safe house
{{Short description|Secret place for sanctuary}}
{{About|the place of refuge}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
File:Safe House Museum.jpg hid after preaching in 1968 is now the Safe House Museum. Greensboro, Hale County, Alabama, United States]]
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 of law enforcement and intelligence 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 of their activities by authorities. Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad 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 (see also: men and/or women's shelter or refuge)
- Right of asylum
- sanctuary in medieval law
- sanctuary in modern times
- Church asylum
Safe houses were an integral part of the Underground Railroad, 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".{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-23-2269591966_x.htm |title=Man amasses black history treasure trove - |access-date=28 May 2010 |work=USA Today |first=Kathy |last=Matheson |date=23 February 2008}}{{cite book |title=I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANv1C6liU1QC|first1=Karolyn Smardz |last1=Frost |place=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-374-16481-2}}
Safe houses also provided a refuge for victims of Nazi persecution and for escaping prisoners of war. Victims, such as Anne Frank 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.{{cite book |last=Slier |first=Philip "Flip" |author2=Deborah Slier |title=Hidden Letters |publisher=Star Bright Books |edition=illustrated |year=2008 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/hiddenletters0000slie/page/10 10, 159, 160, 161] |url=https://archive.org/details/hiddenletters0000slie/page/10 |isbn=978-1887734882}}
See also
References
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Sources
- Slier, Philip "Flip" & Slier, Deborah. Hidden Letters: The Hidden Letters of Flip Slier. Star Bright Books, 2008. {{ISBN|1887734880}}.
{{Espionage}}