German-American internment
German-American internment refers to the confinement of American citizens and foreign nationals of German descent during World War II, amidst fears of espionage and allegiance to Axis powers. While the internment of Japanese Americans is more widely recognized, approximately 11,000 German Americans were also detained in various camps. The internment policies were influenced by rising tensions in the late 1930s, leading to the FBI's surveillance of individuals considered politically extreme or a potential threat. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government implemented measures that categorized German nationals as enemy aliens, resulting in arrests and restrictive measures against many, regardless of citizenship. Detainees faced poor living conditions and limited communication with the outside world, although some camps evolved into self-sustaining communities over time. The release of interned German Americans began in 1944 and continued until 1948. In the years following the war, efforts for recognition and reparations have been largely unsuccessful for German American survivors, contrasting sharply with the reparations provided to Japanese American internees. Activists continue to seek acknowledgment of the injustices faced during this period in U.S. history.
German-American internment
During World War II, the United States turned to the practice of internment as a means of protecting itself from the perceived threat posed by American citizens and foreign nationals with ethnic ties to the Axis nations. While the internment of Japanese Americans has been widely acknowledged and thoroughly documented, it is much less commonly known that many German and Italian Americans were interred as well. All told, approximately eleven thousand German Americans were interred at various camps across the country. In the years since the war's end, German American internment camp survivors and their advocates have sought official recognition and reparation for their plight, but have achieved little success.
Road to Internment
In the 1930s, as events unfolding in Europe and Asia increasingly threatened to ignite a second world war, the United States began seeking to protect itself internally from the influence of foreign nationals and those citizens who sympathized with aggressive foreign powers. As early as 1935, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, was actively searching for and identifying American residents who supported radical political parties including the Nazis and Communists. By the end of the decade, as war became a likely reality, the federal government debated the merits of placing political extremists and anyone officials believed might pose a threat to national security in temporary internment camps. To determine just who should be confined in the event of war, Hoover and the FBI compiled what became known as ABC lists, which served as indexes of those people deemed to be potentially dangerous enemies of the state. In addition, Congress also passed the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which required all resident aliens to register with the government. When the United States formally declared war in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527. These statements declared Japanese, German, and Italian nationals residing in the United States enemy aliens and authorized the Justice Department to begin detaining them.
Internment
Within a few days of Roosevelt's declarations, hundreds of American residents of German, Italian, and Japanese descent were arrested, regardless of whether they were aliens or citizens. Since confining all American residents ethnically tied to the Axis nations was not a feasible course of action, government officials instead took a selective approach to internment, seizing only those classified as political extremists or otherwise dangerous. Regardless, many of those who were not interred were still subjected to harsh restrictions on travel and property rights.
German American, Italian American, and Japanese American citizens and nationals who were detained were placed in internment facilities located in generally remote places across the country. After their arrests, most detainees initially were held at temporary detention facilities operated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), where they could remain anywhere from days to months while they awaited a hearing. Some prisoners were temporarily held in jails, where they were harshly treated by criminals also housed there. Those deemed fit for long-term internment were then transferred to permanent facilities. Many of the permanent internment facilities were operated by the Justice Department, but some, particularly in the early stages of the internment program, were run by the U.S. Army. Some internees were also sent to forest work camps where they built and cleaned trails, cleared brush, and did other jobs. A relatively small number of high-profile detainees, such as diplomats and wealthy businessmen, were held in luxury hotel internment facilities overseen by the State Department.
At most internment camps, detainees were held under the surveillance of armed guards and guard dogs and encircled by barbed-wire fences. Living quarters usually amounted to little more than simple huts or dormitories. In many cases, detainees were kept largely isolated from the outside world and had few unhindered opportunities for communication with friends or family. Conditions in the internment camps were generally less than ideal, particularly in the beginning. Over time, many of the camps became like towns with shops, schools, and recreation facilities for the prisoners within.
As the tide of World War II gradually shifted toward the Allies' favor, government officials began to release certain internees. As early as 1942, some Italian American detainees were allowed to leave the camps and, when Italy surrendered the following year, more than half of the remaining Italian Americans were released. The parole of German American internees first began in February of 1944 and continued through the end of the war in 1945. Many of the German detainees who remained in custody after the war's conclusion were those who were awaiting deportation back to their ethnic homeland. The parole process ultimately continued until 1948, when the last German American detainee was finally released from custody on Ellis Island in New York City.
Internment Survivors in the Post-War World
In the time since the internment program came to an end, the U.S. government has made some effort to make amends with former internees and their families. During his tenure in the White House, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which ensured that Japanese American internment survivors would receive reparations totaling $20,000 each. Over the next eleven years, millions of dollars were paid out. The same compensation was not extended to German American or Italian American survivors, however. Indeed, camp survivors of German and Italian descent have struggled to even win official recognition of their former plight. Nonetheless, dedicated activists have worked tirelessly to see that these survivors and their families receive the attention and acknowledgement they deserve for the hardships they endured during one of the darkest chapters in American history.
Bibliography
Behen, Scott M. "German and Italian Internment." In Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Reference, 2006. Print.
Deto, Ryan. "America's Forgotten Captives." Ethos. Ethos Magazine. 3 Jan. 2011. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://ethosmagonline.com/archives/8498>
Hogg, Gordon E. "German and Italian Americans, Internment of." In Encyclopedia of War and American Society. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Reference, 2005. Print.
Rosenfeld, Alan. "German and Italian Detainees." Densho Encyclopedia. Densho. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://encyclopedia.densho.org/German‗and‗Italian‗detainees/>
"World War II Government-Operated-and-Funded Internment and Detention Facilities Which Held Persons of German Ancestry." German American Internee Coalition. GAIC. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.gaic.info/ShowPage.php?section=Internment‗Camps&page=Overview‗and‗Map>