WWII confinement camps back in use? Czech President says why not

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Free Radio Europe
16 Jun 2023 14:46

The leader of the Czech Republic considers that these inhumane measures against Russians are justified as "that’s simply the cost of war.”

Czech Republic's President Petr Pavel at the Prague Castle before his inauguration ceremony in Prague, Czech Republic, on Thursday, March 9, 2023 (AP)

Czech President Petr Pavel called for establishing a security system of mass surveillance against Russian civilians living in the West, recalling as a lead example the inhuman measures taken by Washington against Japanese residents following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

"That’s simply the cost of war,” Pavel said, justifying the American policy to displace Japanese nationals living in the US from their homes and containing them in mass-monitored camps until the end of WWII.

Pavel, who previously held the position of NATO’s military committee chief and served as commander of the Czech army for three years, made these explosive comments in an interview with Radio Free Europe.

During the 2022 presidential elections in the Czech Republic, the President mainly based his presidential campaign on aggressive anti-Russian notions. He rejected calling the conflict in Ukraine "Putin’s war", arguing that it dissolves ordinary Russian civilians from their responsibilities.

"When there is an ongoing war, security measures relating to Russian nationals should be stricter than in normal times. All Russians living in Western countries should be monitored much more than in the past, because they are citizens of a nation that leads an aggressive war," he said in the interview, signaling adopting a collective-punishment system to address the issue he is raising.

At least 125,284 people of Japanese descent in 75 identified confinement sites were evacuated from their homes and incarcerated by the US in closed, heavily surveilled camps, formally known as Japanese internment camps.

Following the United States' brutal method in dealing with its local Japanese residents, it later apologized for the “race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership,” which led to these actions, and paid the victims reparations. But the Czech leader insisted that dealing with the Russians in the West requires using similar mechanisms.

“When we look back, when the Second World War started, all of the Japanese population living in the United States were under a strict monitoring regime as well. That’s simply the cost of war,” adding that they must be placed “under the scrutiny of the security services.”

In an earlier interview for the same media outlet, Pavel stated that Western states must be on the lookout when dealing with the tens of thousands of Russians leaving their country to avoid the partial mobilization decree issued by President Vladimir Putin, describing them as “a risk to our internal security.”

Pavel launched a campaign last year within the European Union to convince the bloc of banning entry to all Russian citizens; a measure that he had already imposed in the Czech Republic having stopped issuing new visas for Russians just two days after the war in Ukraine started.

The Republic's immediate decision to bar their neighbors from setting foot in the country prompted observers to question whether the seemingly pre-organized policy is in support of Ukraine or just derived from Russophobia.

His punitive measures unleashed broad anti-Russia measures inside the country, such as social hostility and restrictive actions against Russian civilians, in addition to educational institutions from - schools to universities - rejecting to admit them until they publicly condemn their government's operation.

While the general atmosphere has cooled down in the past few months, Pavel's belligerent comments could reflect a desire to introduce new Russophobic restrictions.