Alfred and Susan Schmidt married in Germany in 1932, moved to the U.S. the following year, eventually working their way to Honolulu. In 1940, he and his wife became naturalized American citizens, changing their name to Smith. Their experiences with internment at various Hawaiian and mainland camps are summarized in this article, written by Louis Fiset, who has collected postal history of non-combatants during wartime for many years. “World War II Internment of a German-American Couple in Hawaii” appeared originally in the June 2012, American Philatelist. It is reproduced here by permission of the author.
Dr. Fiset has written extensively; in his book, Detained, Interned, Incarcerated: U.S. Enemy Noncombatant Mail in World War II, he wrote about the Latin American deportees, martial law in Hawaii, and the Justice Department and War Department camps. He also wrote “Medical Care for Interned Enemy Aliens: A Role for the US Public Health Service in World War II,” published in a 2003 American Journal of Public Health and “Return to Sender: U.S. Censorship of Enemy Alien Mail in World War II.” (National Archives, Prologue Magazine, Spring 2001, Vol. 33, No. 1)