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Topaz Japanese American WWII Confinement Site

Welcome to the Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah. Our guiding principles are to preserve the nearby Topaz incarceration site and its World War II history; to interpret the impact of Topaz on the Japanese Americans who were confined there, their families, and the people living in Millard County; and to educate people to help prevent what happened during World War II at Topaz from ever happening again.

This website contains information about Topaz, one of the ten War Relocation Authority confinement sites, which was located 16 miles northwest of Delta in central Utah, on the lip of the Great Basin. Topaz had a peak population of 8,100 and recorded 11,212 people processed through the camp while it was in operation from September 11, 1942 to October 31, 1945.

The Topaz site is located at 10,750 West and 4500 North and extends for a mile south and west. It is privately owned and protected by the Topaz Museum. We ask that you please read and adhere to our visitation rules, drive only on the roads, and do not remove artifacts.

We recommend visiting the Topaz Museum before traveling to the Topaz site. The Topaz Museum is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 -5:00, year-round except for New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, and Christmas. The Topaz Museum is located at 55 West Main in Delta, Utah and our phone number is (435) 864-2514. Admission is by donation.

The mass exile and incarceration of Americans of Japanese ancestry during WWII was one of the worst violations of civil rights against citizens in the history of the United States. The government and the U.S. Army, falsely citing “military necessity,” removed 125,284 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry– about two-thirds were American citizens–from their homes on the West Coast and forced them into ten remote camps controlled by the War Relocation Authority (WRA). There were also other types of detention facilities including male-only camps controlled by the Justice Department. None of the people of Japanese ancestry was ever convicted or even charged with sabotage or espionage, yet they were confined, some up to four years, in camps surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.

Incarcerees could apply for clearance and leave the camps to go east for college or jobs as early as the summer of 1942, but the West Coast was off-limits until January 1945.

The findings of the 1982 federal Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians found three causes for the injustice: “race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.”

After President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, President George H.W. Bush issued a formal apology and monetary compensation to all living survivors. The events and causes of this tragic page in history must never be forgotten. If we can understand what occurred and why, we can be more vigilant to make certain a similar denial of civil rights will never happen to any other Americans.

Photo: Brian Buroker

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Japanese Internment Camps

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 17, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

Japanese internment camps were established during World War II by President Franklin D. Roosevelt through his Executive Order 9066 . From 1942 to 1945, it was the policy of the U.S. government that people of Japanese descent, including U.S. citizens, would be incarcerated in isolated camps. Enacted in reaction to the Pearl Harbor attacks and the ensuing war, the incarceration of Japanese Americans is considered one of the most atrocious violations of American civil rights in the 20th century.

Executive Order 9066

On February 19, 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 with the stated intention of preventing espionage on American shores.

Military zones were created in California, Washington and Oregon—states with a large population of Japanese Americans. Then Roosevelt’s executive order forcibly removed Americans of Japanese ancestry from their homes. Executive Order 9066 affected the lives about 120,000 people—the majority of whom were American citizens.

Canada soon followed suit, forcibly removing 21,000 of its residents of Japanese descent from its west coast. Mexico enacted its own version, and eventually 2,264 more people of Japanese descent were forcibly removed from Peru, Brazil, Chile and Argentina to the United States.

Anti-Japanese American Activity 

Weeks before the order, the Navy removed citizens of Japanese descent from Terminal Island near the Port of Los Angeles.

On December 7, 1941, just hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the FBI rounded-up 1,291 Japanese American community and religious leaders, arresting them without evidence and freezing their assets.

In January, the arrestees were transferred to prison camps in Montana, New Mexico and North Dakota, many unable to inform their families and most remaining for the duration of the war.

Concurrently, the FBI searched the private homes of thousands of Japanese American residents on the West Coast, seizing items considered contraband.

One-third of Hawaii’s population was of Japanese descent. In a panic, some politicians called for their mass incarceration. Japanese-owned fishing boats were impounded.

Some Japanese American residents were arrested and 1,500 people—one percent of the Japanese population in Hawaii—were sent to prison camps on the U.S. mainland.

Photos of Japanese American Relocation and Incarceration

John DeWitt

Lt. General John L. DeWitt, leader of the Western Defense Command, believed that the civilian population needed to be taken control of to prevent a repeat of Pearl Harbor.

To argue his case, DeWitt prepared a report filled with known falsehoods, such as examples of sabotage that were later revealed to be the result of cattle damaging power lines.

DeWitt suggested the creation of the military zones and Japanese detainment to Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Attorney General Francis Biddle. His original plan included Italians and Germans, though the idea of rounding-up Americans of European descent was not as popular.

At Congressional hearings in February 1942, a majority of the testimonies, including those from California Governor Culbert L. Olson and State Attorney General Earl Warren , declared that all Japanese should be removed.

Biddle pleaded with the president that mass incarceration of citizens was not required, preferring smaller, more targeted security measures. Regardless, Roosevelt signed the order.

War Relocation Authority

After much organizational chaos, about 15,000 Japanese Americans willingly moved out of prohibited areas. Inland state citizens were not keen for new Japanese American residents, and they were met with racist resistance.

Ten state governors voiced opposition, fearing the Japanese Americans might never leave, and demanded they be locked up if the states were forced to accept them.

A civilian organization called the War Relocation Authority was set up in March 1942 to administer the plan, with Milton S. Eisenhower from the Department of Agriculture to lead it. Eisenhower only lasted until June 1942, resigning in protest over what he characterized as incarcerating innocent citizens.

Relocation to 'Assembly Centers'

Army-directed removals began on March 24. People had six days notice to dispose of their belongings other than what they could carry.

Anyone who was at least 1/16th Japanese was evacuated, including 17,000 children under age 10, as well as several thousand elderly and disabled residents.

Japanese Americans reported to "Assembly Centers" near their homes. From there they were transported to a "Relocation Center" where they might live for months before transfer to a permanent "Wartime Residence."

Assembly Centers were located in remote areas, often reconfigured fairgrounds and racetracks featuring buildings not meant for human habitation, like horse stalls or cow sheds, that had been converted for that purpose. In Portland, Oregon , 3,000 people stayed in the livestock pavilion of the Pacific International Livestock Exposition Facilities.

The Santa Anita Assembly Center, just several miles northeast of Los Angeles, was a de-facto city with 18,000 incarcerated, 8,500 of whom lived in stables. Food shortages and substandard sanitation were prevalent in these facilities.

Life in 'Assembly Centers'

Assembly Centers offered work to prisoners with the policy that they should not be paid more than an Army private. Jobs ranged from doctors to teachers to laborers and mechanics. A couple were the sites of camouflage net factories, which provided work.

Over 1,000 incarcerated Japanese Americans were sent to other states to do seasonal farm work. Over 4,000 of the incarcerated population were allowed to leave to attend college.

Conditions in 'Relocation Centers'

There were a total of 10 prison camps, called "Relocation Centers." Typically the camps included some form of barracks with communal eating areas. Several families were housed together. Residents who were labeled as dissidents were forced to a special prison camp in Tule Lake, California.

Two prison camps in Arizona were located on Native American reservations, despite the protests of tribal councils, who were overruled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Each Relocation Center was its own "town," and included schools, post offices and work facilities, as well as farmland for growing food and keeping livestock. Each prison camp "town" was completely surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

Net factories offered work at several Relocation Centers. One housed a naval ship model factory. There were also factories in different Relocation Centers that manufactured items for use in other prison camps, including garments, mattresses and cabinets. Several housed agricultural processing plants.

Violence in Prison Camps

Violence occasionally occurred in the prison camps. In Lordsburg, New Mexico , prisoners were delivered by trains and forced to march two miles at night to the camp. On July 27, 1942, during a night march, two Japanese Americans, Toshio Kobata and Hirota Isomura, were shot and killed by a sentry who claimed they were attempting to escape. Japanese Americans testified later that the two elderly men were disabled and had been struggling during the march to Lordsburg. The sentry was found not guilty by the army court martial board.

On August 4, 1942, a riot broke out in the Santa Anita Assembly Center, the result of anger about insufficient rations and overcrowding. At California's Manzanar War Relocation Center , tensions resulted in the beating of Fred Tayama, a Japanese American Citizen’s League (JACL) leader, by six men. JACL members were believed to be supporters of the prison camp's administration. 

Fearing a riot, police tear-gassed crowds that had gathered at the police station to demand the release of Harry Ueno. Ueno had been arrested for allegedly assaulting Tayama. James Ito was killed instantly and several others were wounded. Among those injured was Jim Kanegawa, 21, who died of complications five days later.

At the Topaz Relocation Center , 63-year-old prisoner James Hatsuki Wakasa was shot and killed by military police after walking near the perimeter fence. Two months later, a couple was shot at for strolling near the fence.

In October 1943, the Army deployed tanks and soldiers to  Tule Lake Segregation Center  in northern California to crack down on protests. Japanese American prisoners at Tule Lake had been striking over food shortages and unsafe conditions that had led to an accidental death in October 1943. At the same camp, on May 24, 1943, James Okamoto, a 30-year-old prisoner who drove a construction truck, was shot and killed by a guard.  

Fred Korematsu

In 1942, 23-year-old Japanese-American Fred Korematsu was arrested for refusing to relocate to a Japanese prison camp. His case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where his attorneys argued in Korematsu v. United States that Executive Order 9066 violated the Fifth Amendment . 

Korematsu lost the case, but he went on to become a civil rights activist and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. With the creation of California’s Fred Korematsu Day, the United States saw its first U.S. holiday named for an Asian American. But it took another Supreme Court decision to halt the incarceration of Japanese Americans.

Mitsuye Endo

The prison camps ended in 1945 following the  Supreme Court decision,  Ex parte Mitsuye Endo . In this case, justices ruled unanimously that the War Relocation Authority “has no authority to subject citizens who are concededly loyal to its leave procedure.”

The case was brought on behalf of Mitsuye Endo, the daughter of Japanese immigrants from Sacramento, California. After filing a habeas corpus petition, the government offered to free her, but Endo refused, wanting her case to address the entire issue of Japanese incarceration.

One year later, the Supreme Court made the decision, but gave President Truman the chance to begin camp closures before the announcement. One day after Truman made his announcement, the Supreme Court revealed its decision.

Reparations

The last Japanese internment camp closed in March 1946. President Gerald Ford officially repealed Executive Order 9066 in 1976, and in 1988, Congress issued a formal apology and passed the Civil Liberties Act awarding $20,000 each to over 80,000 Japanese Americans as reparations for their treatment.

Japanese Relocation During World War II . National Archives . Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites. J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord and R. Lord . Lordsburg Internment POW Camp. Historical Society of New Mexico . Smithsonian Institute .

Watch the documentary event, FDR . Available to stream now.

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CURRENT TEMPORARY EXHIBITION

A moab prison camp: japanese american incarceration in grand county.

A Moab Prison Camp: Japanese American Incarceration in Grand County introduces the local and national story of Japanese American incarceration during WWII. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the wartime incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, a majority of whom were US Citizens, in detention facilities across the country. The Moab Isolation Center, located north of Moab at Dalton Wells, played a brief but significant role in the web of Japanese American incarceration facilities: a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp was transformed into a temporary prison camp for so-called “troublemakers” from other camps. In this exhibit, a tale of injustice and resilience unfolds via stories and objects, introducing the national context with the Smithsonian’s Righting a Wrong poster exhibition and research conducted by Utah State Parks.

"Troublemaking" is resistance.

This exhibit unpacks the nuanced terminology used during that era and following, inviting visitors to confront the usage of words like "relocation" versus "incarceration" and wrestle with the gravity of terms such as "concentration camp." Through compelling narratives curated collaboratively with descendants and partners, A Moab Prison Camp illuminates the resilience and resistance exhibited by those imprisoned in Moab. It offers a broader exploration of the Japanese-American experience during this tumultuous period in US history.

To support the curation of exhibitions and future programming by the Moab Museum, please consider donating and/or becoming a member.

Book Club: Interpreting Japanese American Incarceration

Museums present stories, information, or artifacts, and communities help interpret why it matters. As the Moab Museum shares stories from the Moab Isolation Center at Dalton Wells, we invite our community to deepen our collective understanding of Japanese American incarceration history and help curate a pop-up display by learning stories from Japanese American survivors and descendants. Many firsthand accounts, documentaries, and podcasts share stories from survivors of incarceration and their descendants. Read up - and let us and the Moab community know what you think about these stories by participating in the Interpreting Japanese American Incarceration Book Club.

How it works: 

• All these titles are available via Back of Beyond Books on Highway N. 191 in downtown Moab.
• Write a reflection, responding to the question: why does this history matter to Moabites, Americans, and the world today? You can drop off or write a written response in the form below, or email us a note or voice memo to [email protected] . Be sure to include your name - and let us know what you read, watched, or listened to from the list!

The Museum will develop community responses into the exhibit space during the last weeks of the exhibition.

Books and Literature

• They Called Us Enemy by George Takei: award-winning graphic memoir by actor/author/activist George Takei about his incarceration experience
• In Defense of Justice: Joseph Kurihara and the Japanese American Struggle for Equality by Eileen H. Tamura: biography of Joseph Kurihara, who was incarcerated at the Moab Isolation Center
• Photographs of Manzanar by Ansel Adams: a striking series of photographs document daily life at Manzanar
• Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston: a vivid memoir of coming to age in an incarceration camp
• Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and his Quest for Justice by Lorraine K. Bannai: a remarkable story of one Japanese American man's resistance
• Citizen 13660 by Miné Okubo: a brilliant graphic memoir, poignantly chronicling wartime incarceration 
• Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment edited by Kimi Hill: a deeply moving collection of the artistic works of Chiura Obata, incarcerated in Topaz, Utah
• Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family by Yoshiko Uchida: the story of one family incarcerated in Topaz, Utah
• Only What We Could Carry edited by Lawson Fusao Inada: a collection of reminiscences, letters, stories, poems, and art 
• I Call to Remembrance: Toyo Suyemoto’s Years of Internment edited by Susan B. Richardson: an illuminating and moving memoir
• Displacement by Kiku Hughes: a riveting and inspirational graphic novel about a teen learning about wartime incarceration history
• Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II by Daniel James Brown: a gripping account of the journeys of three Japanese American men who fought in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
• Under the Broken Sky by Mariko Nagai: a breathtaking, poetic account of hope and resilience 
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson: a bestselling novel, this fictional story explores themes of fairness and forgiveness in the wake of wartime incarceration
• Children of Manzanar edited by Heather C. Lindquist: photographs and remembrances record the stories of some of the youngest residents of Manzanar
• Seen and Unseen by Elizabeth Partridge: blending visuals and clear, moving text, this account of Manzanar has been called "ingenious" by New York Times reviewers
• Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins: this fictional novel explores the time period of WW2 and Japanese American incarceration via families in Owens Valley, CA
• Kiyo's Story by Kiyo Sato: a moving memoir of a family's perseverance through incarceration at Poston

For young readers and their families: A Place Where Sunflowers Grow , Baseball Saved Us , Write to Me , The Bracelet , and Citizen USA .

Books are available at Grand County Public Library and Back of Beyond Books.

Films (Recommendations from DENSHO)

• An American Contradiction (2012, 13 minutes)
• The Art of Gaman: The Story Behind the Objects (2010, 20 minutes)
• Episode 4012, “Manzanar” (2002, 29 minutes)
• Episode 7003, “The Songbird of Manzanar” (2005, 25 minutes)
• Colorado Experience: Amache (2013, 56/28 minutes)
• Dave Tatsuno: Movies and Memories (2006, 57 minutes)
• From Hawaii to the Holocaust (1993, 53 minutes)
• Manzanar: Never Again (2008, 14 minutes)
• The Merced Assembly Center: Injustice Immortalized (2012, 53 minutes)
• Pilgrimage   (2003, 22 minutes)
• Shiro Kashino: An American Hero (2015, 21 minutes)

This book and film list has been developed from recommendations of Densho, and also includes selections from Manzanar, Minidoka, and Topaz historic sites. Have another resource we should add to this book list? Let us know!

Submit a Response: Interpreting Japanese American Incarceration Book Club

Acknowledgments.

Contents of this exhibit have been developed in collaboration with Utah State Parks , descendents of incarcerees, and in consultation with organizations and historic sites dedicated to the preservation and sharing of Japanese American history. Thank you to staff from the Minidoka National Historic Site , Friends of Minidoka , Manzanar National Historic Site , and Topaz Museum for sharing expertise, guided tours of historic sites, and/or consultation. The Moab Museum is also grateful for the expertise and guiding primary resources made available via Densho as well as the Japanese American National Museum . The research records of Lloyd Pierson and Bruce Louthan have been invaluable. Programmatic collaborators include Utah Historical Society, Utah State Parks, Dr. Koji Lau-Ozawa, Manzanar National Historic Site, and Topaz Museum. Sharing stories is a collaborative effort: thank you for being a part of it.

Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II was developed by the National Museum of American History and adapted by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service . The traveling exhibition and poster exhibition are supported by a grant from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the Terasaki Family Foundation, and C. L. Ehn and Ginger Lew.

In the news: hear what the  Times-Independent   and  Moab Sun News   have to share about our new exhibition.

Preserving Japanese American stories of the past for the generations of tomorrow.

Discover the History of WWII Incarceration

120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. Learn about this unprecedented denial of civil liberties and why it still matters today.

Explore Personal Stories

Learn about Japanese American history and the legacy of WWII incarceration by exploring personal stories from those who lived through it.

Promote Equity Today

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Join us in putting the lessons of Japanese American WWII incarceration into action today.

Densho Catalyst: History, Essays, & Opinion

Dive into hidden histories and learn why these stories matter today with the latest essays and opinions from Densho and other community voices.

The World of Mary Mon Toy, the Broadway Actress Who Hid Her Japanese Identity Behind a Chinese Name

The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration: Unlocking the Voices of Issei and Kibei Nisei Writers

Photo Essay: Amache Through the Lens of George Ochikubo

Manzanar CloseUp

Welcome to Densho’s newest digital platform, Manzanar CloseUp! An evolution of Densho’s popular Sites of Shame project, Manzanar CloseUp applies similar data extraction and visualization tools to offer a close-up view of Manzanar concentration camp. Users are able to see geographical and population features of the camp with an unprecedented level of detail, including information about camp population down to the individual family and barrack level. 

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Campu: A Podcast

Campu weaves together the voices of survivors to spin narratives out of the seemingly mundane things that gave shape to the incarceration experience: rocks, fences, food, paper. Follow along as hosts Hana and Noah Maruyama move far beyond the standard Japanese American incarceration 101 and into more intimate and lesser-known corners of this history.

Encyclopedia

Thousands of articles about the history of the Japanese American WWII exclusion and incarceration experience. Here are a few to get you started:

Documentary films/videos on incarceration

The following is an attempt at a comprehensive listing of documentary films/videos that include a significant treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, broken up into several broad categories.

Scene (magazine)

Japanese American pictorial monthly magazine that ran from 1949 to 1955. Largely produced by and for Nisei, Scene magazine highlighted "successful" Japanese Americans as well as Japanese culture.

Owens Valley (detention facility)

The Owens Valley Reception Center—later the Manzanar Reception Center—was the first of the WCCA -administered short-term detention camps to open when the first "volunteers" from the Los Angeles area arrived on March 21, 1942.

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History Cooperative

Japanese Internment Camps: WWII, Reasons, Life, Conditions, and Deaths

The story of Japanese internment camps in the United States represents a complex chapter marked by fear, prejudice, and a struggle for justice. Amid the global conflict, the U.S. government made the controversial decision to relocate and imprison thousands of Japanese Americans, casting a long shadow over the principles of liberty and justice.

This key moment, driven by wartime hysteria and racial discrimination, led to the uprooting of families, the loss of homes and businesses, and the creation of a stark reality behind barbed wire.

Table of Contents

Events Leading Up to the Foundation of Japanese Internment Camps

The road to the establishment of Japanese internment camps was paved with a blend of international tensions and domestic fears. The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, by the Empire of Japan marked a turning point, thrusting the United States into World War II amidst a wave of panic and suspicion.

READ MORE: Pearl Harbor: A Day in Infamy

Overnight, Japanese Americans, many of whom were U.S. citizens or legal residents who had lived in the country for decades, were viewed with distrust and hostility. This fear was not born in a vacuum but was the culmination of years of anti-Japanese sentiment , exacerbated by economic competition and racial prejudices that had simmered on the American West Coast.

The swift move toward internment was further influenced by government and military leaders who argued that Japanese Americans could pose a security threat. Among them, General John L. DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command, played a key role in advocating for the exclusion and detention of Japanese Americans, claiming military necessity .

This atmosphere of fear and suspicion was codified with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the Secretary of War and military commanders to designate military areas from which any or all persons could be excluded, laying the groundwork for the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps.

This decision, fueled by wartime paranoia and racial bias, led to one of the most contentious civil liberties issues of the 20th century, challenging the American ideals of justice and equality.

Executive Order 9066

Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, marked a decisive moment in American history, granting military commanders the authority to exclude any persons from designated military areas.

READ MORE: US History Timeline: The Dates of America’s Journey

Though the order did not specify Japanese Americans, it was implemented to target and relocate them from the West Coast, under the guise of national security. The swift enactment of this order reflected the heightened fear and prejudice against Japanese Americans following the Pearl Harbor attack, culminating in a policy that would affect the lives of thousands.

The implications of Executive Order 9066 were profound and immediate. It led to the creation of military zones and the forced removal of Japanese Americans to internment camps scattered across the interior of the U.S. Families were given mere days to dispose of their properties, businesses, and belongings, often at significant losses.

The order stripped them of their freedoms, rights, and dignity , casting a shadow over the principles of liberty and justice the nation purported to uphold. This chapter in American history serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of wartime hysteria and racial prejudice, highlighting the need for vigilance in protecting the rights and freedoms of all citizens, especially in times of crisis.

Anti-Japanese American Activity

In the years leading up to World War II, anti-Japanese sentiment had been brewing, particularly on the West Coast of the United States, where the majority of Japanese immigrants and their descendants lived. This animosity was deeply rooted in a mixture of racial prejudice, economic envy, and cultural misunderstanding.

READ MORE: WW2 Timeline and Dates

Japanese Americans, despite contributing to the agricultural and economic development of the region, faced discriminatory laws and societal exclusion. The tensions escalated with Japan’s growing military aggression in Asia, further fueling suspicion and xenophobia among the American public.

The attack on Pearl Harbor acted as a catalyst, transforming pre-existing biases into outright hostility. Politicians, media outlets, and influential community leaders began to advocate for the removal of Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast, falsely accusing them of espionage and sabotage without evidence. This climate of fear and suspicion was not only endorsed but amplified by the federal government’s actions, including Executive Order 9066.

The ensuing anti-Japanese American activity was not merely a grassroots movement but a state-sanctioned policy that legitimized racism and set the stage for the mass incarceration of an entire ethnic group based solely on their ancestry. This period underscores the impact of wartime hysteria combined with racial prejudice, leading to one of the most significant violations of civil liberties in American history.

John DeWitt and His Role in the Internment of Japanese-Americans

Major General John L. DeWitt played a key role in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. As the commanding officer of the Western Defense Command, DeWitt was tasked with the defense of the Pacific Coast following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Citing concerns over espionage and sabotage, he became one of the most vocal proponents for the removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. DeWitt’s influence was instrumental in shaping the narrative that Japanese Americans posed a national security threat , despite the lack of evidence to support such claims.

DeWitt’s reports and recommendations to the War Department emphasized the perceived impossibility of distinguishing loyal from disloyal Japanese Americans, arguing that, because of their race, they could not be trusted.

His stance was fortified by racial prejudices and a belief in the necessity of drastic measures to ensure national security. His advocacy was a critical factor leading to the issuance of Executive Order 9066 by President Roosevelt.

DeWitt subsequently oversaw the implementation of the order, orchestrating the forced removal and internment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans . His actions, driven by a mixture of wartime hysteria and racial bias, have been widely criticized by historians as unjust and unnecessary, reflecting a dark chapter in the history of civil liberties in the United States.

War Relocation Authority

The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was established on March 18, 1942, through Executive Order 9102 , signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Tasked with managing the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Americans, the WRA represented the bureaucratic machinery behind the internment process .

It was responsible for the logistics, administration, and oversight of the camps, ensuring the implementation of government policy. Under the direction of Milton S. Eisenhower, initially, and later Dillon S. Myer, the WRA navigated the complex logistics of uprooting over 120,000 individuals, two-thirds of whom were American citizens , from their homes and moving them to isolated internment camps across the interior of the United States.

The establishment of the WRA marked a critical phase in the internment process, transitioning from the chaotic initial roundup to a more structured, though still harsh, system of incarceration . The Authority attempted to mitigate the harsh conditions through education and employment opportunities within the camps, but these efforts did little to mask the reality of imprisonment.

The WRA’s role in overseeing the daily lives of internees, from providing basic necessities to enforcing camp rules, highlighted the extent of government involvement in this dark chapter of American history.

Despite its attempts to portray the camps in a positive light, the legacy of the WRA remains intertwined with the violation of civil liberties and the suffering of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Relocation to ‘Assembly Centers’

Before their final transfer to internment camps, Japanese Americans were initially relocated to temporary “ assembly centers .” These were often hastily converted facilities such as racetracks, fairgrounds, and other public buildings, ill-equipped to house the thousands of people who were uprooted from their communities.

Families were given only days to settle their affairs before being evacuated, forcing them to sell their possessions at significant losses or leave them behind entirely. Upon arrival at these centers, they were met with overcrowded conditions, inadequate privacy, and insufficient sanitation facilities, a stark departure from their previous lives and an ominous introduction to their forthcoming internment experience.

The assembly centers served as a transitional phase in the internment process, where individuals were registered and assigned to one of the more permanent internment camps managed by the War Relocation Authority.

Life in these temporary quarters was marked by uncertainty and anxiety, as internees awaited their fate in the unknown conditions of the permanent camps. The use of assembly centers highlighted the logistical challenges and bureaucratic indifference faced by Japanese Americans during their relocation.

This phase of the internment process underscores the disruption of normal life and the rapid deprivation of rights and freedoms experienced by Japanese American families, setting the stage for their prolonged internment under challenging and unjust conditions.

Life in ‘Japanese Concentration Camps’

Life within the Japanese concentration camps was a stark departure from the freedoms of American society, defined by the physical and psychological barriers of barbed wire and guard towers .

READ MORE: Twisted Legacy: Uncovering Who Invented Barbed Wire and Why was Barbed Wire invented?

Despite being labeled as “relocation centers,” these facilities functioned as prisons, where internees faced a daily existence marked by a loss of privacy, autonomy, and dignity. Families, often accustomed to their own homes, were crammed into small, sparsely furnished barracks with little insulation against harsh weather conditions.

The communal facilities for eating, bathing, and using the restroom further eroded personal privacy and comfort.

Yet, within these confines, the Japanese American community strove to maintain a sense of normalcy and resilience. Schools were established for children, and adults engaged in various jobs within the camps to support the community and earn a small income.

READ MORE: Who Invented School? The Story Behind Monday Mornings

Internees organized cultural and recreational activities, such as art classes, sports competitions, and traditional Japanese festivals , to preserve their heritage and bolster spirits. However, these efforts could not fully mitigate the underlying strain and injustice of their situation.

The internment experience left lasting scars on the community, impacting generations with memories of discrimination, loss, and resilience in the face of adversity.

U.S. Propaganda Film Shows ‘Normal’ Life in WWII Japanese Internment Camps

During World War II, the U.S. government engaged in a propaganda campaign to shape public perception of the internment camps housing Japanese Americans. One notable effort was the production of films that depicted a sanitized and misleading portrayal of life inside these camps.

These films aimed to pacify criticism and concern among the American public and international community by showing internees not as prisoners but as beneficiaries of government benevolence .

Through carefully crafted scenes, the films showcased internees engaging in educational activities, farming, and leisure—painting a picture of a harmonious and productive life far removed from the reality of internment.

This strategic use of propaganda served multiple purposes: it sought to justify the government’s internment policy, alleviate growing unease about the treatment of Japanese Americans, and counter any negative impressions that could affect the United States’ international standing during the war.

However, these films starkly contrasted with the testimonies of internees and reports from civil rights advocates, who highlighted the overcrowded living conditions, inadequate facilities, and the psychological toll of imprisonment.

The propaganda films obscured the harsh realities of internment, the stripping away of rights , and the deep wounds inflicted upon thousands of Japanese American families.

Conditions in ‘Relocation Centers’

The conditions in the so-called “ relocation centers ” or internment camps where Japanese Americans were confined during World War II were far from the idyllic scenes portrayed by U.S. government propaganda.

The reality of life in these camps was characterized by hardship, uncertainty, and a stark departure from the principles of freedom and justice. Internees faced a variety of challenging living conditions, from extreme weather to insufficient food and medical care.

The barracks that served as living quarters were poorly constructed and offered little protection against the searing summers and freezing winters common in the remote areas where many camps were located.

Moreover, the camps were designed with a minimum level of infrastructure, leading to overcrowded living spaces, shared latrines with no privacy, and inadequate medical facilities. Despite the efforts of internees to improve their living conditions through community organization and personal initiative, the scarcity of resources and the constant surveillance by military guards underscored the oppressive nature of their confinement.

The psychological impact of internment, including stress, anxiety, and loss of identity, compounded the physical hardships. Stories of resilience, community support, and cultural preservation emerged from within the camps, but these could not negate the injustice of the internment experience.

Violence in Prison Camps

Within the confines of the internment camps, instances of violence were relatively rare but notably significant, marking the tension and desperation that sometimes boiled over among the internees.

The stress of imprisonment, the erosion of community and family structures, and the frustration with unjust incarceration occasionally led to conflicts both among the internees and between internees and camp guards.

One of the most notable incidents of violence occurred at the Manzanar internment camp in December 1942 , known as the Manzanar Riot or Uprising, where tensions between the camp administration and the internees escalated into violence, resulting in the death of two Japanese Americans and injuries to several others.

These instances of violence were symptomatic of the broader issues within the camps: the struggle for leadership and representation among the internees , the inadequacy of the administration to address the internees’ concerns, and the underlying injustice of their situation. The presence of armed guards and the enforcement of strict regulations heightened the atmosphere of repression and control.

While the camps were not violent places on a day-to-day basis, these incidents of unrest underscored the inherent conflict of detaining loyal American citizens and residents without due process.

The violence that did erupt within the camps serves as a reminder of the profound impact of internment on the psyche and social dynamics of the Japanese American community , illustrating the complex interplay of resilience, despair, and resistance under the shadow of unjust incarceration.

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II , while not characterized by the mass violence seen in other wartime atrocities, still led to loss of life under the harsh conditions and psychological strain of unjust incarceration.

Deaths in the internment camps occurred due to a variety of reasons, including inadequate medical care , the stress and despair of long-term confinement, and, in rare instances, violence. Elderly internees, children, and those with pre-existing health conditions were particularly vulnerable to the camps’ inadequate living conditions and limited access to healthcare.

The exact number of deaths across all the internment camps is difficult to ascertain, as records were not always meticulously kept or have been lost over time . However, each death within these camps represents a personal tragedy and a stark reminder of the human cost of policies born out of fear and prejudice.

Memorials and monuments have been erected in several former camp sites and cemeteries, serving as somber reminders of those who died as a result of their internment. These sites encourage reflection on the fragility of civil liberties in times of crisis and the importance of remembering the individuals and families affected by this chapter of American history.

10 Japanese Internment Camps

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II led to the establishment of ten major camps across the United States, primarily located in remote areas far from the Pacific coast.

These camps were designed to house over 120,000 Japanese Americans forcibly removed from their homes in the wake of Executive Order 9066.

The locations of these camps were chosen based on their isolation and the government’s ability to control the internees, often placing them in harsh and unforgiving environments. Here is a brief overview of the ten major internment camps:

Manzanar War Relocation Center in California became one of the most well-known camps, symbolizing the hardships and resilience of the interned population.

Tule Lake Segregation Center in California, designated for those considered “disloyal,” was the largest of the camps and witnessed significant unrest and protest.

Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho, where internees worked in agriculture to support the war effort despite their confinement.

Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah, known for its harsh climate and the vibrant arts community that emerged among the internees.

Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming, notable for its high school, which became the largest in the state due to the interned population.

Granada War Relocation Center (Amache) in Colorado, where internees faced some of the harshest living conditions.

Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas, one of the two camps located in the humid and mosquito-infested swamps of the Mississippi Delta.

Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas, the other camp in the Delta, marked by its brief operation period and challenging conditions.

Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona, distinguished by its leadership in agriculture and relatively better relations with the surrounding community.

Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona, the largest camp by area, located on an Indian reservation and suffering from extreme summer heat.

Each of these camps has its own history, marked by the resilience of the Japanese American community in the face of adversity. Today, they serve as poignant reminders of the need for vigilance against the erosion of civil liberties and the importance of remembering the lessons of the past.

Memorials and educational centers at some of these sites continue to educate the public about this dark chapter in American history, ensuring that the stories of those who were interned are not forgotten.

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• HISTORY & CULTURE

The U.S. forced them into internment camps. Here’s how Japanese Americans started over.

The hardships didn’t end with their incarceration. Japanese Americans lost their homes and livelihoods during the war. Here’s how they fought for—and won—reparations for those losses.

When the Tomihiro family left Minidoka War Relocation Center in south-central Idaho in 1945, they didn’t head home to Portland, Oregon, where they’d lived for decades. “Home” didn’t exist anymore—they had lost everything during the internment of people of Japanese ancestry in World War II. Before the war, the family had owned a half-block of houses and stores and a hotel. Now, they had nothing.

Their new apartment in Chicago was “really miserable, dark and dank, and roach- and rodent-infested,” Chiye Tomihiro recalled during a public hearing in Chicago about the harsh toll of internment in 1981. “We did not even have a sink.” Her mother, who got work as a seamstress, washed the family’s dishes in a hand basin in the hall; her father, once a powerful businessman, was never able to find steady employment again. Chiye eventually became her family’s sole breadwinner, an excruciating reversal of roles that pained her proud family.

The Tomihiros were just one family among the tens of thousands who were detained for years by their own government. Beginning in 1942, the U.S. forced Japanese Americans into internment camps in far-flung parts of the country, depriving them of their freedom and livelihoods. After the war, they were forced to start over—and began to demand compensation for their suffering.

'Enemy aliens'

After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt paved the way for internment with Executive Order 9066 , which gave military leaders the authority to create wide-reaching military zones and exclude “any or all persons” from them. Fearing a land invasion by Japan, the government put the entire West Coast and Hawaii under military authority, paving the way for the “evacuation” of about 120,000 people of Japanese descent, 70,000 of them U.S. citizens, who were now dubbed “enemy aliens.” They could bring along only what they could carry, and lived in isolated, bare-bones internment camps monitored by military guards.

By 1943, it had become clear that a Japanese invasion was unlikely, and the War Department in Washington found it increasingly difficult to justify detaining thousands of people indefinitely, even as anti-Japanese sentiment raged throughout the country. The War Department began offering some detainees leave opportunities to pursue higher education or work in seasonal agricultural jobs. Then, officials dangled the possibility of indefinite leave to those willing to declare their loyalty to the United States. Almost 35,000 Japanese Americans left the camps in 1944, but tens of thousands remained.

Finally, amid growing pressure and legal challenges to shut down the camps, Roosevelt suspended Executive Order 9066—after he won re-election in November 1944. In a cabinet meeting on December 17, the administration announced it would end exclusion as of January 1, 1945. The next day, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in the Ex Parte Mitsuye Endo   case, ruling that the government could not detain loyal U.S. citizens. Though it took nearly a year to close down all the camps, Japanese Americans were now free to return home.

We don’t want them, and since they know that, they shouldn’t want to come back. If they do, there will be trouble. Leonard Goldsmith , Seattle janitor

In the years after internment, the word “home” had a very different meaning for the former detainees. Many didn’t have a home to return to at all—many had been forced to sell their property, belongings, and businesses at steep discounts in the rushed days before their incarceration; some lost them during the war. Others returned to find their homes had been vandalized, destroyed, or foreclosed upon.

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Alien land laws that forbade Asian Americans from owning certain land and redlining, a practice that prevented minority groups from getting loans to buy homes in certain neighborhoods, made economic recovery difficult. Internees instead settled in cities that had been reshaped dramatically by the war, making housing and good jobs scarce. People found themselves living in trailers, cheap hostels, and even repurposed military barracks.

“When the Japanese arrived in the United States they were at the bottom of the economic ladder,” the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians wrote in its 1983 report on Japanese internment. “The impact of evacuation is made more poignant by the fact that it cut short the life and strength of the immigrants, frequently destroying the fruit of years of effort.”

Economic hardship wasn’t the only peril the released internees faced. Stoked by decades of intolerance and Japan’s enemy status during the war, anti-Japanese sentiment was further fanned by the announcement internment would end. White citizens formed anti-Japanese clubs—and joined existing organizations like the Japanese Exclusion League—to lobby against Japanese Americans’ return to their communities.

“Somebody should be arrested for even thinking of bringing the J--- back,” Seattle janitor Leonard Goldsmith told the Seattle Daily Times , employing a common slur used to describe Japanese Americans. “We don’t want them, and since they know that, they shouldn’t want to come back. If they do, there will be trouble.”

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Some returning detainees were met with threats. In Hood River, Oregon, white farmers falsely claimed Japanese Americans had engaged in a conspiracy to corner the orchard business before the war, and returning internees were met with boycotts, racial slurs, and physical attacks. Hood River’s American Legion post even removed the names of 16 Japanese American servicemen from its honor roll.

Many Japanese Americans who once held white-collar jobs or owned businesses could only get post-war jobs doing menial labor or domestic service—a blow not only to pride, but to a traditional patriarchal structure of most Japanese American families, which prized fathers as breadwinners and valued financial status and community leadership. For many, it was too painful to revisit what had been taken away during internment.

Recovery and redress

Though the Japanese American community inched toward economic recovery, “this appearance of normalcy was achieved by ‘forgetting’ the evacuation experience,” sociologist Tetsuden Kashima, who was incarcerated at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah as a child, wrote in 1980. As families struggled to regain footing, they prioritized assimilation over pride and maintained a code of silence about their experiences. A generation gap developed between the older Issei, or Japanese-born immigrants; the Nisei, or second generation, who grew up in the United States; and the Sansei, a third generation who were interned as small children or born “after camp.”

Only in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s did the tide turn as Japanese Americans began demanding answers about their families’ mass detention. Though the U.S. government had paid out about $38 million to Japanese Americans who claimed losses from the “evacuation” after the war starting in 1948, the payments represented only a fraction of the actual losses from internment. The successes of the Civil Rights Movement energized the Sansei, who began to pressure Congress to pay former internees and apologize for their incarceration.

In 1980, Congress created the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, a bipartisan commission that conducted intensive historical research and public hearings across the country with more than 750 witnesses. Three years later, the commission issued a landmark report calling out internment as “a grave injustice” and recommended internees be individually compensated.

After years of public controversy and Congressional foot dragging, the U.S. adopted the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 , which granted $20,000 in financial redress and a presidential apology to every surviving U.S. citizen or legal resident who had been incarcerated. By then, though, many of the older generation had already died, making it a bitter victory for Japanese Americans.

The anti-Asian sentiment that enabled internment still lives on: Between March 2020 and February 2021, Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit organization that tracks incidents of discrimination and harassment against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States, received almost 3,800 reports of hate incidents. Nearly 80 years after internment, Japanese Americans still must fend off threats to their civil rights, and even their lives.

Today, there are about 1.5 million people of Japanese ancestry in the United States, and the generations that came after internment watched their elders both survive and rebuild.

“The journey from silence to redress has shown that some forms of resilience evolve over decades,” psychologists Donna K. Nagata and Yuzuru J. Takeshita wrote in 1998. Japanese Americans are still affected by internment and its legacies—but resilience and strength are also part of their heritage.  

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Alerts in effect, welcome to the tule lake monument.

Tule Lake National Monument includes both Tule Lake Segregation Center, the largest and most controversial of the sites where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II, and Camp Tulelake, which was first a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, then an additional facility to detain Japanese Americans, and finally a prisoner of war camp.

Converted to a high-security Segregation Center in 1943, Tule Lake became the largest of the 10 War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps.

Camp Tulelake, a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp, later housed Japanese Americans in 1943 and German POWs from 1944-1946

The visitor center is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Thur-Mon. To request a tour call (530) 664-4015 at least 2 weeks in advance.

Learn more about Tule Lake National Monument and WWII by looking through our publications

Last updated: January 28, 2024

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(530) 664 4015 or call (530) 667 8113 for the Lava Beds National Monument Visitor Center between October to May.

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This National Park Is Brand New & Ready For Visitors

In an effort to not brush the unseemly parts of US history under the rug, the newest national park in Colorado is a former internment camp.

• National parks like Amache preserve dark chapters of US history for reflection and learning.
• Amache National Park is now open, offering visitors a chance to see the remnants of the internment camp.
• By recognizing past injustices and preserving historical sites, we aim to prevent future mistakes.

In an uncomfortable comparison to Nazi Germany, the United States once had camps built throughout the nation to forcibly put US citizens in. After Pearl Harbor was bombed, people of Japanese descent were taken from their homes and made to live in camps behind barbed wire fences. Instead of trying to brush history under the rug, however, the internment camps are being turned into national parks — and one has recently become the newest park in the National Park System.

As it is recognized just how much of the nation is being developed and history is being lost, some of the oldest national parks and state parks — with the help of those just joining the National Park System — are continuing to work to preserve the past. Not only does this allow the areas to be enjoyed and learned from now, but allows future generations to do the same.

By doing this, nearly 430 units are under the National Park System umbrella today, totaling more than 85 million acres throughout all the states, DC, and US territories are being preserved. This includes a national park that is brand new and is ready for visitors: Colorado's Amache National Park .

7 National Parks You Can See In A Day

Amache national park is the newest in the national park system, granada relocation center was named the amache national park in february 2024.

Amache National Park , located in Colorado, was named as a National Historic Site in 2022. Once the Act was signed that designated Amache as a historic site , the Town of Granada was tasked with acquiring the land where Amache, also known as the Granada Relocation Center, stood.

Granada did not let any time pass and worked diligently to secure the acreage where buildings were built to house Americans during World War II. Japanese Americans were forced to live in Amache between 1942 and 1945 as a result of Executive Order 9066.

Ultimately, over 10,000 people of Japanese descent were rounded up to be placed in the internment camp. At the height of the population, there were over 7,300 people being held at Amache in 1945.

By 2024, the area where a guard tower, housing units, and the grounds where two-thirds of those being held in Amache were born in the US were made to live was secured by the Town of Granada. When this occurred, Amache was designated as Amache National Park and was deemed such in the days leading up to the Day of Remembrance of Japanese Incarceration During World War II, which is February 19 every year.

While the buildings that were in the internment camp have long since been removed, the foundation of the barracks, the road that ran through the camp, and the cemetery have survived. In order to get a sense of what Amache was like in the past, the reconstruction of a water tower, rec hall, a barracks, and a guard tower were reconstructed.

The national park is available to tour now. What is great about Amache is that it is not one of the national parks that require reservations and, like other free national parks , there is no fee to explore.

Amache is open during "daylight hours." However, for those who have questions about the national park, be forewarned that there currently are not any rangers on site.

8 Newest National Parks And The Cost To Visit

Amache national park helps the us "face the wrongs of our past", by learning from amache and recognizing the wrongs done, the hope is that the same mistakes will not be made in the future.

It could have been very easy for the US government to try and pretend that camps were not set up to house Japanese Americans in the years after World War II. The camps were not preserved over the years, with many falling victim to the elements and time, and even being developed over. Instead, the descendants of those held in the internment camps and volunteer groups worked to preserve the areas as best they could.

By ensuring that future generations are able to see what occurred when the US developed an anti-Japanese sentiment based out of fear, the hope is that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated in the future.

"Amache’s addition to the National Park System is a reminder that a complete account of the nation’s history must include our dark chapters of injustice," Chuck Sams, the National Park Service Director explained. "To heal and grow as a nation we need to reflect on past mistakes, make amends, and strive to form a more perfect union."

With this desire to preserve the location of Amache and other internment camps throughout the US, not only will those who lived there never be forgotten, but those in power can remember in the future as well.

10 Things You Can't Miss Seeing When You're In Colorado

Amache national park is not the first internment camp to be part of the national park system, amache is the seventh internment camp to be added to the national park system.

During World War II, there were 10 different internment camps built in the US. From 1942 to 1945, over 120,000 people of Japanese descent were sent to them. It did not matter the age or if you were a citizen or not. If there was Japanese heritage, then there was a good chance of your being placed in one of the 10 camps.

These internment camps were located throughout several states . Those states include:

Of the 10 internment camps, Amache or Granada is the seventh to be preserved under the National Park System . The others include places such as Manzanar, Tule Lake, and Minidoka.

The government is currently working to try and get all the locations where there were internment camps located to be protected. It is not because they were a piece of history that the nation wants to remember. In fact, if possible, many would like to forget. But by forgetting, that means that anyone who was sent to these locations is forgotten as well.

While the past cannot be changed, it can be learned from so that as every generation comes into power, they make better choices than their predecessors did.

Do you plan to visit Colorado's newest national park to learn about its history?

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A former Japanese internment camp is on track to become a national park

Shanna Lewis

On the 80th anniversary of the executive order that sent 120,000 Japanese-Americans to internment camps, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visits a camp she wants to include in the National Park System.

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Kooskia, Idaho, World War II Japanese Internment Camp

The Kooskia (pronounced KOOS-key) Internment Camp is an obscure and virtually forgotten World War II detention facility that was located in a remote area of north central Idaho, 30 miles from the town of Kooskia, and 6 miles east of the hamlet of Lowell, at Canyon Creek. The Kooskia Internment Camp was administered by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for the U.S. Department of Justice. It held men of Japanese ancestry who were termed "enemy aliens," even though most of them were long-time U.S. residents, denied naturalization by racist U.S. laws.

Immediately following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, numerous Japanese, German and Italian aliens were arrested and detained on no specific grounds, without the due process guaranteed to them by the U.S. Constitution, and were sent to INS detention camps at Fort Missoula, Montana; Bismarck, North Dakota; and elsewhere. The INS camps were separate and distinct from the ten major camps under War Relocation Authority (WRA) supervision. The WRA camps, including Minidoka (now the Minidoka National Historic Site) near Jerome, in southern Idaho, housed some 120,000 American citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who were unconstitutionally removed, relocated and imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II.

• Obtain DOJ closed legal case files (CLCF) from NARA
• Kooskia Internment Camp archaeological project
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• Justice Department and U.S. Army Internment Camps and Detention Stations in the U.S. during World War II.
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Although there were a number of Justice Department internment camps throughout the United States during WWII, the Kooskia Internment Camp was unique because it was the only camp of its kind in the United States. Its inmates had volunteered to go there from other camps, and received wages for their work. A total of some 265 male Japanese citizens; 24 male and 3 female Euroamerican civilian employees; 2 male internee doctors, one Italian and one German; and 1 male Japanese American interpreter occupied the Kooskia Internment Camp at various times between May 1943 and May 1945. Although some of the internees held camp jobs, most of the men were construction workers for a portion of the present Highway 12 between Lewiston, Idaho, and Missoula, Montana, parallel to the wild and scenic Lochsa River.

The Japanese internees at the Kooskia camp came from Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawai'i, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington. They included Reverend Hozen Seki, founder of the New York Buddhist Church; Toraichi Kono, former employee of Charlie Chaplin; and Japanese Latin Americans kidnapped from their respective countries, chiefly Peru, by U.S. government agencies. "Digging in the documents" has produced INS, Forest Service, Border Patrol, and University of Idaho photographs and other records. These, combined with internee and employee oral and written interviews, illuminate the internees' experiences, emphasizing the perspectives of the men detained at the Kooskia Internment Camp.

The Kooskia Internment Camp project was partially funded by an Idaho Humanities Council Research Fellowship and by a grant from the federal Civil Liberties Public Education Fund ( CLPEF ). The CLPEF was authorized by the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which awarded apologies and redress payments to citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry unconstitutionally evacuated, relocated and interned during World War II. The Act also provided for the establishment of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, financing endeavors that inform the public about the internment in order to prevent the recurrence of any similar event. Wegars' report to the CLPEF is entitled, "A Real He-Man's Job:" Japanese Internees and the Kooskia Internment Camp, Idaho, 1943-1945," emphasizing the perspective of the Kooskia internees. Although no more copies of that report are available, it has been excerpted for several publications, you may purchase the book Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Internee Road Workers at the World War II Kooskia Internment Camp , and a PowerPoint lecture  has been presented to numerous public groups. Wegars also received a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP), a product of the California State Library. That project was Golden State Meets Gem State: Californians at Idaho's Kooskia Internment Camp, 1943-1945 ; some 82 of the Kooskia internees (31 percent) had ties to California. In connection with that grant, slide presentations were given during early 2002 at a number of locations in California.

For further reading, Wegars' essay, "Japanese and Japanese Latin Americans at Idaho's Kooskia Internment Camp," appears in Guilt by Association: Essays on Japanese Settlement, Internment, and Relocation in the Rocky Mountain West , Mike Mackey, editor, pp. 145-183 (Powell, WY: Western History Publications, 2001). See a  brief trailer for the documentary film Toraichi Kono : Living in Silence , about Kooskia internee Toraichi Kono, a former employee of former movie comedian Charlie Chaplin. The Densho Encyclopedia contains an entry on Kooskia , as well as entries on other World War II detention facilities and incarceration camps.

Additional Information

Priscilla Wegars is interested in communicating with former Kooskia Internment Camp internees and employees, or their descendants, in order to interview them. She is also eager to locate additional letters, diaries, photographs or other documents relating to the Kooskia Internment Camp experience. She would also enjoy hearing from any man, or descendants of any man, who was at CCC Camp F-38 or who was incarcerated or worked at Federal Prison Camp No. 11 at Canyon Creek.

American Incarceration

A Smithsonian magazine special report

The Injustice of Japanese-American Internment Camps Resonates Strongly to This Day

During WWII, 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forced into camps, a government action that still haunts victims and their descendants

T.A. Frail; Photographs by Paul Kitagaki Jr.; Historical Photographs by Dorothea Lange

Jane Yanagi Diamond taught American History at a California high school, “but I couldn’t talk about the internment,” she says. “My voice would get all strange.” Born in Hayward, California, in 1939, she spent most of World War II interned with her family at a camp in Utah.

Seventy-five years after the fact, the federal government’s incarceration of some 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent during that war is seen as a shameful aberration in the U.S. victory over militarism and totalitarian regimes. Though President Ford issued a formal apology to the internees in 1976, saying their incarceration was a “setback to fundamental American principles,” and Congress authorized the payment of reparations in 1988, the episode remains, for many, a living memory. Now, with immigration-reform proposals targeting entire groups as suspect, it resonates as a painful historical lesson.

The roundups began quietly within 48 hours after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941. The announced purpose was to protect the West Coast. Significantly, the incarceration program got underway despite a warning; in January 1942, a naval intelligence officer in Los Angeles reported that Japanese-Americans were being perceived as a threat almost entirely “because of the physical characteristics of the people.” Fewer than 3 percent of them might be inclined toward sabotage or spying, he wrote, and the Navy and the FBI already knew who most of those individuals were. Still, the government took the position summed up by John DeWitt, the Army general in command of the coast: “A Jap’s a Jap. They are a dangerous element, whether loyal or not.”

That February, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, empowering DeWitt to issue orders emptying parts of California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona of issei—immigrants from Japan, who were precluded from U.S. citizenship by law—and nisei, their children, who were U.S. citizens by birth. Photographers for the War Relocation Authority were on hand as they were forced to leave their houses, shops, farms, fishing boats. For months they stayed at “assembly centers,” living in racetrack barns or on fairgrounds. Then they were shipped to ten “relocation centers,” primitive camps built in the remote landscapes of the interior West and Arkansas. The regime was penal: armed guards, barbed wire, roll call. Years later, internees would recollect the cold, the heat, the wind, the dust—and the isolation.

There was no wholesale incarceration of U.S. residents who traced their ancestry to Germany or Italy, America’s other enemies.

The exclusion orders were rescinded in December 1944, after the tides of battle had turned in the Allies’ favor and just as the Supreme Court ruled that such orders were permissible in wartime (with three justices dissenting, bitterly). By then the Army was enlisting nisei soldiers to fight in Africa and Europe. After the war, President Harry Truman told the much-decorated, all-nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team: “You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice—and you have won.”

If only: Japanese-Americans met waves of hostility as they tried to resume their former lives. Many found that their properties had been seized for nonpayment of taxes or otherwise appropriated. As they started over, they covered their sense of loss and betrayal with the Japanese phrase Shikata ga nai —It can’t be helped. It was decades before nisei parents could talk to their postwar children about the camps.

Paul Kitagaki Jr., a photojournalist who is the son and grandson of internees, has been working through that reticence since 2005. At the National Archives in Washington, D.C., he has pored over more than 900 pictures taken by War Relocation Authority photographers and others—including one of his father’s family at a relocation center in Oakland, California, by one of his professional heroes, Dorothea Lange. From fragmentary captions he has identified more than 50 of the subjects and persuaded them and their descendants to sit for his camera in settings related to their internment. His pictures here, published for the first time, read as portraits of resilience.

Jane Yanagi Diamond, now 77 and retired in Carmel, California, is living proof. “I think I’m able to talk better about it now,” she told Kitagaki. “I learned this as a kid—you just can’t keep yourself in gloom and doom and feel sorry for yourself. You’ve just got to get up and move along. I think that’s what the war taught me.”

Subject interviews conducted by Paul Kitagaki Jr.

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T.A. Frail | READ MORE

Tom Frail is a senior editor for Smithsonian magazine. He previously worked as a senior editor for the Washington Post and for Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.

Paul Kitagaki Jr. | READ MORE

Paul Kitagaki Jr. is a senior photographer at The Sacramento Bee . His work has won numerous awards, including a shared Pulitzer Prize in 1990.