What were the Japanese internment camps some might ask. The camps were caused by the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1942 by Japan. President Roosevelt signed a form to send all the Japanese into internment camps.(1) All the Japanese living along the coast were moved to other states like California, Idaho, Utah, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. The camps were located away from Japan and isolated so if a spy tried to communicate, word wouldn't get out. The camps were unfair to the Japanese but the US were trying to be cautious. Many even more than 66% or 2/3 of the Japanese-Americans sent to the internment camps in April of 1942 were born in the United States and many had never been to Japan. Their only crime was that they had Japanese ancestors and they were suspected of being spies to their homeland of Japan. Japanese-American World War I veterans that served for the United States were also sent to the internment camps.(2) They only hard part was getting the Japanese there. Because the camps were not yet completed when Roosevelt Army eventually decided to allow the prisoners to leave the camps if they joined the U.S. Army but only 1,200 took the option. The last Japanese internment camp in the United States was closed in 1945. President Roosevelt canceled the order in 1944, two years after signing it. It wasn't until 1968, almost 24 years after the camps had been closed that the U.S. government decided to make reparations to those who had lost property due to their imprisonment. In 1988 surviving prisoners were awarded $20,000. Only 60,000 out of the 127,000+ prisoners of the internment camps were still alive. As a sign of their negative feelings towards the USA, 5,766 prisoners renounced their American citizenship because they were sent to the internment camps. (1) (2) After that the Japanese were released and lived along with other
It is not a well known fact that around the time the Holocaust took place in Europe, another internment (less extreme) was taking place in the United States. “Betrayed by America” by Kristin Lewis gives readers an insight on what happened to Japanese-Americans in America. The article tells us about Hiroshi Shishima, Japanese-Americans internment, and what was going on during the regime. During WW2, America went into a frenzy after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Many Americans believed what was being said about Japanese-Americans even though it was proven to be false. Since the whole fiasco with Japan took place, many Japanese-Americans were forced into internment in certain parts of the United States. The reason for the internment of Japanese-Americans was due to fear & hysteria, racial
Forced to relocate into internment camps, Japanese-Americans were feared and considered the enemy. With anti-Japanese prejudice existing for years (prior to WWII), the military actions of Japan, erupted the hostility
This shows how unlikely it was for them to actually attack us and how trying to protect us from them isn’t really the strongest motivation for Japanese American internment. Also, many other countries decided not to make Japanese internment camps to protect their citizens as it was unneeded (WiA). This also shows that Japanese American internment camps are unnecessary for our protection. Some people may say that internment camps were justified because many American citizens were fearful of themselves and their country. While this is correct, there could have been a better way to protect us, other than forcing an entire race into internment camps.
military was awakened in full force, a direct attack that filled Americans both with fear and anger. This attack sparked racial hysteria with the then current media outlets pushing propaganda antagonising the Japanese. Building on pre-existing bigotry, tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were interned despite some being American citizens, a clear violation of their promised civil rights (Takagi). The prisoners were forced to stay in these camps until the conclusion of the war. This blanket internernment affected all ethnic Japanese Americans whether they were loyal or not, this upheld the “Us vs. Them” mentality. It took the government a staggering thirty years to acknowledge the wrongdoing and issue an apology, ten years after the apology the government took to paying the amount of 20,000 to each surviving victim from a fund of $1.25 billion (Benson). The war hysteria divided the Japanese American community from the mainstream Americans and lead to the loss of moral and civil
Japanese Internment Camps Ten weeks after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) singed an Executive Order of 9066 that authorized the removal of any people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable”(FDR). The west coast was home of majority of Japanese Americans was considered as military areas. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans was sent and were relocated to the internment camps that were built by the United States. Of the Japanese that were interned, 62 percent were Nisei (American born, second generation) or Sansei (third-generation Japanese) the rest of them were Issai Japanese immigrants. Americans of Japanese ancestry were far the most widely affected.
There are several military and constitutional justifications the United States government had in placing the Japanese in internments after the attack on Pearl Harbor. These justifications can all be related to National Security, with fear of future attacks, sabotage and espionage, and doubt of Japanese American’s loyalty. The main purpose of the government is protection under the constitution. To ensure national security, the privacy of one maybe evaded to secure millions. Very few advocates of civil liberties stepped forward against the internments regardless of the constitutional rights being invaded of the American citizens and resident aliens.
In 1944, two and a half years after signing Executive Order 9066, fourth-term President Franklin D. Roosevelt rescinded the order. The last internment camp was closed by the end of 1945. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment05/
Now their is always the no one died in internment camps. First off the government controlled the food and caused just the fear of death. Second off they gave them medicine, only if they passed the liberty test. While the internment camps did not force you to make items for war, it could have reflected badly and send you to a worse camp. So in the end, just because not alot of people died does not make it different.
How would you feel if you were forced out of your home to go to a camp where you shall be incarcerated for an unknown amount of time in an unknown location. You have no idea what will happen to you and your family. Why were you forced into the camps? Because of your ethnicity or beliefs. Japanese internment camps and Holocaust concentration camps both left their hateful marks in the fabric of history. During World War II, the Holocaust concentration camps were located around Central or Eastern Europe while the Japanese internment camps were located in the Western United States. Both types of camps have interesting similarities. However, one must realize that despite this similarities, these camps were very different in many ways. Yet, one thing is certain. We must learn more about this dark time in history in order to prevent such acts of hatred and paranoia from ever happening again.
The Japanese internment camps started in February, around two months after the Pearl Harbor bombing, which was also the reason America decided to enter the war. People’s suspicions of Japanese led the government, passing an order to uproot 120,000 people from their homes, lives, families, everything they knew. WWII brought lots of change, although their families were being contained, many young Japanese joined the U.S. army in the fight against Germany and Japan. It’s important for people to learn and remember who the really is against. “Sure enough, 40 days later January 20, 1942, came a letter that said, greeting from the President of the United States you are now in the army, and that was my draft notice.”( Interview with Norman Saburo
There are a number of reasons why the internment of the Japanese people had to take place. Japan was a major threat to the United States which made anyone of Japanese descendent a potential traitor and threat to America’s security. No one was quite sure what they were capable of.
In 1945 Japanese-American citizens with undisrupted loyalty were allowed to return to the West Coast, but not until 1946 was the last camp closed. The government of the U.S. tried to blame the evacuations on the war, saying they were protecting the Japanese by moving them. The government made statements during this time that contradicted each other. For example, Japanese-Americans were being called “enemy aliens” but then they were encouraged by the government to be loyal Americans and enlist in the armed forces, move voluntarily, put up no fight and not question the forced relocation efforts (Conn, 1990). Stetson Conn (1990) wrote “For several decades the Japanese population had been the target of hostility and restrictive action.”
The internment camps were permanent detention camps that held internees from March, 1942 until their closing in 1945 and 1946. Although the camps held captive people of many different origins, the majority of the prisoners were Japanese-Americans. There were ten different relocation centers located across the United States during the war. These Japanese Americans, half of whom were children, were incarcerated for up to 4 years, without due process of law or any factual basis, in bleak, remote camps surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.
The article if the Internment camps written by Jane Mcgrath talked about many things, one of them is when it happened. The day when Pearl Harbor was attacked was on by the Japanese was December 7th, 1941.That attack sparked questions here in America. That was how the Internment camps came about. In Hawaii, the ships were the target for the Japanese. So after
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States government started to put Japanese Americans into Internment Camps. They advertised the Internment Camps as a great place to be when in reality it was very crowded and you had little to no privacy. All of the people in the camps were Japanese Americans or their parents. After a long fight, they were finally let out of the camps, the American government had to pay them because of the pain they had caused the people from being in the camps.