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Originally developed by the British during the Boer War, concentration camps were camps the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Nazi Germany]] set up for persons deemed to be opponents or threats to the regime.  The term '''concentration camp''' was coined by Soviet Communist Party General Secreary [[Vladimir Lenin]] in a letter of 9 August 1918 in which he state,

'''Concentration camp'''s were camps the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Nazi Germany]] set up for persons deemed to be opponents or threats to the regime.  The term '''concentration camp''' was coined by Soviet Communist Party General Secreary [[Vladimir Lenin]] in a letter of 9 August 1918 in which he state,

{{Cquote|It is essential to organise a reinforced guard of reliable persons to carry out mass terror against [[kulaks]], priests and White Guardists; unreliable elements should be locked up in a concentration camp outside the town" <ref>Geoffrey Hosking, A History of the Soviet Union, 1992, p. 71.  </ref>}}

{{Cquote|It is essential to organise a reinforced guard of reliable persons to carry out mass terror against [[kulaks]], priests and White Guardists; unreliable elements should be locked up in a concentration camp outside the town" <ref>Geoffrey Hosking, A History of the Soviet Union, 1992, p. 71.  </ref>}}

[[Auschwitz]], for example, achieved [[murder]] on an industrial scale. During [[World War II]], 1.5 million people were systematically starved, [[torture]]d and murdered there.<ref>http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/31</ref> Although [[Hitler]] was primarily focused on the extermination of the [[Jews]], [[Christian]]s, [[Gypsy|gypsies]], [[Slavs]], [[homosexuals]], and [[Communism|communists]] also met with similar fates in the Nazi camps.  

[[Auschwitz]], for example, achieved [[murder]] on an industrial scale. During [[World War II]], 1.5 million people were systematically starved, [[torture]]d and murdered there.<ref>http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/31</ref> Although [[Hitler]] was primarily focused on the extermination of the [[Jews]], [[Christian]]s, [[Gypsy|gypsies]], [[Slavs]], [[homosexuals]], and [[Communism|communists]] also met with similar fates in the Nazi camps.  

The Soviet gulags were forced labour camps, mainly in the remote regions of [[Siberia]] and the Far North. By 1934, the gulags held several million inmates (political prisoners and ordinary criminals alike) and the Soviet economy was dependent upon  this vast pool of [[slave]] labour from the [[lumpen masses]] and [[counterrevolutionaries]]. Conditions were brutal: prisoners received insufficient food and clothing to cope with the long working hours and severe weather, resulting in high death rates from exhaustion and disease. <ref>http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/gula.html</ref>

The Soviet gulags were forced labour camps, mainly in the remote regions of [[Siberia]] and the Far North. By 1934, the gulags held several million inmates (political prisoners and ordinary criminals alike) and the Soviet economy was dependent upon  this vast pool of [[slave]] labour from the [[lumpen masses]] and [[counterrevolutionaries]]. An April 14, 1941 Memorandum from the U.S. Military Attache (G-2) in Moscow, found in the [[Harry Hopkins]] Papers at the FDR Library, entitled "[[NKVD]] of the USSR", it states in part,

{{Cquote|"Although the Soviets disclaim [[forced labor]] in this country, the organization of this commissariat is interesting to note.  In it are the means to apprehend (militia), try and sentence (advisory council) and imprison offenders ([[Gulag|corrective labor]]).  Any governmental organization that has a crying need for labor simply calls upon the NKVD to supply it.  If the amount of labor is insufficient to supply the need, it is relatively an easy matter to institute a [[reign of terror]] on any pretext and fill up [[labor colonies]] to meet requirements....Its close supervision over the people, its [[pogroms]], its raids and arrests, has instilled fear...[http://www.cia.gov/csi/books/venona/5d.gif] }}

The Bosnian Serbs also maintained concentration camps at Omarska for Bosnian Muslims during the Yugoslavian civil wars of the 1990s. (see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1633582.stm)

Conditions were brutal: prisoners received insufficient food and clothing to cope with the long working hours and severe weather, resulting in high death rates from exhaustion and disease. <ref>http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/gula.html</ref>

== References ==

== References ==