Japanese Internment Camps “I sometimes wonder if anyone will ever understand what I mean, if anyone will ever overlook my ingratitude and not worry about whether or not I’m Jewish and merely see me as a teenager badly in need of some good, plain fun.” (p. 153-154) or page 124? Website? There is a strong similarity between the German government who used concentration camps to imprison Jewish people and the U.S. government who interned Japanese Americans. For the Americans, it was thought that any and all Japanese citizens could be potential spies and attack the U.S. In the U.S., the U.S. created internment camps and held Japanese families captive. In Germany, it was believed that Germans were elite and the Jewish people caused them to lose the First World War. Germans created concentration camps and held the Jewish, and Polish people hostage. Both governments not only imprisoned those they deemed a threat to their causes but more importantly governments oppressed the rights of specific targeted group of citizens (Kent). This oppression is best illustrated by reading a first hand account so that people can understand the real life circumstances surrounding people who were imprisoned by the government during wartime, such as the Diary of Anne Frank. Before the World War II, in Holland and the U.S., the Jewish population in Holland and the Japanese Americans had equal rights as those of other citizens from other nationalities living in their respective countries. Both nationalities had families, had paid jobs, and had places to live. They were able to vote and had government representation and were integral members of society (Cooper). During the War, the governments were detaining and imprisoning these same citizens. Hi... ... middle of paper ... ...mprison, intern or execute thousands of innocent people in the name of War. Make sure all of your sources are cited Add 1 quote to each paragraph, 3 body paragraphs need more than 1 source http://www.holocausthistory.net/ Bibliography Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki., and James D. Houston. Farewell to Manzanar. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2000. Print. Alonso, Karen. Korematsu v. United States: Japanese-American Internment Camps. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1998. Print. Cooper, Michael L. Fighting for Honor: Japanese Americans and World War II. New York: Clarion, 2000. Print. Sinnott, Susan. Our Burden of Shame: Japanese-American Internment during World War II. New York: F. Watts, 1995. Print. Kent, Deborah. The Tragic History of the Japanese-American Internment Camps. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Pub., 2008. Print.
As Inada points out with his analogy to a constellation, the United States government had constructed many camps and scattered them all over the country. In other words, the internment of Japanese-Americans was not merely a blip in American history; it was instead a catastrophic and appalling forced remov...
Taylor, Sandra C. Jewel of the Desert: Japanese American Internment at Topaz. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
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)
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 bombing on Pearl Harbor impaired America, which brought an increase to racial tension. However, this impairment brought all nationalities together. “Thirty-three thousand Japanese Americans enlisted in the United States Armed Forces. They believed participation in the defense of their country was the best way to express their loyalty and fulfill their obligation as citizens” (Takaki 348). Takaki proves to us that the battle for independence was grappled on the ends of enslaved races. The deception of discrimination within the military force didn’t only bewilder Americans that sensed the agony of segregation, but also to the rest of world who honored and idolized America as a beam of freedom for
Marsh, James H. "Japanese Internment: Banished and Beyond Tears." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 7 Jan. 2014. .
The novel, Farewell to Manzanar, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, tells her family’s true story of how they struggled to not only survive, but thrive in forced detention during World War II. She was seven years old when the war started with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942. Her life dramatically changed when her and her family were taken from their home and sent to live at the Manzanar internment camp. Along with ten thousand other Japanese Americans, they had to adjust to their new life living behind barbed wire. Obviously, as a young child, Jeanne did not fully understand why they had to move, and she was not fully aware of the events happening outside the camp. However, in the beginning, every Japanese American had questions. They wondered why they had to leave. Now, as an adult, she recounts the three years she spent at Manzanar and shares how her family attempted to survive. The conflict of ethnicities affected Jeanne and her family’s life to a great extent.
During the Second World War, the Japanese suffered great embarrassments because of their race. A law in 1948 provided reimbursement for property losses by those imprisoned, and in 1988 Congress awarded compensation payments of twenty thousand dollars to each survivor of the camps; it is estimated that about 73,000 people will receive this compensation for the violation of their liberties (2009). This topic is of significance in today’s society because of the War on Terrorism in Iraq. The same topics have come up in discussion during present day, making these past events significant when terrorism and counter-terrorism tactics are topics of national-security issues. The only difference is that Arab-Americans are not forced into concentration camps.
21 . Robinson, Greg By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans,2003, Harvard University Press
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States was filled with panic. Along the Pacific coast of the U.S., where residents feared more Japanese attacks on their cities, homes, and businesses, this feeling was especially great. During the time preceding World War II, there were approximately 112,000 persons of Japanese descent living in California, Arizona, and coastal Oregon and Washington. These immigrants traveled to American hoping to be free, acquire jobs, and for some a chance to start a new life. Some immigrants worked in mines, others helped to develop the United States Railroad, many were fishermen, farmers, and some agricultural laborers.
The internment camps was a calamitous experience for many Japanese Americans. The Japanese American’s struggle was divided into evacuation, the camps, and life afterwards. Many will never forget the great injustice wrought upon them from the United States government.
Even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, there was still tension between Japanese-Americans and other United States citizens. Laws like the “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” a way of restricting Japanese immigration, was put into place in 1908 in fear of a “future Japanese ‘takeover’” (Hata and Hata, 7). After the attack on Pearl Harbor, growing hysteria filled the country and Japanese-Americans feared for their future. About a year later, Franklin D. R...
Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki and James D. Houston. Farewell to Manzanar New York: bantam book, 1973. Print
Matsumoto studies three generations, Issei, Nisei, and Sansei living in a closely linked ethnic community. She focuses her studies in the Japanese immigration experiences during the time when many Americans were scared with the influx of immigrants from Asia. The book shows a vivid picture of how Cortex Japanese endured violence, discriminations during Anti-Asian legislation and prejudice in 1920s, the Great Depression of 1930s, and the internment of 1940s. It also shows an examination of the adjustment period after the end of World War II and their return to the home place.
... group of citizens was treated during this time. Unfortunately, this is most likely due to the fact that it exposes the worst of the United States government. This treatment is treated as a blemish in the history of the United States to the United States citizens who learn about it. This is not the case at all for the Japanese-American people who experienced this, as well as the relatives of these people. The management of these people was a cruel and unjust act that was never shown for the harshness that it truly is. In Germany, it was called concentration camps, and it is known around the world as the worst time in history. In the United States, people brush the subject away, not showing any concern. In any other country, the United States would have been horrified, but it happened in our country. Thus, since the country is always right, this cruelty is ignored.