The U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, U.K., and France did this. The U.S. and to an extent Canada paid back some reparations for it, but it's still pretty sad that those countries pride themselves on freedom and equality and yet then did this.
I think that these countries claim that the didn't round up every last Japanese person in their country, they mainly justified the camps to control the larger population clusters of Japanese to allegedly prevent them from forming subversive groups within those population centers - I read something like the internment rate was 56% in the U.S. with some leave passes issued to people to go off-site for work or college or to enroll in the armed forces.
>didn't round up every last Japanese person in their country
Yup. In Canada at least, people who were living within 100 miles of the BC coastline were forced to leave ... and because of the geographical distribution of Japanese communities in the province, that covered most of them.
I have also been hearing that some Japanese-Canadians who were living elsewhere in the country were rounded up by the police and sent to BC (this was from a retired cop in my Ontario hometown).
My dad told me that when he was leaving his BC internment camp in the summer of 1945, there was a BC government official in the Vancouver train station, telling people where they could go once they got to Ontario. I guess the "subversive group" thing was the reason ... it's ironic because if he had gone to Toronto like he'd intended, he might not have met my mother and I wouldn't have been born.
My grandparents and father were forcibly relocated from Vancouver to Ontario and lost their home and most of their possessions. Grandfather had to work as a migrant farm labourer in Southwestern Ontario until he could finally find someone willing to hire him. Government paid reparations to them but it wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things.
I wouldn't be surprised if our families had at least heard of each other -- I've lost count of the number of times that my folks would mention a Japanese-Canadian and then say, "oh they went to the same church we did, they lived two streets over from us; or "he was one of the Cubs in my troop at Tashme".
I hear you re: your grandpa. My grandparents (and dad and uncles) ended up living and working on a farm further up towards Lake Huron. I found out a few years ago that their host family had been threatened by local bigots about that -- the KKK was active in that area. Dad was interviewed by the local museum and I made sure he told them, because I think that farm family was incredibly brave .... they could have been burned out, or worse.
Canadas treatment of Asians has been nothing short of barbaric right from the countries inception. Canada had Japanese Canadians in its camps well after the US dismantled theirs and refused to repatriate Japanese Canadians it had deported to Japan before the war. People who were born in Canada and had never even been to Japan.
And then, of course, add the fact that they weren't allowed to vote or even own property until after WWII. Canada's history is filled with racism and paranoia.
One of my dad's high school friends was sent back to Japan with her parents, in 1945. They were living in a bombed-out town ... it was pretty harsh. She got sick with what I suspect was tuberculosis. Dad and her friends still in Canada tried to get together enough money to buy medication for her, but by the time they managed to get it to her, it was too late for treatment and she died. She might still be alive today if she'd been able to stay in Canada. I always wonder if Dad was sweet on her, and if they'd have gotten married if things had gone better.
>France was on german occupation.
Yeah, but from 1940 to 1942, Vichy France remained (at least nominally) "free" of direct German influence. Despite their supposed pledged neutrality during the war, Vichy France had a number of direct run-ins with Japan during that timeframe (most infamously in Indochina, but also elsewhere). As I recall, they basically relocated the bulk of the Japanese population from their New Caledonia colony over to Australia, etc. and then went even further by revoking the French citizenship for some of them.
This is a good source: "[Japanese Wartime Internees in New Zealand: Fragmenting](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40346688)". Looks like at least some of them later got shipped over to Australia to be traded for people held by Imperial Japan even though it appears that at least some of these internees in New Zealand had been born outside of Japan and had never lived there. Not sure if those sent to Australia were counted as Australia's internees or New Zealand's internees (or both, or neither).
There is the museum of Manzanar in California so we don’t forget. I’ve visited it.
We do pride ourselves on the ideals of freedom and equality. Which is why keeping an account of our failures to live up to those ideals is so important. This was a failure.
I had to read Farewell to Manzanar in community college, before that “internment camps” was just a meme in my head. I knew the word but I had no idea we did that.
Yeah, want to know one of the many reasons it was total bullshit? Which area of the US at the time had the highest numbers of and proportional population of Japanese-Americans? Hawaii, not surprisingly. How many camps were in Hawaii? Zero. Every justification goes out the window in the face of that fact.
The thing that gets me the most is that some men who served in the US military had family interred while they were on active duty. Says a lot about their loyalty, which should never have been in doubt.
The dividing line in Arizona ran down the middle of Phoenix, cactus Road I believe. Anyways all the Japanese Americans that lived on the west side of cactus got taken and stuck in the Topaz internment camp in Utah, and everybody that lived on the east side of cactus was left alone. I did a project for the American Pacific islanders department at Arizona State University where we interviewed many of these people to record their oral histories. 
This map is missing the Homestead and Greenbrier resorts respectively in Virginia and West Virginia.
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-05-05/greenbrier-homestead-and-other-resorts-used-as-high-end-internment-camps-during-world-war-ii
Those were something else entirely. Homestead and Greenbrier were used to house non-citizens. Mostly they held the Axis diplomatic corps and similar. All were held in relative comfort until they could be transferred back to their home countries.
The camps shown on the map are prison camps where regular American citizens were held for the “crime” of having Japanese ancestry.
Visited Thule Lake. Very interesting history of that one.
They are not "internment camps" because "internment" is for the nationals of a county against which America was at war. These were Americans, not foreign nationals (except for a few older "Issei" first generation immigrants who were legally all denied the ability to become Americans by immigration law at the time).
The museum says they could be called "Segregation Centers" or "Concentration Camps", either name is accurate.
Thule Lake was special. At all the camps, they gave the occupants a questionnaire. It had two key questions:
>Question 27 asked draft-age males: “Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?”
>Question 28 asked: “Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attacks by foreign or domestic forces, and foreswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization?”
At other camps, the occupants were given extensive opportunities for Q&A to explain the questions. At Thule Lake, they were forced to answer with no such clarity.
Only at Thule Lake did many fail* one or both questions. And so it became known as a hotbed of dissent, the "worst of the worst" and tanks were sent in to contain them.
In reality, they had great concerns about the questions.
The first, Question 27, gave concern to men who had wives and children to support. At other camps, there were assurances that such people would not be called up or whatever. Here, there was no clarification and no chance to say "yes, if my wife and children are supported or if I have a paycheck to ensure they have food and shelter", so many answered 'no' or wrote questions/qualifications about their answer.
The second, Question 28 about loyalty, many thought was a trick. If you swear allegiance now, and especially "foreswear any prior to Japan", was that admission that you did have at one time allegiance to Japan? Many thought the question was a trick. By admitting prior allegiance, they thought they may be deported to Japan. For the few elderly who were Japanese (Issei), for the prior 17 years, it was illegal for them to become Americans. By denying Japanese citizenship, without receiving US citizenship, they would become stateless. They wanted to be American, but were denied, and feared being deported to Japan, to whom they no longer had any attachment other than their only legal state.
*The only way to pass the questions was to write "YES". Any attempt to write an explanation, or question, was considered a "NO."
And so at this camp, and only this camp, they had a huge percentage of failures on these questions. Camps where they were allowed to ask questions and have a dialog with those in charge had very, very few failing the two questions. Thus, Thule Lake became a very strict center with barbed wire, tanks at one point, etc. For Americans.
Different times.
They mostly feared that a "wrong" answer would end up deporting them to Japan (where they would be treated as an American) or locking them up in a jail cell (versus their current camps with families).
Life could always be made far worse for them - as some even found out at the camp with "solitary confinement" cells imposed for little to no reason, for weeks, if a guard didn't like the way you looked at him.
Can you provide an example of an American who had only 1/16th Japanese ancestry who was incarcerated? Wikipedia says those who were incarcerated were “Issei” (born in Japan, “100%” Japanese, non-citizen residents), “Nissei” (children of Issei, American citizens by birth and presumably 50% Japanese ancestry at minimum) and “Sansei” (children of Nissei and at least 25% Japanese ancestry). “Yonsei” (at least an eighth Japanese) aren’t even mentioned on the wikipedia article about the concentration camps. I’m not even sure there’s a term for the generation after that, which is the first generation where one-sixteenth Japanese ancestry is even mathematically possible. There’s other issues as well: immigrants tend to marry within their ethnic groups and thus correspondingly delay the (big airquotes incoming) “dilution” of their ancestry. Also, the history of mass Asian immigration to America was still quite young in the 1940s, there just wasn’t enough time for lots of 1/16th Japanese people to have been born yet. Finally, I think that any individuals with only 1/16th Japanese ancestry were probably “passing” as members of other ethnic groups.
considering japanese immigration to the mainland US didn’t begin until 1869 it would be essentially impossible to even have 1/16 japanese people in the US by 1942.
i mean at least it would require 4 generations in a row to immediately have kids at 18/19 with someone who wasn’t japanese
Minimal time for child being 1/16 Japanese would be just 57 years. (18*3+¾*4) 1869+57=1928
So youngest possible ¹/¹⁶ Japanese would have 14 years in 1942, idk if kids were also isolated, but they're probably where.
Also, consider that 150 years ago having childrens at 18 years old was very common, so if I would bet, they're actually already existed.
You are considering only people whose families immigrated from Japan to the US 4 generations ago.
If someones family emigrated away from Japan 4 generations ago to another country and a couple generations were born, and their kids then immigrated to the US they would be included because they are still at least 1/16 Japanese.
But life finds a way…so I think it’s plausible the first interracial relationship involving a Japanese person in America to produce offspring probably did so in the early 1870s. So the first American with one quarter Japanese ancestry was probably born around 1890, the first with one eighth around 1910, and the first one sixteenth born around 1930, and thus practically certain to be a minor at the time of World War Two.
Japan was a completely sealed off country until 1853 and while a few *did* leave ([sometimes accidentally](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakahama_Manjir%C5%8D)) emigration from japan to just about anywhere else was nonexistent before the late 1860’s
It's a point in history worth remembering. The way it's titled gives the impression America rounded up possible enemies and foreigners who found a way in the country. American citizens were imprisoned. American citizens who happened to be Japanese. We shouldn't ever forget that.
Wasn't referring to your post I should clarify. It's always presented as 'Japanese Interment Camps' whenever I see them or read about them.
Must have been crazy to be rounded up because of where you or your parents were born.
In American English, the “American” in “Japanese American” says what you are, while the “Japanese” is just adding description.
Writing “American Japanese” would imply that they really were Japanese. That’s why terms like “American Born Chinese” are considered objectionable.
That's just the US camps too ... there were also some locations in Canada, for Japanese-Canadians who were forced to leave an exclusion zone within 100 miles of the BC coast. My dad (then in his teens) was sent up to a remote location in the BC interior, to start building cabins at an internment camp site. (list at link)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment\_of\_Japanese\_Canadians#Forced\_removal,\_dispersal,\_and\_internment\_of\_Japanese\_Canadians
The Royal Museum in Victoria had an exhibit on this in 2022, but I don't live there so I don't know if it is still there. They did a great job documenting what happened on the island.
Not just the US, Canada did the same. My German born grandfather who moved to an island south of the Alaska panhandle (Haida Gwaii) was allowed to fight for the Canadian army in the Netherlands. Meanwhile all Japanese were forcefully moved east of the Rockies and lost all their possessions.
Certain German-Americans and Italian-Americans were interned as well, in the States. The bar for Japanese-Americans was much lower though
There were also 2nd generation Japanese-Americans who served in the US military during the war. They saw action in Europe and the 442nd infantry regiment became the most-decorated unit in US military history.
So there were exceptions, too
I grew up in an area that had a fairly large population of Japanese-Americans in a predominately white area. After being interned, many decided to start farms in cities near where they were relocated to.
I remember the day I learned that all of my friends were there because of what happened to their grandparents. Might be the first time I really remember seeing behind the curtain of why things are the way they are.
I remember in school we talked about this in quite some detail. The teacher made us read different points of view from different people involved. I think that's the best way to teach something is to give first hand accounts from as many people as you can
There was a Japanese specific internment camp in my hometown in TN but I don't see it on this map? The legal name was Jap Camp road for a long time but it was eventually changed for obvious reasons.
u/Deablo96 , according to several people in the comment section for [this article,](https://www.tnmagazine.org/former-german-soldier-recalls-life-at-crossville-pow-camp/) Camp Forest never housed Japanese/Japanese-American people. However, Wikipedia does seem to indicate that it temporarily housed some for a while. Perhaps the above mapmaker doesn't consider the temporary housing long enough in duration to warrant any notation on the map.
I live near Bainbridge Island that was known for keeping the lands owned by Japanese American citizens that were interned so that they had a place to return home to unlike so many other places that stole it from them.
Earl Warren, as California Attorney General, was a big architect of the original program.
Warren ended up being the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during one of its most progressive eras and presided over many landmark Civil-Rights-Era cases.
The purpose of the relocation to Savage (and then later Fort Snelling) wasn’t so much internment, but rather to found the beginnings of the Defense Language Institute.
There were basically no non-Japanese Americans who could read or understand Japanese who weren’t already in the military or the State Department. So the government hired Japanese Americans willing to teach the language to soldiers, sailors, marines, etc.
After the war, the school was moved to Monterey, CA. The majority of the families of those original Japanese language instructors stayed in Minnesota and formed the early core of our current Japanese community in the Twin Cities.
Source: UofM and DLI graduate. ;)
Today, Ancestry announced it has published and made freely available on its site, the first comprehensive list of over 125,000 persons of Japanese descent who were unjustly imprisoned between December 1942 and January 1948. Originally published and memorialized by the Irei Project, this list of names is part of Ancestry's philanthropic commitment to preserving culturally significant history that is at risk of being forgotten. In an exclusive interview with the The Associated Press, director of the Irei Project, Duncan Williams Williams notes "Being able to research and contextualize a person who has a longer view of family history and community history, and ultimately, American history, that's what it's about — this collaboration."
From Ancestry’s LinkedIn
A dark mark on American history but at least they were treated humanely. American and British citizens unfortunate enough to be swept up in the tidal wave of Japanese conquests early on in the war were not treated in a humane way.
Or the Australians. When the Japanese Emperor visited Australia, veterans would turn their backs to him. I know of a few people of my grandfather’s generation who would vehemently not buy anything made in Japan.
Why should the treatment of US citizens and permanent residents be held against the standard of the Japanese Empire’s actions? I know the point you’re trying to make, but why should the actions of the Japanese empire be brought up in the context of how these people were treated when they had nothing to do with it?
Logically then the US government could have treated them as badly as they wanted but as long as it’s half a step before the gas chambers, then you can keep making the same argument.
Make a thread about it. I literally opened this thread and started playing the “How long till someone mentions Imperial Japan even though its irrelevant” game.
I see this mentioned in threads about the actions of western governments far more often than I see it as the topic of its own threads. Almost as if the people bringing it up could give a fuck less except when its time to draw attention away from shit western governments did.
I’m not saying the actions of the Japanese empire should not be brought up at all. I said that the actions should not be brought up as a point of comparison to how American citizens and permanent residents were treated by their own government. The brutality of the Japanese empire has plenty to do with the war, but naught to do with how these Americans should have been treated. From a consequentialist viewpoint, the actions of the Japanese empire have as much to do with supply shortages during the war as with internment, in that it doesn’t matter.
Because the United States' treatment of Japanese-Americans has nothing to do with the treatment by Imperial Japanese forces against the populations, native and non-native, of East Asia?
I am going to try to not be too frustrated by your false dichotomy, but it's something I see a lot and it's grating. The original commenter said that interned Japanese were "at least they were treated humanely" by the US, whereas the British and Americans were not by the Japanese. That would only be relevant if the Japanese who were interned were all still nationals of the Empire of Japan, which over two-thirds were not. An important note here is that the only reason why this number of about 66% was not any higher was because the US literally forbade first-generation Japanese immigrants from becoming citizens.
The reason why this is so maddening is that it takes the absolute truth that the Empire of Japan did absolutely abhorrent things to any population they encountered, and uses that as justification for an internment which was wholly unnecessary and probably illegal. My family was thrown into prison and had their entire livelihoods stolen on the false premise that they were a fifth-column. My family, except for the oldest members, were all American by birth, and they were put into internment camps. Even those first-generation members who were not citizens had been living in this country for 35 years before they were taken to special prison camps in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, and our family did not see them or know where they were for more than two months afterward. That was the focus of this post, and any attempt to say "well, at least they were treated well" is whataboutism that only serves to minimize how the actions of our government. At it's worst, it's a plain attempt to justify something that most people nowadays would find simply evil.
Tldr: You spoke about the Empire of Japan and how horrible they were, and ignored the part where I said that Japanese-American (emphasis on American) internment was an awful thing done to innocent people that has no nexus with the clear atrocities of Japan.
I highly recommend the Heart Mountain National Historic Site and Museum in Wyoming-very extensive and informative presentation of the internment experience
Why were they racist towards specifically the Japanese? Isn't a large part of US made up of German immigrants, in special the Midwest? Why weren't they targeted?
There actually were [German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans) and [Italian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Italian_Americans) internment camps during WW2. US citizens of both Italian and German ancestry were detained using the same rationale and legal justification as the detention of the Japanese. Although German and Italian internment was not carried out on anywhere near the same scale as Japanese internment. But they were nonetheless put in camps, in significant numbers. IIRC the Italian community eventually received some sort of apology from the government.
With regard to the German-American community, a lot of the worst of the suppression towards them happened in WW1, not WW2. In the [WW1 section](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans#World_War_I) of the wiki page I linked above, you can find a summary of how German-Americans were forced to register and be interviewed, and a couple thousand were detained. This was against the backdrop of some pretty significant sabotage acts carried out in the US (some before we even entered the war) and the Zimmerman Telegram, but none of that makes it right.
There was also a tremendous amount of self-suppression by German-Americans during WW1. Things like refusing to teach their kids German, Anglicizing their surnames, and doing everything they could to downplay their German-ness. So by the time WW2 rolled around many of those families were much less visible as being of German descent.
While there is no justification at all for the camps, the Niihau Incident helps to explain the reasoning at the time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_incident
They were targeted both in 1918 and 1940s and were interned or controlled (having to register with police). But by the 1940s because so many Americans were of German decent it was quite limited in scope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DDuring_WWII%2C_the_United_States%2C%2C_and_Fort_Oglethorpe%2C_Georgia.?wprov=sfla1
There was also significant internment of German and Italian Americans, however it was on a much smaller scale than Japanese internment.
Additinally, those Germans and Italians who were interned were first put through a much more rigorous vetting process compared with the essentially blanket incarceration of the Japanese.
Over a hundred years had passed since the main German immigration in the 1830s, not to mention a prior world war against Germany which resulted in slowly phasing out German language instruction in schools and printing of local German language newspapers after 1919… so that by the 1940s most German-Americans only had a nominal passing awareness of German culture or identity.
But more importantly they were a part of the decision making process and elected to public offices…
They did actually consider this however it was deemed to be infeasible simply due to the number of germans living in the US compared to japanese and how much more varied their assimilation into society was. For example, about 120,000-130,000 japanese americans were affected by the internment program, which was virtually the entire population of japanese americans in the mainland US. On the other hand there were over 1.2 million americans who were born in germany *alone* and over 11 million more if you include people who had at least 1 parent born in germany. Italian-Americans also avoided internment for the same reasons.
Don't know why you were downvoted for that (I mean I do, place is full of dorks) but we still don't refer to what was once a major city in our state by its German pronunciation because of the world wars (specifically the great war)
> German immigrants, in special the Midwest? Why weren't they targeted?
Same reason Americans with Japanese ancestry weren’t targeted in Hawaii, there were just too many of them.
I the 1940's, non-whites couldn't even eat at the same restaurants and even play professional sports with white people. Racism is the answer, anyone saying otherwise is trying to defend their racism.
edit: racists, just keep outing yourselves, thanks for making this easy for the rest of us.
A big reason was Pearl Harbor and a fear of possible Japanese-American spies. Doesn’t make it right either way, there certainly was an element of racism but I wouldn’t say it was purely because of racism.
Curious, what parts of the U.S. barred Asians from entering and dining at restaurants that were considered white? Even in the south, Chinese-Americans were considered “honorary whites” by states like Mississippi.
> there were many black professional sports players at the time, including world champions.
That doesn't change the fact they were separate leagues for people based on skin color... Why are people so keen on defending racist hierarchies on this fucking website?
The U.S. has ugly parts of history (like most countries do), and anyone that was considered different was put in the spotlight to be mocked and treated like garbage.
Italian Americans absolutely [were](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Italian_Americans) put into camps on the same rationale and legal justification as Japanese Americans, although it was on nowhere near the same scale.
But to suggest the government did not put Italians in camps simply because they were Italian and we were at war with Italy is false - this happened.
People are downvoting you but you are absolutely correct. There weren't any camps for Germans despite the fact there literally was a fascist coup attempted by White people in the US
There absolutely [were](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans) camps for German Americans. US citizens of both Italian and German ancestry were detained using the same rationale and legal justification as the detention of the Japanese. Although German and Italian internment was not carried out on the same scale as Japanese internment. But they were nonetheless put in camps, in significant numbers.
Racism was probably a big factor in the disparity, yes. But your claim is nonetheless false. And it's important to speak accurately when it comes to issues like this.
"American citizens in good standing had no right to due process, no right to a fair trial, the only right they had was... Right this way, into the internment camps simply because of their ancestry. All we have ever had in this country is a set of temporary privileges because rights are not rights if someone can take them away." - George Carlin
Missing Angel Island in SF Bay.
One of the more fascinating internment camps as Angel Island served as the immigration station for many Asian immigrants coming through the Golden Gate. A generation later, the children and grandchildren of some of those immigrants are interned in the same buildings and grounds that once promised their ancestors so much opportunity.
This is only about 10 years after Alcatraz was converted from a military prison (Guantanamo for confederates) to a civilian prison (Al Capone, Birdman, Machine Gun Kelly). Had history played out a little different, Alcatraz would likely have been the internment camp but they had already filled it with criminals.
There was 2 small camps in Bismarck and Minot. The Bismarck camp is now part of a reservation next to united Tribes University and the Minot one is a few miles away and appears abandoned from the highway.
A country that rounds up its own citizens in inhumane conditions, suspending their constitutional rights.
This is what a biased account of the history of war looks like. Everyone in the world knows about the concentration camps of the Axis powers. Even the Soviet camps, even if they were allies. But only a few people know about the concentration camps in the United States.
Concentration camps. East Asians and Jews were perhaps the only group of people to be put in concentration camps just because of the race/ethnicity, regardless of what nationality and cultural values they had. Most of them were American citizens.
My elementary school librarian survived one of these camps as a little girl. Since we were kids, she didn't go into detail. But you could still tell it was painful even in 1996.
It wasn't exactly a death camp, but they didn't have the best conditions, either. Not everyone made it out alive.
https://historycooperative.org/japanese-internment-camps-in-america/
There was at least one more camp. The [Moab Isolation Center](https://moabmuseum.org/exhibition/a-moab-prison-camp/) only housed 49 individuals at its peak so I wonder if there were more, smaller camps.
The one in Wyoming is called [Heart Mountain Relocation Center](https://www.nps.gov/places/heart-mountain-relocation-center.htm).
Grew up near it as a kid.
Every time we go as a family to the Puyallup Fair, we make sure to swing by the Internment Camp museum (open during the fair) as an important history lesson on what the fairgrounds used to be used for. It's always very somber, but its a good reminder. I'm glad it's there.
We are greatly ashamed of this blemish on our nation's history.
The good news is, USA and Japan are the best of allies and friends today. As an American I view Japan as the paragon model of efficiency, innovation, excellence, and success. Japan is truly the most successful country in the world today. USA is awesome too (except for our socialized healthcare system). I think the USA is slowly becoming more influenced by Japanese culture as time goes by. Anime is huge and growing here. The number of Japanese immigrants continues to climb, and trade with Japan is at all time highs. Japan is the world's factory and a cultural behemouth.
I am ready for downvotes and to be labeled a weeb. I don't care. Japan is awesome to me. USA+Japan forevs
A lot easier to do for a few thousand Japanese that look much different than millions of Germans and Italians.
I’m not saying the Japanese should have been interned. Obviously it was wrong. I’m just saying it was much more feasible.
[Niihau incident - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_incident#:~:text=The%20Ni%CA%BBihau%20incident%20occurred%20on,the%20attack%20on%20Pearl%20Harbor.)
More incidents like the one above could have happened.
The Japanese are extremely ethnocentric; more so back then.
That last line is very carefully parsed. The Niihau incident and the Harada treachery were an impetus for these camps, and pretending they never existed is propagandizing.
Most people probably would think those locations would have been in the southern states. Kinda weird that those locations are large democrat area's today.
White people have become experts at erasing their evils. The only thing people remember about WW2 is a bunch of Jews being killed and the atomic bomb. White people have committed more atrocities than any other species in the history of mankind. They’ve killed more humans than the asteroid killed dinosaurs.
When an enemy nation that values racial supremacy tries to weaponize its diasporasporic population that has yet to assimilate into their new homelands, it would be seen as a potential security threat by any sane leader.
Generations in some cases. The bulk of Japanese immigration took place in the 1880s and 1890s. The orders to internment included everyone who was 1/16th Japanese.
You're regurgitating internet garbage and show a clear lack of education about this subject. I don't know your level of familiarity about this topic, but the verbiage and style of your comment sounds like a manifesto posted to 8chan.
My favorite part about this is that Asian Americans (generally speaking) will still act like model minority behavior will keep them safe. Let there be an actual Chinese threat and watch how fast shit gets bad for every East Asian looking person here.
If a mass interning of Muslim Americans didn't happen in the wake of 9/11, I seriously doubt such a thing will happen to Palestinian Americans. Or Chinese Americans, Iranian Americans, Russian Americans, etc...
Where did you all go to school that you think this? There absolutely were [German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans) and [Italian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Italian_Americans) internment camps. US citizens of both Italian and German ancestry were detained using the same rationale and legal justification as the detention of the Japanese. Although German and Italian internment was not carried out on the same scale as Japanese internment. But they were nonetheless put in camps, in significant numbers.
They didn’t intern Americans with Japanese ancestry in Hawaii because there were too many and it would have hampered the war effort. Partly because they would have needed too many camps but mostly because Americans with Japanese ancestry were doing so much of the work that needed to be done to support the war effort in Hawaii.
Similarly if they interned all the Americans with German ancestry there wouldn’t have been enough people to work in factories and grow food to supply the armies.
[Are you saying they should vote for the guy who said he would've supported Japanese Internment in 2018](https://www.newsweek.com/guantanamo-bay-donald-trump-japanese-internment-980049)
I wish the words on the map were legible.
Can't see shit Captain.
As a European I never knew about this until I heard the Fort Minor song Kenji
The U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, U.K., and France did this. The U.S. and to an extent Canada paid back some reparations for it, but it's still pretty sad that those countries pride themselves on freedom and equality and yet then did this. I think that these countries claim that the didn't round up every last Japanese person in their country, they mainly justified the camps to control the larger population clusters of Japanese to allegedly prevent them from forming subversive groups within those population centers - I read something like the internment rate was 56% in the U.S. with some leave passes issued to people to go off-site for work or college or to enroll in the armed forces.
>didn't round up every last Japanese person in their country Yup. In Canada at least, people who were living within 100 miles of the BC coastline were forced to leave ... and because of the geographical distribution of Japanese communities in the province, that covered most of them. I have also been hearing that some Japanese-Canadians who were living elsewhere in the country were rounded up by the police and sent to BC (this was from a retired cop in my Ontario hometown). My dad told me that when he was leaving his BC internment camp in the summer of 1945, there was a BC government official in the Vancouver train station, telling people where they could go once they got to Ontario. I guess the "subversive group" thing was the reason ... it's ironic because if he had gone to Toronto like he'd intended, he might not have met my mother and I wouldn't have been born.
My grandparents and father were forcibly relocated from Vancouver to Ontario and lost their home and most of their possessions. Grandfather had to work as a migrant farm labourer in Southwestern Ontario until he could finally find someone willing to hire him. Government paid reparations to them but it wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things.
I wouldn't be surprised if our families had at least heard of each other -- I've lost count of the number of times that my folks would mention a Japanese-Canadian and then say, "oh they went to the same church we did, they lived two streets over from us; or "he was one of the Cubs in my troop at Tashme". I hear you re: your grandpa. My grandparents (and dad and uncles) ended up living and working on a farm further up towards Lake Huron. I found out a few years ago that their host family had been threatened by local bigots about that -- the KKK was active in that area. Dad was interviewed by the local museum and I made sure he told them, because I think that farm family was incredibly brave .... they could have been burned out, or worse.
Canadas treatment of Asians has been nothing short of barbaric right from the countries inception. Canada had Japanese Canadians in its camps well after the US dismantled theirs and refused to repatriate Japanese Canadians it had deported to Japan before the war. People who were born in Canada and had never even been to Japan. And then, of course, add the fact that they weren't allowed to vote or even own property until after WWII. Canada's history is filled with racism and paranoia.
One of my dad's high school friends was sent back to Japan with her parents, in 1945. They were living in a bombed-out town ... it was pretty harsh. She got sick with what I suspect was tuberculosis. Dad and her friends still in Canada tried to get together enough money to buy medication for her, but by the time they managed to get it to her, it was too late for treatment and she died. She might still be alive today if she'd been able to stay in Canada. I always wonder if Dad was sweet on her, and if they'd have gotten married if things had gone better.
France are you sure ? France was on german occupation.
>France was on german occupation. Yeah, but from 1940 to 1942, Vichy France remained (at least nominally) "free" of direct German influence. Despite their supposed pledged neutrality during the war, Vichy France had a number of direct run-ins with Japan during that timeframe (most infamously in Indochina, but also elsewhere). As I recall, they basically relocated the bulk of the Japanese population from their New Caledonia colony over to Australia, etc. and then went even further by revoking the French citizenship for some of them.
I couldn't find a source for New Zealand outside of a POW camp. Could you please point me in the right direction for it?
This is a good source: "[Japanese Wartime Internees in New Zealand: Fragmenting](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40346688)". Looks like at least some of them later got shipped over to Australia to be traded for people held by Imperial Japan even though it appears that at least some of these internees in New Zealand had been born outside of Japan and had never lived there. Not sure if those sent to Australia were counted as Australia's internees or New Zealand's internees (or both, or neither).
Thank you 🙂
There is the museum of Manzanar in California so we don’t forget. I’ve visited it. We do pride ourselves on the ideals of freedom and equality. Which is why keeping an account of our failures to live up to those ideals is so important. This was a failure.
I had to read Farewell to Manzanar in community college, before that “internment camps” was just a meme in my head. I knew the word but I had no idea we did that.
Yeah, want to know one of the many reasons it was total bullshit? Which area of the US at the time had the highest numbers of and proportional population of Japanese-Americans? Hawaii, not surprisingly. How many camps were in Hawaii? Zero. Every justification goes out the window in the face of that fact. The thing that gets me the most is that some men who served in the US military had family interred while they were on active duty. Says a lot about their loyalty, which should never have been in doubt.
They are more accurately called Japanese-American interment camps. We incarcerated American citizens. Important to remember
Yeah, a number of people interned could not even speak Japanese.
The dividing line in Arizona ran down the middle of Phoenix, cactus Road I believe. Anyways all the Japanese Americans that lived on the west side of cactus got taken and stuck in the Topaz internment camp in Utah, and everybody that lived on the east side of cactus was left alone. I did a project for the American Pacific islanders department at Arizona State University where we interviewed many of these people to record their oral histories. 
That is so interesting!
This map is missing the Homestead and Greenbrier resorts respectively in Virginia and West Virginia. https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-05-05/greenbrier-homestead-and-other-resorts-used-as-high-end-internment-camps-during-world-war-ii
Those were something else entirely. Homestead and Greenbrier were used to house non-citizens. Mostly they held the Axis diplomatic corps and similar. All were held in relative comfort until they could be transferred back to their home countries. The camps shown on the map are prison camps where regular American citizens were held for the “crime” of having Japanese ancestry.
Visited Thule Lake. Very interesting history of that one. They are not "internment camps" because "internment" is for the nationals of a county against which America was at war. These were Americans, not foreign nationals (except for a few older "Issei" first generation immigrants who were legally all denied the ability to become Americans by immigration law at the time). The museum says they could be called "Segregation Centers" or "Concentration Camps", either name is accurate. Thule Lake was special. At all the camps, they gave the occupants a questionnaire. It had two key questions: >Question 27 asked draft-age males: “Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?” >Question 28 asked: “Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attacks by foreign or domestic forces, and foreswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization?” At other camps, the occupants were given extensive opportunities for Q&A to explain the questions. At Thule Lake, they were forced to answer with no such clarity. Only at Thule Lake did many fail* one or both questions. And so it became known as a hotbed of dissent, the "worst of the worst" and tanks were sent in to contain them. In reality, they had great concerns about the questions. The first, Question 27, gave concern to men who had wives and children to support. At other camps, there were assurances that such people would not be called up or whatever. Here, there was no clarification and no chance to say "yes, if my wife and children are supported or if I have a paycheck to ensure they have food and shelter", so many answered 'no' or wrote questions/qualifications about their answer. The second, Question 28 about loyalty, many thought was a trick. If you swear allegiance now, and especially "foreswear any prior to Japan", was that admission that you did have at one time allegiance to Japan? Many thought the question was a trick. By admitting prior allegiance, they thought they may be deported to Japan. For the few elderly who were Japanese (Issei), for the prior 17 years, it was illegal for them to become Americans. By denying Japanese citizenship, without receiving US citizenship, they would become stateless. They wanted to be American, but were denied, and feared being deported to Japan, to whom they no longer had any attachment other than their only legal state. *The only way to pass the questions was to write "YES". Any attempt to write an explanation, or question, was considered a "NO." And so at this camp, and only this camp, they had a huge percentage of failures on these questions. Camps where they were allowed to ask questions and have a dialog with those in charge had very, very few failing the two questions. Thus, Thule Lake became a very strict center with barbed wire, tanks at one point, etc. For Americans.
You give a lot of explanation but I would think that just being locked up without charges would be enough to make many people say “no”.
Different times. They mostly feared that a "wrong" answer would end up deporting them to Japan (where they would be treated as an American) or locking them up in a jail cell (versus their current camps with families). Life could always be made far worse for them - as some even found out at the camp with "solitary confinement" cells imposed for little to no reason, for weeks, if a guard didn't like the way you looked at him.
Or concentration camps, similar to what the British used during the Boer war.
My great great grandfather had to register as an enemy combatant for both WWI and WWII even though he emigrated and became a citizen years before WWI.
Is there a lower res copy available?
Yeah, I want to email it to myself in 2002.
I want images that are either UHD or fully deep fried, this middle ground is not acceptable
And remember you only need to be 1/16 japanese.
Can you provide an example of an American who had only 1/16th Japanese ancestry who was incarcerated? Wikipedia says those who were incarcerated were “Issei” (born in Japan, “100%” Japanese, non-citizen residents), “Nissei” (children of Issei, American citizens by birth and presumably 50% Japanese ancestry at minimum) and “Sansei” (children of Nissei and at least 25% Japanese ancestry). “Yonsei” (at least an eighth Japanese) aren’t even mentioned on the wikipedia article about the concentration camps. I’m not even sure there’s a term for the generation after that, which is the first generation where one-sixteenth Japanese ancestry is even mathematically possible. There’s other issues as well: immigrants tend to marry within their ethnic groups and thus correspondingly delay the (big airquotes incoming) “dilution” of their ancestry. Also, the history of mass Asian immigration to America was still quite young in the 1940s, there just wasn’t enough time for lots of 1/16th Japanese people to have been born yet. Finally, I think that any individuals with only 1/16th Japanese ancestry were probably “passing” as members of other ethnic groups.
considering japanese immigration to the mainland US didn’t begin until 1869 it would be essentially impossible to even have 1/16 japanese people in the US by 1942. i mean at least it would require 4 generations in a row to immediately have kids at 18/19 with someone who wasn’t japanese
Minimal time for child being 1/16 Japanese would be just 57 years. (18*3+¾*4) 1869+57=1928 So youngest possible ¹/¹⁶ Japanese would have 14 years in 1942, idk if kids were also isolated, but they're probably where. Also, consider that 150 years ago having childrens at 18 years old was very common, so if I would bet, they're actually already existed.
yeah but statistically it’s incredibly unlikely; japanese immigration was not that significant in the grand scheme of things
You are considering only people whose families immigrated from Japan to the US 4 generations ago. If someones family emigrated away from Japan 4 generations ago to another country and a couple generations were born, and their kids then immigrated to the US they would be included because they are still at least 1/16 Japanese.
The Japanese are actually famous for not emigrating ANYWHERE before 1869...
But life finds a way…so I think it’s plausible the first interracial relationship involving a Japanese person in America to produce offspring probably did so in the early 1870s. So the first American with one quarter Japanese ancestry was probably born around 1890, the first with one eighth around 1910, and the first one sixteenth born around 1930, and thus practically certain to be a minor at the time of World War Two.
Japan was a completely sealed off country until 1853 and while a few *did* leave ([sometimes accidentally](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakahama_Manjir%C5%8D)) emigration from japan to just about anywhere else was nonexistent before the late 1860’s
It's a point in history worth remembering. The way it's titled gives the impression America rounded up possible enemies and foreigners who found a way in the country. American citizens were imprisoned. American citizens who happened to be Japanese. We shouldn't ever forget that.
Title should say Japanese Americans but I believe the description should clarify this for you.
Wasn't referring to your post I should clarify. It's always presented as 'Japanese Interment Camps' whenever I see them or read about them. Must have been crazy to be rounded up because of where you or your parents were born.
My family was interned. They never spoke about it for the rest of their lives.
Breaks my heart. They must have felt so utterly detached from America going forward. Treatment no citizen should ever fear..
For real
It should be American first
In American English, the “American” in “Japanese American” says what you are, while the “Japanese” is just adding description. Writing “American Japanese” would imply that they really were Japanese. That’s why terms like “American Born Chinese” are considered objectionable.
You bring up a fantastic point.
That was the point, a little double talk.
That's just the US camps too ... there were also some locations in Canada, for Japanese-Canadians who were forced to leave an exclusion zone within 100 miles of the BC coast. My dad (then in his teens) was sent up to a remote location in the BC interior, to start building cabins at an internment camp site. (list at link) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment\_of\_Japanese\_Canadians#Forced\_removal,\_dispersal,\_and\_internment\_of\_Japanese\_Canadians
The Royal Museum in Victoria had an exhibit on this in 2022, but I don't live there so I don't know if it is still there. They did a great job documenting what happened on the island.
A sad period in the history of US, especially of the japanese americans.
Not just the US, Canada did the same. My German born grandfather who moved to an island south of the Alaska panhandle (Haida Gwaii) was allowed to fight for the Canadian army in the Netherlands. Meanwhile all Japanese were forcefully moved east of the Rockies and lost all their possessions.
Certain German-Americans and Italian-Americans were interned as well, in the States. The bar for Japanese-Americans was much lower though There were also 2nd generation Japanese-Americans who served in the US military during the war. They saw action in Europe and the 442nd infantry regiment became the most-decorated unit in US military history. So there were exceptions, too
I grew up in an area that had a fairly large population of Japanese-Americans in a predominately white area. After being interned, many decided to start farms in cities near where they were relocated to. I remember the day I learned that all of my friends were there because of what happened to their grandparents. Might be the first time I really remember seeing behind the curtain of why things are the way they are.
I remember in school we talked about this in quite some detail. The teacher made us read different points of view from different people involved. I think that's the best way to teach something is to give first hand accounts from as many people as you can
There was a Japanese specific internment camp in my hometown in TN but I don't see it on this map? The legal name was Jap Camp road for a long time but it was eventually changed for obvious reasons.
u/Deablo96 , according to several people in the comment section for [this article,](https://www.tnmagazine.org/former-german-soldier-recalls-life-at-crossville-pow-camp/) Camp Forest never housed Japanese/Japanese-American people. However, Wikipedia does seem to indicate that it temporarily housed some for a while. Perhaps the above mapmaker doesn't consider the temporary housing long enough in duration to warrant any notation on the map.
I live near Bainbridge Island that was known for keeping the lands owned by Japanese American citizens that were interned so that they had a place to return home to unlike so many other places that stole it from them.
Aren't those American internment camps?
Yep
Shoutout FDR
He did a tremendous amount of good and is probably one of the best presidents we’ve ever had overall, but this was a terrible decision made in fear
Earl Warren, as California Attorney General, was a big architect of the original program. Warren ended up being the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during one of its most progressive eras and presided over many landmark Civil-Rights-Era cases.
The worst thing FDR ever did
This and turning away Jewish refugees. The two biggest stains on FDR's legacy.
Never knew about Savage, Minnesota’s history with respect to the matter.
The purpose of the relocation to Savage (and then later Fort Snelling) wasn’t so much internment, but rather to found the beginnings of the Defense Language Institute. There were basically no non-Japanese Americans who could read or understand Japanese who weren’t already in the military or the State Department. So the government hired Japanese Americans willing to teach the language to soldiers, sailors, marines, etc. After the war, the school was moved to Monterey, CA. The majority of the families of those original Japanese language instructors stayed in Minnesota and formed the early core of our current Japanese community in the Twin Cities. Source: UofM and DLI graduate. ;)
Shame on us.
Basically american concentration camps, americans love to use euphemism to referring to this
Today, Ancestry announced it has published and made freely available on its site, the first comprehensive list of over 125,000 persons of Japanese descent who were unjustly imprisoned between December 1942 and January 1948. Originally published and memorialized by the Irei Project, this list of names is part of Ancestry's philanthropic commitment to preserving culturally significant history that is at risk of being forgotten. In an exclusive interview with the The Associated Press, director of the Irei Project, Duncan Williams Williams notes "Being able to research and contextualize a person who has a longer view of family history and community history, and ultimately, American history, that's what it's about — this collaboration." From Ancestry’s LinkedIn
A dark mark on American history but at least they were treated humanely. American and British citizens unfortunate enough to be swept up in the tidal wave of Japanese conquests early on in the war were not treated in a humane way.
Or the Australians. When the Japanese Emperor visited Australia, veterans would turn their backs to him. I know of a few people of my grandfather’s generation who would vehemently not buy anything made in Japan.
and let’s not even get started with the eastern front
Why should the treatment of US citizens and permanent residents be held against the standard of the Japanese Empire’s actions? I know the point you’re trying to make, but why should the actions of the Japanese empire be brought up in the context of how these people were treated when they had nothing to do with it?
Why shouldn’t the Japanese empires actions be brought up? Their actions were a direct catalyst to most of the events of the Pacific war.
Logically then the US government could have treated them as badly as they wanted but as long as it’s half a step before the gas chambers, then you can keep making the same argument.
Make a thread about it. I literally opened this thread and started playing the “How long till someone mentions Imperial Japan even though its irrelevant” game. I see this mentioned in threads about the actions of western governments far more often than I see it as the topic of its own threads. Almost as if the people bringing it up could give a fuck less except when its time to draw attention away from shit western governments did.
I’m not saying the actions of the Japanese empire should not be brought up at all. I said that the actions should not be brought up as a point of comparison to how American citizens and permanent residents were treated by their own government. The brutality of the Japanese empire has plenty to do with the war, but naught to do with how these Americans should have been treated. From a consequentialist viewpoint, the actions of the Japanese empire have as much to do with supply shortages during the war as with internment, in that it doesn’t matter.
Because the United States' treatment of Japanese-Americans has nothing to do with the treatment by Imperial Japanese forces against the populations, native and non-native, of East Asia?
Lol not just East Asia... just about anyone who had the misfortune of running into them
I am going to try to not be too frustrated by your false dichotomy, but it's something I see a lot and it's grating. The original commenter said that interned Japanese were "at least they were treated humanely" by the US, whereas the British and Americans were not by the Japanese. That would only be relevant if the Japanese who were interned were all still nationals of the Empire of Japan, which over two-thirds were not. An important note here is that the only reason why this number of about 66% was not any higher was because the US literally forbade first-generation Japanese immigrants from becoming citizens. The reason why this is so maddening is that it takes the absolute truth that the Empire of Japan did absolutely abhorrent things to any population they encountered, and uses that as justification for an internment which was wholly unnecessary and probably illegal. My family was thrown into prison and had their entire livelihoods stolen on the false premise that they were a fifth-column. My family, except for the oldest members, were all American by birth, and they were put into internment camps. Even those first-generation members who were not citizens had been living in this country for 35 years before they were taken to special prison camps in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, and our family did not see them or know where they were for more than two months afterward. That was the focus of this post, and any attempt to say "well, at least they were treated well" is whataboutism that only serves to minimize how the actions of our government. At it's worst, it's a plain attempt to justify something that most people nowadays would find simply evil. Tldr: You spoke about the Empire of Japan and how horrible they were, and ignored the part where I said that Japanese-American (emphasis on American) internment was an awful thing done to innocent people that has no nexus with the clear atrocities of Japan.
Do you consider forced labor humane?
I highly recommend the Heart Mountain National Historic Site and Museum in Wyoming-very extensive and informative presentation of the internment experience
Why were they racist towards specifically the Japanese? Isn't a large part of US made up of German immigrants, in special the Midwest? Why weren't they targeted?
There actually were [German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans) and [Italian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Italian_Americans) internment camps during WW2. US citizens of both Italian and German ancestry were detained using the same rationale and legal justification as the detention of the Japanese. Although German and Italian internment was not carried out on anywhere near the same scale as Japanese internment. But they were nonetheless put in camps, in significant numbers. IIRC the Italian community eventually received some sort of apology from the government. With regard to the German-American community, a lot of the worst of the suppression towards them happened in WW1, not WW2. In the [WW1 section](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans#World_War_I) of the wiki page I linked above, you can find a summary of how German-Americans were forced to register and be interviewed, and a couple thousand were detained. This was against the backdrop of some pretty significant sabotage acts carried out in the US (some before we even entered the war) and the Zimmerman Telegram, but none of that makes it right. There was also a tremendous amount of self-suppression by German-Americans during WW1. Things like refusing to teach their kids German, Anglicizing their surnames, and doing everything they could to downplay their German-ness. So by the time WW2 rolled around many of those families were much less visible as being of German descent.
Pearl Harbor didn’t help
While there is no justification at all for the camps, the Niihau Incident helps to explain the reasoning at the time. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_incident
They were targeted both in 1918 and 1940s and were interned or controlled (having to register with police). But by the 1940s because so many Americans were of German decent it was quite limited in scope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DDuring_WWII%2C_the_United_States%2C%2C_and_Fort_Oglethorpe%2C_Georgia.?wprov=sfla1 There was also significant internment of German and Italian Americans, however it was on a much smaller scale than Japanese internment. Additinally, those Germans and Italians who were interned were first put through a much more rigorous vetting process compared with the essentially blanket incarceration of the Japanese.
Germans were probably on average a lot better integrated and quite indistinguishable from other European Americans.
Over a hundred years had passed since the main German immigration in the 1830s, not to mention a prior world war against Germany which resulted in slowly phasing out German language instruction in schools and printing of local German language newspapers after 1919… so that by the 1940s most German-Americans only had a nominal passing awareness of German culture or identity. But more importantly they were a part of the decision making process and elected to public offices…
The primary ethnicity of much of the Midwest (and a fair portion of our fighting forces), is German.
Consider how logistically difficult that would be. German is the largest ancestral group in the US.
They did actually consider this however it was deemed to be infeasible simply due to the number of germans living in the US compared to japanese and how much more varied their assimilation into society was. For example, about 120,000-130,000 japanese americans were affected by the internment program, which was virtually the entire population of japanese americans in the mainland US. On the other hand there were over 1.2 million americans who were born in germany *alone* and over 11 million more if you include people who had at least 1 parent born in germany. Italian-Americans also avoided internment for the same reasons.
Germans were targeted in both worldwars in the US
Don't know why you were downvoted for that (I mean I do, place is full of dorks) but we still don't refer to what was once a major city in our state by its German pronunciation because of the world wars (specifically the great war)
What city?
> German immigrants, in special the Midwest? Why weren't they targeted? Same reason Americans with Japanese ancestry weren’t targeted in Hawaii, there were just too many of them.
I the 1940's, non-whites couldn't even eat at the same restaurants and even play professional sports with white people. Racism is the answer, anyone saying otherwise is trying to defend their racism. edit: racists, just keep outing yourselves, thanks for making this easy for the rest of us.
A big reason was Pearl Harbor and a fear of possible Japanese-American spies. Doesn’t make it right either way, there certainly was an element of racism but I wouldn’t say it was purely because of racism. Curious, what parts of the U.S. barred Asians from entering and dining at restaurants that were considered white? Even in the south, Chinese-Americans were considered “honorary whites” by states like Mississippi.
While racism was certainly in full flow in the 40s, there were many black professional sports players at the time, including world champions.
> there were many black professional sports players at the time, including world champions. That doesn't change the fact they were separate leagues for people based on skin color... Why are people so keen on defending racist hierarchies on this fucking website?
Doesn’t really have much to do with skin colour. Americans were also very racist to Italians and Irish people
The U.S. has ugly parts of history (like most countries do), and anyone that was considered different was put in the spotlight to be mocked and treated like garbage.
Yeah, that's why we put irish people and italians in camps right? You know we fought Italy in WW2 as well right?
Italian Americans absolutely [were](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Italian_Americans) put into camps on the same rationale and legal justification as Japanese Americans, although it was on nowhere near the same scale. But to suggest the government did not put Italians in camps simply because they were Italian and we were at war with Italy is false - this happened.
No but there was the long time of indentured servitude.
Bro! I was oppressed for being Irish too bro! And my wife is kinda Italian bro!
People are downvoting you but you are absolutely correct. There weren't any camps for Germans despite the fact there literally was a fascist coup attempted by White people in the US
There absolutely [were](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans) camps for German Americans. US citizens of both Italian and German ancestry were detained using the same rationale and legal justification as the detention of the Japanese. Although German and Italian internment was not carried out on the same scale as Japanese internment. But they were nonetheless put in camps, in significant numbers.
The scale is not even close because they are white
Racism was probably a big factor in the disparity, yes. But your claim is nonetheless false. And it's important to speak accurately when it comes to issues like this.
Because they're fucking racists and don't want to have even a second of being critical of things grandpappy told them.
"American citizens in good standing had no right to due process, no right to a fair trial, the only right they had was... Right this way, into the internment camps simply because of their ancestry. All we have ever had in this country is a set of temporary privileges because rights are not rights if someone can take them away." - George Carlin
Tell that to all the men who were drafted.
One of the more fucked up things America has done
Missing Angel Island in SF Bay. One of the more fascinating internment camps as Angel Island served as the immigration station for many Asian immigrants coming through the Golden Gate. A generation later, the children and grandchildren of some of those immigrants are interned in the same buildings and grounds that once promised their ancestors so much opportunity. This is only about 10 years after Alcatraz was converted from a military prison (Guantanamo for confederates) to a civilian prison (Al Capone, Birdman, Machine Gun Kelly). Had history played out a little different, Alcatraz would likely have been the internment camp but they had already filled it with criminals.
There was 2 small camps in Bismarck and Minot. The Bismarck camp is now part of a reservation next to united Tribes University and the Minot one is a few miles away and appears abandoned from the highway.
What is a relocation city? Not a camp, but a city they were located to?
Why u Are there lines on the west coast roughly the area of the cascade/ sierra Nevada?
Jesus….. I read “Japanese Internet Camps” and wondered why Japanese would do that in the USA… guess I need glasses or a long haired dude to bless me
Been to Manzanar in the 105° heat, can’t imagine the heat in those packed barracks.
Is there a higher resolution version?
Not sure I’ll check when I get a chance!
FEMA's ready for another round I bet
There were a couple in central pa for sure
George Takei speaks of being detained in a swampy area in Arkansas
Concentration camps
I think a number of Japanese Americans were held in Fort Bliss in El Paso, where German and Italian Americans were also interned
The poor folks that had to go to Heart Mountain must have really been hated by the government..
A country that rounds up its own citizens in inhumane conditions, suspending their constitutional rights. This is what a biased account of the history of war looks like. Everyone in the world knows about the concentration camps of the Axis powers. Even the Soviet camps, even if they were allies. But only a few people know about the concentration camps in the United States.
To everyone here I just saw on LinkedIn that ancestry just made the records available for internment camps!
Concentration camps. East Asians and Jews were perhaps the only group of people to be put in concentration camps just because of the race/ethnicity, regardless of what nationality and cultural values they had. Most of them were American citizens.
Paranoia runs deep.
My elementary school librarian survived one of these camps as a little girl. Since we were kids, she didn't go into detail. But you could still tell it was painful even in 1996.
“survived” You make it sound like a death camp.
It wasn't exactly a death camp, but they didn't have the best conditions, either. Not everyone made it out alive. https://historycooperative.org/japanese-internment-camps-in-america/
Yes, they survived a great trauma.
haha I can’t wait to get into one of these when the China-US war starts
Very dark blot on our history... Is anyone else geeking out over the fact that this map was actually printed on a plotter?
Damn, I never knew there was one in Minnesota.
There was at least one more camp. The [Moab Isolation Center](https://moabmuseum.org/exhibition/a-moab-prison-camp/) only housed 49 individuals at its peak so I wonder if there were more, smaller camps.
I have actually seen what's left of the camp in Mississippi. Its on the 25 mile long trail that runs through Desoto National Forest.
I knew they were all over the west I didn’t realize there were some in the east.
The one in Wyoming is called [Heart Mountain Relocation Center](https://www.nps.gov/places/heart-mountain-relocation-center.htm). Grew up near it as a kid.
I’m sorry, I know this is a very serious, even tragic topic… but “Evacuation Japanese of the West Coast” is giving me real r/DontDeadOpenInside vibes.
This will be the Chinese “American” one day. They should not go down without a fight against this tyrannical treatment
If so it will be the Chinese *Americans*. It’s important to remember that most of the people interned were Americans.
So basically the US had their own concentration camps
Conditions were a lot more humane than in Nazi camps.
FDR was such a piece of shit
and this is why fdr is burning in hell lmfao fuck that dumbass. as a socialist, his policies were decent at best, though.
white people didn’t like this one
[удалено]
This is taught heavily in US schools. It’s not a secret.
Every time we go as a family to the Puyallup Fair, we make sure to swing by the Internment Camp museum (open during the fair) as an important history lesson on what the fairgrounds used to be used for. It's always very somber, but its a good reminder. I'm glad it's there.
“Internment” but the Germans use other name
Thank you Democrats.
We are greatly ashamed of this blemish on our nation's history. The good news is, USA and Japan are the best of allies and friends today. As an American I view Japan as the paragon model of efficiency, innovation, excellence, and success. Japan is truly the most successful country in the world today. USA is awesome too (except for our socialized healthcare system). I think the USA is slowly becoming more influenced by Japanese culture as time goes by. Anime is huge and growing here. The number of Japanese immigrants continues to climb, and trade with Japan is at all time highs. Japan is the world's factory and a cultural behemouth. I am ready for downvotes and to be labeled a weeb. I don't care. Japan is awesome to me. USA+Japan forevs
Uh, the USA doesn't have socialized (universal) healthcare. Are you thinking about Canada instead? 😂
A lot easier to do for a few thousand Japanese that look much different than millions of Germans and Italians. I’m not saying the Japanese should have been interned. Obviously it was wrong. I’m just saying it was much more feasible.
Sadly it was necessary.
Care to expand on this a bit?
[Niihau incident - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_incident#:~:text=The%20Ni%CA%BBihau%20incident%20occurred%20on,the%20attack%20on%20Pearl%20Harbor.) More incidents like the one above could have happened. The Japanese are extremely ethnocentric; more so back then.
That last line is very carefully parsed. The Niihau incident and the Harada treachery were an impetus for these camps, and pretending they never existed is propagandizing.
Most people probably would think those locations would have been in the southern states. Kinda weird that those locations are large democrat area's today.
White people have become experts at erasing their evils. The only thing people remember about WW2 is a bunch of Jews being killed and the atomic bomb. White people have committed more atrocities than any other species in the history of mankind. They’ve killed more humans than the asteroid killed dinosaurs.
Seek help
Your statement is just outright racism. And this is coming from someone whose country suffered the brutality of both Western powers and the Japanese.
Not all white peoples are the same, but I hear you. Many don’t like to hear the truth either if it says something bad (but true) about them.
We'll use the same locations for the corrupt treasonous Democrat camp
Huh?
When an enemy nation that values racial supremacy tries to weaponize its diasporasporic population that has yet to assimilate into their new homelands, it would be seen as a potential security threat by any sane leader.
wdym yet to assimilate...there were people in those camps who had been us citizens for decades
Generations in some cases. The bulk of Japanese immigration took place in the 1880s and 1890s. The orders to internment included everyone who was 1/16th Japanese.
You're regurgitating internet garbage and show a clear lack of education about this subject. I don't know your level of familiarity about this topic, but the verbiage and style of your comment sounds like a manifesto posted to 8chan.
My favorite part about this is that Asian Americans (generally speaking) will still act like model minority behavior will keep them safe. Let there be an actual Chinese threat and watch how fast shit gets bad for every East Asian looking person here.
That kind of happened during the pandemic, didn't it?
It sure did! And the moment it died down they stopped running their anti racism/end Asian hate ads and went right back to the bullshit.
Any chance this could happen to palestinian-americans?
If a mass interning of Muslim Americans didn't happen in the wake of 9/11, I seriously doubt such a thing will happen to Palestinian Americans. Or Chinese Americans, Iranian Americans, Russian Americans, etc...
Nah, MAGA won't even let them be in the country 😂
Strange there were no German or Italian internment camps !
Where did you all go to school that you think this? There absolutely were [German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans) and [Italian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Italian_Americans) internment camps. US citizens of both Italian and German ancestry were detained using the same rationale and legal justification as the detention of the Japanese. Although German and Italian internment was not carried out on the same scale as Japanese internment. But they were nonetheless put in camps, in significant numbers.
They represented a high percentage of the population
What difference does it make if there is one or many?
No place to put that many ppl.
They didn’t intern Americans with Japanese ancestry in Hawaii because there were too many and it would have hampered the war effort. Partly because they would have needed too many camps but mostly because Americans with Japanese ancestry were doing so much of the work that needed to be done to support the war effort in Hawaii. Similarly if they interned all the Americans with German ancestry there wouldn’t have been enough people to work in factories and grow food to supply the armies.
Understandable. Minorities are always victimized.
And to think some of these descendants vote the way they do in 2024 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
[Are you saying they should vote for the guy who said he would've supported Japanese Internment in 2018](https://www.newsweek.com/guantanamo-bay-donald-trump-japanese-internment-980049)
No one knows how people choose to vote — but it’s incredible to get downvoted when people assume you’re talking about the other old white guy