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?
Presidential Proclamation No. 2685 — Removal of Alien Enemies
April 10, 1946 By the President of the United States of America A ProclamationWhereas sections 4067 and 4068 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (50 U.S.C. 21 and 22) make provision relative to the restraint and removal from the United States of alien...
Presidential Proclamation No. 2662 — Removal of Alien Enemies
September 8, 1945 By the President of the United States of America A ProclamationWhereas section 4067 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (50 U.S.C. 21) makes provision relative to the restraint and removal from the United States of alien enemies in the...
Presidential Proclamation No. 2655 — Removal of Alien Enemies
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 any invasion or predatory incursion...
Executive Order 9142 Transferring Certain Functions, Property, and Personnel from the Department of Justice to the Alien Enemy Custodian
April 21, 1942 By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, and in particular by Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941, approved December 18, 1941 (Public Law No. 354, 77th...
Ft. Meade guard tower. Image from sketch by German internee Paul Lameyer, courtesy of his grandson, Randy Houser.
History
