Just another example of the extreme moral ambiguity of the West. We regularly ignore our own standards around giving people a fair trial when it suits the executive of the day or when some stupid condition applies ("race" in this case, geography and citizenship for eg Guantanamo bay). Not to mention "strategic" alliances with dictators down the years that have usually proven to be murderous. It is sad to think that the myth of our moral superiority has never been anything else.<p>Great photography, though.
One of the many reasons to oppose war.<p>Others include:<p>+ Control of the economy, price controls, rationing, shortages<p>+ Suspension of most (all?) of the Bill of Rights<p>+ Wholesale slaughter of civilian populations abroad (so much for "all men are created equal ... with unalienable rights")<p>But perhaps the most nefarious is the idea that "we all pulled together and sacrificed to defeat the enemy." The government schools teach the children the greatness of our national effort, priming them to accept the destruction of liberty again when the next war comes. The state forever uses a victory in war to foster national pride and patriotism, as if the society made those choices to sacrifice <i>willingly</i>.<p>Speak out against the war? Prison. Fail to comply with economic controls? Prison. Don't want to fight after being drafted? Execution. Have friends who just happen to belong to the enemy country? You're a spy.<p>And then the icing on the cake is when the government steals the money to pay for the war through inflation and currency devaluation through the subsequent years.
"The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken." — General John L. DeWitt, head of the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command<p>Insane reasoning.
This was appalling and obviously sucked a lot for people who underwent such treatment; however as someone born in USSR I'd say that it was surprisingly humane (hot water not always available) compared to how people were treated in the USSR around the same period.<p>Case in point: Ukrainian Holodomor (genocide by famine) <a href="http://www.rferl.org/a/holodomor-ukraine/25174454.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rferl.org/a/holodomor-ukraine/25174454.html</a><p>Edit: also, Chechen and Krimean Tatar deportations, and many many others
"The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken."<p><i>THAT</i> is disturbing "logic".
The most absurd thing I read on here was that <i>they were still subjected to the draft</i>. So that Japanese couldn't be trusted to live in the United States without armed guards, but we can totally give them guns and send them off to fight the enemy?!
I wonder if there is any connection between the internment camps for Japanese people living in the US & the CO camps. Were they both run by the Selective Service? I know, at least, the CO camps were. The government had really botched handling COs in WWI, to the point that it created a lobby group that when WWII broke out they eventually were able to successfully pass the Burke-Wadsworth Bill with a section that created the Civilian Public Service.<p>As an aside, WWI conscientious objectors were sent to federal prisons. There they were starved, put into solitary, or physically abused, resulting in some ending up dead. WWII COs were instead sent to camps to do things like farm, fight forest fires, build equipment, etc. in place of service.
I would be interested to hear the perspective of some of the MP's that had to guard these camps. It would seem like such a waste, not least of which because with the labor shortages and so many other young men serving overseas, to not only be stuck guarding a camp but to be guarding camps full of people who would otherwise be helping to fill those huge labor shortages and support the war effort.<p>I just finished reading The Girls of Atomic City[1] and its a really conflicting story because (totally discounting the moral implications of the atomic bomb) on the one hand it is an amazing story of ingenuity and hard work and everyone coming together with a common purpose (even if most people did not know what that purpose was), but then you find out about how the black workers were treated compared to the white workers and how they weren't even able to serve their country as equals.<p>If you have a selective memory or perception you can look back and be proud of a lot in our history but I think you have to fully appreciate our highs and lows to really know what kind of country we have.
For a country standing for Freedom and Human Rights, this kind of action is appalling. The quotes in the article from officials and three letters agencies stink of utter racism (even though no sabotage operations was ever undertaken).
Thank you for posting this, for real, all of these photographs are truly beautiful in their own way. That is, they remind me a lot about Sebastião Salgado's work on portraying human beings in such emotionally harsh conditions [1] (which in fact was quite possibly inspired by people like Dorothea). I don't know what is most disturbing in that page though, the stories behind the photos or the quotes... man, the quotes... :-(<p>[1] I cannot recommend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salt_of_the_Earth_(2014_film)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salt_of_the_Earth_(2014_fi...</a> enough if you are interested in this
Australia also interned Japanese as well as Germans and Italians during the wars.<p><a href="http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/snapshots/internment-camps/introduction.aspx#section2" rel="nofollow">http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/snapshots/internment-camps/...</a><p>The museum at Berrima is a good visit for people interested in war history.<p><a href="http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/enemyathome/berrima-internmentcamp/" rel="nofollow">http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/enemyatho...</a>
> “They got to a point where they said, ‘Okay, we’re going to take you out.’ And it was obvious that he was going before a firing squad with MPs ready with rifles. He was asked if he wanted a cigarette; he said no.… You want a blindfold?… No. They said, ‘Stand up here,’ and they went as far as saying, ‘Ready, aim, fire,’ and pulling the trigger, but the rifles had no bullets. They just went click.”
— Ben Takeshita, recounting his older brother’s ordeal at Tule Lake Relocation Center, where he was segregated for causing trouble<p>Jesus...
Regarding Muslims in the USA, I worry about those in government who might revive this line of thinking:<p>"The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken."<p>— General John L. DeWitt, head of the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command
“A viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the egg is hatched—so a Japanese-American, born of Japanese parents—grows up to be a Japanese, not an American.”
— Los Angeles Times, February 2, 1942<p>Depressing to think this is going to happen again, in some way.
The recent speculation about a national registry for Muslims - and what that may look like - makes this even more poignant. The times may have changed, but fear and ignorance have not.
The Nuremberg trials determined that "deportations and persecutions on racial grounds" were crimes against humanity [1]. I don't understand how FDR's executive order to deport Japanese-Americans to internment camps allowed the Nuremberg judges to punish Nazi members on this charge.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_principles#Principle_VI" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_principles#Principle...</a>
If you want the book from 2006, it's available on Amazon.[1] Most of this material is available on line, from the National Archives or the University of California.[2][3] It's not new.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Impounded-Dorothea-Censored-Japanese-Internment/dp/0393330907" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Impounded-Dorothea-Censored-Japanese-...</a>
[2] <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/military/japanese-internment.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/military/ja...</a>
[3] <a href="https://calisphere.org/exhibitions/t11/jarda/" rel="nofollow">https://calisphere.org/exhibitions/t11/jarda/</a>
It may seem frivolous, but the first thing that strikes me when looking at these photos is how well dressed the ordinary people were back then, compared with nowadays when apparently everybody dresses in rags. I can't help but think at some point something went very wrong.
"The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken.”<p>Orwellian logic. I always found this suspension of rationality particularly disturbing when reading about the internment camps.
Putting the obligatory moral condemnation of our deluded and evil forbears to one side for a moment, one can't help but notice that our darkest and most shameful national mistakes are nevertheless vastly more humane and benign than those of comparable societies. I would hope that episodes such as this inspire in modern Americans, beyond pure disgust, a desire to identify and nurture the national characteristics that enforced such comparative restraint.
You know what is really disturbing? We don't know if such a thing can happen again <i>today</i>. It seems that the new US president got wiser, but what if he was real with his <i>threats</i> to people who believes in a particular religion.<p>I'm not too immersed in US politics, but how likely is such a move? How are they going to determine them (possible suspicion?) and what kind of reaction will the civil society have?
The interments didn't happen in a vacuum:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_incident" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_incident</a><p>It's also interesting to note that J. Edgar Hoover was opposed to the interments, but FDR overruled him.
It is somewhat interesting that the term 'internment camps' is never used in the original quotes, it is rather 'concentration camps'. (It is possible that the latter term may have been used specifically in reference to the places of internment of the Japanese.)
The politics ban is lifted, and as usual, a complete degradation into the usual rhetoric.<p>People write a comment and think somebody's mind will be changed. Nope, not gonna happen. Just look at comments and replies.<p>It's just delusional thinking to think that HN is somehow above the fray when it comes to this stuff.
The Japanese pre-Cold War were treated unfairly but this pales in comparison to the many hell the Asian region have suffered under Japanese Imperialism.<p>At least they didn't get gassed like the Jews did. At least they didn't get bayonetted like the Chinese in Nanjing <i>en masse</i> in graves or a military unit performing live surgery on them or forcing hundreds of thousands of young Korean women to sexual slavery.<p>It didn't help that there was heavy animosity towards Japanese from <i>Chinese & Korean</i> Americans who felt compelled and directly/indirectly suffered as a result of Imperial Japan. There was probably deep desire for schadenfreude that contributed to Japanese Americans downfall.<p>But all that aside is clearly a small drop in the bucket. The view of Japanese and Asian Americans were explicitly <i>racist</i>. Nazi Germany was bad but the same elements of racial white superiority is a continuing theme even until the late 60s, where African American celebrities were forced to sleep in trailer parks while their white co-actors would lounge in swanky hotels (particularly angering Frank Sinatra).<p>There has been a miniscule effort from Reagan handing out 20k and an apology for the immense inter-generational trauma directly caused by the USG. There's little apology for Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims. This suggests to me a serious lack of reflection and it's evidenced by the fact that Muslim Americans today are facing a similar treatment.<p>I love the US but shit like this makes me pause for a bit. However, it still is <i>nowhere near</i> the atrocities committed by Imperial Japan & Nazi Germany. But it's curious to see the stark difference in the way Japanese and German Americans were treated. German Americans weren't sent to interment camps and had their assets seized in the same manner as the Japanese Americans.<p>All in all, a tragedy and showing that a melting pot we-are-all-americans is a flawed policy-where everyone is American but some less American than others. Canada is no better off as they also had Japanese interment camps and showed little remorse.<p>Sometimes I wonder as Asian Canadian, are we truly accepted by the mainstream North American society? It makes me question what the Canadian/American dream. I think about just how much easier it is when your skin color matches the mainstream crowd and you don't stand out or have any biases held against you. The Japanese interment camp is just one of those many items that raises existential questions of being in North America, and it's not all that clear whether it's in the rearview mirror seeing how Muslim Americans are being treated today in the West.<p>I still do think North America is relatively a very accepting and open place. It's hard to fathom such level of integration in Europe or Asia.
expected the 'notice' signs to be in japanese... ?<p>YES - I know that most of the folks were american-born-english speaking. But the paranoia <i>against</i> them was that they were all working for the Japanese govt and all secret agents and whatnot. Would have made more sense to try to present info in their "own language".<p>Stating that you couldn't read the Japanese writing would be <i>PROOF</i> that you are, in fact, a Japanese spy.
<i>FDR's</i> Japanese Concentration Camps? FDR's?<p>That's a blatant attempt to simplify a historical event and manipulate the modern reader.<p>Please spare me another rehash of how mean we became during the GOD-DAMN SECOND WORLD WAR, when our country and culture were under REAL threat. Please spend that energy examining our modern forms of prejudice and crazy fearfulness.<p>Also -- Why does no one ever want to rehash the post-war US-Japan relationship? In just a few years we transitioned from vicious, no-holds-barred warfare to a cordial relationship that became delightfully friendly. It's an amazingly positive story that belies the sort of institutionalized racism that some people feel the need to believe in.
It seems uncomfortable, but how does it compare to how the Japanese treated the Chinese during the war?<p>Its easy to look back now and think America was terrible but lets not forget that World War Freaking 2 was happening at the time. If your beloved son just got killed at Perl Harbor you probably would have no issue with this at all. Hell you probably feel like it is not bad enough.<p>Its just like all these self righteous people who want to call Bush an idiot for the wars. If your Wife, kids, friends were under a pile of cement in downtown Manhattan on 9/11 you would probably have no issue with bombing the f<i></i>* out of who ever you were told was responsible.
Whenever looking at these pictures, it's worthwhile to consider how white (or any other color) Americans living in Japan were treated after war was declared.<p>Oh, that's right. There weren't any! The American government had some unique challenges in maximizing their chances of winning the war against a zealous and absolutely ruthless enemy (Japan). It would have been extremely irresponsible not to at least attempt to neutralize the threat posed by the population of first-generation citizens.<p>American authorities acted within their rights in making a reasonable effort to neutralize domestic saboteurs or collaborators by interning these people. Of course it's sad that it happened, but remember that battles such as Midway were won through superior intelligence and code-breaking. A single Japanese acting as a spy might have overturned that. It would have been very bad for east Asia had Japan won. They were committing numerous, documented war crimes and would have continued to do so.