Japanese Concentration Camps in America

After Pearl Harbor in 1941, American citizens became fearful that the Japanese would attack America. This was shown in everyday life: American citizens with Japanese ancestry were treated like an enemy, ignored and feared, even though they didn't do anything. FDR signed the executive order 9066 in February 1942. It said that every American citizen could be removed and replaced for their own protection. Very soon people found out that "everyone" were only people with Japanese background.

In the weeks after the order was signed, the military relocated over 110 000 Japanese Americans and put them in "relocation centers" aka prison camps. They had to leave everything they owned behind. They sold their houses and shops and packed as much furniture as possible to take with them. But they lost everything. A lot of these people were born in the States and legal citizens and most of them were loyal to the US.They showed it by volunteering for the war in Japan. Many of them never returned home, because they believed to do the right thing, but the Military just used them. When they came home and expected to be treated like war heroes, they soon discovered that the opposite was occurring.

There were no legal charges ever filed against the imprisoned people and no evidence of subversion was ever found. Most of these American citizen were forced to sell everything they owned: houses, businesses and most of their belongings.

The Japanese American Citizen League fought for justice in a lot of cases. In 1965; Congress gave $38 million for their purpose. A lot of Japanese Americans went to court, but the court rejected them with the argument, that these camps were a basis of “military necessity”.

In 1978, Ronald Reagan signed a bill promising $20 000 for every Japanese American in the camps who are still living. For imprisoned people who had already died, the family got nothing. But these checks were sent in 1990 with an apologetic letter from President George Bush senior. That shows how much the country cares for its history.