The Japanese American Internment Camps during World War II

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Following the Executive Order 9066 the Executive Order 9102 was signed. This authorized the creation of the War Relocation Authority, or the WRA. It was a federal agency that was responsible for the running of the ten large camps that held that held anyone of Japanese heritage on the West coast.

Civilian Assembly Centers were temporary camps. They were built to hold the people being relocated until the permanent ones were finished being built. The American Government decided it was too dangerous for the people to be there because of debris and dust created by construction. They were often located at horse race tracks and stables, fairgrounds, and warehouses.

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Many Relocation Centers became Detention Camps. Thesewere for people who were believed to be security risks. They also served as “segregation centers,” for people and their family who had been deemed disloyal. From here they would be sent back to Japan and never be able to come to American again.

There were two types of housing in the Internment Camps: horse stables or tar covered barracks. The only difference was the smell. If you stayed in a horse stable it smelled like horses and hay. If you stayed in the tar covered barracks it smelled like hot asphalt. Imagine a dark room with no windows the size of your bathroom. The only furniture you have is a small bed per family member. Since there are no windows, your only light comes from a single light bulb that hangs from the ceiling. The belonging you could carry in your hands was all put into a tiny closet and you have no running water or heat. However, the people in the camps were lucky enough to have shelter and food.

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For the prisoners the bathrooms took some getting used to. A family didn’t have a bathroom to themselves or even just have to sharewith the family next door. Over three hundred people shared the public toilets and showers. You often had to wait in very long lines and the bathrooms were not the cleanest. The showers only had warm water and never hot. Often the warm water ran out and you had to shower in cold. Even having a cold shower was much better than no shower.

On January 2, 1945, both the Executive Orders were made illegal. The Japanese Americans that began to leave the camps to restart their lives at home. The camps did stay open for those who were not yet ready to return home. Anyone who had been held at the camps was given $25 and a train ticket to the home they had once been forced to leave. After feeling like outcast to the American society many of the prisoners emigrated to Japan for a fresh start. The last camp was closed in 1946. Now, many of the sites, like Manzanar, where the camps had once been are historical sights, and you are able to visit them.

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There had been a report by General Dewitt and Colonel Bendetson about Japanese Americans. The report depicting racist bias against Japanese Americans was circulated and then obscured in 1943 and 1944. The report said that, because of their race, it was impossible to determine the loyalty of Japanese Americans and because of this internment was a necessity. The original report was so offensive that the Colonel ordered that all copies be destroyed. In 1980, the original copies were located in the National Archives. Although the Colonel thought all were gone these copies were the real thing. The courts found that the government intentionally withheld these reports and other critical evidence, at trials held all the way up to the Supreme Court. The files would have proved that Japanese Americans internment was not in fact a military necessity. The Department of Justice officials wrote this during the time of war, “willful historical inaccuracies and intentional falsehoods.”

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In 1992, the Civil Liberties Act Amendments of 1992 gave an additional $400 million to ensure all remaining internees received their $20,000 reparation payments. This was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush, who also issued another formal apology from the U.S. government.