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Schools Behind Barbed Wire: the Untold Story of Wartime Internment and the Children of Arrested Enemy Aliens
Riley, Karen L. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield. 2002. Often overlooked in the infamous history of U.S. internment during World War II is the plight of internee children. Drawn from personal interviews and multiple primary source materials, Schools behind Barbed...
“Train to Crystal City” wins award
On April 17, 2016, "The Train To Crystal City", written by Jan Jarboe Russell, won the prize for best non-fiction book of the year at the Texas Institute of Letters banquet. There were 40 entries this year so the competition was steep.
Pilgrims of War: a Love Story
Veno, Carl A. Pilgrims of War: a Love Story. Fedeli Publishing Inc., 2011. (a novel) Beautiful Italian doctor Magdalena Russo is headed to a medical conference when the ship she’s on is seized at the Panama Canal. World War II is raging, and the passengers aboard the...
Recollections of Internment and Repatriation
The Missouri Humanities Council a tax-exempt, non-profit organization affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities, published the internment and repatriation recollections of Arthur D. Jacobs, Major, USAF Retired, in Volume 3, No. 1: January 25, 2006.
Interview with Karen Ebel, President of the German American Internee Coalition
Karen Ebel, President of the German American Internee Coalition and daughter of a former internee, is interviewed by Arndt Peltner of Radio Goethe, on April 16, 2009. Interview
Interview with John Christgau, Author of “Enemies”
John Christgau, the author of Enemies: World War II Alien Internment, is interviewed by Arndt Peltner of Radio Goethe, in November 2009. Interview
GAIC On-line
Welcome to the new GAIC website! We've added new material and redesigned the site to make navigation easier. Take a look around, and then feel free to contact us with comments or concerns.
WW II History of Fort Meade
In two recent articles, the Baltimore Sun described the role Fort Meade, Maryland played as an internment facility during WW II, as well as the switch over to housing prisoners of war in 1943.
Crystal City Family Internment Camp on Facebook
Werner Ulrich, a former Crystal City, Texas internee, recently started a Facebook page where former internees and interested viewers can discuss internment and share photographs and memories. Check it out!
WW II Enemy Aliens—State of Wisconsin Collection of Letters and Reports
An on-line collection of letters concerning enemy aliens of German ethnicity, by internees themselves, as well as official reports on individuals and internment facilities.
Commemorating Crystal City: The Transnational Dimension of German American Internment Experiences
Commemorating Crystal City: The Transnational Dimension of German American Internment Experiences was published on-line in the American Studies Journal, number 59, (2015). Author and historian Ingrid Gessner is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University...
Report on traveling conditions of group of German citizens from Costa Rica, 22 Feb 1943
Report on traveling conditions of group of German citizens from Costa Rica, 22 Feb 1943: from folder 383.7, Camp Crystal City, NARA (exact location is being investigated) — Mention is made of “Negro members of the ship’s personnel” on page 2; that description was not...
Wartime Treatment Study Act—HR 1425 and S 564
Home Events History Internment Camps Real People Resources ContactTo prevent possible future erosion of our civil liberties, the German American Internee Coalition believes the federal government must fully review and acknowledge its wartime civil liberties...
Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park Hosts Enemy Alien Program Presentations
Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, hosted three programs in the Fall of 2015 dealing with the Enemy Alien Control Program of WW II and its impact on civilian families. On September 12, "The WW II Enemy Alien Program and...
Friends of Texas Historical Commission Receive NPS Grant
In June 2015, Friends of the Texas Historical Commission received $16,000 from the National Park Service, which administers the Japanese Confinement Sites Grant Program. They will research and document a fading mural that was painted by an internee in the former...
Tuna Canyon Coalition Receives NPS Grant
In June 2015, the San Fernando Valley Japanese Community Center, Pacoima, California, and the Community Center's Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition received $102,190. from the National Park Service, which administers grants from the Japanese Confinement Sites...
Montevideo Resolution 21 May 1943
The Emergency Advisory Committee for Political Defense, meeting in Montevideo, adopts U.S. Department of Justice/State Department resolutions to allow U.S. to provide detention accommodations and shipping expenses for Latin Axis nationals to the U.S., a process...
1947 U.S. State Department, Immigration & Naturalization letter to Crystal City, TX internee
This 1947 letter to an internee held at Crystal City, TX, offers a thirty day parole from the Camp to prepare to depart the United States.
Department of Justice, 1942 Regulations for Enemy Aliens
Department of Justice, 1942 Regulations for Enemy Aliens A booklet with cover letter, lists “conduct to be observed by alien enemies.” (courtesy of an internee family)
White to Lafoon memo, 30 Jan 1946
30 Jan 1946 Memorandum in "Statistics," Box 70, Special War Problems Division, RG 59, NA — numbers/ethnicities of Latin Americans brought to the U.S. and countries from which they came
Nov 1945 U. S. State Department memo to Latin American countries
This U.S. State Department memorandum requests that Latin American countries with citizens or residents being held as enemy aliens in the United States, let U.S. officials know whether they want to resume responsibility for these individuals, or allow the U.S. to...