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.
In February 2017 we became concerned by the then President and his administration’s actions regarding immigrants. Our concerns have deepened. On March 15, 2025, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, stating that an “invasion” by a Venezuelan gang made it necessary. This allowed the administration to treat some immigrants as alien enemies, stripping them of their rights, rounding them up and deporting them to El Salvador. The Alien Enemies Act, designed for wartime use against foreign adversaries, has no place in modern immigration policy. It is time for it’s repeal. Read our statement of condemnation.
What’s New?
UnCivil Liberties: Italian Americans Under Siege during World War II
Fox, Stephen. UnCivil Liberties: Italian Americans Under Siege during World War II. Universal Publishers, 2000. (revised and updated edition of The Unknown Internment: An Oral History of the Relocation of Italian Americans during World War II. Twayne Publishers,...
America’s Invisible Gulag: A Biography of German American Internment & Exclusion in World War II: Memory & History
Fox, Stephen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc, 2000. One of the least-known aspects of World War II is the internment of German "enemy aliens" in the United States. This narrative goes beyond other internment studies in its use of internee interviews and access...
Homeland Insecurity — Aliens, Citizens, and the Challenge to American Civil Liberties in World War II
Fox, Stephen. Homeland Insecurity -- Aliens, Citizens, and the Challenge to American Civil Liberties in World War II. iUniverse, 2009. Set in World War II, but with an eye to the present and future, Homeland Insecurity offers a unique, thematic commentary on the...
The Deportation of Latin American Germans, 1941-47: Fresh Legs for Mr. Monroe’s Doctrine
Fox, Steven. The Deportation of Latin American Germans, 1941-47: Fresh Legs for Mr. Monroe’s Doctrine, Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 32, 1997. Commencing with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the State Department aided a dozen Latin American republics...
Ft. Meade guard tower. Image from sketch by German internee Paul Lameyer, courtesy of his grandson, Randy Houser.
History
