 To hear that the United States had even
a form of Concentration Camp during World War II may seem unimaginable. While the camps in the
United States were not killing centers, and while the conditions though far from tolerable were
not comparable to the Nazi Concentration Camps, there were in the United States during WWII, what
the US Government termed "detainment" Camps. Only one of these Camps housed Jewish People : Oswego
New York. As debates raged in Congress over whether to allow any Jewish immigration, even to save
lives during the Shoah (the US turned away even the St. Louis) the most
during the war ever formally accepted were the over 900 residents of what became the "Safe Haven" camp
in Oswego, NY, in upstate New York bordering on the Great Lakes. While the conditions were not excellent,
and the detainees could not leave, the children from Safe Haven attended public schools, and after the war
were assimilated into the US. Wartime in any country often brings the "detainment" of groups of people who are thought to be dangerous to a nation at war. Civil Liberties violations are often rampant during such a time, but those rights are often balanced by the need to keep the population at whole safe from disorder, terrorism and espionage which would threaten the country. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, a number of detainment camps were established in the West, and thousands upon thousands of Japanese and other oriental families were arrested and interred, often having businesses, homes and other property illegally confiscated. The Japanese detainment remains very controversial even as reparations for losses are still sought at the turn of the Millenium. The reasoning of the Government and those who argued for the detainment was that since the Japanese turned violently on the US, the Japanese communities in the US stood the greatest chance of harboring persons dangerous to the US. Part of this was sheer prejudice, assuming that racial characteristics and cultural membership predisposed treasonous behavior. Part of the argument was reasonable: the Japanese community was the most likely source of illegal entry into the country of those deemed enemies of the state. In any event, the processing, deportation and detainment of American Citizens of Japanese descent was not only controversial but involved a suspension of Civil Rights, for much of the interment was done without hearings, trials or other due process, and the confiscation of property of those who had done no harm and its failed return should be alarming to anyone valuing living in a free society. |