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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.

These Photos Show the Harsh Reality of Life in WWII Japanese American Internment Camps

More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were sent to 'War Relocation Centers' between 1942 and 1946.

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

The U.S. government, for its part, tried to assure the rest of the country that its policy was justified, and that those Japanese Americans forced to live in the prison camps were happy.

This Mexican American Teenager Spent Years in a Japanese Internment Camp—On Purpose

Ralph Lazo wasn’t of Japanese descent, but he spent spent two years at Manzanar in solidarity with his friends.

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.  

Korematsu Ruling on Japanese Internment: Condemned But Not Overruled

Chief Justice Roberts wrote in a court decision that 'Korematsu was gravely wrong the day it was decided,' but that didn’t overrule the 1944 decision endorsing Japanese internment.

How Two Japanese Americans Fought Nazis Abroad—and Prejudice at Home

Frank Wada and Don Seki fought in the 442nd all‑Nisei Regiment—remembered as the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of the US military.

How Japanese Americans Fought for—and Won—Redress for WWII Incarceration

It was a long road from the end of the war until President Reagan signed the 1988 Civil Liberties Act.

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 .

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Teaching Japanese-American Internment Using Primary Resources

Rarely seen photos of japanese internment.

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By Marjorie Backman and Michael Gonchar

• Dec. 7, 2017

The day after the early-morning surprise assault on Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States formally declared war on Japan and entered World War II. Over the next few months, almost 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, over 60 percent of whom were American citizens, were removed from their homes, businesses and farms on the West Coast and forced to live in internment camps. Why? The United States government feared that these individuals, simply because of their ethnicity, posed a national security threat.

More than 40 years later, Congress passed legislation mandating apologies and reparations for violations of the civil liberties and the constitutional rights of those incarcerated during the war. “It’s not for us today to pass judgment upon those who may have made mistakes while engaged in that great struggle,” said President Ronald Reagan, on signing the 1988 legislation. “Yet we must recognize that the internment of Japanese-Americans was just that, a mistake.”

In this lesson, students use original Times reporting and other resources to investigate the forced internment of Japanese-Americans — and track how the government has gradually apologized for some of its actions over the decades. Students will also have the opportunity to look for echoes in today’s world of this difficult chapter in American history.

Arrests, Roundups and Internment

Primary sources: newspaper articles and editorials

Background: Over time, almost 120,000 Japanese-Americans, regardless of whether they were immigrants or had been born in the United States, were evacuated from their homes and brought to temporary assembly centers before being confined to one of several remote internment camps.

Students will square these events with the sobering findings of this 1983 government report : “All this was done despite the fact that not a single documented act of espionage, sabotage or fifth column activity was committed by an American citizen of Japanese ancestry or by a resident Japanese alien on the West Coast.”

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What was the internment of Japanese Americans?

Where were japanese american internment camps, why were japanese americans interned during world war ii, what was life like inside japanese american internment camps, what was the cost of japanese american internment.

Japanese American internment

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• HistoryNet - Japanese Internment Camps: America’s Great Mistake
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - The Japanese American Wartime Incarceration: Examining the Scope of Racial Trauma
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Holocaust Encyclopedia - Japanese American Relocation
• Smithsonian Institution - The American Experience in the Classroom - Japanese American Internment
• National Park Service - A brief history of Japanese American Relocation during World War II
• GlobalSecurity.org - World War II Japanese American Internment
• Academia - Landscapes of Japanese American Internment
• Japanese American internment - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• Japanese American internment - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

Japanese American internment was the forced relocation by the U.S. government of thousands of Japanese Americans to detention camps during World War II , beginning in 1942. The government’s action was the culmination of its long history of racist and discriminatory treatment of Asian immigrants and their descendants that boiled over after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor .

Japanese American internment camps were located mainly in western U.S. states. The first internment camp in operation was Manzanar , located in California. Between 1942 and 1945 a total of 10 camps were opened, holding approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans for varying periods of time in California , Arizona , Wyoming , Colorado , Utah , and Arkansas .

After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor , the U.S. War Department suspected that Japanese Americans might act as espionage agents for Japan , despite a lack of evidence. John J. McCloy , the assistant secretary of war, who oversaw the internment program, prioritized national security over civil liberties expressed in the Constitution . He justified his actions by saying he considered the Constitution “just a scrap of paper.”

Conditions at Japanese American internment camps were spare, without many amenities. The camps were ringed with barbed-wire fences and patrolled by armed guards, and there were isolated cases of internees being killed. Generally, however, camps were run humanely. Residents established a sense of community, setting up schools, newspapers, and more, and children played sports. Learn more.

The cost of internment to Japanese Americans was great. Because they were given so little time to settle their affairs before being shipped to internment camps , many were forced to sell their houses, possessions, and businesses well below market value to opportunistic Euro-Americans. When released, many Japanese Americans had very little to return to except discrimination .

Japanese American internment , the forced relocation by the U.S. government of thousands of Japanese Americans to detention camps during World War II . That action was the culmination of the federal government’s long history of racist and discriminatory treatment of Asian immigrants and their descendants that had begun with restrictive immigration policies in the late 1800s.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941, the U.S. War Department suspected that Japanese Americans might act as saboteurs or espionage agents, despite a lack of hard evidence to support that view. Some political leaders recommended rounding up Japanese Americans, particularly those living along the West Coast, and placing them in detention centres inland. A power struggle erupted between the U.S. Department of Justice , which opposed moving innocent civilians, and the War Department , which favoured detention. John J. McCloy , the assistant secretary of war, remarked that if it came to a choice between national security and the guarantee of civil liberties expressed in the Constitution , he considered the Constitution “just a scrap of paper.” In the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, more than 1,200 Japanese community leaders were arrested, and the assets of all accounts in the U.S. branches of Japanese banks were frozen.

At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, approximately 125,000 Japanese Americans lived on the mainland in the United States . About 200,000 immigrated to Hawaii , then a U.S. territory. Some were first-generation Japanese Americans, known as Issei , who had emigrated from Japan and were not eligible for U.S. citizenship. About 80,000 of them were second-generation individuals born in the United States ( Nisei ), who were U.S. citizens. Whereas many Issei retained their Japanese character and culture , Nisei generally acted and thought of themselves as thoroughly American.

In early February 1942, the War Department created 12 restricted zones along the Pacific coast and established nighttime curfews for Japanese Americans within them. Individuals who broke curfew were subject to immediate arrest . The nation’s political leaders still debated the question of relocation, but the issue was soon decided. On February 19, 1942, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 , which gave the U.S. military authority to exclude any persons from designated areas. Although the word Japanese did not appear in the executive order , it was clear that only Japanese Americans were targeted, though some other immigrants, including Germans, Italians, and Aleuts , also faced detention during the war. On March 18, 1942, the federal War Relocation Authority (WRA) was established. Its mission was to “take all people of Japanese descent into custody, surround them with troops, prevent them from buying land, and return them to their former homes at the close of the war.”

On March 31, 1942, Japanese Americans along the West Coast were ordered to report to control stations and register the names of all family members. They were then told when and where they should report for removal to an internment camp . (Some of those who survived the camps and other individuals concerned with the characterization of their history have taken issue with the use of the term internment , which they argue is used properly when referring to the wartime detention of enemy aliens but not of U.S. citizens, who constituted some two-thirds of those of Japanese extraction who were detained during the war. Many of those who are critical of the use of internment believe incarceration and detention to be more appropriate terms.) Japanese Americans were given from four days to about two weeks to settle their affairs and gather as many belongings as they could carry. In many cases, individuals and families were forced to sell some or all of their property, including businesses, within that period of time.

Some Euro-Americans took advantage of the situation, offering unreasonably low sums to buy possessions from those who were being forced to move. Many homes and businesses worth thousands of dollars were sold for substantially less than that. Nearly 2,000 Japanese Americans were told that their cars would be safely stored until they returned. However, the U.S. Army soon offered to buy the vehicles at cut-rate prices, and Japanese Americans who refused to sell were told that the vehicles were being requisitioned for the war.

After being forcibly removed from their homes, Japanese Americans were first taken to temporary assembly centres. From there they were transported inland to the internment camps (critics of the term internment argue that these facilities should be called prison camps ). The first internment camp in operation was Manzanar , located in east-central California . Between 1942 and 1945 a total of 10 camps were opened, holding approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans for varying periods of time in California, Arizona , Wyoming , Colorado , Utah , and Arkansas .

Internment camps don’t fire up minority political engagement—they depress it

A new study of how the detention of Japanese Americans during World War II affected their political engagement helps shed new light on a unique history and on the long-lasting dangers of targeting minorities.

The incarceration of Americans of Japanese ancestry by the U.S. government during World War II is seen as a dark chapter in American history. Unlike other populations of Americans related by ancestry to the wartime enemies of the United States, the Japanese were seen as a particular threat, a potential fifth column, and incarcerated, sometimes for years. The experience marked Japanese Americans in many ways, and many believed it explained subsequent successes, including high political engagement. But new research by HKS Professor of Public Policy Maya Sen, together with Mayya Komisarchik of the University of Rochester and Yamil Velez of Columbia University, finds instead that it had the opposite effect. Not only does this help us better understand the unique history of Japanese Americans, but it provides a universal lesson on how, even in democracies, the targeting of minorities—think migrant detention centers—can have deep and long-lasting effects. We asked Sen about what her research found and why it matters.

Q: You’re interested in studying the political consequences of state targeting of ethnic minorities. Why reach all the way back to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II? 

Unlike authoritarian regimes, modern liberal democracies such as the United States tend not to engage in large-scale targeting of entire minority groups. But, of course, there are important exceptions throughout history—and these exceptions help us learn a lot about the impact of this kind of targeting, and its consequences for these groups.

Looking at our own history, the U.S. government is no exception. In our study we look at the case of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II. During the war, the U.S. government forced more than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry—about 62% of whom were U.S. citizens—to leave their homes and “relocate” to remote internment camps across the western United States. Families were held for years, and people lost their homes, belongings, and livelihoods. Japanese Americans' loyalties were questioned, which, as historians have documented, created a sense of stigma for those affected. 

Much has been written about this period in history. We wanted to study the effect of such a traumatizing experience on a group of people’s political involvement. Does this kind of state-led targeting lead people to "lean in" and become more politically aware and active as they push back politically? Or does it lead to the opposite—to political disengagement and disillusionment?

“Internment led to political disillusionment and disengagement. This pattern lasts across generations, meaning that we can detect the trauma experienced by one generation in subsequent generations.”

Q: What are the findings of the study?

Ultimately, using a large survey of Japanese Americans combined with information on internment status, we find that the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the war had a significant and lasting impact on those affected. Specifically, people of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated or who had relatives who were incarcerated (for example, grandparents or parents) were subsequently much less likely to participate politically, to be political leaders, or to engage in political discussion. In other words, internment led to political disillusionment and disengagement. 

This pattern lasts across generations, meaning that we can detect the trauma experienced by one generation in subsequent generations.

Q: Not every person of Japanese ancestry who was incarcerated has the same experience. How did different experiences have different effects?

Overall, we find that being incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II had a long-lasting depressive effect on Japanese Americans’ political engagement, but there are important differences. First, we find that people who were incarcerated for longer periods had greater disengagement from politics after that. So, it’s not just being incarcerated or not, but it's also about the duration of the experience.

Second, the U.S. government sent some people to camps in California, close to where many Japanese Americans lived, while others were sent to camps as far away as Arkansas. And some camps had worse conditions than others. For example, in some camps, scarcity in food and supplies created significant tensions among those detained, including demonstrations and labor strikes. 

It turns out that this matters and that people sent to camps with more conflicts are those who turn out to be the most disengaged. In other words, the more fractured the camp community was, and the greater conflict between and among those incarcerated, the greater the depressing effect of interment on subsequent political engagement. 

Q: Could your study be helpful in understanding the effects of other types of incarceration or detention in wealthy democracies?

We think our findings have a lot to say when it comes to the use of detention centers, for example for migrant populations. Basically, we urge strong caution. If specific populations are put into detention centers—and especially if these have poor conditions that pit people against each other—we would expect to see political effects down the road. We would expect to see greater disillusionment, less political engagement, and less political participation.

Q: How do we square your study with other work showing high levels of engagement among Asian Americans, and Japanese Americans specifically?

It is true that Asian Americans—and Japanese Americans in particular—are some of the most politically engaged communities in the country, and their political importance is only increasing. Our study doesn’t question that. But our study does question what that engagement would have looked like in the absence of internment. We speculate in our study that Japanese Americans would be even more engaged politically had they not been directly and systematically targeted for incarceration by the U.S. government.

Significantly, our work also dovetails with important work in history and sociology documenting the "stigma" that followed the community's experience with incarceration during World War II. While subsequent generations moved toward financial reparations—and successfully won these for surviving internees in 1988—scholarship documents that the generations directly affected by internment still continued to feel the stigma of internment for decades after. We think these feelings of stigma are an important part of the effects documented by our study.

Q: How are the findings useful to scholars, policymakers, and citizens now?

We might want to believe that something like the U.S. government's mass incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry would not happen again. However, it’s important to note that the Supreme Court precedent that ruled it lawful—a case called Korematsu v. United States—was only repudiated recently, in 2018. It’s not impossible that the government could do something like this again, especially in a time of war. 

If so, our findings suggest that it would be a devastating political event, leading to subsequent disengagement and disaffection. The targeting of minority populations in this way can have devastating and long-lasting effects on those groups. It's important to document that and to make policymakers aware.

Banner image: Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were incarcerated from 1942 to 1945 during World War II at Manzanar War Relocation Center. Photos are displayed alongside family tags at Manzanar National Historic Site in California. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Faculty portrait by Martha Stewart

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World War II Resource Guide: Japanese Internment Camps

• World War II
• Alliances & Causes
• Atomic Bomb
• Pearl Harbor
• Battle of Normandy
• Women in WWII
• Japanese Internment Camps
• Nuremberg Trials
• Medics & Medicine
• Espionage & Ciphers
• Pre/Post WWII & Political Boundaries

Focusing Questions or Research Starters:

Use questions posed in class and Ms. Gress' guidance to select your final research topic.  These are here to help you brainstorm ideas and have been selected as the resources (print and online) are sufficient to support the topics.

• Even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans faced prejudice and hostility in the US.  Why?
• How did the attack on Pearl Harbor immediately affect Japanese Americans?
• Many call the Japanese American Internment camps prisons.  Why did the U.S. government create these?  How were they supposed to run?  How did they actually run?  Were the Japanese-Americans able to get their property and businesses back after the war?
• The U.S. apologized to the Japanese Americans years after WWII.  What reparations were made, if any?  Was the apology well received or enough to compensate for the hardships so many endured?

Print Resources

• Details: This book has an entire chapter dedicated to the topic. Go to Chapter 8, Treatment of Japanese Americans on page 115 to get the horrible truth. Do not skip the section called Hawaii's Hidden Prison Camp on page 129.

• Details: This book has a great deal of excellent primary sources (in the form of pictures, letters, posters) and evidence that you may find helpful to browse. To jump directly into the history of the Japanese Internment camps, however, try going directly to Chapter 4 on page 20.

• Details: Check out pages 90 - 94. The Executive Order 9066 is the order that created the Japanese Internment Camps.

• Details: First hand account of life in a Japanese Relocation Camp.

• Details: This book covers all the major topics of World War II. Start reading on page 71 about the Japanese-American Internment Camps.

• Details: Read the story of "Terry Grimmesey: What Had We Done?," (Page 205). Read about the Japanese Internment camps from a child's perspective. Despite loving America and wanting to fight for their country, Japanese Americans were treated as prisoners and enemies to their own country.

Online Resources

• Details: Start your research here with an overview from a trustworthy source, World Book Online. This is a brief account but starts you off with vocabulary, locations, and other important facts.

• Details: Offers a thorough history of Japanese American Internment, from the Executive that started it all to the end. Use the hyperlinked table of contents to help you navigate.
• Details: Shorter summary of original article offered as a "This Day in History" feature. Great place to get fast facts and an overview.

Use the following NewsELA articles for research:

Japanese-American Relocation in the U.S. during World War II  

Life at the Manzanar Camp for Japanese-Americans in WWII  

A photographer's photos show WWII life of Japanese in America  

Primary Sources: Presidential apologies for Japanese Internment in World War II  

He was born in Portland. An executive order sent him to a Japanese Internment camp 

• << Previous: Minority Groups & WWII
• Next: Holocaust >>
• Last Updated: Aug 23, 2022 1:43 PM
• URL: https://tcms-wv.libguides.com/gress

Articles on Japanese internment camps

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Students in this course learn the art of the apology

Nancy E. Berg , Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

Discrimination, internment camps, then deportation: the end of the second world war did not mean peace for Japanese-Australians

Tets Kimura , Flinders University

Concerned about foreign interference in Canada? An ‘enemy agent’ registry is not the answer

Jordan Stanger-Ross , University of Victoria

Russia’s mass kidnappings of Ukrainians are a page out of a wartime playbook – and evidence of genocide

Alex Hinton , Rutgers University - Newark

Toshio Mori endured internment camps and overcame discrimination to become the first Japanese American to publish a book of fiction

Alessandro Meregaglia , Boise State University

How memories of Japanese American imprisonment during WWII guided the US response to 9/11

Susan H. Kamei , USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Japanese American soldiers in World War II fought the Axis abroad and racial prejudice at home

National parks – even Mount Rushmore – show that there’s more than one kind of patriotism

Jennifer Ladino , University of Idaho

When Supreme Court justices defy expectations

Alison Dundes Renteln , USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Friday essay: Japanese Australian veterans and the legacy of anti-Asian  racism

Timothy Kazuo Steains , University of Sydney and Shannon Whiley , The University of Queensland

Coronavirus: Racism and the long-term impacts of emergency measures in Canada

Laura Madokoro , Carleton University

Concentration camps have deep roots in liberal democracies

Aidan Forth , MacEwan University

Video games can bring older family members’ personal history back to life

Bob De Schutter , Miami University

Why Japanese-Americans received reparations and African-Americans are still waiting

Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann , Wilfrid Laurier University

The long, bipartisan history of dealing with immigrants harshly

Anthony W. Fontes , American University School of International Service

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Asians could opt out of naming a country of origin on the 2020 census, a policymaker’s nightmare

Jennifer Lee , Columbia University

300 letters of outrage from Japanese Canadians who lost their homes

America has not always been as welcoming to refugees as we think

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Why it’s hard to ‘just get over it’ for people who have been traumatized

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Schaffer Library LibGuides

Japanese-american incarceration: primary sources.

• Getting Started
• Secondary Source Books
• Secondary Source Articles
• Primary Sources
• Reference Sources

Key Primary Source Repositories

• Calisphere Calisphere provides free access to primary sources, such as photographs, documents, letters, artwork, diaries, oral histories, films, advertisements, musical recordings, and more. more... less... To search, go to: Collections > A-Z > J > Japanese American Archival Collection Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Records Japanese American Incarceration Images, 1941-1946 Japanese American relocation center views, 1942 Japanese American Relocation Collection Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive: selected documents from the Bancroft Library Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive: selected oral histories from the Bancroft Library
• Densho Digital Repository Find thousands of historic photographs, documents, newspapers, letters and other primary source materials that tell the story of the Japanese American community, from immigration to the WWII incarceration and its aftermath.

Camp Newspapers

The Japanese camp newspapers are online and in microfilm:

Library of Congress Japanese-American Internment Camp Newspapers, 1942 to 1946

Archives Unbound Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life 

• Less user friendly than the LoC collection above

Schaffer Microfilm Japanese relocation camp and assembly center newspapers

Streaming Content

• American History in Video This link opens in a new window allows students and researchers to analyze historical events, and their presentation over time, through commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries.
• Kanopy This link opens in a new window with more than 26,000 streaming films in its collection
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index This link opens in a new window
• Chronicling America:Historic American Newspapers

For all Archival Newspapers  

Additional Primary Source Resources

A selected list of resources that include images, audio and video files, government documents, and more.

• "A More Perfect Union": Smithsonian Museum Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution
• Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar Photographs of Manzanar War Relocation Center in 1943 by renowned photographer
• Asian Americans and Seattle's civil rights history A gateway to the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project resources for exploring the civil rights activism of Asian Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Included are oral histories, research reports, newspaper reports, photographic collections, maps, historical documents.
• Digital History eXplorations: Japanese-American Internment Resources The materials on this Web site include a U.S. history textbook; over 400 annotated documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, courtesy of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and more.
• Digital Public Library of America The DPLA offers a single point of access to millions of items—photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more—from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Users can browse and search the DPLA’s collections by timeline, map, format, and topic; save items to customized lists;etc.
• Go For Broke National Education Center Preserving the Legacy of Japanese American Veterans of WW II. Includes Hanashi Oral History Video Archive, and oral history clips.
• Internment of San Francisco Japanese Courtesy of the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.
• Japanese American Exhibit & Access Project This portal includes links to the Camp Harmony Exhibit, Interrupted Lives: Japanese American Students at the University of Washington, 1941-42, Children of Minidoka and more. Includes newspapers, photographs, correspondence, books, and documents.
• Japanese American National Museum Collections Online Includes access to "The online collection of Clara Breed, or "Miss Breed" as she was known by her young library patrons. Over 300 letters and cards received by Breed from Japanese American children and young adults during their WWII incarceration; Stanley Hayami Collection, the diary of a Japanese American student from Los Angeles who attended high school at the Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming; Hisako Hibi Collection, includes sixty-three oil paintings painted by artist Hisako Hibi at Tanforan Assembly Center in California and Topaz concentration camp in Utah; and more
• ProQuest History Vault: Evacuation of the Japanese from the West Coast: Final Report and Papers of the Adjutant General's Office Chronicles the 1942 removal of Japanese Americans who lived in California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington State, and their resettlement in internment camps for the duration of the war. The collection includes assembly center newspapers; clippings from West Coast and other newspapers and periodicals; religious organization publications; Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) orders, proclamations, press releases, and reports; presidential executive orders and proclamations; Justice Department regulations; and reports of the Federal Security Agency and the American National Red Cross. The materials are compiled in bound volumes or folders, all of which were produced in 1942 by the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, Office of Assistant Chief of Staff, Wartime Civil Control Administration, in San Francisco.
• ProQuest History Vault: Papers of the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, Part 1: Numerical File Archive Documentary materials collected by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC), which in the 1980s investigated the decision to incarcerate Japanese Americans during WWII.
• Truman Presidential Library Documents - The War Relocation Authority & the Incarceration of Japanese-Americans during WWII The War Relocation Authority & the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during WWII. A document collection from the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum.
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• Next: Reference Sources >>
• Last Updated: Jun 13, 2024 12:55 PM
• URL: https://libguides.union.edu/japanese_americanWWII

Service update: Some parts of the Library’s website will be down for maintenance on August 11.

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Search form

Japanese american internment - research guide.

• Getting Started
• Books/Media
• Articles - Secondary Sources

Overview: Finding Primary Sources

Online primary sources: japanese american internment, video and art: japanese american internment, how can i tell if something is a primary source, sample searches - finding historical newspaper articles.

• Bancroft Library
• Research Help

Primary sources can be found in a variety of library tools:

• UC Library Search allows you to find primary sources in physical libraries like The Bancroft Library and the Main Stacks, as well as online sources
• Online book and text collections
• Primary Source databases provided by the Library     includes databases for finding newspaper articles, such as Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) or magazine articles, such as Reader's Guide
• Library of Congress Digital Collections
• Online Archive of California or Calisphere
• History Matters

For specific search strategies, see the Library's Guide to Finding Historical Primary Source s

Learn more about your topic in advance:

• names of relevant individuals and organizations
• dates of events
• what terminology was used at the time by participants and observers? (ex:  negro or colored instead of african american)

Use the bibliographies of secondary sources and reference sources to find citations to specific primary sources; search UC library Search  to locate them on campus, or ask for assistance at the Library.

Bancroft Library Guide to Japanese American Internment, Relocation and Resettlement Records

Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives  (multiple California libraries and museums)

UC Berkeley Oral History Center:  Japanese American Confinement Sites:  oral histories  (scroll to the bottom)

UC Berkeley Oral History Center:  Japanese American Intergenerational Narratives:  oral histories

      Berkeley Remix:  podcast "From Generation to Generation’: The Legacy of Japanese American Incarceration"

National Archives:  Japanese American Relocation and Internment

Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco  (see:  San Francisco - Japanese)

   and see:   San Francisco News coverage

Library of Congress  -   Ansel Adam's photographs of  Manzanar

Library of Congress - primary source set and Teacher's Guide

Japanese American National Museum:  Museum Collections Online

Japanese American Museum of San Jose:  Manabu Oral History Project  (short oral histories)

Densho Digital Repository:  Browse Collections

California State University Japanese American Digitization Project

Smithsonian Museum of American History:  A More Perfect Union  - browse photos of their collections

Japantown Atlas  - Drawing from historic maps, business directories, and photos, we show a variety of Japantowns as they existed in 1940.

Clara Breed Letters  - Includes over 300 letters and cards received by Breed from Japanese American children and young adults during their World War II incarceration.

Library databases:

Kanopy streaming media:  Japanese Internment (Calnet ID required)

See the Books and Media tab for search examples.

How can you tell if something is a primary source by looking at UC Library Search?  Sometimes you can't, but here are some ideas:

• was it created by a person or organization involved with the events?  (ex:  Fred Korematsu, Japanese American Citizens League)
• was it created during the time period of the events?  (ex:  1939-1945) - note that not all primary sources were created during the time period - some, like interviews and memoirs, were created later
• is the item the type of material that has been created by participants in the event - specialized newspapers, memoirs, interviews, diaries, correspondence, etc.?
• is the item the type of material that has been created by witnesses of the event - mainstream newspapers and magazine articles, for example?

If you're not sure, ask for  assistance !

Sample searches in Historical Newspapers (ProQuest):  (mostly primary sources)

1.    Japanese american* internment

2.   advanced search

Remember to use the terminology of the time period!

japanese  (anywhere) evacuation (anywhere) alien* (anywhere)

publication date:  specific date range > 1/1/1942   12/31/1945

Note:  read the help screens before trying to print!

Sample Searches in Readers Guide  (primary sources - major American magazine articles)

1.    Japanese    (keywords)        internment   (keywords)

2.    Japanese Americans evacuation   (subject) limit by date:  from year  1942   to year   1945

click on UC e-links to find library location

Also try searching specific names and events:  General DeWitt; Executive Order 9066, Civilian Exclusion Order 346, etc.!

• << Previous: Articles - Secondary Sources
• Next: Bancroft Library >>
• Last Updated: Aug 16, 2024 4:13 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/internment

Research Our Records

World War II Japanese American Incarceration: Researching an Individual or Family

​ Conducting gen ealogical research on formerly incarcerated Japanese and Japanese Americans can present a challenge for even the most adept researcher. Due to the involvement of multiple federal agencies in detaining and documenting individuals of Japanese descent (U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and those taken from U.S. territories and from Allied held nations), records may be found across several different record groups and at a number of National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) facilities across the country. The process of identifying individual or family records can be complicated due to the absence of any official master index and the fact that some of the formerly incarcerated were transferred between multiple camps.

This guide provides an overview of the types of records available for genealogical research and offers guidance on how to navigate them. You can continue your research with records at NARA by visiting us , contacting us online , or by hiring an independent researcher .

Additional Resources for Genealogists 

Looking for more information on your family members? Other genealogical resources such as census, immigration, and naturalization records may be available. Start Your Genealogy Research here .

On This Page

Getting Started Exclusion from Militarily Restricted Areas War Relocation Authority Camps Enemy Alien Internment Facilities Military and Civilian Service Renouncing—and Restoring—U.S. Citizenship Post-War Redress and Reparations Alien Files (A-Files)

Getting Started

Although most persons of Japanese descent were incarcerated in one of the ten War Relocation Authority (WRA) incarceration camps, others were placed in camps run by the Department of Justice or the U.S. Army. A number of Nikkei (Japanese emigrants and their descendants) communities residing outside the Pacific Coast were never detained, but may have been documented by the federal government in other ways. Researchers should also consider accessing personnel records for those who served in the military or were employed by the federal government.

Knowing a person’s background will help determine what kind of records may be available. Consider starting your research by delving into the individual’s history and examining relevant documents. This initial step will help you collect some basic information such as:

• Name of individual
• Date and place of birth
• Place of residence before incarceration

Provide additional information, if known:

• These will include camps administered by the War Relocation Authority, Army, and/or the Department of Justice/Immigration and Naturalization Service.
• Name of the head of family and other family members
• These were numbers assigned to a family entering the War Relocation Authority camp. While each record was assigned an “Individual Number,” members of one family usually have the same five numbers, with the letter denoting the position of the person in the family.
• Branch of military service
• Federal agency where employed

Some individual files have been indexed and are name searchable in the National Archives Catalog . If you are able to locate a Catalog record related to your individual or family, please contact the NARA office identified under the section “Archived Copy.” 

A young girl waits with the family baggage before leaving by bus for an "assembly center" in the spring of 1942, by Clem Albers, California, April 1942. (National Archives Identifier:  539959 )

Don’t know where to start?

Contact us: 

• Online: https://www.archives.gov/contact
• By phone: 1-866-272-6272 ​

Exclusion from Militarily Restricted Areas

Sign in Lancaster, CA, designating the military zone (National Archives Identifier:  536860 )

The Western Defense Command (WDC) and Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) Records (Record Group 499) concern the policy, administration, and the public reaction to the program to forcibly remove Japanese Americans from a large part of the West Coast, which was considered a militarily restricted area. Records include family files from the temporary detention camps, known as "assembly centers."

Background to the Records

Military control of the Western Defense Command (WDC) Area (Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) was established in March 1942 by Executive Order 9066. The WDC at first tried to implement a “voluntary evacuation” of Japanese Americans. However, for various reasons, only about 5,000 out of the roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans residing in the affected area managed to resettle inland. The WDC then created the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) to enforce mandatory removal through the issuance of a series of exclusion orders.

The WDC was in charge of the initial forced eviction of Japanese Americans to temporary detention centers, the operation of the centers, and the transfer of Japanese Americans to permanent incarceration camps (called "relocation centers") operated by the War Relocation Authority. When the detainees reached these WRA camps, military jurisdiction ceased.

Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) Microfilm Rolls

Records of the assembly centers.

The records of the Assembly Center Branch document the administration of the temporary detention camps, including general operational procedures as well as detailed information on individual sites. Assembly Center records contain both administrative files and folders for individual families (called Family Folders).

• Copy of Records of the Assembly Centers, 1942–1945 (National Archives Identifier:  22476356 )
• Copy of the General Correspondence of the Assembly Center Branch, 1942–1943 (National Archives Identifier:  22476358 )
• Copy of the Index of the Records of the Assembly Center Branch, 1942–1945 (National Archives Identifier:  22476353 )

Accessing Assembly Centers Microfilm Rolls

►Requests and questions may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD , at [email protected] .

War Relocation Authority Camps

Ten War Relocation Centers were established in remote areas of the nation. (Courtesy of the National Park Service).

Researchers may wish to start their research in the War Relocation Authority (WRA) records (Record Group 210) , as this federal agency administered the largest World War II incarceration program in the United States. These records can contain personal descriptive information on Japanese and Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from the West Coast and detained in one of the ten WRA incarceration camps during the war.

Related records include documentation on the Japanese American Program (part of the Office of the Provost Marshal General [OPMG] [Record Group 389] ). This program was established to determine the loyalty of those who were released from the WRA camps. Many were given permission to enlist in the military or to work in the civilian workforce.

War Relocation Authority (WRA) Case Files

The National Archives in Washington, DC , holds the case files of Japanese and Japanese Americans detained in WRA incarceration camps, known as "relocation centers." These camps initially imprisoned persons of Japanese ancestry, both citizens and noncitizens, who were forcibly removed from parts of California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona that had been designated as military areas. As some Japanese enemy aliens were released from Army and Department of Justice-Immigration and Naturalization Service (DOJ-INS) camps, they were transferred to the WRA sites, where many reunited with their families.

The case files are found in Entry PI-77 22 in Record Group 210, Records of the War Relocation Authority (National Archives Identifier:  891305 ).

What you will find in these records:

The content of individual case files varies. In addition to including basic identifying information about the individual (such as their name, age, and physical description), case files may also contain:

• Medical records
• Property records
• School records
• Military service information
• WRA camp employment records
• Leave or discharge documentation
• Related correspondence
• Additional information about an individual's family members

Note : Not all case files contain each of these documents.

Preliminary medical examinations at the Poston WRA Camp (National Archives Identifier:  536090 )

Starting Your Research

In addition to creating individual and family folders, the WRA collected statistical information upon arrival and near the closing of the camps. This data can be useful for locating information about those incarcerated in WRA camps, including family numbers.

Entering the WRA Camps, 1942

Evacuee Summary Data Cards, 1942–1946 (National Archives Identifier:  1055737 ): These computer punch cards consist of basic information gathered soon after Japanese American individuals and families entered the WRA camps. These data cards are particularly useful to locate individuals who left the camps early during the war (to enlist in the military, to work in the civilian workforce, or other), before the Final Accountability Rosters were created in 1944.

Data from the computer punch cards can be searched electronically via the Access to Archival Databases (AAD).  

• For search tips, please see Search the Database page.
• For more information about this database, please see these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) .

Closing the Camps, 1944–1946

Final Accountability Rosters of Evacuees, 1944–1946 (National Archives Identifier:  1055789 ): These rosters were created as the WRA camps prepared to close and contain valuable information including the trajectory of a person’s incarceration from the method of original entry (from an "assembly center," other institutions, Hawai'i, another "relocation center," or birth) to the type of final departure (indefinite leave, internment, repatriation/expatriation, segregation, relocation, or death). While these rosters are useful to locate individuals who were still in the WRA camps near the end of the war, including those transferred from DOJ-INS camps, the rosters will not include those who left earlier in the war.

• Digitized microfilms are arranged by WRA camp. Name searchable indexes are also available from Ancestry.com .

**Both the Final Rosters and Data Cards have been indexed into a combined Names Registry developed by Densho.org .

Accessing WRA Case Files

Researchers may request to view WRA case files on site at the National Archives in Washington, DC , or order copies of case files using the WRA case file request form .

In your request, please provide the following information so that our staff can locate the case file:

• Individual’s full name
• ​If the individual used a Japanese name and an English name, please provide both names.
• Individual's date of birth
• WRA camp or camps

​If the individual of interest is not the head of their family, please also provide the following information:

• Head of family's name
• Head of family's date of birth

Please note that WRA case files are subject to privacy restrictions.

You may view a case file if:

• Please complete and submit DOJ-361, which is available at  www.justice.gov/ust/file/ doj361_form.pdf/dl .
• The subject of the file must complete and submit DOJ-361 authorizing the release of the file to you (see link above for the form).
• You must provide proof of death, such as a copy of a death certificate, Social Security Death Index listing, or obituary.

More questions?

► If you have any questions or for more information, contact the National Archives in Washington, DC, at [email protected] .

Records of the Provost Division and Japanese American Branch

Background to these records.

In February 1942, all U.S. civil service employees of Japanese descent faced suspensions from their positions. U.S. Army servicemen of Japanese descent who were attached to units stationed in the Ninth Service Command region (encompassing Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) were either transferred to other service commands or placed on inactive duty.

By October 1942, most West Coast Japanese Americans were held in ten confinement sites operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA). On November 1, 1942, the WRA introduced a leave clearance and resettlement program, allowing those incarcerated to be released under specific conditions. Japanese Americans had also lobbied to re-enlist in the military, and to contribute to the war effort by serving as civil servants or working in private industries. The initial release of a few hundred detainees in late 1942 raised security concerns among military officials. This prompted the creation of the U.S. Army’s Japanese American Program which, in cooperation with the WRA leave clearance efforts, investigated the loyalty of all the inmates.

Provost Division

Subject Correspondence Files Relating to the Internal Security Program, 1941–1946 (National Archives Identifier:  895317 ):

• Includes records related to the Loyalty Investigation Program (Boxes 1828–1831) and the Japanese American Program (Box 1851). Folder lists are available online in the National Archives Catalog.

Japanese American Branch

Records Relating to Persons of Japanese Ancestry Residing in the United States, 1942–1946 (National Archives Identifier:  953563 ):

• The records include minutes of meetings of the Japanese American Joint Board. The Board made determinations in cases of individuals' release from WRA camps or employment in specific industries. Files also include records about Japanese American men eligible for military service, including name, birthdate, prewar address, and WRA camp. Folder lists are available online in the National Archives Catalog.

Japanese American Personal Data Cards, 1942–1946 (National Archives Identifier:  953594 ):

• Data Cards contain personal information (such as name, address, and birthdate) and investigatory information (membership in certain organizations, character assessments, allegations regarding disloyal statements, prewar visits to Japan, and relatives living in Japan).  

Accessing the records

► Requests and questions may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD , at [email protected] . 

Enemy Alien Internment Facilities

The three government departments that administered and operated the Alien Enemy Control Program were:

• the Department of Justice (DOJ), which included the new Alien Enemy Control Unit (AECU), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); 
• the War Department’s Office of the Provost Marshal General; and
• the Department of State, which included the new Special War Problems Division.

Complete lists or case files related to individuals detained in temporary enemy alien internment facilities are scarce. Most temporary facilities only held an individual until they were either released after their hearing or transferred to a permanent internment facility. Available indexes and case files at the National Archives mainly relate to those who were held in the permanent internment camps.

Please note that there is no master name index for the thousands of enemy aliens who were interned in the United States and its territories during World War II.

Alien Enemy Detention Facility: Crystal City, TX (National Archives Identifier:  13206 )

About the Enemy Alien Control Program

In addition to the mass removal of persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, the United States also selectively interned or excluded enemy aliens of German, Italian, and Japanese ancestry living in the United States or Latin America. Read more on our ​​ World War II Enemy Alien Control Program Overview  page.

Japanese Internee Card for Yasuichi Hikida (National Archives Identifier:  1090783 )

Department of Justice (DOJ) Internee Cards and Case Files

The records of the Department of Justice (DOJ) (Record Group 60) include case files that document the DOJ's role in the Alien Enemy Control Program during World War II. The files include the arrest, investigations, and hearings of individuals of Japanese, German, and Italian descent who had already been targeted by the FBI and military intelligence agencies. Files also include internees taken from Latin America. Additional files related to internment can be found within the INS enemy alien case files .

These individual case files generally document administrative proceedings to determine whether an alien enemy would be released, paroled, or interned for the duration of the war. The cases may include Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports, pleadings submitted to federal court, agency administrative or investigative files, agency and public correspondence, newspaper clippings, and transcripts of the Alien Enemy Board Hearings.

In the alphabetical index to the DOJ case files, you will find the person's:

• Date of birth
• Case file number
• Dates of salient actions
• Remarks on the internees case

Conducting Initial Searches

World War II Japanese Internee Cards, 1941–1947 (National Archives Identifier:  720246 ): These index cards are name searchable in the National Archives Catalog. Enter the person’s name in the Search within this Series box.

Accessing DOJ Case Files

To request a DOJ case file, please provide the following information:

• Name of internee (include all names used)
• Department of Justice case file number, if known

► Requests and questions about the DOJ case files may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD , at [email protected] .

Immigration (INS) Case Files

After receiving an order from the U.S. Attorney General for the internment of an enemy alien, the person was sent to an Enemy Alien Internment Facility run by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) (Record Group 85) . The INS oversaw all the Department of Justice and many of the Department of State internment facilities. INS field offices also maintained case files for the initial arrests of enemy aliens.

The INS ran twelve permanent enemy alien internment facilities:

• Bedford, PA
• Camp Upton, NY
• Crystal City, TX
• Fort Lincoln, ND
• Fort Missoula, MT
• Fort Stanton, NM
• Old Raton Ranch Camp, NM
• Santa Fe, NM
• Seagoville, TX
• Staunton, VA
• White Sulphur Springs, WV

INS records also include files from the Tule Lake Segregation Center, covering the immediate post-war period when the camp held those who renounced their U.S. citizenship, and those seeking repatriation and expatriation to Japan.

INS Central Office:

• Indexes to the INS enemy alien case files are not available online. Proceed below for further information.
• Subject and Policy Files, 1906–1957 (National Archives Identifier:  559947 ): These INS records include files concerning INS-run Enemy Alien Internment Facilities. For further instructions on how to access these records, see INS Subject and Policy Files, 1906–1957 .

INS office in Los Angeles:

• Enemy Alien Case Files, 1941–1948 (National Archives Identifier:  6217699 ): These case files relate to those apprehended in Southern California and may be name searchable in the National Archives Catalog. Enter the person’s name in the Search within this Series box.

Accessing INS Case Files

To request an INS Case File, please provide the following information:

• INS camp (if known)

► For records from the INS Central Office, contact the National Archives in Washington, DC , at [email protected] . 

► For records from the Los Angeles INS office, contact the National Archives at Riverside at [email protected] .

Enemy Alien Control Program in the U.S. Territories

Records of the Enemy Prisoner of War Information Bureau (part of the Office of the Provost Marshal General (OPMG) (Record Group 389)  includes documents related to the Enemy Alien Control Program in the U.S. Territories. Files from Hawai'i include 1,202 case files for internees of Japanese ancestry.  

Subject Files, 1942–1946 (National Archives Identifier:  833674 ): 

• Hawai'i, Civilian Internees Folders: Records pertain to both Japanese and Japanese American civilian internees living in Hawai'i at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. Name searchable in the National Archives Catalog. Enter the person’s name in the Search within this Series box. Here are the query results for the full list.
• Hawai'i: Enemy Alien General File (National Archives Identifier:  900260 ): This one file documents the deportation of Japanese Americans to the mainland.
• Hawai'i, Return Groups Files: Records consist of lists of Japanese Americans deported to the mainland and later returned, or offered the option to return, to Hawai'i at war's end. Here are the query results for the full list.

Records Relating to Japanese Civilian Internees During World War II (National Archives Identifier:  872144 ): Consists of files of Japanese nationals (and possibly U.S. citizens) interned in the United States, including those who were apprehended from overseas (Peru, Guam, and Saipan).

Records from the Military Government of the Territory of Hawai'i (MGH) (Record Group 494) include internee case files and lists:

• Internee Release Forms, 1942–1945 (National Archives Identifier:  1088866 )
• Internee Case Files, December 15, 1941–1945 (National Archives Identifier:  1073970 )
• Lists of Names of Japanese Alien Internees, 1945 (National Archives Identifier:  1089727 )
• Internee Property Case Files, 1943–1945 (National Archives Identifier:  1112476 )
• Index of Paroled Enemy Aliens, 1942–1943 (National Archives Identifier:  7873232 )

Accessing OPMG and MGH Records

► Requests and questions may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD , at [email protected] .

Enemy Alien Diplomats and Latin Americans Deported to the United States

The Department of State (Record Group 59) managed the internment of enemy alien diplomats and Latin Americans deported to the United States. The State Department was also responsible for negotiating a civilian internees exchange, facilitating the return of U.S. citizens held in Axis nations in return for the repatriation of Axis citizens detained in the United States. Records include hearings to determine whether former enemy aliens could return to their Latin American country.

Reports on Interned Enemy Aliens, 1942–1947 (National Archives Identifier:  719525 )

Transcripts of Proceedings before the Hearing Board of the Alien Enemy Control Section, 1946 (National Archives Identifier:  657806 )

Subject Files, 1939–1955 (National Archives Identifier:  2173219 ): Includes documentation on internees from Latin America and case files on Japanese nationals who died in the camps.

Accessing State Department Records

► Requests and questions may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch in College Park, MD , at [email protected] .

Military and Civilian Service

Because most military branches refused to enlist persons of Japanese descent during World War II, the majority of Nisei (Japanese Americans whose parents emigrated from Japan) served in the U.S. Army, while others (both Nisei and Issei [first-generation immigrants from Japan]) were employed in civilian roles including the Office of Strategic Services and the Cadet Nurse Corps. While personnel records may be requested from the National Archives at St. Louis or the National Personnel Records Center , several online name indexes are also available for researchers to search for information.

Agency Official Personnel Folders and Official Military Personnel Files

Civilian Official Personnel Folders (OPF) and Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) are held at the National Archives at St. Louis or the National Personnel Records Center. The location of a particular folder will depend on the individual's dates of service. 

Certain basic information is required to locate personnel records including:

For Agency Official Personnel Files:

• Full name at time of service (for women, include married and maiden names)
• Federal agency where employed 
• Dates of service
• Social security number, if known
• Names of parents, spouse, and/or children who might have been listed as next of kin or beneficiaries at the time of employment

Coat of Arms for the 100th Infantry Battalion (National Archives Identifier:  7260301 )

To submit requests and questions on OPFs:

• If the federal civil servant's employment ended before 1952 , contact the National Archives at St. Louis at [email protected] .
• If the federal civil servant's employment ended in 1952 or after , contact the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) .

For Military Official Personnel Files (OMPF):

• Full name at time of service
• Service number
• Branch of service

Request Civilian Official Personnel Folders (OPF)

Request Official Military Personnel Folders (OMPF)

​ For records affected by the 1973 Fire , additional information—such as place of discharge; last assigned unit; and place of entry into service—may be useful.

Requests for OMPFs may be submitted online: Request Military Service Records . To request additional assistance:

• If the veteran separated from military service before 1962 , contact the National Archives at St. Louis at [email protected] .
• If the veteran separated from military service in 1962 or after , contact the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) .

Online Indexes

National archives and records administration (record group 64).

World War II Army Enlistment Records, June 1, 2002–September 30, 2002 (National Archives Identifier:  604357 )

• The Army Serial Number Enlistment Card Records table has records for almost nine million men and women who enlisted in the Army and the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.
• The database is name searchable in the Access to Archival Database (AAD) .

Public Health Service (Record Group 90)

Cadet Nurse Corps Files, 1943–1948 (National Archives Identifier:  5605027 )

• Membership cards are name searchable in Ancestry.com: U.S., World War II Cadet Nursing Corps Card Files, 1942–1948 .

Office of Strategic Services (Record Group 226)

Personnel Files of the Office of Strategic Services, 1942–ca. 1962 (National Archives Identifier:  1593270 ): 

• These index cards are name searchable in the National Archives Catalog. Enter the person’s name in the Search within this Series box.

► Requests and questions about these records may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD , at [email protected] .

Renouncing—and Restoring—U.S. Citizenship

Public Law 78-405, commonly referred to as the Renunciation Act of 1944 or the Denationalization Act of 1944 , was signed into law on July 1, 1944. This law amended the Nationality Act of 1940 and allowed Americans within the United States renounce their citizenship. The National Archives holds records that document both the application process to renounce and the legal proceedings to restore U.S. citizenship for Japanese Americans.

Applications for Renunciation, Repatriation and Expatriation

Department of justice (record group 60).

Class 146-54 (Voluntary Renunciation of Citizenship) Litigation Case Files and Enclosures, 1944–1972 (National Archives Identifier:  20761625 ) and Index (National Archives Identifier:  159982441 ) 

► Requests and questions about these records may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD at [email protected] .

The lackluster response from the Loyalty Registration program, especially from the many who refused to swear unqualified allegiance to the United States (#28 on the loyalty questionnaire), led to numerous voluntary appeals for repatriation and expatriation. To an extent, the Renunciation Act aimed to revive previous attempts to strip Nisei of their citizenship, and to root out extremists from the Tule Lake camp and into the DOJ internment camps. In total, over 5,000 Nisei renounced, with a significant majority from Tule Lake. Renunciation effectively paved the way for deportation to Japan.

Almost immediately after the application process began, it became evident that a substantial number of applicants renounced under duress. Many renunciants filed legal challenges to halt deportation proceedings and restore their citizenship. For some who expatriated, the courts also provided a way to reinstate their citizenship and return to the United States.

As it stands, the Renunciation Act remains in effect to this day.

Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) (Record Group 85)

General Files (Tule Lake), 1945–1946 (National Archives Identifier:  5717237 )

► Requests and questions about these records may be submitted to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. at [email protected] .

Legal Challenges

Several lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Courts (Record Group 21) to prevent deportation and reinstate U.S. citizenship.

Northern District of California (San Francisco)

A good place to start searching for those who renounced is in the class action suit, Tadayasu Abo v. Clark , Civil no. 25294 (National Archives Identifier:  357434775 ), where the majority of Japanese Americans filed affidavits to reclaim their citizenship.

► Requests and questions about the affidavits in the Abo case may be submitted to the National Archives at San Francisco at [email protected] .

Central District of California (Los Angeles)

Lawsuits were also filed individually or in smaller groups in the federal court in Los Angeles. ► Requests and questions about cases filed in Southern California may be submitted to the National Archives at Riverside at [email protected] .

Post-War Redress and Reparations

The post-war redress movement—seeking financial compensation, and public recognition and apology for the forced removal and confinement—took decades to bear fruit. While the Claims Act of 1948 provided token compensation for lost property, only with the passing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 did the formerly incarcerated receive more substantial redress, including a public apology. Records at NARA include case files for claims filed under the 1948 Act, claims filed under the 1988 Act, and testimonies from the public hearings held by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC).

Japanese American Claims Act Case Files, under 1948 law

About the claims.

The Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act of July 2, 1948, provided compensation for losses of real and personal property to Japanese American citizens removed from the West Coast during World War II. The vast majority of the approximately 26,550 claims filed were compensated for $2,500 or less. The program was administered by the Justice Department, which later set a $100,000 limit on each claim. Approximately $37 million was awarded.

What you will find in these records, part of Department of Justice (DOJ) (Record Group 60):

• Description of the compensation and amounts requested by the claimant
• Award amount
• Basis for the decision

How to search these records:

Published Adjudications

The publication Adjudications of the Attorney General of the United States, Volume 1, Precedent Decisions under the Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act (GPO: Washington, DC) , can serve as a finding aid. Link to chapters from list of claimant names, file numbers, and dates.

• Go to the Adjudications main page
• Look for the name of the person you are researching.
• If you find the person, you can review the published decisions online by clicking on the link in the File Number column.

Note : The volume only contains adjudications from January 3, 1950, to June 30, 1956, under the Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act. The adjudications included are limited to those involving legal questions of wide applicability to claims filed with the Attorney General under that Act. The final claim was adjudicated in 1965.

Class 146-35 (Japanese American Claims Act) Litigation Case Files and Enclosures, 1942–1962 (National Archives Identifier:  783824 ):

• Case files are name searchable in the National Archives Catalog. Enter the person’s name in the Search within this Series box. Only precedent-setting adjudications, claims settled by the Court of Claims, and a selected representative sample of cases were preserved. 

► Requests and questions about the claims case files may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD , at [email protected] .

Japanese American Redress Case Files, Under 1988 Law

About the redress program.

The Office of Redress Administration (ORA) was established within the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ by Section 105 of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. The redress program acknowledged, apologized, and made restitution for the fundamental injustices of the forced removal and mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. In addition to distributing payments, the ORA was also tasked with identifying and locating eligible claimants. Until officially closing on February 5, 1999, ORA provided payments to more than 82,219 claimants, totaling more than $1.6 billion.

Among the eligible claimants, 189 Japanese Latin Americans received the full $20,000 payment because they acquired permanent residency status or U.S. citizenship during the defined war period. ORA also issued payments to 145 Japanese Latin Americans who were deported to the United States and interned through the end of the war. The disbursements stemmed from a class action settlement ( Carmen Mochizuki et al. v. U.S. , 43 Fed. Cl. 97 (1999), no. 97-294C) that provided a presidential apology and $5,000 to Latin Americans of Japanese descent who had been excluded from the Civil Liberties Act of 1988—to the extent that funds were still available under the Act.

Office of Redress Administration (ORA) for Restitution Payment

The Office of Redress Administration (ORA) (part of Department of Justice [Record Group 60] ) was established in 1988. ORA was charged with administering a ten-year program to provide a tax-free restitution payment of $20,000 to eligible individuals of Japanese ancestry.

To be eligible for restitution, an applicant had to have been:

• alive on August 10, 1988,
• a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien during the internment period December 7, 1941, to June 30, 1946,
• a person of Japanese ancestry, or the spouse or parent of a person of Japanese ancestry, and
• evacuated, relocated, interned, or otherwise deprived of liberty or property as a result of federal government action during the internment period and based solely on their Japanese ancestry.

What you will find in these records

The case files consist of written correspondence from the individual, copies of their personal credentials and supporting documentation. Each case is closed by either a letter of ineligibility or a payment document.

How to search these records

Please note: the index to these records is not currently available online.

Researchers may request an index search for payments made by the Office of Redress Administration by providing the following information in their request:

• Residence at the time the application for restitution payments was submitted (if known)

► Requests for an index search or other questions may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD at [email protected] . 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Please note that the Redress Case Files are subject to access restrictions due to personal information in the records. Once reference staff locates a file, researchers will need to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to [email protected] to have the file reviewed for release.

CWRIC Public Hearings and Testimonies

About the commission on wartime relocation and internment of civilians (cwric) (record group 220).

The CWRIC was set up to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the forced removal and incarceration, and its impact on American citizens and permanent residents.

These records reflect the Commission's twenty days of hearings and testimonies from more than 750 witnesses held between July and December 1981, in cities across the country. These witnesses included Japanese Americans and Aleuts who had lived through the events of World War II, former government officials who ran the incarceration programs, public figures, organizations such as the Japanese American Citizens League, interested citizens, historians, and other professionals who had studied the subjects of the Commission's inquiry. Materials also include publications, reports, press releases, photographs, newspaper clippings, and transcripts that relate to the hearings. The transcripts contain many personal narratives that directly capture the intangible losses stemming from the wartime policies by the U.S. government.

Search the National Archives Catalog for descriptions of the records

Abstracts of Witness Testimony, 1981 (National Archives Identifier:  734703 )

Solicited Testimony Files, 1981-1982 (National Archives Identifier:  734695 )

Transcripts of Public Hearings, 1981 (National Archives Identifier:  734681 )

If you or your relative testified during the public hearings, we may hold records of the testimony. To request these records, please provide the following information:

• Name of witness
• Location of testimony
• Date of testimony

► Requests and questions may be submitted to the Textual Reference Branch in the National Archives at College Park, MD , at [email protected] v.

Read the Commission’s published report and recommendations:

Personal Justice Denied, Part 1 and 2

Part 1 extensively reviews the history and circumstances of the decisions to exclude, remove, and then detain Japanese Americans and Japanese resident aliens from the West Coast; it covers the treatment of Aleuts during World War II as well. In Part 2,  the Commission recommends remedies.

Alien Files (A-Files)

Learn more about Alien Files (A-Files)

Created by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) beginning in April 1944, Alien Files (A-files) contain records of any active case of an alien not yet naturalized as they passed through the U.S. immigration and inspection process. An A-File may also be created if the INS initiated a law enforcement action against or involving a non-citizen. Such files may include: 

• FBI investigations and transfer documents from DOJ to WRA camps for Issei who were initially detained in DOJ-INS camps;
• deportation and renunciation proceedings for those who were able to successfully halt deportation and for those who expatriated and returned to the United States; and
• immigration documentation for Japanese Latin Americans who eventually stayed in the United States after the war.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Record Group 566)

A-files that have been transferred to NARA are name searchable in the National Archives Catalog . 

► Requests and questions about the A-files may be submitted to either the National Archives at Kansas City at [email protected] or the National Archives at San Francisco at [email protected] .

• Lesson Plans
• Teacher's Guides
• Media Resources

Japanese American Internment Camps during WWII

Watercolor painting depicting three figures, two children and one adult, walking towards a road lined with barracks and electrical poles (Tule Lake, 1942).

California State University Japanese American Digitization Project

This lesson examines the incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry during WWII. Students will analyze primary sources to learn about the consternation caused by the questionnaire that was used to determine the loyalty of the Japanese and Japanese Americans incarcerated in War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps, and the subsequent removal of “disloyals” to the Tule Lake Segregation Camp.

Guiding Questions

What did loyalty mean to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII?

What powers should a President have during a time of war?

What is the legacy of the Japanese American internment camps?

Learning Objectives

Examine the motives for moving Japanese Americans to interment camps during WWII.

Analyze the complexity of life experienced by Japanese Americans incarcerated in Tule Lake and other internment camps.

Analyze archival documents to determine the consequences of incarcerating Japanese Americans during a time of war.

Evaluate the legacy of the internment camps and government actions against Japanese Americans during WWII. 

Lesson Plan Details

After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 and the U.S. declaration of war, 80,000 thousand American citizens of Japanese ancestry, and 40,000 Japanese nationals, who were barred from naturalization by race, were imprisoned under the authority of Executive Order 9066 in War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps. There were approximately 11,000 people of Japanese descent, who were actually interned following a recognized legal procedure and the forms of law. They were citizens of a nation against which the United States was at war, seized for reasons supposedly based on their behavior, and entitled to an individual hearing before a board. Whereas, the 120,000 Japanese and Japanese American men, women, and children in the WRA camps had no due process of law and this violation of civil and human rights was justified on the grounds of military necessity.

Within four months of the Executive Order, all persons of Japanese descent had been removed from the western portions of California, Oregon, and Washington to supposedly protect against sabotage and espionage. While some Italians and Germans were imprisoned in the U.S., they posed no threat on the west coast and faced nothing like the racial animosity borne by the Japanese. Without any due process, Japanese families were forced to leave their homes and sent first to Temporary Assembly Centers and then routed to any of ten hastily constructed War Relocation Authority camps located on large tracks of federal land in remote areas of the western United States far from strategic areas. The camps were built from scratch of wooden barracks with tarpaper walls surrounded by barbed wire fences and guard towers. The unsatisfactory living and working conditions were communal with little privacy and minimum comforts in extreme climates.

By October of 1942, the WRA began to develop leave clearance procedures to enable about 17,000 Japanese American citizens (majority 18-30 years-old) to re-enter civilian life as students or workers (about 7% of the total number of Japanese American incarcerees). The WRA reviewed their loyalty, prospects for self-support, and the reception of the community where they intended to move, the majority went to Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, or New York, far from their west coast birthplaces.

Then in early 1943, the War Department developed a questionnaire to identify possible military volunteers and the War Relocation Authority decided to use it to identify incarcerees who might be released from the camps. Called the “Application for Leave Clearance,” it was distributed to all the WRA camps to determine the loyalty of the incarcerees. The “loyalty questionnaire” was given to all Japanese Americans age 17 and over in the War Relocation Authority camps. Two clumsily worded questions caused confusion and consternation. Refusal to complete the questionnaire, qualified answers, or “no” answers to a question about serving in the armed forces (number 27) and foreswearing allegiance to the Japanese emperor/foreign governments (number 28) were treated as evidence of disloyalty. These questions resulted in a great deal of outrage and controversy. Japanese American citizens (Nisei) resented being asked to renounce loyalty to someone who had never been their Emperor. First generation Japanese Americans (Issei) could not gain U.S. citizenship, thus renouncing their Japanese citizenship would leave them stateless. Asking people to assume stateless status is a violation of the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of enemy aliens. Those who answered “no” to one or both of the questions were designated as “disloyal” to the U.S. The spurious nature of these two survey items, led to these questions being hastily rewritten, but the damage was done.

This loyalty review program was the most divisive crisis of the incarceration and led to the transformation of the Tule Lake camp into a high-security Segregation Center to house those who refused to register or answered the loyalty questions “no-no.” This meant that about 12,000 “disloyals” and their families were transferred to Tule Lake, which required that 6,500 people already living in the Tule Lake WRA Camp were to sent to other WRA camps to make room for them. About 6,000 pre-segregation people decided to stay in the transformed Tule Lake Segregation Center so as to not be separated from their families or for other practical reasons. Tule Lake became a trouble spot with this mixture of “disloyals” from various WRA Camps and there were conflicts, not only with the camp keepers, but within the community.

Security at Tule Lake was increased with military police, a jail, a stockade (prison before jail built in 1944), and fencing to turn it into a maximum security facility, all of which contributed to the turmoil. The segregation turned Tule Lake into a very complicated place with factions forming such as Hoshi Dan, a Japanese nationalist group. A work stoppage after a farm truck accident in which 29 people were injured (5 seriously and 1 died), escalated into a strike and a series of events that led to the Army declaring martial law and taking over the camp. Repression, imprisonment, shortages, and other hardships were endured while disillusionment grew as draft notices began arriving. Only a total of 1,256 people volunteered for service from all the WRA camps, whereas over 10,000 volunteered from Hawaii alone (where people of Japanese descent were not incarcerated).

Those segregated at Tule Lake were caught in a situation where Japanese nationalism offered a positive alternative, further dividing the camp population. Many immigrants and citizens determined that it was possibly safer to be “repatriated” to Japan rather than stay in the U.S. The concept of giving up United States citizenship, though shocking to some, was a choice of serious consideration and implications. Many feared for their safety in hostile white communities if they were released from the camps before the war was over and so thought Japan would be safer than the U.S. Others were outraged with their imprisonment and disillusioned. Renunciation was made easier by an Act of Congress, the so-called Denaturalization Act of 1944. Initially, fewer than two-dozen Tule Lake incarcerees applied to renounce their citizenship, but when the WRA announced that the camp would close in a year, panic and confusion ensued resulting in 7,222 (1/3 of the Tule Lake camp population) Nisei and Kibei renouncing, 65 percent of whom were American-born. In contrast, only 128 people from the nine other WRA camps renounced their American citizenship. Ultimately, many were repatriated to Japan, while others who signed up to go to Japan realized it was a mistake. Wayne Mortimer Collins, a Civil Liberties Attorney, prevented the Department of Justice from deporting en masse the people of Japanese descent who renounced their U.S. citizenship. But the effort to restore citizenship took 22 years—eventually nearly all, except about 40-50 people had their citizenship restored.

Tule Lake became the largest of the WRA camps with 18,700 incarcerees, although it was built for 15,000. Within the microcosm of Tule Lake, the complexity and consequences of the Japanese American WWII incarceration was played out on the most dramatic of stages. The Tule Lake Segregation Center was the last of the WRA camps to close on March 20, 1946.

For a more in-depth discussion with illustrations and summary tables, see Appendix A, and/or the timeline in Appendix B.

CCSS.RH 2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

CCSS.RH 6. Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.

CCSS.RH 9. Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS. D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.

NCSS.D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

Archival materials used throughout this lesson are made available through the California State University Japanese American History Digitization Project (CSUJAD) . 

Use the  CSUJAD exhibit “Before the War” to learn about the lives of Japanese Americans in the United States prior to the outbreak of WWII. Students can also use  the background reading assignment ( Appendix A ) and the timeline ( Appendix B ) to establish a context for why these camps were created and how the U.S. Government justified their need during WWII. Include  President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order no. 9066 that authorized the relocation of Japanese Americans within this background history. 

Activity 1. Determining Loyalty

What does it mean to be loyal? Do circumstances matter when determining whether to remain loyal? Using Merriam Webster's online dictionary , discuss the meaning of the words “loyalty” and “loyal" and examine the importance of context when determining what loyalty entails. 

Considering what was covered in Appendix A (Background Reading) and Appendix B (Timeline) , what might it feel like to be a Japanese American who was required to complete a loyalty questionnaire after having been in a War Relocation Authority camp for a year? Review the " loyalty questionnaire”  available at CSUJAD before discussing the following questions:

How might one's definition of loyalty change during times of war?

• Do you have to agree with all of the policies of the government at all times?
• How might you appropriately demonstrate your discontent?
• If necessary, how should a citizen’s loyalty be determined?
• If you were an Issei woman (1st generation, not allowed to become an American citizen), how might you respond to number 27 about serving in the armed forces?
• If you were a Nisei (2nd generation, American citizen), what might your reaction be to number 28 forswearing allegiance to the Japanese emperor/foreign governments?
• If you were an Issei (1st generation, not allowed to become an American citizen), what would giving up any allegiance to Japan leave you with?

Activity 2. Types of Internment Camps

After reviewing the different types of camps used during WWII and which U.S. government organizations administered them ( Appendix C ), explore the Densho Encyclopedia to learn about the various sites of WWII incarceration in the U.S.  D iscuss the differences in the camp populations and treatment of the prisoners (working conditions, security, detention facilities, etc.) with the following questions:

What different types of camps were developed to house these prisoners and how did they evolve as the war progressed?

Who was incarcerated during WWII and why were the Japanese and Japanese Americans singled out for incarceration during WWII?

When you focus specifically on the War Relocation Authority Camps where people of Japanese descent were incarcerated, what made Tule Lake different?

Activity 3. Perspectives and Experiences in the Camps

Students work with photographs and letters from the camps made available through the CSUJAD database. Students can be assigned one subtopic and then brought together with students responsible for the other topics to discuss their findings, or students can be assigned each of the subtopics within this activity. When working with the primary sources, students can also access the "Terminology Differentiating People of Japanese Ancestry"   ( Appendix A ) and "6 C's of Primary Source Analysis" ( Appendix E ). 

A. Analyzing Photographs

An information card indicates that Toshio Kuratomi, 28 years old, was moved from San Diego via the Jerome, Arkansas WRA Camp to Tule Lake. Analyze the intake photographs of Kuratomi and Mitsuho Kumra that were taken during their transfer to Tule Lake from other War Relocation Authority Camps and compare them with what you have learned about the camps thus far. 

• Intake photographs of Toshio Kuratomi and Mitsuho Kumra, 1943
• What do the photographs reveal  about the process of being checked in to the Tule Lake Camp in 1943?
• How might experiencing this process change your understanding of your relationship with the U.S. government?

The three photographs below show different elements of what living in Tule Lake was like. Notice the dates that the pictures were taken and look at the Timeline ( Appendix B ). Consider the transition of Tule Lake from a War Relocation Authority Camp to a Segregation Center.

• Tule Lake Fashion Show, 1942
• Soldiers of Tule Lake, 1943
• Police Officers of Tule Lake, 1943
• What did the photographer want you to see in these images?
• What can you learn about daily life in Tule Lake from these photographs?
• What do they tell us about the changes to the Tule Lake camp over time?

B. Analyzing Letters

In December of 1944, before the war was over, the War Relocation Authority announced that the incarceration would end and the camps would close within a year. There was much confusion in the camps about where the incarcerees would go and anxiety about the safety of people of Japanese ancestry once released. At Tule Lake, 7,222 Nisei and Kibei renounced their citizenship thinking it would be safer for their families to be in Japan, whereas only 128 from all the other WRA camps renounced. The effort to restore citizenship took 22 years in U.S. courts.

Read Tsugitada Kanamori’s written declaration , given under oath, that provides extended background information to support cancelling his renunciation and reinstating his U.S. citizenship. (U se the expansion button with arrows in the upper right corner of the image to see the entire document).

How many different places were Kanamori and his family incarcerated?

How does Kanamori explain the changes in his view of loyalty to country?

What political and social pressures can you identify that influenced this family’s journey?

What were the reasons why Kanamori renounced his American citizenship?

In this letter from Aiko Takaoka , sister of Yoshio Takaoka, she request news about her brother’s safety and a release from the Tule Lake Stockade (prison before the jail building was built) from the Camp Director, Raymond Best. 

What does Aiko's letter reveal about her family situation?

What information is Aiko providing to help her with her brother’s potential release?

What can you learn about Tule Lake camp policies and procedures from this letter?

What does Aiko express about loyalty in this letter?

After completing the lesson, have individual students, or groups of students working together, search and use archival materials in CSUJAD  t o participate in the following activities:

Assessment Option 1:

Students should research and create an investigative report to communicate to the American people news about what the conditions were like in the WRA camps during WWII. Use the CSUJAD online historical archive images, text, etc., to build and illustrate the story. They can then download and share the archival materials discovered to support their views and create a type of digital storyboard or narration using Google slides and speaker notes, MS Powerpoint, or other presentation tools.

Assessment Option 2:

Have your students write their official U.S. representatives, in Congress or the Senate, a letter expressing their views on the incarceration of people of Japanese descent during WWII. Have them pretend that it is 1943 after the loyalty questionnaire has been distributed and people in the camps are being drafted for military service. Encourage them to share actual quotes from the people who were in the WRA camps, use images, or any other archival information from the CSUJAD project. An illustrated letter can be created using Open Office, MS Word or other word processing tools.

Analyzing Primary Sources:

 If your students are still developing primary source analysis skills, Appendix E provides a tool, called the 6Cs of primary source analysis, to guide their analysis of any given archival object. When using the CSU Japanese American Digitization project to find archival materials to analyze, see also Appendix D, which provides a guide to assist with effective searching of the database.

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to write brief responses (1-2 paragraphs) or a longer essay (1-2 pages) about the following questions:

• What did loyalty mean to the people of Japanese ancestry incarcerated during WWII?
• Who was incarcerated in the U.S. during WWII? Discuss some of the different types of camps that were developed and/or the government agencies that ran them? What made Tule Lake in California different?

Have students search the CSUJAD online database of archival objects   to find primary sources that further illuminate the issues associated with the loyalty questionnaire and events/conditions at Tule Lake Segregation Center ( User Guide - Appendix D ). 

Search Terms and Topics:

• loyalty 
• application for leave clearance
• segregation
• farm truck accident
• martial law
• renunciation
• Wayne Collins
• leaving camp
• California State University Japanese American Digitization Project (CSUJAD)
• CSUJAD Online Exhibit
• CSUJAD Printable Illustrative Posters (also available in the Online Exhibit
• Discover Nikkei
• Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles
• Supreme Court of the United States case Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Materials & Media

Appendix a--background reading, appendix b--timeline, appendix c--types of camps, appendix d--guide to csujad, appendix e--analyzing primary sources, related on edsitement, asian american & pacific islander perspectives within humanities education, american diplomacy in world war ii, holocaust and resistance.

The long-lasting scars of Japanese American internment

• By Sam Ratner

Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Tsurutani and baby Bruce at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, in this 1943 handout photo. Executive Order 9066 authorized the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. 

This analysis was featured in Critical State, a weekly newsletter from The World and Inkstick Media.  Subscribe here .

In past weeks, Critical State looked into research on how conflict affects the future political behavior of combatants. Combatants, however, aren’t the only people who experience conflict — they’re not even the majority. For the next two weeks, Critical State takes a deep dive into new research on how the scars conflict leaves on regular civilians express themselves in post-conflict politics.

Related:   Life after combat: How relationships in wartime continue to shape society 

During World War II, the US forced some 120,000 Japanese Americans into concentration camps for the duration of the war. The government justified its policy with the absurd claim that people of Japanese ancestry would be somehow congenitally incapable of not acting as spies for Imperial Japan. As is so often the case with byzantine justifications provided for racist policies, that justification hid a much simpler reason for internment: The architects of the program hated Japanese people. At a time when the US war effort relied on racist depictions of Japanese people to rally domestic support for the war, the Roosevelt administration was happy to let the people who dreamed up Japanese internment to go ahead with their plans.

A new working paper from political scientists Mayya Komisarchik, Maya Sen, and Yamil Velez aims to measure how long the effects of their efforts persisted after the war ended. If the purpose of Japanese internment was to drive Japanese Americans from American public life, did the program succeed? And, more broadly, how long do effects linger when a state decides to target a particular minority group during wartime?

To get at those questions, Komisarchik et al. measured how people who experienced internment — and different levels of mistreatment while interned — engaged with politics in the years after the war. The researchers pulled data from a survey of Japanese Americans conducted between 1962 and 1968, when many who had been interned were still alive and might have been politically active. The survey asked respondents both where they lived during the war (which, for those who had been interned, let researchers differentiate between the camps the respondents had been confined in) and whether their immediate family had been interned during the war. It also measured how interested respondents were in politics, how often family members turned to them for political advice, and how much faith they had in the federal government. 

The topline result of their analysis is dramatic. Japanese Americans who were interned were significantly less likely to report interest in politics, even two decades after World War II, than those who were not interned and had no family members who were. Furthermore, for Japanese Americans who were not interned but did have family members sent to the camps, the depressing effect on political interest was even stronger. That is, in one sense, the racist project of Japanese internment succeeded: Japanese Americans who experienced it in their families were less engaged with American politics for long after they were released.

Delving further into the data, Komisarchik et al. found that experience during internment had a causal effect on future political beliefs. Not only were longer internments associated with stronger depressive effects on interest in politics, even through generations, but traumas experienced in the camps also lived on in the data. People who lived in camps where physical violence was common had both less interest in politics and less faith in government than even people who were interned in less volatile situations. Their children reported the same, even if the younger respondents had not been in the camps themselves.

The study highlights both the durability of conflict traumas and the effectiveness of state racism. When the state singles out particular populations for violence, the effects of that violence linger far after the state sheathes its sword. The idea that incidents of state violence can be hand-waved away as ancient history does not, as Komisarchik et al. demonstrate, stand up to close scrutiny. Instead, if state racism is not nipped in the bud, its effects can be long-lasting and costly to overcome.

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Collection Japanese-American Internment Camp Newspapers, 1942 to 1946

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News From the Camps: Journals/Diaries from Japanese Internees

Journals/diaries written by the students from the viewpoint of Japanese Americans sent to the internment camps during WWII that include multimedia and social media aspects. This is an individual activity that is researched based with technology aspects that uses primary and secondary resources.

It is necessary to provide students with a way to experience Japanese internment from a firsthand perspective but to also make it current and relative to their lives.

• Analyze primary and secondary resources depicting life during Japanese internment.
• Create journals/diaries that historically represent Japanese internment through multimedia and social media means.
• Understand the causes on internment and synthesize the impact on Japanese American society post WWII
• Missouri Course Level Expectations: 1A, 2A, 3aA, 3aK, 3aL, 3aW, 3aX, 3bM, 3bN, 6K, 6L, 6M, 6O, 7A, 7C
• Children of the Camps. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html . (Accessed July 15, 2015).
• Camp Conditions. Infoplease.com. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/internment1.html . (Accessed July 15, 2015).
• Library of Congress. http://www.Loc.gov . (Accessed July 15, 2015).
• Children of Minidoka. University of Washington. http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/aas372/ . (Accessed July 15, 2015).
• Society and Culture Collection. University of Washington. http://content.lib.washington.edu/socialweb/index.html . (Accessed July 15, 2015).
• Internment of San Francisco Japanese. San Francisco Museum. http://www.sfmuseum.org/war/evactxt.html . (Accessed July 15, 2015).
• Letter to Miss Evansson from Japanese internee. University of Washington. http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/Exhibit/children.html . (Accessed July 15, 2015).

Camp Harmony Exhibit. University of Washington. http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/Exhibit/ . (Accessed July 15, 2015). Truman Library online document set https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/online-collections/war-relocation-authority-and-incarceration-of-japanese-americans

• Students will be introduced to the topic of Japanese internment through lecture on WWII and various other classroom activities. Prior to introducing this activity we will review the material to make sure there is a basic understanding of the topic.
• Students will be introduced to the activity.
• The students are creating a journal or diary accounting of their time before, during and after internment. They can choose to come from any walk of life, any socio-economic status. They can choose to be from the west coast or Hawaii.
• Within the journal/diary they need to keep an accounting of their life prior to 1941, where they lived, how old they are, their family background, life post Pearl Harbor, the onset of internment, background on the camp they have been assigned to, the causes for the internment, life in the camp, the end of internment and resettlement. Must include historical accurate information.
• As part of the journal/diary experience they must also include sound recordings, pictures, drawings, maps, etc. The purpose is to make the experience interactive for the reader. They need to feel invested in the experience.
• Students need to include information on home, school, family, chores, food, and leisure activities as well as apprehensions, fears, hopes, lives, and desires.
• Each entry will be at least one page in length typed (1in margins, 1.5 spacing, New Times Roman font, 12 pt font) and consist of two interactive elements.
• The breakdown of entries per section is as follows:
• 1 entry pre 1941
• 1 entry post Pearl Harbor
• 2 entries at time of internment
• 2 entries after first 6 months up to the first year
• 2 entries at the end of internment
• 2 entries during resettlement
• Each entry will also be accompanied by an appropriate posting via social media. The students can create a tweet, facebook post, Instagram post, etc that would coincide with the entry they created for that day. Students are encouraged to be creative yet respectful to the topic when creating the posts.

Assessment is done periodically during the research and writing process through several methods including individual questioning, peer review, think pair share activities, and teacher observations. See scoring guide below.

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Memoirs of Japanese-Americans Incarcerated During World War II

By the late nineteenth century, the West Coast of the United States was home to thriving Japanese communities. After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred the immigration of Chinese workers, Japanese laborers were sought for many industries, including agriculture and fishing. By the early 1900s, numerous Japanese women had come to the United States to join their husbands and start families. Locally, two Japanese communities thrived: Little Tokyo, near downtown Los Angeles, and the fishing community on Terminal Island, known as Fish Harbor. Rafu Shimpo, the oldest Japanese language newspaper in the United States, began publishing in 1903. Temples and churches were built, and a Japanese American Chamber of Commerce was established.

Everything changed for Japanese Americans on December 7, 1941, when Japanese aircraft attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Japanese Americans quickly fell under suspicion, regarded as spies or saboteurs. Their loyalty was questioned, regardless of citizenship. On February 19, 1942, Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ordered the removal and incarceration of West Coast residents of Japanese descent.

A civilian organization called the War Relocation Authority quickly established a network of Assembly Centers and Relocation Centers. Families were given six days to put their belongings in storage and report to an assembly center, bringing only what they could carry. Assembly centers were often on racetracks or fairgrounds. Families would live in converted horse stalls or in fairground halls.

Families would eventually be assigned to a relocation center, where they lived for several years. These were effectively prison camps where families would share barracks. Kitchens and latrines were communal. Relocation centers were also like small towns, with post offices, schools, and worksites for adults. Often there was space for livestock and crops. These camps tended to be in isolated, barren areas with freezing winters and hot summers. The prison camps were surrounded by barbed wire and watched over by guards in towers. One of the most famous relocation centers is Manzanar, about 200 miles north of Los Angeles. Today, it is a historic site managed by the National Park Service.

Over 100,000 Japanese Americans, most of them American citizens were sent to relocation centers far from home, where they were forced to live in difficult, uncomfortable conditions. Family pets had to be left behind. Numerous children spent several of their formative years in camps surrounded by barbed wire. Families lost their homes, their businesses, and most of their belongings. The last of the relocation centers did not close until March 1946.

Following the evacuation of the Japanese, the Los Angeles neighborhood of Little Tokyo was empty. African Americans began moving into Little Tokyo, trying to avoid segregation laws that restricted where they could live and establish businesses. Little Tokyo became known as Bronzeville. New businesses included jazz clubs, bars, and restaurants. After the war, African Americans moved out and, over time, Little Tokyo thrived again as a vibrant Japanese community.

It is essential that we continue to remember the experience of Japanese Americans during World War II. Sadly, very few people who lived through this ordeal are still alive to tell their stories. The Little Tokyo Historical Society and the Japanese American National Museum are two local institutions that preserve and honor the Japanese American experience of World War II. The History Department at the Los Angeles Public Library Central Library has an extensive collection of books about the Japanese American Internment, including personal memoirs and pictorial works. The following titles are representative of the History Department’s broad and evolving collection.

Published in 1946, Citizen 13660 is one of the earliest and one of the most famous first-person accounts of life in the internment camps. It is also one of the first examples of what is now known as a graphic novel. In this book, Mine documents her family’s experiences in relocation centers in California and Utah. 13660 is the identification number assigned to her family. Okubo’s drawings illustrate the conditions in the camps, including spiders and mice in the barracks, the lack of hot water in laundry centers, and the lack of privacy in the latrines.

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Mary lived her early life in a Japanese island community just north of Tacoma, Washington. She was seventeen years old when her family was assigned the number 19788 and removed from their community. They lived in several relocation centers in California, Wyoming, and Idaho. She describes her fear when she arrived at a relocation center and saw that the barbed wire was facing inward. They were not being sent to camps for their protection, as they had been told. They were prisoners.

First published in 1973, Farewell to Manzanar has become a classic work, widely taught in schools. Jeanne was seven when her family was ordered to close their fishing business and leave their Long Beach home with only what they could carry. She writes of attempts at normalcy in Manzanar, including dances and a dance band, and sports teams. She also describes the lack of space and privacy. Her father struggled with drinking. He was arrested and sent to a prison camp in North Dakota for a year before rejoining the family at Manzanar. After three years in Manzanar, the Wakatsuki family returned to Long Beach and lived in public housing. Wakatsuki Houston was inspired to write her memoir when she returned to Manzanar with her husband in 1972.

Yoshika Uchida was born in Alameda, California and raised in Berkeley. During her senior year at U.C. Berkeley, her family was sent to the assembly center at the Tanforan Racetrack, just south of San Francisco. They lived in converted horse stables for several months before being sent to the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah. Like Manzanar, Topaz was hot in the summer and bitterly cold in the winter. Housing was hastily constructed and inadequate. Latrines were shared and lacked basic privacy features, such as stall dividers. Yoshiko’s experience there shaped her future. In 1971, she wrote a children’s novel called Journey to Topaz, based largely on her experience there. She went on to write numerous children’s books based on the Japanese American experience.

Lily was born in Los Angeles. When she was ten years old, her family was sent first to the Santa Anita assembly center and then to the Amache Relocation Center in Colorado. Her memoir of her time in the camp includes water colors, family photos, and drawings. She writes of the difficulty of approaching adolescence in the camp, and of her conflicting emotions over her identity as an American of Japanese descent. Her memories include a birthday celebration featuring a cake made of crackers, peanut butter and jam.

Seiichi Higashide brings a unique perspective to his memoir. He was born in Japan and emigrated to Peru in 1931. At the outbreak of World War II, he and other Latin American Japanese were deported to the United States. He was held at the Immigration and Naturalization facility in Texas for over two years. After the war, he became an American citizen and was active in the movement seeking reparations for Japanese American internees.

Saito wrote this book for his nieces and nephews, so that they would know what their family had experienced during World War II. He was eight years old when his family had to carry their belongings to a storage facility. They were put on a train headed from their hometown of San Jose to the Santa Anita Assembly Center near Los Angeles. The family, assigned the number 32418, lived in horse stall barracks and slept on mattresses filled with straw. His relatives were eventually split up. He and his immediate family were sent to Heart Mountain, Wyoming. He speaks of the freezing conditions and having to eat standing up in the mess hall. Families from California were not equipped for the Wyoming climate. He states: “We are locked away by the Federal government, who think we may be spies for a foreign country that most of us have no ties with.”

The Federal government hired photographers to document the process of Japanese Americans being moved from their homes to internment camps. Among these photographers was the noted photojournalist and photographer, Dorothea Lange. Ansel Adams, perhaps best known for his images of Yosemite, obtained permission to photograph inside Manzanar. He later stated that his Manzanar photos were his most important work. This book collects 170 poignant black and white images taken before, during, and after the relocation of Japanese Americans. Lange photographed families in front of their homes and on their farms shortly before they would be forced to leave, highlighting all that was left behind. Numerous photos show the conditions in the camps and document daily life, including weddings and funerals.

Manbo and his family were forced to leave their Hollywood home and were eventually sent to the relocation center in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. He used his Kodak camera to take rare color photographs of life inside the camps. Many of these photographs show normal daily life: parades, sports events, and children playing. The guard towers and the barbed wire are reminders that the subjects of these photographs were prisoners.

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57 Concentration Camp Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on concentration camp, 👍 good concentration camp research topics & essay examples, 🎓 most interesting concentration camp research titles, 💡 simple concentration camp essay ideas.

• Discussion of Morality in Auschwitz
• Father-Son Bond in Eliezer’s Journey
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• The Internment of Japanese Americans
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• Japanese Internment in the United States Camp’s “Landscapes of Japanese American internment” investigates the existing researches to find the link between archaeological evidence and events that occurred in prison camps.
• Analysis of Japanese-American Internment Japanese-American internment is a significant problem in the 21st century as it questions the credibility of the democracy and values of equity in the USA.
• Holocaust and Moral Objectivism: “Surviving Auschwitz” “Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah” by WSGVU is a documentary that follows two Holocaust survivors as they visit their hometown and concentration camps.
• World War II: Internment of the Japanese Americans President Roosevelt at the peak of World War II authorized the internment of Japanese citizens living in the United States.
• “Fighting Auschwitz” by Josef Garlinski The book “Fighting Auschwitz”, written by the former member of Armija Krajova. The present paper is aimed at analyzing the book from the sociological perspective.
• Japanese Internment Camps in American History The term “Japanese internment camps” refers to the ten centers created to incarcerate many Japanese Americans in 1942.
• Trauma of Internment for the Nikkei Family in No-No Boy John Okada’s No-No Boy recounts the story of challenging cultural identity of a Japanese American young man named Ichiro.
• Evolving Perspectives on Japanese Internment The themes of literature on Japanese internment changed with time. They were often informed by historical factors such as the Japanese economic boom of the 1980s.
• James Deem’s Auschwitz: Voices from the Death Camp The goal of James Deem’s book Auschwitz: Voices from the Death Camp is to draw the reader’s attention to the problem of the Holocaust and realities of living in Auschwitz
• “The Evolving Father-Son Relationship in Elie Wiesel’s “”Night””” Night illustrates the life of Elie Wiesel and his father in the Nazi concentration camps during the World War II. In the concentration camps, they underwent through cruel and brutal situations.
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These essay examples and topics on Concentration Camp were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on September 24, 2024 .

World War Two Presentation Project - Japanese Internment Camps in the USA

Description

This project-based group activity is great for getting students to collaborate and improve their research skills. The assignment comes ready to implement with directions, a list of camps for students to choose from, a self-grading rubric, and eleven trusted websites for research.

Students will present their findings to the class at the end of the project.

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