Fifth column
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses of Fifth Column, see Fifth Column (disambiguation)
A fifth column is a group of people which clandestinely undermines a larger group to which it is expected to be loyal, such as a nation.
The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a nationalist general during the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War. As four of his army columns moved on Madrid, the general referred to his militant supporters within the capital as his "fifth column," intent on undermining the Republican government from within (see also Siege of Madrid (1936-39)).
The term is also used in reference to a population who are assumed to have loyalties to countries other than the one in which they reside, or who support some other nation in war efforts against the country they live in, which make them traitors. Today it has a pejorative connotation, whereas partisan can be considered a positive or negative term. Resistance movements (when the government they live under is clearly an authoritarian dictatorship) are looked upon more favourably than fifth columnists, but it can be argued that there is an overlap between the two.
During World War II, German minority organizations in Poland and Czechoslovakia formed the Selbstschutz, which actively helped the Third Reich in conquering those nations and engaged in atrocities. The French Underground is a particularly well-known fifth column.
During wars, citizens of enemy countries are often held or watched because of concerns that they might be a fifth column. During World War II, enemy aliens and citizens descended from immigrants from enemy countries were interned throughout Allied and Axis countries, from Japan and Japanese-occupied territories such as the Philippines, to India, Canada and Latin America. This was the justification for the Japanese American internment along the West Coast of the United States and the Japanese Canadian internment in British Columbia, Canada. Selected German and other nationals were also held by various US authorities. Irish Catholic residents in the UK have been sometimes viewed in this way by unionists due to "The Troubles" of the late 20th century (see also Guildford Four, Birmingham Six). Koreans in Japan, particularly those affiliated to Chongryun (which is in turn affiliated to the government of North Korea) are also often seen this way by ordinary Japanese, and have been the victims of verbal and physical attacks, more frequently since the government of Kim Jong Il admitted it had abducted Japanese nationals and tested ballistic missiles.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- "The German Fifth Column in Poland" London: Polish Ministry of Info, 1941
- "Fifth Column at Work" by Bilek Bohumil, description of German minority in Czechoslovakia, London, Trinity, 1945.
- "The German Fifth Column in the Second World War" Jong, Louis de New York Fertig, 1973
- "The Fifth Column, and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War" New York Scribner, 1969da:Femte kolonne
de:Fünfte Kolonne es:Quinta columna fr:Cinquième colonne it:Quinta colonna he:גיס חמישי nl:Vijfde colonne ja:第五列 no:Femtekolonnist pl:Piąta kolumna pt:Quinta coluna ru:Пятая колонна sl:Peta kolona fi:Viides kolonna sv:Femtekolonnare uk:П'ята колона ur:پانچواں کالم zh:第五縱隊
