A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
.
Historical usage
It may also refer to:
* in the
jargon
Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a partic ...
of
law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...
and
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...
agencies, a secure location, suitable for hiding witnesses, agents or other persons perceived as being in danger
* a place where people may go to avoid
prosecution
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...
of their activities by
authorities.
Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad
Osama bin Laden's compound, known locally as the Waziristan Haveli ( ur, , Wazīristān Havelī, Waziristan Mansion), was a large, upper-class house within a walled compound used as a safe house for militant Islamist Osama bin Laden, who was ...
has been described as a "safe house".
* a place where
spying undercover
To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...
hitmen may conduct clandestine observations or meet other operatives surreptitiously
* a location where a trusted adult or family or charity organization provides a
haven for victims of
domestic abuse (see also: men and/or
women's shelter
A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...
or refuge)
* a home of a trusted person, family or organization where victims of war and/or persecution may take refuge, receive protection and/or live in secret
* a house whose sole purpose is to conduct illegal ventures. Criminals use these to conduct different aspects of their business, such as produce, sell, or store product.
*
Right of asylum
The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...
*
sanctuary in medieval law
*
sanctuary in modern times
*
Church asylum
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chri ...
Typically, the significance of safe houses is kept secret from all but a limited number of people, for the safety of those hidden within them.
Many religious institutions will allow one to obtain
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
within one's place of worship, and some governments respect and do not violate such sanctuary.
Safe houses were an integral part of the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
, the network of safe house locations that were used to assist slaves in escaping to the primarily northern free states in the 19th century United States. Some houses were marked with a statue of an African-American man holding a lantern, called "the Lantern Holder".
Safe houses also provided a refuge for victims of
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
persecution and for escaping
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
. Victims, such as
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...
and her family, were harbored clandestinely for extended periods of time. Other Jewish victims that were hidden from the Germans include
Philip Slier and his extended family and friends.
See also
*
Hideout (disambiguation)
*
Refuge
*
Retreat (survivalism)
In the survivalist subculture or movement, a retreat is a place of refuge. Sometimes their retreats are called a bug-out location (BOL), a bunker, or a bolt hole. Survivalist retreats are intended to be self-sufficient and easily defended. Gen ...
*
Right of asylum
The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...
*
Safe harbor (disambiguation)
*
Safe haven (disambiguation)
*
Sanctuary cities
Sanctuary city (; ) refers to municipal jurisdictions, typically in North America, that limit their cooperation with the national government's effort to enforce immigration law. Leaders of sanctuary cities say they want to reduce fear of deport ...
*
Sanctuary movement
*
Jose Figueroa deportation case
References
Sources
* Slier, Philip "Flip" & Slier, Deborah. ''Hidden Letters: The Hidden Letters of Flip Slier''. Star Bright Books, 2008. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Safe House
Law enforcement terminology
Types of secret places