Sociology Plus
Concentration Camp Definition
A concentration camp was a special unit established by governments for the detention of individuals deemed political and social ‘undesirables’. While some early centres of internment were established by the British government during the Boer War, the term is most specifically associated with the camps set up by the Nazis in Germany and occupied Europe before and during World War II. These institutions operated beyond mere detention or behaviour correction; their function was often to demoralise detainees to the point of death or to exterminate them, particularly targeting groups such as Jews and Gypsies.
Historical Context and Function
These camps, alongside forced labour facilities in systems like the Soviet Union, are generally regarded as instruments of totalitarianism. They represented an extreme form of social control designed not only to confine individuals but also to systematically dehumanise and eliminate specific populations.
Psychological Dimensions
Psychoanalytical theorists, notably Bertheleheim, explored the extremes of depersonalisation and dehumanisation experienced within these camps. Bettelheim suggested that survival among those who died by attrition depended on maintaining some ‘areas of independent action’ despite an overwhelmingly total environment. He posited that individuals lacking internal resources or external status for self-worth were more likely to succumb to the conditions imposed by such total institutions.