Lost River Camps

What are your thoughts regarding American internment camps in the 1940s?

Keep in mind that hindsight is always 20/20, but I've heard that many german POWs were hardly treated like prisoners at all; some living virtually free, while Japanese families were interned in camps and lost all their belongings. Was this based on racism, or just a paranoia about invasion? What are your thoughts?

Public Comments

1. BOTH racism and paranoia.
2. It was based on Paranoia. The populace at that time was doing what ever it took to stay out of the war. It was called Isolationism. When the attack on Pearl Harbor took place, they were forced into a war that they did not want to be in. It was over reaction born out of paranoia.
3. i would say both
4. I couldn't agree more with the posters so far. One of the truly shameful chapters in our history. Completely unjustified, and completely uncompensated.
5. I believe this was racism pure and simple. These people were American citizens and had done nothing wrong. They lost their homes, cars, all their possessions, their freedom, and in some cases their families and/or their lives. I feel it's no less shameful than the concentration camps. When I think about this it makes me cry; because I see some of the same mistakes being made today. It reminds me of Martin Niemoeller's poem: "First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
6. Yet another serious question from heshoots. Great question, I'm going to star this. I've been thinking about this q. and wondering how I should answer this. It hits me deep and reminds me of how difficult life was for American-Japanese living in the US. Yes, many Japanese families had their homes, property, businesses, everything they owned taken away and thrown onto the streets. They were treated inhumanely and shoved into concentration camps, 20, 30, or more to a small 1 room place to live. Lined up and fenced in so they couldn't escape. They were treated like animals, their loyalties questioned because of the color of their hair, eyes, skin, and last name. Even those who were born on US soil were taken away forcefully. It was an ugly part of history that my friends' grandparents and some great-grandparents (who are still alive) recall all too clearly and with tears. Not enough is taught about the ugliness of these camps. Yet look at the 442 regimen..... American Japanese men sent to fight, no one thought they'd be successful. Google Senator Daniel Inouye......his history, his family, his story, he's a 442. He never forgets. Started off as paranoia and then became a racist issue. Till this day some harbor these ill feelings toward Japanese.