concentration camp

noun

: a place where large numbers of people (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or the members of an ethnic or religious minority) are detained or confined under armed guard

—used especially in reference to camps created by the Nazis in World War II for the internment and persecution of Jews and other prisoners

The Nazi soldiers hauled [Mordechai] Strigler off to a concentration camp, and carved swastikas into his cheeks and forehead with a razor blade. Over the next five years, he was sent from one concentration camp or slave-labor camp to another.

—David Remnick

She ended up dying in a concentration camp, just a few months before she would have been liberated.

—Marilyn Reynolds

The V2 killed thousands of British civilians while 20,000 concentration camp inmates died as slave labourers during its manufacture in the closing stages of the second world war.

—Anna Tomforde et al.

see also death camp

Examples of concentration camp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In addition to William and Kate’s appearance in London, King Charles visited Poland for the 80th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation — and, through his visit on Jan. 27, became the first British monarch to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. —Rachel Burchfield, People.com, 28 Jan. 2025

The Nazi symbol was on view on the same day as a major ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz by Soviet troops during the Second World War. —Barbara A. Perry, Newsweek, 28 Jan. 2025

How the age-old hatred manifests In the Krakow Ghetto, many Jews suffered ever-worsening conditions before authorities established a policy of extermination through concentration camps across Europe, with one − Krakow-Plaszow − in the city itself. —Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 27 Jan. 2025

The survivor, who helps keep the history of the Holocaust alive by sharing his story of surviving the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic, praised Princess Kate and Princes William for helping to keep Holocaust history in younger generations’ minds. —Janine Henni, People.com, 27 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

concentration camp

noun

: a camp where persons (as prisoners of war, political prisoners, or refugees) are detained