Constitution Camps: Who Had To Attend?

Constitution Camps, also known as internment camps, are a result of controversial executive orders issued by governments during times of conflict. One of the most well-known examples of such camps occurred during World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order that led to the internment of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans due to fears of an invasion of the West Coast. The Supreme Court's Korematsu decision upheld the constitutionality of these camps, but it has since been rebuked and formally overturned. Constitution Camps can also refer to educational programs for children, such as the Elizabeth Crockett Chapter's Constitution Camp, which teaches young people about America's Constitution and history.

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Japanese-Americans

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued a controversial executive order, which led to the detention of more than 100,000 people in government-controlled facilities due to their ethnicity. This order was a response to the Japanese military attack on a US base in Hawaii, which resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 Americans. While the order did not specifically mention Japanese-Americans, it authorised the military to isolate citizens within a 60-mile coastal area from Washington state to California and parts of southern Arizona. As a result, a significant number of Japanese-Americans, including loyal citizens and thousands of children, were detained and relocated to camps.

These "relocation" centres, also referred to as internment camps, were often located in remote, less populated areas, far from the detainees' homes. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by armed personnel in towers. Before being sent to these long-term camps, Japanese-Americans were first gathered at "assembly centres", such as racetracks or fairgrounds, where they were tagged to indicate their designated relocation centre.

The Supreme Court's decision in Korematsu v. US (1944) ruled that the internment of Japanese Americans during a time of "emergency and peril" was constitutional. However, in Ex Parte Endo, the Court also stated that the government could not detain loyal citizens indefinitely, which eventually allowed Japanese-Americans to return to the West Coast. The American internment policy has since faced severe criticism, and in 1988, Congress provided restitution payments and an official apology to survivors as part of the Civil Liberties Act.

The experience of Japanese-Americans during World War II serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of racial discrimination and the importance of upholding the constitutional rights of all citizens, regardless of their ethnicity or ancestry. The internment of Japanese-Americans highlights a dark chapter in American history, where fear and hysteria led to the violation of civil liberties and the unjust detention of innocent individuals.

Communists

The Nazi concentration camp system arose in the months following Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor of Germany in 1933. The Reichstag Fire Decree, issued after the Reichstag fire in February of that year, provided a legal basis for the detention of citizens without trial, and the first camp, Nohra, was established in a school on March 3, 1933.

The opening of new camps in the late 1930s, such as Flossenbürg, Mauthausen, and Ravensbrück, saw an increase in the number of prisoners. By the end of 1937, the prisoner population had tripled in the previous six months, and by the end of June 1938, it had expanded threefold again. This increase was fueled by arrests of those considered "asocials," including the homeless, the mentally ill, and the unemployed.

The Nazis' targeting of communists was part of a broader effort to suppress opposition and consolidate power. The camps were intentionally isolated from the population and the rule of law, enabling the SS to exert absolute power.

Socialists

The Nazi regime in Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, who became chancellor in January 1933, embarked on a campaign of suppression against its opponents, including socialists. This suppression took the form of mass arrests and the establishment of concentration camps.

The Nazis' racist and totalitarian ideology drove their persecution of socialists, communists, Jews, Freemasons, trade unionists, and other groups deemed "anti-social" or "criminal". The concentration camp system, which arose in the months following Hitler's seizure of power, aimed to detain and "re-educate" these perceived enemies of the state.

Dachau, established in March 1933 in an abandoned World War I munitions factory near Munich, was the first Nazi concentration camp. By the end of 1933, there were almost 27,000 people imprisoned in concentration camps, the majority of whom were political prisoners. Of these, 80% were members of the Communist Party of Germany, and 10% were members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The Social Democrats were abolished in June 1933, with their leaders arrested or exiled.

The early concentration camps, established by the Storm Troopers (SA) and police, were gradually replaced by a centrally organized system under the Schutzstaffel (SS), the elite guard of the Nazi state. By 1939, there were six to seven large concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Flossenbürg, Mauthausen, and Ravensbrück, the first purpose-built camp for female prisoners.

The SS camp leadership came primarily from the middle class and the war youth generation. They and their families often lived near the camps, and prisoners were exploited for domestic labor. The persecution of political opponents and perceived anti-social" elements by the Nazis resulted in tremendous human suffering, with tens of thousands sentenced for "political crimes" between 1933 and 1939.

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Jews

During World War II, from 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, including subcamps on its territory and in German-occupied Europe. Initially, most prisoners were members of the Communist Party of Germany, but as time went on, Jews were increasingly targeted and imprisoned. The persecution of Jews began as soon as Hitler rose to power in 1933, when he started a systematic campaign to strip Jews of their property and their jobs in academia, the judiciary, the military, and civil service. Synagogues were defiled and burned, and Jewish businesses were boycotted or shut down. The Nuremburg Laws, introduced in 1935, denied Jews their German citizenship, forbade Jews to marry non-Jews, and took away most of their political rights.

In 1938, after the violent Kristallnacht ("Night of Broken Glass") pogroms, Nazi officials conducted mass arrests of adult male Jews throughout the country, marking the first time Jews were arrested en masse for being Jewish. In 1939, the German invasion of Poland heralded a new, more radical phase in the persecution of the Jews. The occupation of Poland meant that 1.7 million Polish Jews were now under German rule and were housed in ghettos, which resembled prisons. Many Jews escaped these ghettos and went into hiding, relying on the support of non-Jewish friends and risking the lives of their helpers. Those who were caught were imprisoned or killed, and their hiding places were reported by collaborators, including government agencies, who cooperated in the arrest and deportation of Jews.

During the second half of the war, Auschwitz became the center of the Nazi camp system. Fueled by the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews, it became the deadliest concentration camp, with almost one million Jews dying there. Jews sent to Auschwitz faced a virtual death sentence, even if they were not immediately killed, as most were. Upon arrival, the Jews were selected according to their age, health, and ability to work. Those who were not fit enough were gassed immediately, while the others were subjected to forced labour under barbaric conditions, poor food quality, and hygiene, and were often maltreated. This programme is therefore also referred to as 'extermination through labour'.

In 1941, during the German invasion of the USSR, the Nazis began their campaign of extermination in earnest, referring to their invasion as a race war between Germany and the Jewish people. Groups of German soldiers called Einsatzgruppen massacred civilians across Eastern Europe, killing about 1.3 million Jews by 1945. In 1942, the emphasis of the camps shifted to the war effort, and by 1943, two-thirds of prisoners were employed by war industries. As the war progressed, the manpower shortage in the camps was reduced by relying on guard dogs and delegating some duties to prisoners.

Freemasons

Freemasonry is a social phenomenon that emerged in Scotland, England, and Ireland in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It is a systematic creed with its own myths, values, and rituals, emphasizing "liberty, fraternity, and equality." Freemasonry was particularly prevalent in France by 1789, with estimates ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 French Masons.

During the Holocaust, Freemasons were persecuted by the Nazi regime. While the exact number of victims is unknown, historians estimate that between 80,000 and 200,000 Freemasons were killed. Masonic concentration camp inmates were classified as political prisoners and wore an inverted red triangle. Hitler believed that Freemasons had succumbed to Jewish conspiracies.

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