Comments on: Noted Asian American historian shares insights

By: wade kitagawa

wade kitagawa — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:01:26 +0000

I did not realize til reading this site that Americans of German ancestry were also incarcerated along with the Japanese Americans. I truly feel sorry that this information was not made more public we all could help each other receive compensation. My family on both sides fought in the war for the United States as part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Unit. Fortunately, they were part of the surviving soldiers who made it back home. By the time the money was made available to all internees, all of my relatives had passed away so our ohana did not receive anything, just like you. Why don’t you petition the U.S. gov’t to pay the German internees some money instead of mentioning how only one group was singled out. It took a lot of effort on the part of Japanese citizens to get the United States to admit they owed something for punishing innocent American citizens. You Americans of German ancestry need to do your own work to receive compensation instead of just talking about it.

By: Angie

Angie — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:50:27 +0000

In reply to Arthur Jacobs. Yes, that is true, but the majority of those incacerated during WWII were of Japanese ancestry, inculding babies, children, and the elderly. 120,000 approximately to be exact (2/3rds were American Citizens), while those of German and Italian ancestry placed in interment camps were primarily not citizens. Please refer to Personal Justice Denied for the U.S. Government's own account of such stastistics.

By: Robert L. Seward

Robert L. Seward — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:12:54 +0000

One of my German American friends reminded me that I neglected to mention that in Hawaii, the entire population, regardless of ethnicity, lived under Martial Law for most of the war. Civilian courts were closed. You could be picked up for anything and if you tried to have a lawyer, you were punished more severely than the person who had no lawyer. The army ran two internment camps in Hawaii: Sand Island and Camp Honouliuli, which were far more uncomfortable than any camp on the mainland. Counterintuitively, over half the internees were white. Less than one percent of Hawaii’s Japanese population was interned yot almost all of its German American population was interned. Honouliuli was divided into three sections: one was for Japanese and Japanese American civilians, one was for German and German American civilians and one was for Japanese POWs.

By: eberhard fuhr

eberhard fuhr — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:38:13 +0000

At age 17 this German born 17 year old was interned in Crystal City Internment camp with an equal number of Japanese internees. It was a family camp and 250 babies or more were born there. Each Japanese baby received $20,000 and each Japanese parent the same in compensation, BUT NOT ONE GERMAN parent nor kid, got as much as a dime. I was released in September 1947 after 5 years of internment— longer than any Japanese.
Solidarity is none existent between Japanese and German internees,except while inseparately incarcerated.

By: Arthur Jacobs

Arthur Jacobs — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:02:28 +0000

Robert….perhaps you are correct that “we forget!” But I think rather than “forget,” they prefer to “cover it up” that others besides Japanese Americans were interned.

One day the truth will become known!

By: Robert L. Seward

Robert L. Seward — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:20:31 +0000

As we approach the seventieth anniversary of Executive Order 9066, I hope that appropriate attention is paid to the similarities and as well as the differences that occurred between German Americans and Japanese Americans who were interned as well as the restrictions that the 1.1 immigrants from Axis countries had to live under throughout the United States during the War (NY Times April 1,1942). In the rush to talk about Manzanar, we forget to talk about Crystal City, the biracial family internment camp. We forget to talk about the Italian and German Americans who were ENCOURAGED to leave the West Coast under threat of internment. We forget to talk about the thousands of German, Japanese and Italian civilians who were brought to the United States against their will from an assortment of Latin American countries and interned. We Forget to talk about the Spanish women who were married to those German and Italian Latin Americans. Americans forget a lot. We forget too much.

By: Arthur Jacobs

Arthur Jacobs — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:39:27 +0000

The American citizens included German Americans and Italian Americans! And please don’t forget it!