106-889: The Topaz War Relocation Center , also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center , was an American concentration camp in which Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come to the United States from Japan, called Nikkei were incarcerated. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, ordering people of Japanese ancestry to be incarcerated in what were euphemistically called "relocation centers" like Topaz during World War II. Most of
212-429: A Los Angeles Times editorial, A viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the egg is hatched... So, a Japanese American born of Japanese parents, nurtured upon Japanese traditions, living in a transplanted Japanese atmosphere...notwithstanding his nominal brand of accidental citizenship almost inevitably and with the rarest exceptions grows up to be a Japanese, and not an American... Thus, while it might cause injustice to
318-593: A warm-summer Mediterranean climate , with moist mild winters and dry summers. Topaz had an extreme climate, located at 4,580 feet (1,400 m) above sea level in the Sevier Desert . A "Midlatitude Desert" under the Köppen classification , temperatures could vary greatly throughout the day. The area experienced powerful winds and dust storms. One such storm caused structural damage to 75 buildings in 1944. Temperatures could reach below freezing from mid-September until
424-584: A "relocation camp", "relocation center", " internment camp ", and " concentration camp ", and the controversy over which term is the most appropriate continued throughout the late 1990s. In a preface to a 1997 book on Topaz written and published by the Topaz Museum, the Topaz Museum Board states that it is accurate to refer to the camps as a "detention camp" or "concentration camp" and its residents as "prisoners" or "internees". In December 1941,
530-678: A Jap" and testified to Congress: I don't want any of them [persons of Japanese ancestry] here. They are a dangerous element. There is no way to determine their loyalty... It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty... But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map. DeWitt also sought approval to conduct search and seizure operations which were aimed at preventing alien Japanese from making radio transmissions to Japanese ships. The Justice Department declined, stating that there
636-561: A devoted community, with frequent reunions after internment ended, and a final reunion in 2012. Sports were popular within the schools as well as within the adult population, with sports including baseball , basketball, and sumo wrestling. Cultural associations sprung up throughout the camp. Topaz had a newspaper called the Topaz Times , a literary publication called Trek , and two libraries which eventually contained almost 7,000 items in both English and Japanese. Artist Chiura Obata led
742-493: A display of the art created at Topaz. Permanent exhibits, installed in 2017, chronicle the people who were interned there and tell their stories. Since the end of World War II, there has been debate over the terminology used to refer to Topaz and the other camps in which Americans of Japanese ancestry and their immigrant parents were imprisoned by the United States government during the war. Topaz has been referred to as
848-453: A few to treat them all as potential enemies, I cannot escape the conclusion...that such treatment...should be accorded to each and all of them while we are at war with their race. U.S. Representative Leland Ford ( R - CA ) of Los Angeles joined the bandwagon, who demanded that "all Japanese, whether citizens or not, be placed in [inland] concentration camps." Incarceration of Japanese Americans, who provided critical agricultural labor on
954-417: A fifth of male residents answered "no" to the question about allegiance. Inmates expressed their anger through a few scattered assaults against other inmates who they perceived as too close to the administration. Chiura Obata was among those attacked, resulting in his immediate release for fear of further assaults. A reworded version of the questionnaire for Issei did not require them to renounce their loyalty to
1060-728: A large increase in the number of " picture brides ." As the Japanese American population continued to grow, European Americans who lived on the West Coast resisted the arrival of this ethnic group, fearing competition, and making the exaggerated claim that hordes of Asians would take over white-owned farmland and businesses. Groups such as the Asiatic Exclusion League , the California Joint Immigration Committee , and
1166-593: A large portion of Asia and the Pacific including a small portion of the U.S. West Coast (i.e., Aleutian Islands Campaign ) between 1937 and 1942, some Americans feared that its military forces were unstoppable. American public opinion initially stood by the large population of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, with the Los Angeles Times characterizing them as "good Americans, born and educated as such." Many Americans believed that their loyalty to
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#17327797381671272-602: A relatively small number—though still totaling well over ten thousand—of people of German and Italian ancestry as well as Germans who were expelled from Latin America and deported to the U.S. Approximately 5,000 Japanese Americans relocated outside the exclusion zone before March 1942, while some 5,500 community leaders had been arrested immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack and thus were already in custody. On March 2, 1942, General John DeWitt, commanding general of
1378-431: A traditional museum focused on the history of Topaz. By 2017, the Topaz Museum and Board had purchased 634 of the 640 acres of the original internment site. Using a smuggled camera, Dave Tatsuno shot film of Topaz. The documentary Topaz uses film he shot from 1943 to 1945. This film was an inductee of the 1997 National Film Registry list, with the added distinction of being the second " home movie " to be included on
1484-497: Is a control being exercised and when we have it it will be on a mass basis. He further stated in a conversation with California's governor, Culbert L. Olson : There's a tremendous volume of public opinion now developing against the Japanese of all classes, that is aliens and non-aliens, to get them off the land, and in Southern California around Los Angeles—in that area too—they want and they are bringing pressure on
1590-708: The Nihonmachi , or Japantowns of urban centers, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle . In the 1930s, the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), concerned as a result of Imperial Japan's rising military power in Asia, began to conduct surveillance in Japanese American communities in Hawaii. Starting in 1936, at the behest of President Roosevelt, the ONI began to compile a "special list of those Japanese Americans who would be
1696-581: The American Institute of Public Opinion , after incarceration was becoming inevitable, 93% of Americans supported the relocation of Japanese non-citizens from the Pacific Coast while only 1% opposed it. According to the same poll, 59% supported the relocation of Japanese people who were born in the country and were United States citizens, while 25% opposed it. The incarceration and imprisonment measures taken against Japanese Americans after
1802-580: The Attorney General of California (and a future Chief Justice of the United States), had begun his efforts to persuade the federal government to remove all people of Japanese ethnicity from the West Coast. Those who were as little as 1 ⁄ 16 Japanese were placed in incarceration camps. Bendetsen, promoted to colonel, said in 1942, "I am determined that if they have one drop of Japanese blood in them, they must go to camp." Upon
1908-567: The Berkeley, California suburbs for the dusty barracks of Topaz. The book is largely based on Uchida's personal experiences: she and her family were interned at Topaz for three years. Julie Otsuka 's novel When the Emperor was Divine (published in 2002) tells the story of a family forced to relocate from Berkeley to Topaz in September 1942. Each of the novel's five chapters is told from
2014-673: The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 , which officially apologized and authorized a payment of $ 20,000 (equivalent to $ 52,000 in 2023) to each former detainee who was still alive when the act was passed. The legislation admitted that the government's actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria , and a failure of political leadership." By 1992, the U.S. government eventually disbursed more than $ 1.6 billion (equivalent to $ 4.12 billion in 2023) in reparations to 82,219 Japanese Americans who had been incarcerated. Due in large part to socio-political changes which stemmed from
2120-473: The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to investigate whether the internment had been justified. In 1983, the commission's report, Personal Justice Denied, found little evidence of Japanese disloyalty and concluded that internment had been the product of racism . It recommended that the government pay reparations to the detainees. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed
2226-681: The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution . The Court limited its decision to the validity of the exclusion orders, avoiding the issue of the incarceration of U.S. citizens without due process, but ruled on the same day in Ex parte Endo that a loyal citizen could not be detained, which began their release. On December 17, 1944, the exclusion orders were rescinded, and nine of
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#17327797381672332-793: The Emperor of Japan ; the manifesto contended that Japanese language schools were bastions of racism which advanced doctrines of Japanese racial superiority. The manifesto was backed by the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West and the California Department of the American Legion , which in January demanded that all Japanese with dual citizenship be placed in concentration camps. By February, Earl Warren ,
2438-733: The Empire of Japan in December 1941. About 127,000 Japanese Americans then lived in the continental U.S. , of which about 112,000 lived on the West Coast . About 80,000 were Nisei ('second generation'; American-born Japanese with U.S. citizenship) and Sansei ('third generation', the children of Nisei ). The rest were Issei ('first generation') immigrants born in Japan, who were ineligible for citizenship. In Hawaii , where more than 150,000 Japanese Americans comprised more than one-third of
2544-506: The Hearst newspapers , reflected the growing public sentiment that was fueled by this report: I am for the immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior. I don't mean a nice part of the interior either. Herd 'em up, pack 'em off, and give 'em the inside room in the badlands... Personally, I hate the Japanese. And that goes for all of them. Other California newspapers also embraced this view. According to
2650-531: The Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Shortly afterwards in February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 . The order forced approximately 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent ( Nisei ) and Japanese-born residents ( Issei ) in California , Oregon , Washington , and Alaska on the West Coast of the United States to leave their homes. About 5,000 left
2756-513: The Korematsu decision in his majority opinion in the 2018 case of Trump v. Hawaii . After Topaz was closed, the land was sold and most of the buildings were auctioned off, disassembled, and removed from the site. Even the water pipes and utility poles were sold. Numerous foundations, concrete-lined excavations and other ground-level features can be seen at the various sites, but few buildings remain, and natural vegetation has taken over most of
2862-472: The Meiji Restoration —and a recession which was caused by the abrupt opening of Japan 's economy to the world economy —people emigrated from the Empire of Japan in 1868 in search of employment. From 1869 to 1924, approximately 200,000 Japanese immigrated to the islands of Hawaii, mostly laborers expecting to work on the islands' sugar plantations . Some 180,000 went to the U.S. mainland, with
2968-443: The Native Sons of the Golden West organized in response to the rise of this " Yellow Peril ." They successfully lobbied to restrict the property and citizenship rights of Japanese immigrants, just as similar groups had previously organized against Chinese immigrants. Beginning in the late 19th century, several laws and treaties which attempted to slow immigration from Japan were introduced. The Immigration Act of 1924 , which followed
3074-548: The Niihau incident immediately followed the attack on Pearl Harbor, when Ishimatsu Shintani, an Issei, and Yoshio Harada, a Nisei, and his Issei wife Irene Harada on the island of Ni'ihau violently freed a downed and captured Japanese naval airman, attacking their fellow Ni'ihau islanders in the process. Several concerns over the loyalty of ethnic Japanese seemed to stem from racial prejudice rather than any evidence of malfeasance. The Roberts Commission report, which investigated
3180-455: The territory's population , only 1,200 to 1,800 were incarcerated. Internment was intended to mitigate a security risk which Japanese Americans were believed to pose. The scale of the incarceration in proportion to the size of the Japanese American population far surpassed similar measures undertaken against German and Italian Americans who numbered in the millions and of whom some thousands were interned, most of these non-citizens. Following
3286-531: The "Japanese problem" was nonexistent. His final report to the President, submitted November 7, 1941, "certified a remarkable, even extraordinary degree of loyalty among this generally suspect ethnic group." A subsequent report by Kenneth Ringle (ONI), delivered to the President in January 1942, also found little evidence to support claims of Japanese American disloyalty and argued against mass incarceration. Roosevelt's decision to intern Japanese Americans
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3392-753: The "alien enemy" roundups, were applicable to anyone that an authorized military commander might choose, whether citizen or non-citizen. Eventually such zones would include parts of both the East and West Coasts, totaling about 1/3 of the country by area. Unlike the subsequent deportation and incarceration programs that would come to be applied to large numbers of Japanese Americans, detentions and restrictions directly under this Individual Exclusion Program were placed primarily on individuals of German or Italian ancestry, including American citizens. The order allowed regional military commanders to designate "military areas" from which "any or all persons may be excluded." Although
3498-399: The Japanese foreign service" transmitting information to Japan. It was unlikely that these "spies" were Japanese American, as Japanese intelligence agents were distrustful of their American counterparts and preferred to recruit "white persons and Negroes." However, despite the fact that the report made no mention of Americans of Japanese ancestry, national and West Coast media nevertheless used
3604-519: The Japanese war effort, pressure mounted upon the administration as the tide of public opinion turned against Japanese Americans. A survey of the Office of Facts and Figures on February 4 (two weeks prior to the president's order) reported that a majority of Americans expressed satisfaction with existing governmental controls on Japanese Americans. Moreover, in his autobiography in 1962, Attorney General Francis Biddle , who opposed incarceration, downplayed
3710-656: The Millard County Fair. Due to harsh weather, poor soil, and short growing conditions, the camp was not able to supply all of its animal feed. Topaz contained two elementary schools: Desert View Elementary and Mountain View Elementary. Topaz High School educated students grades 7–12, and there was also an adult education program. The schools were taught by a combination of local teachers and internees. They were under-equipped and overcrowded, but enthusiastic teachers did their best. Topaz High School developed
3816-412: The Pearl Harbor attack, was released on January 25 and accused persons of Japanese ancestry of espionage leading up to the attack. Although the report's key finding was that General Walter Short and Admiral Husband E. Kimmel had been derelict in their duties during the attack on Pearl Harbor, one passage made vague reference to "Japanese consular agents and other... persons having no open relations with
3922-436: The President tasked Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson with replying. A conference on February 17 of Secretary Stimson with assistant secretary John J. McCloy , Provost Marshal General Allen W. Gullion , Deputy chief of Army Ground Forces Mark W. Clark , and Colonel Bendetsen decided that General DeWitt should be directed to commence evacuations "to the extent he deemed necessary" to protect vital installations. Throughout
4028-525: The Registry and the only color footage of camp life. Topaz War Relocation Center is the setting for the 2007 film American Pastime , a dramatization based on actual events, which tells the story of Nikkei baseball in the camps. A portion of the camp was duplicated for location shooting in Utah's Skull Valley, approximately 40 miles (64.4 km) west of Salt Lake City and 75 miles (120.7 km) north of
4134-678: The Salinas Vegetable Grower-Shipper Association, told The Saturday Evening Post in 1942: We're charged with wanting to get rid of the Japs for selfish reasons. We do. It's a question of whether the White man lives on the Pacific Coast or the brown men. They came into this valley to work, and they stayed to take over... If all the Japs were removed tomorrow, we'd never miss them in two weeks because
4240-502: The Tanforan Art School at Topaz, offering art instruction to over 600 students. Internment rules usurped parental authority, and teenagers often ate meals with their friends and only joined their families to sleep at night. This combined with a lack of privacy made it difficult for parents to discipline and bond with their children, which contributed to teenage delinquency in the camp. Some internees were permitted to leave
4346-674: The U.S. and by law, they were automatically considered U.S. citizens. The members of this Nisei generation constituted a cohort which was distinct from the cohort which their parents belonged to. In addition to the usual generational differences, Issei men were typically ten to fifteen years older than their wives, making them significantly older than the younger children in their often large families. U.S. law prohibited Japanese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens, making them dependent on their children whenever they rented or purchased property. Communication between English-speaking children and parents who mostly or completely spoke in Japanese
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4452-581: The US 2,264 Japanese Latin American citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry. The deportation and incarceration of Japanese Americans was popular among many white farmers who resented the Japanese American farmers. "White American farmers admitted that their self-interest required the removal of the Japanese." These individuals saw incarceration as a convenient means of uprooting their Japanese American competitors. Austin E. Anson, managing secretary of
4558-415: The United States and renounce loyalty to the Emperor of Japan. Many Japanese-born Issei , who were barred from attaining American citizenship, resented the second question, feeling that an affirmative answer would leave them effectively stateless. Some Issei volunteered to join the army, even though there was no enlistment procedure for non-citizens. Others objected on other political grounds. In Topaz, nearly
4664-498: The United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), mostly in the western interior of the country . About two-thirds were U.S. citizens . These actions were initiated by Executive Order 9066 , issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, following the outbreak of war with
4770-478: The United States into the Second World War , enabled the implementation of the dedicated government policy of incarceration, with the action and methodology having been extensively prepared before war broke out despite multiple reports that had been consulted by President Roosevelt expressing the notion that Japanese Americans posed little threat. Although the impact on US authorities is controversial,
4876-453: The United States was unquestionable. However, six weeks after the attack, public opinion along the Pacific began to turn against Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, as the press and other Americans became nervous about the potential for fifth column activity. Though some in the administration (including Attorney General Francis Biddle and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ) dismissed all rumors of Japanese American espionage on behalf of
4982-490: The West Coast in August 1942. In addition to imprisoning those of Japanese descent in the US, the US also interned people of Japanese (and German and Italian) descent deported from Latin America. Thirteen Latin American countries—Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru—cooperated with the US by apprehending, detaining and deporting to
5088-622: The West Coast, created a labor shortage which was exacerbated by the induction of many white American laborers into the Armed Forces. This vacuum precipitated a mass immigration of Mexican workers into the United States to fill these jobs, under the banner of what became known as the Bracero Program . Many Japanese detainees were temporarily released from their camps – for instance, to harvest Western beet crops – to address this wartime labor shortage. Like many white American farmers,
5194-534: The Western Defense Command, publicly announced the creation of two military restricted zones. Military Area No. 1 consisted of the southern half of Arizona and the western half of California, Oregon, and Washington, as well as all of California south of Los Angeles. Military Area No. 2 covered the rest of those states. DeWitt's proclamation informed Japanese Americans they would be required to leave Military Area 1, but stated that they could remain in
5300-547: The White farmers can take over and produce everything the Jap grows. And we do not want them back when the war ends, either. The Leadership of the Japanese American Citizens League did not question the constitutionality of the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast . Instead, arguing it would better serve the community to follow government orders without protest, the organization advised
5406-493: The abandoned areas. In 1976, the Japanese American Citizens League placed a monument on the northwestern corner of the central area. On March 29, 2007, United States Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne designated "Central Utah Relocation Center Site" a National Historic Landmark . In 1982, Delta High School teacher Jane Beckwith and her journalism students began to study Topaz. She spearheaded
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#17327797381675512-423: The actual Topaz site. The film used some of Tatsuno's historical footage. In addition to Tatsuno's Topaz , Ken Verdoia made a 1987 documentary, also entitled Topaz . Yoshiko Uchida 's young adult novel Journey to Topaz (published in 1971) recounts the story of Yuki, a young Japanese American girl, whose world is disrupted when, shortly after Pearl Harbor, she and her family must leave their comfortable home in
5618-598: The agriculture of California and other Western states, by introducing irrigation methods which enabled them to cultivate fruits, vegetables, and flowers on previously inhospitable land. In both rural and urban areas, kenjinkai, community groups for immigrants from the same Japanese prefecture , and fujinkai , Buddhist women's associations, organized community events and did charitable work, provided loans and financial assistance and built Japanese language schools for their children. Excluded from setting up shop in white neighborhoods, nikkei -owned small businesses thrived in
5724-425: The approximately 120,000 affected to go peacefully. The Roberts Commission Report, prepared at President Franklin D. Roosevelt's request, has been cited as an example of the fear and prejudice informing the thinking behind the incarceration program. The Report sought to link Japanese Americans with espionage activity, and to associate them with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Columnist Henry McLemore , who wrote for
5830-415: The attack falls into a broader trend of anti-Japanese attitudes on the West Coast of the United States. To this end, preparations had already been made in the collection of names of Japanese American individuals and organizations, along with other foreign nationals such as Germans and Italians, that were to be removed from society in the event of a conflict. The December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor , bringing
5936-559: The attack on Pearl Harbor the president disregarded the advice of advisors, notably John Franklin Carter , who urged him to speak out in defense of the rights of Japanese Americans. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, led military and political leaders to suspect that Imperial Japan was preparing a full-scale invasion of the United States West Coast . Due to Japan's rapid military conquest of
6042-505: The auspices of martial law, both "enemy aliens" and citizens of Japanese and "German" descent were arrested and interned (incarcerated if they were a US citizen). Presidential Proclamation 2537 (codified at 7 Fed. Reg. 329 ) was issued on January 14, 1942, requiring "alien enemies" to obtain a certificate of identification and carry it "at all times". Enemy aliens were not allowed to enter restricted areas. Violators of these regulations were subject to "arrest, detention and incarceration for
6148-475: The block manager, and a combined laundry/toilet/bathing facility. Each block contained only four bathtubs for all the women and four showers for all the men living there. These packed conditions often resulted in little privacy for residents. Barracks were built out of wood frame covered in tarpaper , with wooden floors. Many internees moved into the barracks before they were completed, exposing them to harsh weather. Eventually, they were lined with sheetrock , and
6254-550: The bombing of Pearl Harbor and pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act , Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526 and 2527 were issued designating Japanese, German and Italian nationals as enemy aliens. Information gathered by US officials over the previous decade was used to locate and incarcerate thousands of Japanese American community leaders in the days immediately following Pearl Harbor (see section elsewhere in this article " Other concentration camps "). In Hawaii, under
6360-428: The camp art school, Chiura Obata, was allowed to leave Topaz to run classes at nearby universities and churches. Internees were also sometimes permitted to leave the camp for recreation. A former Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Antelope Springs, in mountains 90 miles (144.8 km) to the west, was taken over as a recreation area for internees and camp staff, and two buildings from Antelope Springs were brought to
6466-841: The camp depicted life there, and survives. Drawings and woodcuts by Chiura Obata and Matsusaburō (George) Hibi are among the most prominent. Some of it is collected in The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942–1946 by Delphine Hirasuna, and has been exhibited in Topaz and at the Wight Art Gallery. In 2018, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts exhibited many Chiura Obata's works, including some made at Topaz. Internment of Japanese Americans During World War II ,
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#17327797381676572-429: The camp to find employment. In 1942, internees were able to get permission to leave the camp for employment in nearby Delta, where they filled labor shortages caused by the draft, mostly in agricultural labor. In 1943, over 500 internees obtained seasonal agricultural work outside the camp, with another 130 working in domestic and industrial jobs. Polling showed that a majority of Utahns supported this policy. One teacher at
6678-540: The camp, mostly in agricultural labor. Many internees became notable artists. In the winter of 1942–1943, a loyalty questionnaire asked prisoners if they would declare their loyalty to the United States of America and if they would be willing to enlist. The questions were divisive, and prisoners who were considered "disloyal" because of their answers on the loyalty questionnaire were sent to the Tule Lake Segregation Camp . One internee, James Wakasa ,
6784-401: The camps, and many were forced to sell some or all of their property, including their homes and businesses. At the camps, which were surrounded by barbed wire fences and patrolled by armed guards, internees often lived in overcrowded barracks with minimal furnishing. In its 1944 decision Korematsu v. United States , the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the removals under
6890-662: The central area to be used as Buddhist and Christian churches. During a rock hunting expedition in the Drum Mountains , 16 miles (26 km) west of Topaz, Akio Uhihera and Yoshio Nishimoto discovered and excavated a 1,164 pounds (528 kg) rare iron meteorite, which the Smithsonian Institution acquired. In 1943, the War Relocation Authority (WRA) issued all adult internees a questionnaire assessing their level of Americanization. It
6996-408: The city, 42 blocks were for internees, 34 of which were residential. Each residential block housed 200–300 people, housed in barracks that held five people within a single 20-by-20-foot (6.1 by 6.1 m) room. Families were generally housed together, while single adults would be housed with four other unrelated individuals. Residential blocks also contained a recreation hall, a mess hall, an office for
7102-781: The creation of the Topaz Museum Board in 1983, which oversaw the Topaz Museum, which initially shared space with the Great Basin Museum. Funding from the Japanese-American Confinement Sites organization enabled the Topaz Board to construct its own museum building in 2013. In 2015, the museum formally opened with an exhibition of art created at Topaz, entitled "When Words Weren't Enough: Works on Paper from Topaz, 1942–1945". The museum closed for remodeling in November 2016, and reopened in 2017 as
7208-401: The death and surrounding secrecy. They held a large funeral for Wakasa as a way to express their outrage. In response, the administration determined that fears of subversive activity at the camp were largely without basis, and significantly relaxed security. The military decided that officers who had been at war in the Pacific would not be assigned to guard duty at Topaz. The guard who shot Wakasa
7314-508: The duration of the war." On February 13, the Pacific Coast Congressional subcommittee on aliens and sabotage recommended to the President immediate evacuation of "all persons of Japanese lineage and all others, aliens and citizens alike" who were thought to be dangerous from "strategic areas," further specifying that these included the entire "strategic area" of California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. On February 16
7420-473: The emperor of Japan. In response to the questionnaires, some Nisei formed the Resident Council for Japanese American Civil Rights, which encouraged other prisoners to register for the draft if their civil rights were restored. A military sentry fatally shot 63-year-old chef James Hatsuaki Wakasa on April 11, 1943, while he was walking his dog inside the camp fence. Internees went on strike protesting
7526-489: The end of May. The average temperature in January was 26 °F (−3 °C). Spring rains turned the clay soil to mud, which bred mosquitoes. Summers were hot, with occasional thunderstorms and temperatures that could exceed 100 °F (38 °C). In 1942, the first snowfall occurred on October 13, before camp construction was fully complete. Topaz contained a living complex known as the "city", about 1 square mile (2.6 km), as well as extensive agricultural lands. Within
7632-506: The example of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act , effectively banned all immigration from Japan and other "undesirable" Asian countries. The 1924 ban on immigration produced unusually well-defined generational groups within the Japanese American community. The Issei were exclusively those Japanese who had immigrated before 1924; some of them desired to return to their homeland. Because no more immigrants were permitted, all Japanese Americans who were born after 1924 were, by definition, born in
7738-416: The executive order did not mention Japanese Americans, this authority was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were required to leave Alaska and the military exclusion zones from all of California and parts of Oregon, Washington, and Arizona, with the exception of those inmates who were being held in government camps. The detainees were not only people of Japanese ancestry, they also included
7844-522: The executive order, the entire West Coast was designated a military exclusion area, and all Japanese Americans living there were taken to assembly centers before being sent to concentration camps in California, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas. Similar actions were taken against individuals of Japanese decent in Canada . Internees were prohibited from taking more than they could carry into
7950-462: The fifth-largest city in Utah at the time. The extreme temperature fluctuations of the arid area combined with uninsulated barracks made conditions very uncomfortable, even after the belated installation of pot-bellied stoves. The camp housed two elementary schools and a high school, a library, and some recreational facilities. Camp life was documented in a newspaper, Topaz Times , and in the literary publication Trek . Internees worked inside and outside
8056-552: The first to be placed in a concentration camp in the event of trouble" between Japan and the United States. In 1939, again by order of the President, the ONI, Military Intelligence Division , and FBI began working together to compile a larger Custodial Detention Index . Early in 1941, Roosevelt commissioned Curtis Munson to conduct an investigation on Japanese Americans living on the West Coast and in Hawaii. After working with FBI and ONI officials and interviewing Japanese Americans and those familiar with them, Munson determined that
8162-616: The floors filled with masonite . While the construction began in July 1942, the first inmates moved in in September 1942, and the camp was not completed until early 1943. Camp construction was completed in part by 214 interned laborers who volunteered to arrive early and help build the camp. Rooms were heated by pot-bellied stoves. There was no furniture provided. Inmates used communal leftover scrap wood from construction to build beds, tables, and cabinets. Some families also modified their living quarters with fabric partitions. Water came from wells and
8268-488: The government to move all the Japanese out. As a matter of fact, it's not being instigated or developed by people who are not thinking but by the best people of California. Since the publication of the Roberts Report they feel that they are living in the midst of a lot of enemies. They don't trust the Japanese, none of them. DeWitt, who administered the incarceration program, repeatedly told newspapers that "A Jap 's
8374-410: The imprisonment of such a large proportion of the islands' population would adversely affect the economic prosperity of the territory. The Japanese represented "over 90 percent of the carpenters, nearly all of the transportation workers, and a significant portion of the agricultural laborers" on the islands. General Delos Carleton Emmons , the military governor of Hawaii, also argued that Japanese labor
8480-488: The incarceration, and as a result, he decided not to enforce it in the state and he also discouraged residents from harassing their fellow citizens, the Nisei . He turned against the Japanese by mid-February 1942, days before the executive order was issued, but he later regretted this decision and he attempted to atone for it for the rest of his life. Even though the incarceration was a generally popular policy in California, it
8586-416: The influence of public opinion in prompting the president's decision. He even considered it doubtful "whether, political and special group press aside, public opinion even on the West Coast supported evacuation." Support for harsher measures toward Japanese Americans increased over time, however, in part since Roosevelt did little to use his office to calm attitudes. According to a March 1942 poll conducted by
8692-456: The local Japanese American population in the event of war, “every Japanese citizen or non-citizen on the Island of Oahu who meets these Japanese ships or has any connection with their officers or men should be secretly but definitely identified and his or her name placed on a special list of those who would be the first to be placed in a concentration camp." In the weeks immediately following
8798-464: The majority of them settling on the West Coast and establishing farms or small businesses. Most arrived before 1908, when the Gentlemen's Agreement between Japan and the United States banned the immigration of unskilled laborers. A loophole allowed the wives of men who were already living in the US to join their husbands. The practice of women marrying by proxy and immigrating to the U.S. resulted in
8904-535: The movements and daily lives of Japanese Americans. Included in the forced removal was Alaska , which, like Hawaii, was an incorporated U.S. territory located in the northwest extremity of the continental United States. Unlike the contiguous West Coast, Alaska was not subject to any exclusion zones due to its small Japanese population. Nevertheless, the Western Defense Command announced in April 1942 that all Japanese people and Americans of Japanese ancestry were to leave
9010-501: The off-limits area during the "voluntary evacuation" period, and avoided internment . The remaining 110,000 were soon removed from their homes by Army and National Guard troops. Topaz was opened September 11, 1942, and eventually became the fifth-largest city in Utah, with over 9,000 internees and staff, and covering approximately 31 square miles (80.3 km) (mostly used for agriculture). A total of 11,212 people lived at Topaz at one time or another. Utah governor Herbert B. Maw opposed
9116-741: The people incarcerated at Topaz came from the Tanforan Assembly Center and previously lived in the San Francisco Bay Area . The camp was opened in September 1942 and closed in October 1945. The camp, approximately 15 miles (24.1 km) west of Delta, Utah , consisted of 19,800 acres (8,012.8 ha), with a 640 acres (259.0 ha) main living area. Most internees lived in the main living area, though some lived off-site as agricultural and industrial laborers. The approximately 9,000 internees and staff made Topaz into
9222-426: The point of view of a different character. Critics praised the book's "precise but poetic evocation of the ordinary" and "ability to empathize". In his poetry collection Topaz (published in 2013), Brian Komei Dempster examines the experience of his mother and her family, tying the history of persecution and internment to subsequent generations’ search for a 21st-century identity. Much of the art made by detainees at
9328-577: The position was taken over by Luther T. Hoffman following Ernst's resignation. It was closed on October 31, 1945. Topaz was originally known as the Central Utah Relocation Authority, and then the Abraham Relocation Authority, but the names were too long for post office regulations. The final name, Topaz, came from Topaz Mountain which overlooks the camp from 9 miles (14.5 km) away. Topaz
9434-564: The relocation of any Japanese Americans into the state, stating that if they were such a danger to the West Coast, they would be a danger to Utah. Most internees arrived at Topaz from the Tanforan or Santa Anita Assembly Centers; the majority hailed from the San Francisco Bay Area. Sixty-five percent were Nisei , American citizens born to Japanese immigrants. The camp was governed by Charles F. Ernst until June 1944, when
9540-488: The report to vilify Japanese Americans and inflame public opinion against them. Major Karl Bendetsen and Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt , head of the Western Defense Command , questioned Japanese American loyalty. DeWitt said: The fact that nothing has happened so far is more or less . . . ominous, in that I feel that in view of the fact that we have had no sporadic attempts at sabotage that there
9646-497: The second restricted zone. Removal from Military Area No. 1 initially occurred through "voluntary evacuation." Japanese Americans were free to go anywhere outside of the exclusion zone or inside Area 2, with arrangements and costs of relocation to be borne by the individuals. The policy was short-lived; DeWitt issued another proclamation on March 27 that prohibited Japanese Americans from leaving Area 1. A night-time curfew, also initiated on March 27, 1942, placed further restrictions on
9752-504: The ten camps were shut down by the end of 1945. Japanese Americans were initially barred from U.S. military service, but by 1943, they were allowed to join, with 20,000 serving during the war. Over 4,000 students were allowed to leave the camps to attend college. Hospitals in the camps recorded 5,981 births and 1,862 deaths during incarceration. In the 1970s, under mounting pressure from the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and redress organizations , President Jimmy Carter appointed
9858-660: The territory for incarceration camps inland. By the end of the month, over 200 Japanese residents regardless of citizenship were exiled from Alaska, most of them ended up at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Southern Idaho . Eviction from the West Coast began on March 24, 1942, with Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1, which gave the 227 Japanese American residents of Bainbridge Island, Washington six days to prepare for their "evacuation" directly to Manzanar. Colorado governor Ralph Lawrence Carr
9964-628: The war, interned Japanese Americans protested against their treatment and insisted that they be recognized as loyal Americans. Many sought to demonstrate their patriotism by trying to enlist in the armed forces. Although early in the war Japanese Americans were barred from military service, by 1943 the army had begun actively recruiting Nisei to join new all-Japanese American units. Executive Order 9066, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorized military commanders to designate "military areas" at their discretion, "from which any or all persons may be excluded." These "exclusion zones," unlike
10070-465: The war. The camp was patrolled by 85–150 policemen, and was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Manned watchtowers with searchlights were placed every .25 miles (400 m) surrounding the perimeter of the camp. The camp was designed to be self-sufficient, and the majority of land within the camp was devoted to farming. Topaz inmates raised cattle, pigs, and chickens in addition to feed crops and vegetables. The vegetables were high-quality and won awards at
10176-584: The white businessmen of Hawaii had their own motives for determining how to deal with the Japanese Americans, but they opposed their incarceration. Instead, these individuals gained the passage of legislation which enabled them to retain the freedom of the nearly 150,000 Japanese Americans who would have otherwise been sent to concentration camps which were located in Hawaii. As a result, only 1,200 to 1,800 Japanese Americans in Hawaii were incarcerated. The powerful businessmen of Hawaii concluded that
10282-645: Was "'absolutely essential' for rebuilding the defenses destroyed at Pearl Harbor ." Recognizing the Japanese American community's contribution to the affluence of the Hawaiian economy, General Emmons fought against the incarceration of the Japanese Americans and had the support of most of the businessmen of Hawaii. By comparison, Idaho governor Chase A. Clark , in a Lions Club speech on May 22, 1942, said "Japs live like rats, breed like rats and act like rats. We don't want them ... permanently located in our state." Initially, Oregon's governor Charles A. Sprague opposed
10388-498: Was consistent with Roosevelt's long-time racial views. During the 1920s, for example, he had written articles in the Macon Telegraph opposing white-Japanese intermarriage for fostering "the mingling of Asiatic blood with European or American blood" and praising California's ban on land ownership by the first-generation Japanese. In 1936, while president, he privately wrote that, regarding contacts between Japanese sailors and
10494-472: Was entitled "Application for Leave Clearance". Questions asked about what language they spoke most frequently, their religion, and recreational activities. Participating in judo and kendo were "Japanese" activities, while playing baseball or being Christian were considered "American". Two questions asked prisoners if they were willing to fight in the US Armed Forces and if they would swear allegiance to
10600-608: Was no probable cause to support DeWitt's assertion, as the FBI concluded that there was no security threat. On January 2, the Joint Immigration Committee of the California Legislature sent a manifesto to California newspapers which attacked "the ethnic Japanese," who it alleged were "totally unassimilable." This manifesto further argued that all people of Japanese heritage were loyal subjects of
10706-465: Was often difficult. A significant number of older Nisei, many of whom were born prior to the immigration ban, had married and already started families of their own by the time the US entered World War II. Despite racist legislation which prevented Issei from becoming naturalized citizens (or owning property , voting, or running for political office), these Japanese immigrants established communities in their new hometowns. Japanese Americans contributed to
10812-512: Was reassigned after being found not guilty of violating military law; this information was not given to internees. Topaz internees Fred Korematsu and Mitsuye Endo challenged their internment in court. Korematsu's case was heard and rejected at the US Supreme Court ( Korematsu v. United States ), the largest case to challenge internment, while Endo's case was upheld. Chief Justice John Roberts repudiated and effectively overturned
10918-463: Was shot and killed for being too close to the camp's fence. Topaz prisoners held a large funeral and stopped working until administrators relaxed security. In 1983, Jane Beckwith founded the Topaz Museum Board. Topaz became a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 2007. After many years of organizing, fundraising, and collecting information and artifacts, the Topaz Museum was built in Delta and debuted with
11024-402: Was stored in a large wooden tank, and was "almost undrinkable" because of its alkalinity. Topaz also included a number of communal areas: a high school, two elementary schools, a 28-bed hospital, at least two churches, and a community garden. There was a cemetery as well, although it was never used. All 144 people who died in the camp were cremated and their ashes were held for burial until after
11130-486: Was the only elected official to publicly denounce the incarceration of American citizens (an act that cost his reelection, but gained him the gratitude of the Japanese American community, such that a statue of him was erected in the Denver Japantown's Sakura Square ). A total of 108 exclusion orders issued by the Western Defense Command over the next five months completed the removal of Japanese Americans from
11236-422: Was the primary internment site in the state of Utah . A smaller camp existed briefly a few miles north of Moab , which was used to isolate a few men considered to be troublemakers prior to their being sent to Leupp , Arizona. A site at Antelope Springs, in the mountains west of Topaz, was used as a recreation area by the residents and staff of Topaz. Most internees came from the San Francisco Bay Area, which has
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