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subsequent removal of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 Japanese and
Japanese Americans, officially described as "persons of Japanese ancestry", 62% of whom were United States citizens, from the west coast of the United Statesduring World War II to hastily constructed housing facilities called War Relocation Camps in remote portions of the nation's interior. The government of the United States officially apologized for this action in the 1980s and paid reparations.
Similar internments occurred across Canada as well. (See Japanese Canadians.)
Ever since this subject became a topic of historical inquiry, there have been individuals and organizations who have argued that the suspicions against ethnic Japanese which led to Executive Order 9066 were indeed justified and who seek to rebut some Japanese American accounts of hardship during the evacuation and in the camps. Members of the American Legion and war veterans who fought in the Pacific theater are the most vocal proponents of this viewpoint. Another defender of the policy is journalist Michelle Malkin, who authored a 2004 book entitled In Defense of Internment : The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror, although she has faced heavy criticism alleging logical leaps and failure to consider some historical evidence. [1]
Among academics, the broad historical consensus is that the camps were indeed a product of wartime hysteria and racism rather than arising from legitimate fears of sabotage. Moreover, many Japanese Americans consider the efforts to justify the wartime actions to be highly offensive, on a par with Holocaust denial among Jews.
Most historical references describe the camps as internmentThe word internment is generally used to refer to the imprisonment or confinement of people without due process of law and a trial. It also refers to the practice of neutral countries in time of war to hold belligerent armed forces and equipment which ent camps, although others favor the name relocation camps. Others, more critical of this action, refer to them as detention camps or concentration camps.
Those who believe relocation is a more appropriate term argue that (1) the official designation at the time was relocation center; (2) the camps were not, strictly speaking, prisons; and (3) an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 camp residents did eventually settle outside the exclusion area.
However, many others argue that the phrase relocation camp is a euphemism that does not adequately describe the true nature of the camps. And some assert that because the camps meet some dictionary definitions of concentration camp, this term is appropriate; however, the use of this loadedA language construct, such as a word or a question, is said to be loaded if it carries meaning or implications beyond its strict definition (its denotation). Loaded words are words or phrases which have strong emotional overtones or connotations and which term should not be construed to mean they were on the same severity as Nazi Germany's KonzentrationslagerThe German word Konzentrationslager (abbreviated KZ is a literal translation of the English term, concentration camp. Like in English, a Konzentrationslager is per definition to distinguish from refugee camps, from detention camps for POWs, and from campss or Britain's South African camps during the Boer WarThere were two Boer wars one in 1880- 81 and the second from October 11, 1899- 1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch origin (called Boere, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South Africa that put an end to the two independent republics that.
Most historians use the now-standard term internment camp because it is perceived as relatively neutral.
Whatever name is used, the perimeters of the camps were fenced, armed guards were posted, and all of the camps were in remote, desolate areas far from any population centers. There are documented instances of internees being shot for walking outside the fences. However, some camp administrations eventually allowed relatively free movement outside the marked boundaries of the camps. Nearly a quarter of the internees left the camps to live and work elsewhere in the United States, outside the exclusion zone. Eventually, some were authorized to return to their hometowns in the exclusion zone under supervision of a sponsoring white family or agency.
One of the camps, Tule Lake , was in fact later turned into a prison camp, with watchtowers, fences, and guards. Tule Lake was reserved for those Japanese who were specifically suspected of espionage, treason, or other such disloyalty, and their families. Other families were held at Tule Lake because they requested to be "repatriated" to Japan. A number of pro-Japan demonstrations were held there throughout the war.
Also, many other things besides both internment and relocation are involved, among them: individual and group exclusion from "military" zones, deportation, illegal detainment, de-naturalization, alien enemy registration requirements, curfews, travel restrictions, and property confiscation (including seizures, freezing, bond seizure, and restrictions) for those of foreign birth and/or of "enemy" ancestry.
The individual exclusion zones were particularly onerous, as they were personally targeted, and very swift - allowing very little time to relocate. Government agents continued to follow the excludees they couldn't convict of crimes and warn potential new employers, police, and people of their new towns on how "dangerous" they were.
For example in Korematsu's case the Japanese population had 5 days from May 3, 1942 until 12 noon, May 8 (or 9th) to leave their hometown according to General DeWitt's Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34.
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