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Yeap been to Ft. Stanton many times here in New Mexico as the camp built in the 1850's is still well preserved and there's been newspaper stories over the years about the Germans interred there.
Well I thought I knew a lot about WWII history, until I stumbled upon this thread. I never knew that there were internment camps for US and Latin American citizens of German decent, and they were used to trade for US or Latin American citizens in German prisons. That's got to be one of the best kept secrets from the WWII era that doesn't deserve to be a secret. Thx CamaroGuy.
Well I thought I knew a lot about WWII history, until I stumbled upon this thread. I never knew that there were internment camps for US and Latin American citizens of German decent, and they were used to trade for US or Latin American citizens in German prisons. That's got to be one of the best kept secrets from the WWII era that doesn't deserve to be a secret. Thx CamaroGuy.
I totally agree. I also don't see why those German American internees cannot be compensated like Japanese American internees.
After Italy declared war on the U.S. on December 11, 1941, 600,000 Italians living in the United States that did not have citizenship were immediately classified as "Enemy Aliens". They were required to register as such, issued a photo I.D. in the form of a pink booklet that identified their status, and had their movements severely restricted. They also were also forced to turn in "contraband" items such as shortwave radios, guns, and cameras. Their homes were subject to search by authorities at any time to ensure that "contraband" was not being hidden there. If found in possession of any of these items they could be arrested.
In California, 10,000 Italians, citizen and non-citizen alike, were relocated from their homes in so-called "prohibited zones" which were primarily on the coast and adjacent areas. An additional 52,000 were subject to a dusk to dawn curfew. In the end, some 1,500 were arrested for curfew, travel, and contraband violations and approximately 250 were sent to internment camps for up to 2 years. Some of the locations where Italians were interned were Ft. McDowell, Ft. Sam Houston, Ft. George Meade, Ft. Missoula, and Camp Forest in Tennessee.
True, the number of Italians sent to camps was very small compared to both the Japanese and Germans. Regardless of that, the fact remains that all of these ethnic groups were targeted not for actual crimes they committed but because of what the U.S. government thought they might do. And no matter how you look at it, the whole episode can hardly be called a shining moment in our country's history.
Well I thought I knew a lot about WWII history, until I stumbled upon this thread. I never knew that there were internment camps for US and Latin American citizens of German decent, and they were used to trade for US or Latin American citizens in German prisons. That's got to be one of the best kept secrets from the WWII era that doesn't deserve to be a secret. Thx CamaroGuy.
There's a lot of bad things that happened during WWII that are not well known, largely because they contradict what we were supposed to be fighting for...
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