| Weihsien Internment Camp | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 濰縣集中營 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 潍县集中营 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Concentration camp | |||||||||
  Weihsien Internment Camp Location of Weihsien Internment Camp in Shandong Province, China | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 36°42′08″N 119°07′35″E / 36.70222°N 119.12639°E | ||||||||
| Other names | Weihsien Civilian Assembly Center | ||||||||
| Location | Weifang, China | ||||||||
| Original use | Presbyterian Mission Compound | ||||||||
| Operational | February 1943 – October 1945 | ||||||||
| Number of inmates | more than 2,000 internees | ||||||||
| Liberated by | U.S. Army | ||||||||
| Notable books | Shantung Compound by Langdon Gilkey | ||||||||
The Weixian Internment Camp (Chinese: 濰縣集中營), better known historically as the Weihsien Internment Camp, was a Japanese-run internment camp called a "Civilian Assembly Center" in the former Wei County (濰縣; 潍县; Wéixiàn; Wei2hsien4), located near the city of Weifang, Shandong, China. The compound was used by the Japanese during World War II to intern civilians of Allied countries living in North China. The camp operated from March 1943 until October 1945 and more than 2,200 civilians were interned for all or part of the time the camp was open.
The majority of the people in the camp were British, but the population also included American, Canadian, Australian, Italian, Dutch, Belgian, Russian, and other nationalities. Most of the internees were either Christian missionaries or businessmen and their families. More than 350 children were among the internees. The children included the students of Chefoo boarding school, of whom 100 were separated from their parents throughout the war. Weihsien remained in operation until American paratroopers liberated the camp without opposition on 17 August 1945, although the last internee did not leave until October 1945.[1]
Theologian Langdon Gilkey described the experience of an internee at Weihsien. "We suffered no extreme hardships of limb, stomach, or spirit...we were secure and comfortable enough to accomplish in large part the creation and maintenance of a small civilization, but our life was sufficiently close to the margin of survival to reveal the vast difficulties of that task."[2]
- ^ Previte, Mary (17 August 2005). "Mary Previte's Speech at the Sixtieth Anniversary Celebration of the Liberation of the Weihsien Concentration Camp". Weifang, Shandong Province, China: Embassy of the United States - Beijing, China. Archived from the original on August 10, 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ^ Gilkey 1966, p. ix.