Heidi Gurcke Donald, a former internee from Costa Rica, reads an excerpt about her family’s experiences from her memoir, “We Were Not the Enemy.”
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“Untrue and Unjust Accusations”1 As told by John Heitmann, Ph.D — Son History and past memories, especially recent past memories, were rarely topics of family conversation when I was growing up during the 1950s and 1960s. World War II, in particular, was off limits for discussion, and might as well have taken place in the […]
The Neupert Family Story My father and mother, George Neupert and Emma Hoechner Neupert, were both born in Germany. My father and his sister emigrated to the United States in 1928, and my dad brought my mother over the following year. My parents were married in June, 1931, and I was born on October 10, […]
Karen Ebel is a non-practicing attorney in New Hampshire and the daughter of former German American internee, Max Ebel.
The Reseneder Family Internment Story My mother, Charlotte Reseneder Dimmling, her sister, Othilia “Tilly” Reseneder Busse and my grandparents were interned in Crystal City from 1942 until December 1945, seven months after the war in Europe ended. How they got there and why they were there is truly an amazing, but yet sad, story. Both […]
On the 8th of November, 2002, my brother (Egon Scheibe Jr.) and I (Erika Scheibe Seus) went on a journey to Crystal City, Texas. This was a journey we needed to make. Our parents, Grete Scheibe, now 89, and our deceased father Egon Sr. were internees at a camp there during World War II. After […]
We have all read about the mass relocation of about 120,000 Japanese from the west coast shortly after Pearl Harbor to various camps in the interior and about 10,000 to internment camps. However little is known about the selective internment of about 12,000 German and a number of Italians who were also considered dangerous […]
A Mother Interned, A Family Left Behind Gertrude Anna Schneider, an interned German immigrant Paul Schneider, an excluded naturalized German America citizen As told to eldest daughter, Vilma Schneider Ralston in March 1983 Gertrude Anna Schneider, began life in Backnang, Germany (near Stuttgart) on September 25, 1908….first child of Johann and Luise Grokenberger. Her first […]
The Voester Family Story As told by Kurt Voester (son) Being a German “enemy alien” at the beginning of WW II was not a desirable position to be in. Here is the story of what happened to a San Francisco family in which the immigrant German parents were long time residents but not citizens of […]
Presidential Proclamation — Removal of Alien Enemies — No. 2655 July 14, 1945 WHEREAS it is provided by Section 21 of Title 50 of the United States Code [11 F. C. A., tit. 50, § 21] as follows: “Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or […]