[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by godfry n. glad

To start it off, I've lifted the following from the Fallon and Hopwood piece on interment camps:

Fallon & Hopwood

At the time of Pearl Harbor, there were approximately 127,000 persons of Japanese descent living in the United States. Almost 60 percent of the adults among them were Japanese nationals, enemy aliens by law. The remaining 40 percent of the adults were American by birth, but they were also citizens of Japan by choice (dual citizenship). Many had spent the formative years of their youth and received their education in Japan.

Does anybody else see anything wrong with this?

It seems to me that they have relegated 100% of all persons of Japanese decent living in the US at the time of Pearl Harbor to two categories: Foreign nationals and native born Americans who were also citizens of Japan by choice. It provides no room for those of Japanese decent who were naturalized (were there none?), and those of American birth who did not choose to be citizens of Japan. Believe me, there were a great deal of both interred. Recruiting for military service from camp internees, many members who served with distinction during the war belies this statement. Another thing which seems to be ignored, is that despite all the wonderful propaganda about student scholarships to attend university (can you imagine attending university as a Japanese-American during that war?), the internees were placed in camps with barbed wire on top of the fences surrounding them, guard towers with guns stationed along the fence, and the guns pointed inwards. When these people, whatever their nation of birth or citizenship, were interned, they were told to gather up what they could carry and report to cattle calls at local detention sites within days. As such, all the property they owned became fair game for the unscrupulous; homes, farms, orchards, businesses, all to often fell prey to racist predators. These people, American citizens most of them, were robbed of their material lives.

Thanks for the links on the German and Italian national detainees. I have yet to run into information on the internment of Americans of German descent, second or third generation German-Americans. Perhaps if I read further?

Then, as per your statement about German-Americans being interred, we have a problem with definition between and betwixt the two major groups interned. For the purposes of the Japanese internment, anybody of Japanese ancestry, whether they remained as resident aliens, or were naturalized, or even born in the US, both adults and children, were considered as "Japanese" and interred.

Yet, as indicated in this missive from Major Jacobs, a major researcher of the "German-American detainees", at this site states:

"It may not be clear to you, thus I will try to make it clear. Permanent resident aliens residing in the United States, and who are here under a United States Passport, are, in fact, Americans; and in the instance of German permanent resident aliens they are German Americans. To be sure they are not U.S. citizens, but they are Americans, and those interned in the U.S. during World War II, were, in fact, German Americans. And for the record even adult American citizens of German heritage were arrested and interned in the United States.

Sincerely,
Arthur D. Jacobs
Major, USAF Retired"

Thus, in the case of the Japanese, if they were unnaturalized resident aliens, they were, prima facie, enemy aliens. Yet, Major Jacobs would make unnaturalized German resident aliens "German-Americans," (as was his father).

So, which is it?