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GCSE History · key term
A detention camp used by the Nazis to imprison political opponents and other targeted groups outside normal judicial safeguards. Prisoners faced brutal treatment and, increasingly, forced labour.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Paper 1
A camp in which people were imprisoned, often without trial, under brutal conditions. The Nazis used these camps to terrorise opponents and persecute targeted groups.
Revise: Control and OppositionThe Gestapo, or Secret State Police, investigated suspected opposition. It could interrogate people and arrange imprisonment without trial, including detention in concentration camps. Regular police also helped enforce Nazi rule.
Paper 3
Distinguish the organisations: Himmler led the SS; the SS enforced Nazi rule and guarded concentration camps; the Gestapo investigated and suppressed suspected opposition.
Distinguish the organisations: the Gestapo investigated and arrested suspected enemies; SS units guarded and administered concentration camps.
Keep the period in mind: this topic covers 1933–39. Do not describe the later wartime killing centres as though they were the purpose of all early concentration camps.
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The SS, led by Heinrich Himmler, controlled the concentration camp system. Concentration camps confined opponents and other targeted groups under brutal conditions. Together, these institutions both removed opponents and discouraged others from resisting.
Paper 1, Paper 2
A place where the Nazi regime imprisoned people outside normal legal safeguards, subjecting inmates to harsh treatment and forced labour.
Revise: Control and Conformity: Terror, Propaganda and OppositionThe SA also helped establish early concentration camps, including makeshift detention sites in warehouses and factories. These were places where opponents could be held without trial. Violence on the streets and the threat of imprisonment made organising protests or continuing political activity extremely dangerous.
A camp in which a population is confined. British camps during the Second Boer War suffered from overcrowding, poor sanitation and inadequate medical supplies, causing mass deaths.
Paper 1, Paper 3
A camp in which civilians are confined under military or government control. During the Boer War, overcrowding and inadequate supplies and sanitation caused widespread suffering and death.
A place where people were detained outside the normal judicial process, often indefinitely and under harsh conditions.