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?
Stringtown, OK internment camp rosters and inspection reports now available
31 Aug 1942, 30 Sept 1942, and 1 Dec 1942 rosters of Stringtown internees are now available online, as well as two inspection reports. The first report, dated 25-28 June 1942, was highly critical of the facility and the care inmates were receiving. By 21-23 September,...
Seagoville, TX internment camp inspection reports
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...
Inspection report for Ft. Lincoln, Bismarck, ND, 1945
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...
Seagoville, Texas internment camp census—1943
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...
Ft. Meade guard tower. Image from sketch by German internee Paul Lameyer, courtesy of his grandson, Randy Houser.
History
