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?
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...
Ft. Meade guard tower. Image from sketch by German internee Paul Lameyer, courtesy of his grandson, Randy Houser.
History
