- Joined
- Jan 8, 2010
- Messages
- 81,861
- Reaction score
- 73,376
- Location
- NE Ohio
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Liberal
Similarities:
Mass Detention Without Trial
Harsh and Inhumane Conditions
State Propaganda Framing
Use of Fear and Intimidation
Symbolic and Psychological Power
Media Spectacle and Propaganda
Collective Punishment
Total Isolation
Militarized Security and Secrecy
“Exceptional” Legal Zones
Scapegoating as National Strategy
One could say that the people in the 40s left with tattoos while the people now come with tattoos. Will CECOT move onto "showers" like the concentration camps did in their later stages?
Mass Detention Without Trial
- CECOT: Thousands detained during El Salvador’s gang crackdown, many without formal charges or due process.
- Early Nazi Camps: Initially used to imprison political opponents and later marginalized groups, often without trial or legal recourse.
Harsh and Inhumane Conditions
- CECOT: Reports show overcrowding, constant surveillance, lack of basic hygiene, no visits, and 24/7 artificial light.
- Nazi Camps (e.g., Dachau): Prisoners faced beatings, forced labor, disease, starvation, and psychological abuse.
State Propaganda Framing
- CECOT: Framed as necessary for public safety and restoring order in gang-ravaged communities.
- Nazi Camps: Framed as a way to “cleanse” Germany of communists, criminals, and racial enemies — all under national security pretenses.
Use of Fear and Intimidation
- Both were/are tools of fear, not just for the detainees, but for the general public — as a warning of what happens if you oppose the regime or “misbehave.”
- CECOT: Inmates are stripped down, shaved, forced into submissive postures, and kept under intense surveillance — often shown in state media to reinforce their image as “monsters.”
- Nazi Camps: Prisoners were shaved, stripped, given numbers instead of names, and treated as subhuman — part of the psychological breakdown process.
Symbolic and Psychological Power
- Both systems serve a symbolic role beyond just incarceration. They are designed to project the absolute power of the state, to terrify dissenters and reassure supporters.
- In El Salvador, CECOT is portrayed as the “end of impunity.” In Nazi Germany, early camps were a message: opposition would not be tolerated.
Media Spectacle and Propaganda
- CECOT: The Salvadoran government releases highly stylized videos and images of prisoners — chained, humiliated, submissive — as a flex of state control.
- Nazi Camps: Early images and newsreels were carefully curated to either hide atrocities or portray prisoners as dangerous enemies of the state.
Collective Punishment
- CECOT: Critics say many detainees are imprisoned based on neighborhood, tattoos, or suspicion — not actions — leading to the incarceration of innocent people.
- Early Nazi Camps: Whole groups were targeted based on political ideology or identity, regardless of individual behavior.
Total Isolation
- CECOT: No visits, no outside communication, no legal representation in many cases — inmates are entirely cut off.
- Nazi Camps: Early prisoners had little to no contact with the outside world, and conditions of imprisonment were opaque and unaccountable.
Militarized Security and Secrecy
- CECOT: Heavily guarded by elite military forces, with restricted access and tightly controlled information.
- Nazi Camps: Run by the SS, with brutal internal policing and a veil of secrecy around conditions.
“Exceptional” Legal Zones
- Both facilities function outside normal legal structures.
- CECOT is justified by a state of emergency.
- Early Nazi camps operated under the “protective custody” clause (Schutzhaft), which bypassed courts altogether.
Scapegoating as National Strategy
- CECOT: Gangs are positioned as the existential threat to society, justifying extraordinary crackdowns.
- Nazi Germany: Political enemies and minorities were blamed for Germany’s decline and instability — used to justify the regime’s rise and repression.
One could say that the people in the 40s left with tattoos while the people now come with tattoos. Will CECOT move onto "showers" like the concentration camps did in their later stages?
