A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is a dwelling place or building whose unassuming appearance makes it an inconspicuous location where one can hide out, take shelter, or conduct clandestine activities.

Historical usage

It may also refer to: * in the

jargon Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

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. It can be described as t ...

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 adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

of their activities by authorities.

Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad Osama bin Laden's compound, known locally as the Waziristan Haveli (), was a large, upper-class house within a walled compound used as a safe house for militant leader Osama bin Laden, who was Killing of Osama bin Laden, shot and killed there b ...

has been described as a "safe house". * a location where a trusted adult, family or charity organization provides a haven for victims of

domestic abuse Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...

(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) *

Right of asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, such as a second country or another enti ...

* sanctuary in medieval law * sanctuary in modern times *

Church asylum A church (or local church) is a religious organization or congregation that meets in a particular location, often for worship. Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by clergy or lay leaders, ...

Safe houses were an integral part of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

, 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 (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

persecution and for escaping

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person 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 war for a ...

. Victims, such as

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)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 li ...

and her family, were harbored clandestinely for extended periods of time. Other Jewish victims that were hidden from the Germans include

Philip Slier Philip "Flip" Slier (4 December 1923 – 9 April 1943) was a Dutch typesetter of Jewish origin who lived in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. At the age of 18, he received a letter from the Jewish Council ...

and his extended family and friends.

References

Sources

* Slier, Philip "Flip" & Slier, Deborah. ''Hidden Letters: The Hidden Letters of Flip Slier''. Star Bright Books, 2008. . {{Espionage Law enforcement terminology House types Types of secret places

Historical usage

See also

References

Sources