Schmitz, John E. Enemies Among Us: the Relocation, Internment & Repatriation of German, Italian & Japanese Americans During the Second World War. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2021.
In Enemies among Us John E. Schmitz examines the causes, conditions, and consequences of America’s selective relocation and internment of its own citizens and enemy aliens, as well as the effects of internment on those who experienced it. Looking at German, Italian, and Japanese Americans, Schmitz analyzes the similarities in the U.S. government’s procedures for those they perceived to be domestic and hemispheric threats, revealing the consistencies in the government’s treatment of these groups, regardless of race.
Reframing wartime relocation and internment through a broader chronological perspective and considering policies in the wider Western Hemisphere, Enemies among Us provides new conclusions as to why the United States relocated, interned, and repatriated both aliens and citizens considered enemies. Dr. Schmitz is the son of former internee John Schmitz.