Website visitors searching for more information about the U.S. internment programs of WW II will be interested in our numerous lists of internees, especially it they are wondering whether their family members were interned and if so, where. Besides offering help requesting records from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the German American Internee Coalition collected these lists of names, because other information in them can be useful in tracking down more files. Here are the lists, all in one place.
Internment Camp Lists
Crystal City, Texas
1944 Crystal City, Texas Camp Census (German American and Latin American prisoners plus one Italian family from Honduras)
1945 Crystal City, Texas Camp Census (German American and Latin American prisoners)
Crystal City, Texas Internment Camp List of Births—courtesy Anita O’Brien, whose parents Johann and Hilda Schmeelk, had a daughter, Evelyn, while interned there
Crystal City, Texas Internment Camp List of Deaths—courtesy of Werner Ulrich, a former internee, from information provided by Carmen Sanchez Diaz and Jose F. Cazares, residents of Crystal City, Texas.
Ellis Island, New York Harbor, New York
29 February 1944 Ellis Island, NY three page 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, folder “E. Boston and Ellis Island, 2/28/44.”
Fort Lincoln, Bismarck, North Dakota
30 June 1945 census of German Americans and Latin Americans in Ft. Lincoln, Bismarck, North Dakota, the largest WW II internment camp for men in the U.S., gives names, places of birth, names and addresses of next of kin, as well as alien registration numbers. More than four hundred and sixty-four men are listed. NARA, RG 59, State Dept, Special War Problems Division, Entry A1 1357, Subject Files, 1939-1955, Box 190, folder “Fort Lincoln, ND.”
Fort Sam Houston, Texas
May 1942 list of internees held at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Although the report mentions prisoners of war as well as internees, all men are identified with internment serial numbers, indicating they were civilian internees. Fort Sam Houston report begins on page 15. NARA RG 389, Prov Marsh, Alien Enemy Info Bur, Rec of Alien Civ Int WWII, Box 3, Kenedy (courtesy of Martin Huwart, with independent researcher Satu Haase-Webb)
Kenedy, Texas
31 Oct 1942 Camp Kenedy census (courtesy of Martin Huwart, with independent researcher Satu Haase-Webb)
Seagoville, Texas
1 Jan 1943 list of Seagoville, Texas internees NARA, RG 59, State Dept, Special War Problems Division, Entry A1 1352, Inspection Reports, 1942-1946, Box 21, folder “Seagoville ’42-’43.”
Stringtown, Oklahoma
Stringtown, Oklahoma rosters: 31 Aug 1942, 30 Sept 1942, and 1 Dec 1942. All were found in NARA, RG59, State Dept, Special War Problems Division, Entry A1 1352, Inspection Reports, 1942-1946, Box 21, folder “Stringtown ’42”
Miscellaneous Internment Facilities
29 Feb 1944 lists of internees held at East Boston Immigration Station, Boston, Massachusetts, Sharp Park Detention Camp, Sharp Park, California, House of Good Shepherd, Chicago, Illinois, Seattle, Washington, San Pedro Detention Station, San Pedro, California, Alien Detention Station, New Orleans, Algiers, Louisiana, and Detroit Immigration Station, Detroit, Michigan. Includes some Japanese internees. NARA, RG 59, State Dept, Special War Problems Division, Entry A1 1357, Subject Files, 1939-1955, Box 190, folder “E. Boston and Ellis Island, 2/28/44.”
31 Dec 1944 list of internees held in the Immigration Detention Station, Detroit, Michigan; United States Public Health Service Hospital, Lexington, Kentucky; Sharp Park Detention Camp, San Francisco, California; and Agnew State Hospital, Agnew, California. Includes a few Italian, Roumanian, Hungarian, and Japanese. NARA, RG 59, State Dept, Special War Problems Division, Entry A1 1357, Subject Files, 1939-1955, Box 190, folder “miscellaneous.”
Latin American Lists
Black Lists (Proclaimed Lists) provided by internee families—Columbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador
German Nationals Deported by the Other American Republics Who Were Deported Via the United States, 25 April 1946 25 Apr 1946, folder 711.5, Ecuador: Quito Embassy Confidential File, Box 35, RG 84, NA — Lists 3317 individuals, mostly in family groups, sent to Europe to be exchanged for individuals being held in Germany. Dates and ships used are listed on the last page.
“German Nationals Repatriated from South and Central America” and “German Nationals Repatriated Direct from South and Central America” Records of the Special War Problems Division: Subject Files, 1939-1954; Entry A1 1357, Boxes 116 and 120, NA — Lists 1813 individuals deported directly to Europe from Latin America. Partial list of dates and ships used is on last page.
Roster of Internees; Internees (German) Picked Up in Central America During 1943; Records Relating to German Civilian Internees During World War II, 1941-1946; entry A1 466J; Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General, RG 389, NA.
Copy of signatures of 117 Guatemalan deportees, 1942. From S.S. Drottningholm, a Swedish ship used in exchanges of Latin American civilians to Germany — Los alemanes en Guatemala, 1828-1944, by Regina Wagner, Guatemala, 1996.
6 June 1942 list of twenty Germans from Guatemala transferred from the SS Florida to Camp Blanding and on to the Alien Detention Camp Kenedy.
The Proclaimed List of Certain Blocked Nationals: July 17, 1941. Contains Presidential Proclamation 2497 authorizing a Proclaimed List and includes information for the press. Found on Fraser Federal Reserve Archive website.
The Proclaimed List of Certain Blocked Nationals: Revision II, May 12, 1942. United States Printing Office, Washington, 1942. Found on Fraser Federal Reserve Archive website. (The list begins on page 3.)
FBI Lists of Internees in Transit from Camps to Repatriation Vessels
Feb 1944 Agents’ lists of Kenedy, Texas internees to be repatriated on the Gripsholm, anchored in Jersey City, New Jersey (courtesy of Martin Huwart, with independent researcher Satu Haase-Webb)
Feb 1944 Agents’ lists of diplomats and Crystal City, Texas internees to be repatriated on the Gripsholm, anchored in Jersey City, New Jersey (courtesy of Martin Huwart, with independent researcher Satu Haase-Webb)
Partial passenger lists for the third repatriation voyage of the Drottningholm, July 15, 1942, as well the itinerary and a list of the country where each passenger from Latin America lived. (courtesy Stephen and Shelby Concepcion.)
Partial lists of prisoners and the camps in which they were held. From “Drottningholm – Third Voyage – Extra Lists (Sailed) [2 Folders]” (courtesy Stephen and Shelby Concepcion.)
“Drottningholm to Gothenburg [2 Folders]” details the plans of federal agents to pick up prisoners at the various camps and transport them to Jersey City for embarkation and internee exchange on the third voyage of the Drottningholm. (partial lists of passengers included) (courtesy Stephen and Shelby Concepcion.)
Partial List of ship manifests bringing prisoners to the U.S.
SS Ernest Hinds, January 1942, docked in New Orleans, Louisiana
SS Etolin, April 1942, docked in California
SS Florida, April 1942, docked in New Orleans, Louisiana
SS Atlantida, June 1942, docked in New Orleans, Louisiana (note written comments in column 12)
USAT Evangeline, June 1942, docked in Tampa, Florida (two of six pages)
USAT John T. Clem, June 1942, docked in New Orleans, Louisiana
SS Florida, July 1942, docked in New Orleans, Louisiana
USAT Cuba, October 1942, docked in New Orleans, Louisiana (pgs. 5, 6–Note line 2: Leo Friedman; line 5: Eric Joseph; and line 6: Leo Keiles, are listed as Jewish)
USAT Puebla, February 1943, docked in San Pedro, California
USAT Cuba, November 1943, docked in New Orleans, Louisiana
USAT Colonel Frederick C. Johnson, October 1944, docked in New Orleans, Louisiana