About Us
The German American Internee Coalition (“GAIC”) was formed in 2005 by and for German American and Latin American citizens and legal residents who were interned by the United States during World War II. We are former internees, or their families and friends. We come from all walks of life and from countries around the world. We would like you to know our story. GAIC is a nonprofit corporation registered with the New Hampshire Department of Charitable Trusts.
Our Mission Statement & Goals
GAIC is dedicated to making public the little known United States World War II policies that led to internment, repatriation and exchange of civilians of German ethnicity, both in the United States and Latin America.
- We will educate the general public about the U.S. government’s detention and internment of over 11,000 German American and Latin American citizens and residents during World War II.
- We will reach out to former internees, their families and supporters. We will gather their stories, share information, and support their efforts to make their stories known.
- We will seek full U.S. government review and acknowledgment of the civil rights violations endured by the German American and Latin American communities.
- We will work collaboratively with other internee groups who have similar purposes. As we work toward these goals, we also hope that our efforts result in better protection of the civil liberties of future vulnerable ethnic groups.
The German American Internee Coalition formed in 2005 to educate the public about our experiences, after United States officials declared U.S. and Latin American civilians of German background “enemy aliens” during WWII.
Feared collectively because of our German ethnicity, our civil liberties were abused by the U.S. government. Similar indiscriminate presumptions should not be made today. Ethnicity, religion, nationality or appearance is not enough to declare whole groups of people unwelcome in the United States. February 2017
What’s New?
Analyzing Trump’s Plan to Invoke the Alien Enemies Act
On December 10, 2024, the Brennan Center for Justice hosted "Analyzing Trump's Plan to Invoke the Alien Enemies Act," an hour-long discussion about the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, its use in WWII, and its possible use in the Trump administration. Speakers were...
Recent German Radio Programs about WWII Internment
Two German reporters based in the U.S. recently had new reports about WWII German American internment on German radio. San Francisco-based Christoph Droesser’s report, “Unter Naziverdacht: Deutsche Internierte in den USA im Zweiten Weltkrieg,” was followed by "Angst...
Clean Repeal of Alien Enemies Act?
In mid-October, the Brennan Center at New York University School of Law issued The Alien Enemies Act: Unjust, Unnecessary, and Unconsititutional, a report decrying the continued existence of the Alien Enemies Act and calling for its repeal. Katherine Ebright, who...
In Our Midst, a Novel about Internment
Drawing upon a long-suppressed episode in American history, when thousands of German immigrants were rounded up and interned following the attack on Pearl Harbor, In Our Midst follows one family, the Austs, as they struggle to stay together in a new America—one...
Ft. Meade guard tower. Image from sketch by German internee Paul Lameyer, courtesy of his grandson, Randy Houser.
History
