beaten and lost thousands of people.
But cut off - no one was cut off or knocked over. And the French army, pulling closer from danger, continued, evenly melting, all the same disastrous path to Smolensk.

The battle of Borodino, followed by the occupation of Moscow and the flight of the French, without new battles, is one of the most instructive phenomena of history.
All historians agree that the external activity of states and peoples, in their clashes with each other, is expressed by wars; that directly, as a result of greater or lesser military successes, the political strength of states and peoples increases or decreases.
No matter how strange the historical descriptions of how some king or emperor, having quarreled with another emperor or king, gathered an army, fought with the army of the enemy, won a victory, killed three, five, ten thousand people and, as a result, conquered the state and the whole people in several million; no matter how incomprehensible why the defeat of one army, one hundredth of all the forces of the people, forced the people to submit, - all the facts of history (as far as we know it) confirm the validity of the fact that greater or lesser successes of the army of one people against the army of another people are causes or, according to at least essential signs of an increase or decrease in the strength of the peoples. The army won, and immediately the rights of the victorious people increased to the detriment of the defeated. The army has suffered a defeat, and immediately, according to the degree of defeat, the people are deprived of their rights, and with the complete defeat of their army, they completely submit.
So it has been (according to history) from ancient times to the present. All the wars of Napoleon serve as confirmation of this rule. According to the degree of defeat of the Austrian troops - Austria is deprived of its rights, and the rights and forces of France increase. The victory of the French at Jena and Auerstet destroys the independent existence of Prussia.
But suddenly, in 1812, the French won a victory near Moscow, Moscow was taken, and after that, without new battles, not Russia ceased to exist, but an army of 600,000 ceased to exist, then Napoleonic France. It is impossible to force facts on the rules of history, to say that the battlefield in Borodino was left to the Russians, that after Moscow there were battles that destroyed Napoleon's army - it is impossible.
After the Borodino victory of the French, there was not a single not only general, but any significant battle, and the French army ceased to exist. What does it mean? If this were an example from the history of China, we could say that this phenomenon is not historical (a loophole of historians when something does not fit their standard); if it were a case of a short-term clash in which small numbers of troops would participate, we could take this phenomenon as an exception; but this event took place before the eyes of our fathers, for whom the question of life and death of the fatherland was decided, and this war was the greatest of all known wars ...

The history of the internment camps in France since 1939 is well researched but poorly known. The recently opened Camp de Mille memorial site near Aix-en-Provence is not the first memorial site of its kind.

Those who have heard the phrase "banality of evil" think they know something about it. Here is an ordinary factory building in the industrial suburb of Aix-en-Provence. Once the complex with two pipes was a brick factory. From 1939 to 1942 it served as an internment camp for foreign "enemies of the state". In the summer of 1942, far more than 2,000 Jews were deported from here to Auschwitz. Then the production of bricks was resumed, which continued until 2002 - as if nothing else had happened there. Now the complex has been turned into a memorial site.

Knowledge, emotions, thoughts

There are three phases in the history of the camp in "free" Southern France, which until the end of 1942 was directed by French officials on the orders of the French government. From September 1939 to June 1940, i.e. from the moment war was declared until the lightning victory of the Nazi troops, “enemies of the state”, read: German citizens, were kept here. The overwhelming majority were Jews and/or opponents of the Nazi regime who emigrated to France or were wrecked while fleeing there. Among the prisoners of the camp were figures of art and literature, for example, Hans Bellmer, Max Ernst, Lion Feuchtwanger and Golo Mann.

Then, from July 1940, Camp de Mile became an internment camp for "undesirable foreigners" who were considered as such by the Vichy government. The Spanish republicans and Jews joined the number of "enemies of the state", in October 1940 they were "pushed out" from South-West Germany. The complex, numbering at times more than 3,500 internees, was bursting at the seams. Food supply and hygiene conditions deteriorated markedly. The third phase was formed by the deportations of Jews in August and September 1942. The Petain regime agreed to extradite 10,000 foreign Jews to the Nazis. Since the bureaucratic structures did not know what to do with the remaining children, they, without hesitation, were sent along with the adults at the initiative of the head of the French government, Pierre Laval. The list of children deported from the Camp de Miles to Auschwitz contains more German names than French ones: Werner Blau, Renate Falk, Hans Kahn, Gerty Licht, Erwin Ur...

In 1992, a French railway company installed a historic wagon on the unused tracks of the factory site, which was used to deport Jews. The route of the 15,000 m memorial complex of the Camp de Mille now rests on three cornerstones: knowledge- a story about the history of the camp and the transfer of historical context; emotions- ensuring accessibility to parts of those buildings in which the internees lived and left traces of their stay, such as wall paintings, graffiti, etc.; reflections- the final section, specifically aimed at young visitors, designed to combat prejudice and strengthen the sense of citizenship and the spirit of resistance.

The history of the French internment camps is relatively well researched scientifically, but rather poorly known to the general public. Along with many separate studies, now since 2002 in the form of Denis Pechansky's book "France of the camps: internment, 1938-1946" (Gallimard publishing house) ("La France des camps: L "internement, 1938-1946" (Gallimard Peschanski, a historian and specialist on the Vichy period, estimates the number of camps at more than 200, the number of internees at about 600 thousand people.

It should be emphasized that the decree that made possible the internment of "undesirable foreigners" was issued a year and a half before the German occupation by a somewhat democratic government. This measure testifies to the hostility towards foreigners, which was growing in the late 30s. and in the non-fascist states of Europe. Communists were also interned (after the conclusion of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact) and Sinti ( the self-name of some branches of the gypsy ethnic group, politically correct, in contrast to the German Zigeuner, associated with the genocide of gypsies during the Second World War. - Approx. per.) (until 1946!). During the war in Algeria, the practice of internment was restored, including on the territory of the metropolis.

The history of the Camp de Rivesaltes near Perpignan forms a kind of summary of all possible camps with their use. In this "Camp Joffre" (the camp was named after Joseph Joffre (1852-1931), Marshal of France (1916), commander-in-chief of the French army, built in 1938 as a military camp, a small part of 450 thousands of republicans who fled from Spain from Franco.They were joined by refugees from Nazi Germany from 1941, mostly Jews, who were deported to Auschwitz at the end of 1942. When the occupation of the southern zone followed, German troops were stationed in the camp. their retreat in mid-1944, the French authorities kept a motley mixture of Spanish refugees, German and Italian prisoners of war, Soviet emigrants, and domestic collaborators there.The camp was liquidated in 1948, and it was followed in 1962-1977. "family camp" for Algerians who collaborated with the colonial authorities and, after gaining independence, the former colony was forced to flee from there.

Finally, in 1986, the site of the camp was taken over by an "administrative detention center" for undocumented persons, which until 2007 was one of the largest in the country.

Not the first place of its kind

It is this story, so rich in change, that a memorial under construction, designed by Rudy Ricciotti, an architect from southern France, must now retell. Already on September 23, in the Parisian suburb of Drancy, the center for the deportation of Jews, a memorial designed by the Swiss bureau Diener & Diener, a derivative of the Mémorial de la Shoah [the Holocaust memorial] in Paris, was inaugurated. With a strong media response, the opening of the Camp de Miles, which was attended by the French Prime Minister and other cabinet members on 10 September, should not let us forget that this kind of memorial site already exists.

Thus, the Internment and Deportation Memorial in the former Camp de Royale, opened in early 2008, has a route through its territory based on exactly the same three cornerstones as the route in Camp de Mille. Royale is of particular importance, since the first train with deportees left from here to Auschwitz. Das Center d "étude et de recherche sur les camps d" internement dans le Loiret et la déportation juive in Orléans [Center for the study and research of internment camps in the Loire department and the deportation of Jews in Orleans] was open even as early as 1991. About others former large camps are at least informed by information centers (Camp de Gurs) or monuments and memorial plaques.

Mark Zitzmann

translation urokiistorii

+ 25 photo cards....>>>

lager for interned US citizens of Japanese origin Manzanar. California, USA, 1943.
Author: Ansel Adams.

Belongings of internees of US citizens of Japanese origin at the entrance to the Salinas camp in California, April 1942.

Repairs to a power line at California's Manzanar camp for interned US citizens of Japanese descent. California, USA, 1943.

Japanese American women work in the clothing industry at the Manzanar internment camp. California, USA, 1943.

A view of the Manzanar camp for interned US citizens of Japanese descent. Newell, California, USA, 1943.

Japanese-American Sumiko Shigematsu works in the textile industry at the Manzanar internment camp in California. 1943

A panorama of California's Santa Anita camp for interned US citizens of Japanese descent. Arcadia, California, USA, April 1942.

anorama of the production of camouflage nets in the California internment camp for US citizens of Japanese origin Santa Anita. California, USA, 1942.

Young Japanese American women at the Tule Lake internment camp in California.

View of the canteen for interned US citizens of Japanese origin at the Pinedale camp. California, USA, 1942.

US citizens of Japanese descent work in the Tule Lake internment camp field. California, USA.

US citizens of Japanese descent stand outside the barracks of the Tule Lake internment camp. Newell, California, USA

US citizens of Japanese descent sit at the entrance to the Waldorf Astoria barracks at the Puyallup internment camp in Washington state. 1942

The name of the barrack is ironic, since the Waldorf Astoria is the name of a fashionable American hotel.

Panorama of the Tule Lake camp for interned US citizens of Japanese origin. The camp was located near the city of Newell in northern California. 1942 - 1943 years.

Under the territory of the camp was allocated 7,400 acres of land (about 3 square kilometers), about half of which was occupied by fields. Tulle Lake consisted of 570 residential barracks and over 400 general purpose barracks.
Construction started on February 16, 1942; On May 26, 1942, it was opened to receive internees, the number of which reached 18,700 people. Separately, German (up to 800 people) and Italian prisoners of war (up to 200 people) were kept in the same camp.
Closed February 28, 1946.

Japanese-American internment camp guard Santa Anita searches the suitcase of an arriving woman who is standing nearby. Arcadia, California, USA, April 1942.

A group of Japanese American citizens awaiting transfer to another internment camp at Pinedale Camp in California. 1942

Japanese women wash clothes at an internment camp at Pinedale, California. 1942

A guard at the Santa Anita Japanese internment camp (Arcadia, California) inspects the suitcase of a Japanese family in the background, April 1942.

To the left, leaning on a table, is an American policeman.

The construction of the barracks of the camp for Japanese internees in the town of Parker in the state of Arizona, in the area of the Indian reservation on the Colorado River, April 1942.