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?
The Society for Historical Archaeology Features Three Presentations on Internment Camps
A conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology held in Seattle, WA during January 7-10, 2015, had three different presentations about WW II internment camps. "Dark Shadows of the Homefront: Crystal City and Internment During World War II," by Carroll J....
Former Internees See First Screening of “Children of Internment” in Hollywood
Former internees, families, and friends converged at the Grauman Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on January 27, 2014, to see the first screening of the documentary, Children of Internment, by Kristina Wagner and Joe Crump. The documentary examines the Alien...
Crystal City Family Internment Camp Placed on National Register of Historic Places
On August 1, 2014, the Crystal City Family Internment Camp, which housed thousands of internees of German and Japanese ethnicity from 1942-1948, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, thanks to the efforts of William McWhorter, Program Coordinator,...
NPS Study Honouliuli
National Park Service News Release Release Date: May 22, 2014 Contacts: PaulDePrey, Superintendent, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, (808)266-0826 Barbara Butler, Study Lead, (415) 623-2311 Draft Special Resource Study Identifies Honouliuli...
Ft. Meade guard tower. Image from sketch by German internee Paul Lameyer, courtesy of his grandson, Randy Houser.
History
