German American Internment refers to the detention of people of German ancestry in the United States during World War I and World War II.

[edit] World War I

President Woodrow Wilson issued two sets of regulations on April 6, 1917, and November 16, 1917, imposing restrictions on German-born male residents of the United States over the age of 14. Some 250,000 people in that category were required to register at their local post office, to carry their registration card at all times, and to report any change of address or employment. The same regulations and registration requirements were imposed on females on April 18, 1918.^[1] Some 6,300 such aliens were arrested. Thousands were interrogated and investigated. A total of 2,048 were incarcerated for the remainder of the war in designated two camps, Fort Douglas, Utah, for those west of the Mississippi and Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, for those east of the Mississippi.^[2]

The cases of these aliens, whether being considered for internment or under internment, were managed by the Enemy Alien Registration Section of the Department of Justice, headed beginning in December 1917 by J. Edgar Hoover, then not yet 23 years old.^[3]

Among the notable internees were the geneticist Richard Goldschmidt and 29 players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.^[4] Their music director, Karl Muck, spent more than a year at Fort Oglethorpe, as did the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Ernst Kunwald.^[5]

Most internees were paroled on the orders of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer in June 1919.^[6] Some remained in custody until as late as March and April 1920.^[7]

[edit] World War II

Locations of internment camps for German enemy aliens

Under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the United States government detained and interned over 11,000 Germans and German Americans at the start of World War II. In many cases, the families of the internees were allowed to remain together at internment camps in the U.S. In other cases, families were separated. Limited due process was allowed for those arrested and detained.

The population of alien Germans in the United States ' not to mention American citizens of German birth ' was far too large for a general policy of internment comparable to that used in the case of the Japanese in America.^[8] Instead, Germans and German Americans in the U.S. were detained and evicted from coastal areas on an individual basis. The War Department considered mass expulsions from coastal areas for reasons of military security, but never executed such plans.^[9]

A total of 11,507 people of German ancestry were interned during the war, accounting for 36% of the total internments under the Justice Department's Enemy Alien Control Program.^[10] Such internments began with the detention of 1,260 Germans shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.^[11] Of the 254 persons evicted from coastal areas, the majority were German.^[12]

In addition, over 4,500 ethnic Germans were brought to the U.S. from Latin America and similarly detained. The Federal Bureau of Investigation drafted a list of Germans in fifteen Latin American states whom it suspected of subversive activities and, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, demanded their eviction to the U.S. for detention.^[13] The countries that responded expelled 4,058 people.^[14] Some 10% to 15% were Nazi party members, including approximately a dozen who were recruiters for the NSDAP/AO, roughly the overseas arm of the Nazi party. Just eight were people suspected of espionage.^[15] Also transferred were some 81 Jewish Germans who had recently fled persecution in Nazi Germany.^[15] The bulk of those shipped from Latin America to the U.S. were not objects of suspicion. Many were residents of Latin America for years or, in some cases, decades.^[15] In some instances, corrupt Latin American officials took the opportunity to seize their property. Sometimes financial rewards paid by American intelligence led to someone's identification and expulsion.^[15] Several countries did not participate in the program, while others operated their own detention facilities.^[15][16]

The U.S. internment camps to which Germans from Latin America were directed included:^[15]

Some internees were held at least as late as 1948.^[17]

[edit] Later legislation

Legislation was introduced in the United States Congress in 2001 to create an independent commission to review government policies on European enemy ethnic groups during the war. On August 3, 2001, Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced S. 1356, The European Americans and Refugees Wartime Treatment Study Act in the US Senate, joined by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Joseph Lieberman. This bill creates an independent commission to review U.S. government policies directed against European enemy ethnic groups during World War II in the U.S. and Latin America.^[18] An organization called the German American Internee Coalition exists to publicize the "internment, repatriation and exchange of civilians of German ethnicity" during World War II and to seek U.S. government review and acknowledgment of civil rights violations.^[19]

[edit] See also

• Italian American internment
• Japanese American internment

[edit] Notes

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

• WORLD WAR II INTERNMENT CAMPS from the Handbook of Texas Online
• German American Internee Coalition - site includes detailed history, maps, oral accounts, and external links
• German American Internees in the United States during WWII, by Karen E. Ebel