A three page Immigration and Naturalization Service list of civilian enemy aliens of German ethnicity in custody on Ellis Island, New York Harbor, New York on 29 February 1944. (A few internees of Italian and Japanese ethnicity are included.) NARA, RG 59, State Dept, Special War Problems Division, Entry A1 1357, Subject Files, 1939-1955, Box 190, […]
Following are short lists of internees of German ethnicity held in a variety of internment situations around the country during 1944. The lists include name, sex, age, alien registration number, occupation, country in which they were picked up, and in some cases, next of kin with address. 29 Feb 1944 lists of internees held at […]
Published May 24, 2017, “Camp of the Innocents” is a documentary film about the Camp Algiers Alien Detention Station in Louisiana (near New Orleans), the Latin American civilians housed there, and the WW II Enemy Alien Control Program. Produced by Jack Collins, Joe Hiller, and Mira Kohl, this film was made as part of the course […]
Ft. Lincoln, Bismarck, North Dakota, the largest WW II internment camp for men in the U.S., housed more than 4000 civilians, mostly of German and Japanese ethnicity, during the war, closing its doors in 1946. This 30 June 1945 census of German Americans and Latin Americans at the camp, gives their names, places of birth, […]
During WWII, internment camps in the U.S. were visited periodically by neutral representatives, usually from the International Red Cross, or from Switzerland, acting for German interests, or Spain, overseeing Japanese interests. These representatives were generally accompanied by a State Department official, since a number of internees were from Latin America, imprisoned by the State Department’s Special War Problems Division. These Seagoville, Texas […]
On October 24-25, 1945, Ft. Lincoln was inspected by Dr. Rudolph Fischer, Swiss Legation representative, and Van Arsdale Turner, Department of State. Activated in 1942 as an internment camp for civilians of Japanese ethnicity, it later became exclusively a camp for German American and Latin American civilians until February 1945. At the time of this report, the facilities […]
In 1942, the facilities of Seagoville, formerly a prison, were converted into an internment facility to hold German, Japanese and Italian U.S. resident and Latin American internees. Although it was intended to serve primarily as a facility for families in which both adults had been interned, many families were held there en route to the other […]
During the early months of World War II, many internees were sent to the prison in Stringtown, Oklahoma, operated by the U.S. Army. The prison started accepting internees on March 30, 1942. Located four miles north of Stringtown, the camp was previously a sub-prison, established in 1933, to relieve overcrowding at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. […]
Three Stringtown, Oklahoma, Alien Internment Camp inspection reports are now online. The first, written by Max Habicht, representing the Swiss Legation in charge of German interests, and Whitney Young, Department of State, described a visit from 25-28 June 1942, shortly after the facility opened. They were highly critical. “The appearance and atmosphere of this camp are […]
On 26 July 1943, Captain Antonio R. Martin, Spanish Vice-Consul at San Francisco, CA, James E. Henderson, representing the Department of State, and A. S. Hudson, Acting District Director of Immigration and Naturalization, San Francisco, CA, visited Sharp Park, CA Alien Detention Camp for an inspection of the facilities. Their findings are summarized here, including a typical […]