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For Enemy Alien Curriculum Guide, please click here.

Recommended Reading on German, Japanese & Italian Americans and Latin Americans in World War II

Calvo Gamboa, Carlos. Costa Rica en la Segunda Guerra Mundial (1939-1945). San José, Costa Rica: Editorial Universidad Estatal A Distancia, 1985.

Christgau, John. Enemies—WW II Alien Internment. Iowa State University Press, 1985, iUniverse.com, 2001. (reprint)

Contag, Kimberly and James Grabowska. Where Clouds Meet the Water. Inkwater Press, 2004.

DiStasi, Lawrence, ed. Una Storia Segreta: the Secret history of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II. Heyday Books, Berkeley, California, 2001.

Donald, Heidi Gurcke. We Were Not the Enemy: Remembering the United States’ Latin-American Civilian Internment Program of World War II. iUniverse.com, 2006. (a family memoir)

Emmerson, John K. The Japanese Thread: A Life in the U.S. Foreign Service. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978. (section on Peru and internment/deportation program-focus is Japanese, but Germans in Peru had similar experiences)

Fox, Stephen, UnCivil Liberties: Italian Americans Under Siege during World War II. Universal Publishers, 2000. (revised and updated edition of The Unknown Internment: An Oral History of the Relocation of Italian Americans during World War II. Twayne Publishers, Boston, 1990.)

__. Fear Itself, Inside the FBI Roundup of German Americans during World War II. iUniverse, Inc., 2005. (revised and updated edition of America’s Invisible Gulag: A Biography of German American Internment & Exclusion in WWII. Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 2000.)

__. “The Deportation of Latin American Germans, 1941-47: Fresh Legs for Mr. Monroe’s Doctrine,” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 32, 1997.

Friedman, Max Paul. Nazis and Good Neighbors: The US Campaign Against Germans in Latin America during World War II. Cambridge University Press 2003.

__. “Specter of a Nazi Threat: United States-Columbian Relations, 1939-1945.” The Americas (April 2000).

__. “Private Memory, Public Record, and Contested Terrain: Weighing Oral Testimony in the Deportation of Germans from Latin America During World War II,” Oral History Review 27/1 (Winter/Spring 2000).

Gardiner, C. Harvey. Pawns in a Triangle of Hate. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981.

Holian, Timothy J. The German Americans and WWII: An Ethnic Experience. Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 1998.

Irvine, Patricia. Sing to Me, Papa. Xlibris Corporation, 2000. (historical fiction)

Jacobs, Arthur D. The Prison Called Hohenasperg, An American Boy Betrayed by his Government during World War II. uPublish.com, 1999.

Kashima, Tetsuden. Judgment without Trial: Japanese American Imprisonment during World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003. (German and Italian programs also mentioned)

Krammer, Arnold. Undue Process, The Untold Story of America's German Alien Internees. Rowman & Littlefield, New York, 1997.

Krauter, Anneliese Weigand. From the Heart’s Closet--A Young Girl’s World War II Story. Schatzi Press McCordsville, IN 2005.

Luick-Thrams. Michael and staff, VANISHED: German American Internment, 1941-48, (TRACES manual, issued to accompany St. Paul exhibit) TRACES. org 2005.

Potter, Ursula Vogt. The Misplaced American. 1stbooks Library (now Authorhouse), 2003. (a family memoir)

Mangione, Jerre G. An Ethnic at Large; A Memoir of America in the Thirties and Forties. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1978. (visited internment camps and staff)

Rout, Jr., Leslie B. and John F. Bratzel. The Shadow War: German Espionage and United States Counterespionage in Latin America during World War II. (University Publications of America, Inc., Maryland, 1986), 28.)

Schmitz, John Eric. Democracy Under Stress: The Internment of German-Americans in World War II, Master’s thesis, North Carolina State University, 1993. (John Eric Schmitz is the son of former internee, John Schmitz.)

Schmitz, John Eric. Enemies Among Us: The Relocation and Repatriation of German, Italian and Japanese Americans During the Second World War, The American University, 2007, Ph.D. dissertation # 3273603, available through ProQuest, 300 North Zeeb Road, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor Michigan, 48106-1346, or 1-800-521-0600 ext 7044 (order desk). (John Eric Schmitz is the son of former internee, John Schmitz.)

Tischauser, Leslie V. The Burden of Ethnicity: The German Question in Chicago, 1914-1941. Garland Publishing, New York, 1990. (out of print)

Tolzmann, Don H., ed. German-Americans in the World Wars. München: K.G. Saur.
The World War Two Experience: The Internment of German-Americans, vol. 4, 1995.

Wagner, Regina. Los alemanes en Guatemala, 1828-1944 (The Germans
in Guatemala, 1828-1944), Guatemala 1996

Wolter/Masters, Loyalty on Trial: One American’s Battle With the F.B.I., iUniverse 2004



Websites

http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/enemy-aliens-overview.html National Archives and Records Administration website

www.johnchristgau.com/enemies/enemies.html Author and German internment researcher John Christgau’s website

www.traces.org TRACES.org website

www.fear-itself.com Author and German internment researcher Stephen Fox’s website

www.foitimes.com Author and German internment researcher Major Arthur D. Jacobs’ website

www.allout.co.uk/ram/crystalcity.ram BBC Radio 4’s audio link to Lost Voices of Crystal City, an award-winning
documentary on German American and Latin American World War II internment

www.campaignforjusticejla.org/history/index.html Campaign for Justice – Japanese Latin American Site

www.germanworldalliance.org German World Alliance

www.segreta.org/  Una Storia Segreta -- Italian American website

www.teachers-resources.ca Teacher's Resources

www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1448029 American Journal of Public Health article on "Medical Care for Interned Enemy Aliens: A Role for the US Public Health Service in World War II" by Louis Fiset, DDS, BA

uitclib.utsa.edu University of Texas, San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures. (Type Crystal City or Camp Kenedy or Seagoville into search box to see historic photographs of these camps.)

Glossary of Terms Used on Website

Alien Any person who is not a citizen of the country he or she lives in or visits.

Alien Enemy See below Enemy Alien.

Alien Enemies Act In 1798, the US government passed the Alien Enemies and Sedition Acts. The Sedition Act was eventually overturned, but the Alien Enemies Act (“AEA”) was recodified in 1918 and is part of the US war and national defense statutes. (50 USC 21-24). The AEA provides that the President, pursuant to proclamation, may deem all aliens of a “hostile nation” within the United States alien enemies and determine the manner in which they may be “apprehended, restrained, secured and removed.” (50 USC 21). Presidential Proclamations issued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in December 1941 deemed persons of German, Japanese and Italian ancestry alien enemies and severely restricted their rights. Related Laws

Citizen A person regarded as a member of a sovereign state due to birth or naturalization, entitled to its protection and subject to its laws.

Civil Liberties Rights of the individual from unwarranted government interference, usually guaranteed and protected by a constitution or by adherence to an international treaty. The Bill of Rights, as part of the U.S. Constitution, guarantees the right to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceable assembly, the right to petition the government for redress of grievances, and the right to privacy.

Civil Rights Rights guaranteed to an individual owing to his or her status as a citizen or resident of a particular country or community. Civil rights of U.S. citizens and residents protected by the U.S. Constitution include the right to equal protection without regard to race, color, previous condition of servitude, sex or national origin; the right of women to vote; and prohibition against poll tax and indentured servitude. Civil rights laws have been passed making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, handicap, or national origin. Discrimination that interferes with voting rights and equality of opportunity in education, employment, and housing is unlawful.

Constitutional Rights Rights of the individual guaranteed in a national constitution which defines and establishes government in society and basic principles to which society is to conform. In the U.S., included are the civil liberties and civil rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution (described above) and the right to due process of law (e.g., the right to legal counsel, right of protection against illegal government detention [writ of habeas corpus], right to trial by jury, and prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures and against torture or cruel and unusual punishment).

Department of Justice In simple terms, the Department of Justice is a part of the United States executive branch responsible for the administration of justice. During World War II, it was delegated plenary authority over alien enemies pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act and oversaw their treatment, including internment.

Deportation The forced removal of a person from a country.

Detention A period of temporary custody prior to disposition by legal authorities to more permanent confinement, parole or release. Pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act, during World War II, many “enemy aliens” were held in temporary detention for months, if not years, in local jails, INS facilities, internment camps.

Enemy Alien Used interchangeably with Alien Enemy. A government classification pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act for a citizen of a country with which the United States is at war or which threatens invasion. Such a person may be an immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for many years, or a student, tourist, diplomat, or someone here temporarily on business.

Evacuation The process of moving people from a place (e.g., homes and communities), especially for protection (e.g., from dangers such as hurricanes). Euphemism used by the U.S. government during WWII to refer to the forced removal of German, Italian and Japanese “enemy aliens” from designated coastal and military prohibited zones--not to protect them from danger, but because they were under suspicion due to their ethnicity.

Exchange of civilian prisoners As war escalated in Europe and the Far East in the late 1930s, the U.S. government began to make preparations for the repatriation of U.S. citizens from those war zones. The U.S. civilian prisoner exchange plan included forced removal, indefinite internment, and deportation. From May 1942 – 1945, over 4800 “enemy aliens” and their U.S. or Latin American born children were exchanged for U.S. citizens and Latin American citizens held in Germany.

Exclusion Prohibiting a person or group from entering places permitted to others.

Exclusion zones Restricted military areas (approximately one-third of the U.S.) from which all U.S. citizens and “enemy aliens” of Japanese ancestry as well as German and Italian “enemy aliens” (and often with their families) were excluded. Some U.S. citizens of German and Italian ancestry were also excluded on an individual basis. The designation of these military areas and subsequent exclusions were authorized under Executive Order 9066.

Illegal Alien An alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa. During WWII, all persons of German, Italian and Japanese ancestry who were taken from Latin America and brought to the US for internment were classified as “illegal aliens.” Additionally, German and Italian seamen removed from impounded ships and remaining in the US were deemed “illegal aliens,” and interned although until their internment they were considered to be in the US legally.

Immigrant A person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.

Immigration and Naturalization Service A division of the Department of Justice responsible for aliens

Incarceration Confinement or the state of being in prison.

Internee A person interned pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act.

Internment Confinement of the citizen of an “enemy” country during times of war pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act. Some “enemy aliens” were interned in the U.S. until 1949, years after the end of World War II.

Internment Camps These camps were established by the US government to intern persons of German, Japanese and Italian ancestry pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act. They were generally operated by either the Army or the Immigration and Naturalization Service for the Department of Justice. Internment Camps.

Naturalization The legal process by which aliens become citizens. In the U.S., they must meet eligibility requirements, file an application, submit to investigations, pass an examination and take an oath renouncing previous allegiances and upholding the U.S. Constitution. Dual citizenship was not permitted before or during World War II.

POW / Prisoner of War An enemy soldier captured during war. During World War II, even though “enemy aliens” were civilians and not soldiers, many were for a time kept in separate compounds in prisoner of war camps run by the U.S. Army.

Prohibited zones Areas designated by the Department of Justice, in cooperation with the War Department, from which all German, Italian and Japanese “enemy aliens” were banned during World War II. The mass evacuation of “enemy aliens” was authorized during World War II under the Alien Enemies Act and related Presidential Proclamations issued by FDR with respect to Japanese, German and Italian aliens in the US and its territories.

Relocation Act of changing residence or place of business. During World War II, the U.S. government “relocated” US citizens and aliens of Japanese ancestry, forcing their removal and ultimate incarceration in War Relocation Authority camps pursuant to Executive Order 9066. Thousands of German, Italian and Japanese enemy aliens were also relocated from Prohibited Zones pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act.

Repatriation Returning people to their country of birth, origin or citizenship. During WWII, thousands of Japanese, Germans and Italians were repatriated with their American-born or Latin American-born children and exchanged for U.S. and Latin American citizens held in Japan and Germany.

Temporary Detention Facilities. Holding facilities in which persons of Japanese, German and Italian decent were held “temporarily” following arrest and until their internment orders were issued by the Attorney General or they were paroled or released. Ellis Island also served as a “temporary detention facility” for years after the cessation of hostilities during World War II housing interned alien enemies pending their deportation pursuant to Presidential Proclamations 2655 and 2685.


Internment E-Group

If you are interesting in joining our online egroup for persons interested in German American and Latin American internment, you may do so by sending an email to the following address GermanAmerican-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and typing SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. To join, you will be requested to establish a Yahoo ID, but may use your own email address. If you do not establish a Yahoo ID, you cannot access the homepage, but will still be able to post and receive egroup messages. The moderated egroup is private and for members only. It is not searchable via web search engines. You may unsubscribe at any time. You will not receive spam or other unsolicited emails by joining this egroup.
You may visit also visit the homepage at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GermanAmerican/, but you cannot access the information links on the page unless you are a member.

Obtaining an Internee ’s Internment Records
For many, the decision to request family internment records is a difficult one. You are not sure what you will get or if you will like what you read. The decision is an individual one, and the GAIC generally encourages document acquisition. If you do obtain internment records, a word of caution. When reading through the records, you must remember that the US government was making a case for internment and much information was cast in the worst light possible to support the internment decision. You know your own family member. As hard as these files can be to read sometimes, believe in the person you know and love, not the theories of FBI agents and the US government.

Most of the internment-related files generated by the Department of Justice, the FBI, the INS, the War Department and the Department of State have now been transferred to the US National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”). Generally speaking, these are public documents. Unlike the early days, these documents are no longer classified, and you will receive records that have not been redacted (that is, the names will not be blacked out). However, NARA does seek to protect the privacy of those still living and will usually require a Freedom of Information Act request, UNLESS you have the death certificate of the internee family member. If you have the internee’s death certificate, you may request the internment documents by mailing in copies of the certificate, along with a request letter with as much information as you have. Important facts which are helpful, but not necessary are: the internee’s Alien Registration and Internment Serial Numbers, Link to Internment Serial Numbers below the estimated dates of internment, where the original arrest occurred and the camps in which the internee was held. Once the NARA archivist has found your records, you will receive a “Quotation for Reproduction Services” and be advised of the number of pages, the price per page to copy (currently 25 cents/page) and the cost of shipping. After you advise the archivist that you want your records, they are copied and mailed to you. Processing time varies depending on the backlog at NARA, but 2-3 months is average. Of course, you may also go directly to NARA and request your records in person.

At this date, the following individuals should be able to help you with your request, but any employment situation is subject to change. You are welcome to contact them directly before writing to request an internee’s files. In some cases, a letter with the death certificate has not even been required, especially if the internee in question is obviously dead due to their prospective age.

Suggested contacts:

Civilian Records, NARA Textual Archives Services Division
William J. Walsh, Archivist
8601 Adelphi Road, Room 2600
College Park MD 20704-6001
Phone # (301) 713.7230 FAX #301-837-1919.

Modern Military Records, Textual Archives Services Division
Kenneth D. Schlessinger, Archivist
#(301) 837-2957 OR
kenneth.schlessinger@arch2.nara.gov

Old Military and Civil records, Textual Archives Services Division
William Robert Ellis, Archivist
robert.ellis@arch2.nara.gov

There are some specific records that you can ask for. For those of you from Latin America, be sure to relay the country from which your family member was taken. The Records of the Special War Problems Division are specifically about Latin America, referenced by country.

If your family were sent to Germany, there are photographs of repatriation activities and the SS Gripsholm, 1943-1944 available through Records of the Office of Controls-Special War Problems Division. There are also photographs showing Camp Kenedy, “a reception and holding center” for many of the enemy aliens shipped to the United States from Latin America.

If you discover any of this information is now incorrect, please contact us at info@gaic.info so we may update our site.

Internment Serial Numbers —Identifying World War II Internees

When people were arrested and interned, the government agency that did the arrests issued each of them an Internment Serial Number. While the system used for identification was similar, slight variants helped identify the prisoners’ ethnicity and origins. Below are some examples.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) arrested civilian internees from the continental U.S. For example, a number like ISN-18-6-G-19-CI has the following components:

  • ISN - Internment Serial Number
  • 18 - immigration district from which internee originally came (Seattle in this case)
  • 6 - the number of the state the internee comes from, alphabetically arranged, with Alabama #1, etc.
  • G - ethnicity of internee, in this case German (J - Japanese I - Italian)
  • 19 - the consecutive internee number assigned by the INS in each district
  • CI - civilian internee


Internees arrested by the War Department outside of the continental U.S., but in its possessions or territories, had similar serial numbers, except for one additional letter, at the beginning of the second section.
For example: ISN-HG-12-CI

  • HG - the first letter indicated where the internee came from; the second his ethnicity.
    A - Alaska H - Hawaii P - the Philippines

An X was added at the beginning of the second section, when an internee was taken from a foreign country.
For example: ISN-XG-21-CI

  • X=arrest outside of U.S.

Information from Kashima, Tetsuden. Judgment without Trial: Japanese American Imprisonment during World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003, 260, note 39.

World War II Political Posters and Cartoons
A variety of political posters and cartoons were used by the US government to convey its message about the enemy. Political Posters. To view political cartoons of the famous children’s author, Dr. Seuss, click here
ENEMY ALIEN CURRICULUM GUIDE AND LESSON PLANS
In 2001, a unique collaboration among the Japanese, German, and Italian communities produced the highly acclaimed photo-exhibit "The Enemy Alien Files: Hidden Stories of World War II" (EAF). Over the past four years, that EAF exhibit has traveled to dozens of locations, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Washington, presenting for the first time in dramatic format a photo-narrative history of the World War II Alien Enemy Control Program. Part of the funding for the exhibit was through the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program. Now, the scholars and advisors behind the EAF exhibit have created educational material which can be used by schools, universities, museums, libraries, and community organizations as stand-alone educational material, or in conjunction with the appearance of the "Enemy Alien Files" photo-exhibit.

Seventeen Lesson Plans focused on the World War II Alien Enemy Control Program are included in this online curriculum guide. Those Lesson Plan can be accessed below. The online Table of Contents describes each of the Lesson Plans, each of which can be accessed by clicking on the related Lesson Plan link.

Issues are covered in the Lesson Plans from the perspective of German, Japanese and Italian ''enemy aliens." They include: profiling, property and travel restrictions, exclusion, removal, relocation, arrest, detention, internment, and deportation. All curriculum material addresses the California Department of Education's "History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, Standard 11.7.5," which states in part: "Discuss the constitutional issues and impact of events on the U.S. home front [during World War II], including the internment of Japanese Americans, and the restrictions on German and Italian resident aliens."

Each Lesson Plan identifies the central topic, the appropriate class level/s, the amount of class time involved, the classroom required materials, and classroom activities. Each Lesson Plan also provides directions for where specific background reading material can be found, online or as part of the Lesson Plan, for downloading, duplication, and class distribution. All classroom activities require development of skills in interpretation, analysis, writing, speaking, and reading. Testing and review strategies for the historical materials covered in each Lesson Plan should be appropriate to the age and skill levels of students, and those testing/review procedures are left to the discretion of teachers.

Included with the Lesson Plans are three twenty-five to thirty-five minute scripts intended for classroom reading and dramatization. Each script is based on Alien Enemy Control Program documents and focuses in part on the experiences of a young German, Japanese, or Italian alien. We intend that those scripts, either performed in class by students, or performed for students by actors in a formal theater setting, will serve as a stimulating invitation to teachers and students for a classroom study of the World War II Alien Enemy Control Program.

CURRICULUM GUIDE
The following Instructions to Teachers, Lesson Plan Table of Contents and Lesson Plans are available in pdf format by clicking on the related, highlighted document title.

INSTRUCTIONS TO TEACHERS

LESSON PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS

LESSON PLANS

Lesson Plan One -- The World War II Alien Enemy Program: An Overview

Lesson Plan Two -- Evacuation from Prohibited Zones

Lesson Plan Three -- Alien Enemies Act and Due Process

Lesson Plan Four -- Alien Enemy Hearing Boards: Due Process or Kangaroo Courts

Lesson Plan Five -- Research, Poetry and Japanese Enemy Aliens

Lesson Plan Six -- Martial Law in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor

Lesson Plan Seven -- The Arrest, Deportation, Internment and Repatriation of German, Italian and Japanese Latin Americans during World War II

Lesson Plan Eight -- Exploring US Motives Behind World War II Imprisonment and Deportation of German, Japanese and Italian Latin Americans

Lesson Plan Nine -- Lista Negra--Black Lists

Lesson Plan Ten -- Raids and Arrests of Alien Enemies

Lesson Plan Eleven -- The Eiserloh Story

Lesson Plan Twelve -- Forgotten Children

Lesson Plan Thirteen -- The Christmas Train to Ft. Lincoln

Lesson Plan Fourteen -- The Myth of Voluntary Internment

Lesson Plan Fifteen -- ZIP (Use Script One below in conjunction with this Lesson Plan)

Lesson Plan Sixteen -- The White Line (Use Script Two below in conjunction with this Lesson Plan)

Lesson Plan Seventeen -- The Master Tailor's Wife (Use Script Three below in conjunction with this Lesson Plan)

SCRIPTS of ONE-ACT PLAYS

Script One -- ZIP by John Christgau (use in conjunction with Lesson Plan Fifteen above)

Script Two -- The White Line by John Christgau (Use in conjunction with Lesson Plan Sixteen above)

Script Three -- The Master Tailor's Wife by John Christgau (Use in conjunction with Lesson Plan Seventeen above)