Japanese Internment Camps

because many Americans feared that Japanese American were spies

Happy Camp, CA is a town, there was a CCC camp nearby the town.

yes all of them did

it began in the year 1942 and ended in 1946

This happened during World War II after the Japanese attacked the US base in Hawaii when Franklin Roosevelt was president.

Japanese internment was obviously immoral, but internees did receive free health care (including free glasses and dentures if they needed them), were mostly treated humanely, and received decent portions of food daily.

1942 - 1946 .

Chariots of Fire

A Japanese internment camp was where Japanese and Japanese Americans were housed during World War II. Japanese Americans were stripped of their possessions and taken to camps with just the minimum needed to live. Even young children were taken.

I can't think of any reason not to have distrusted anyone in the Japanese community at that time, since it quickly became known that valuable intelligence was passed back to Japan from Pearl Harbor during the December 7,'41 sneak attack, by simple telephone calls back to their homeland from some Japanese residents nearby.

Any Military History reader can tell you of various Japanese plans and actual attempts to bomb the North American mainland. Any telephoned reports, confirmations, or plain gossip and local news etc. would have been a valuable asset to our enemy during the war. The German community in North America was actively trying to discourage Americans and Canadians from thinking about contributing to the war effort of the British people, early in the war. The Japanese sneak attack awakened North America to the possible and highly probable danger from within.

One apple can spoil the whole barrel, we like to say. Thus the wartime internment was necessary for national security, in order to save North American lives.

The hard lesson the British civilian population learned, was that loose lips actually sank ships during the war.

I was generally interested in Japanese interment because I wanted to know what there involvement was in the great depression. I learned that during February 19th the anniversary of a sad day in American history. It was on that date in 1942, in the midst of the response to the hostilities that began on December 7, 1941, that Executive Order 9066 was issued, subsequently enforced by the criminal penalties of a statute enacted March 21, 1942, resulting in the uprooting of loyal Americans. Over one hundred thousand persons of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes, detained in special camps, and eventually relocated. The tremendous effort by the War Relocation Authority and concerned Americans for the welfare of these Japanese-Americans may add perspective to that story, but it does not erase the setback to fundamental American principles. Fortunately, the Japanese-American community in Hawaii was spared the indignities suffered by those on our mainland. We now know what we should have known then--not only was that evacuation wrong, but Japanese-Americans were and are loyal Americans. On the battlefield and at home, Japanese-Americans -- names like Hamada, Mitsumori, Marimoto, Noguchi, Yamasaki, Kido, Munemori and Miyamura -- have been and continue to be written in our history for the sacrifices and the contributions they have made to the well-being and security of our nation.

See: Japanese American internment

Mike46 says: "After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, America declared war on Japan, then all the Japanese Immigrants living in the US at the time became suspect as possible enemy combatants or people who could aid and abet the enemy (Japan) so they were all rounded up and placed in internment camps where an eye could be kept on them. "

Immigrants were only a portion of the ethnic Japanese that were targeted. Most were US citizens, and many of those were born in the US.

This is unfortunate, as the text of Executive Order 9066 did not even mention internment or any ethnic group. It can be noted that other ethnic minorities that were suspect, including Italian and German, were not only detained but also many interned.

The executive order states that military commanders may "prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded" and that provision for those that had been excluded include "transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary", further explained as "furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and services".

It was written in such a way as to sound temporary with regard to provisions and services, as it states "until other arrangements are made" implying the implementation should be immediate and the other arrangements would be developed over time (by the various executive departments) to meet the more long term needs or possibly reparations of any excluded persons.

The way the military commanders and their other governmental partners used their authority speaks about the underlying fears and suspicion.

Fear! Many believed there were spys in the masses of Japanese-Americans who lived along the California coasts. Others believed they would sabotage Hoover Dam or defense plants. Still others though they might cause an uprising and try to take over governments. All were false, many Japanese-Americans served in the military fighting in Europe, others were translators for units in the Pacific. Translation was not only being able to read and speak the language, but understanding the culture.

there are 39 diffrent Japanese internment camps

ALL survived. but the question is where they went.

In 1942.

They were in use in the early 1900's.

They didn't influence the outcome of WW2. The outcome was influenced by productivity and firepower.

About 120,000 Japanese-Americans, 3/4 LOYAL Americans (Nisei).

I'm not sure exactly. This is a way to get started. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans feared that the Japanese living in the United States would do something bad and were somehow linked to the goverment.

The internment camps were started after the attack on Pearl Harbor and America and Canada (blood running high from the horrors of it all) were later accused of racism against the Japanese that had become American or Canadian citizens and most were born in these countries.

It was not only the Americans, but Canada who made a grave error in putting Japanese citizens of the U.S. and Canada into Internment camps. To this day it's a blight on the history of both countries and the numbers of dead will never be known for sure. For the most part the Japanese lived in squalor, tight quarters, some died from disease, heat, cold, others were shot for disputes against the reasons they were interred and others were shot for trying to escape. It wasn't like concentration camps, but that's up for grabs as well.

Over a 9 month period 22,000 Japanese-Canadians were taken from their homes and scattered throughout B.C. By Oct./42 the Cdn. Gov't had set up 8 internment camps in Interior, B.C. Kaslo, New Denver, Tashme, Roseberry, Slocan City, Lemon Creek, Sandon and Greenwood. Tashme was named after the 3 leading BC's security commissions: T Alor, SHirras and MEad.

The Japanese were treated like slaves and because of a shortage of farmers during WW2 they were forced out to work in road camps to go to beet camps and be with their families. Like Americans, Canadians punished the Japanese for a crime they didn't commit. They saw the Japanese people as "not white" or "Japanese spies." The Japanese were stripped of their rights, issued special clothing, humiliated, thrown behind barb wire fences and were forced to do manual labor.

Many Japanese families were forced to live in cramped quarters with 10 other families sharing one stove. Some camps such as Slocan city; did have the resources to house that many people coming into the camps. Japanese were placed in tents until houses were erected, but the houses were rickety and extremely cold during the harsh winters.Canada sold all the Japanese' world possessions. In 1943 the Cdn., "Custodian of Aliens" liquidated these worlding possesions without the owner's permission. The "Custodian of Aliens" auctioned off their contents, homes and property.

In 1988 the first Japanese Internment Camp, Canadian Japanese were compensated for all that they had endured during the war. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signed a compensation package giving $21,000 for each internee's survivor. In total 12 million dollars were paid out.

American Japanese Internment Camps were not any better. These camps were in: Central Utah (Topaz), Colorado River (Poston, AZ), Gila River (Rivers, AZ), Granada (Amache, CO), Heart Mountain WY, Jerome (Denson, AK), Manzanar, CA, Minidoka, CA, Rohwer, AK, Tule Lake (Newell, CA). JUST DEPT. CAMPS: Santa fe, NM, Bismarck, ND, Crystal City, TX, Missoula, MT. CITIZEN ISOLATION CAMPS: Moab, UT, Leupp, AZ, Puyallup, WA, Marysville, CA, Tanforan, CA, Turlock, CA, Salina, CA, Tulare, CA, Pomona, CA, Manzanar, CA, Portland, OR, Sacramento, CA, STockton, CA, Merced, CA, Fresno, CA, Santa Anita, CA, Mayer, CA, Pinedale, CA.

TAG & NUMBERS:This order gave the military free reign to designate military areas and to remove any persons considered a danger. Though theoretically Executive Order 9066 could be used to remove German and Italian Americans only the Japanese community was forced to undergo mass evacuation and imprisonment.

By June 1942 more than 110,000 Japanese (more than 70% of them American citizens) had been forced from their homes into temporary assembly centers. These assembly centers such as Camp Harmony were ramshackle affairs built at racetracks and fairgrounds. From the assembly centers the Japanese were moved to 10 concentration camps scattered in the more inhospitable desert regions of the West.

In 1988 the U.S. Gov't passed legistlation and awarded $20,000 to each of the surviving internees (60,000 in all.)

The kicker to all this is: The American Gov't was short on fighting men so they TOLD the Japanese men in the Internment Camps that if they would fight in the war they could leave the camps with their families. The same applied to the Canadian Gov't. Of course these young Japanese men had no other alternative and although raging within they became some of the most highly decorated soldiers in the war.

Let's hope this mistake is never made again!

Marcy

Franklin Roosevelt by Executive Order 9066.