Crystal City Association
An On-line Gathering Place for Former Internees, Family and Friends
They measured life's worth in service to others. They were
dedicated to a code of duty and obligation that made total demand of themselves. They were selfless, and every sacrifice they made was done as a matter of course. They were the respected leaders of their communities. And because they were all this, they were the prime targets for arrest beginning December 7, 1941. They were our fathers and sometimes mothers.
By March, 1942, some 3,000 Isseis in both Hawaii and on the mainland who were judged to be "potentially dangerous" enemy aliens were arrested. For the most part, these men (and a few women) who were picked up were the leaders of the Japanese American community - Buddhist priests, Japanese Language school teachers, Japanese Association officials, journalists, photographers, etc. whose only crime was their perceived influence in the community. Those arrested were held under no formal charges and they were forbidden from seen family members In November 1942, the Justice Department decided to build a "Family camp" to house the men whose families petitioned to join them in their internment. These families came from the ten relocation camps, Alaska, Hawaii, and ten west coasts of Central and South America. Crystal City, Texas, became known as the "family camp" where Issei "enemy aliens" and their families were interned. At its peak, the camp housed nearly 3,000 Japanese, along with 1,000 Germans and a few Italians. (Excerpts from Japanese American History - "An A-to-Z Reference from 1868 to Present" Editor: Brian Niija. Japanese American National Museum 1993. Crystal City 50th Anniversary Reunion Album Editor: Joy Nozaki Gee. Crystal City Association 1993)
|
|
