Children of Internment » Historian

Our CSUN – screening

KristinaWagner — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 19:31:23 +0000

Detained In America: The Selective Relocation of German-Americans and German Aliens During WWII, was the original title of my final paper in 2011 at California State University Northridge. Last week, October 9, 2014 we screened, 'Children Of Internment', the film version of this paper I wrote for CSUN.

I originally wrote about this topic because I felt that, like the Japanese-Americans of WWII, many German-Americans were not given the protection that is granted to Americans under the Constitution. I think it is important to acknowledge German alien internment because the Alien Enemy Control Program (AECP) which began in 1936, was the precursor to what happened to Japanese-American citizens.

Last week our panelists at the film screening included John Christgau, Sigrid B. Toye, Charles McCollister, Joe and myself.

It came as no surprise that the CSUN students were engaged and asked us good questions about America's internment program of WWII and it's relevance today.

Thanks CSUN for the opportunity for me to share this extended story of internment with your community.

Crystal City Internment Camp Makes The National Register of Historic Places!

Joe Crump — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 21:54:01 +0000

It's A Great Day!

Thanks to the Texas Historical Commission's (THC) preservation efforts at the former site of the Crystal City (Family) Internment Camp, it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to William A. McWhorter, the site was formally listed and announced by the National Park Service on August 1, 2014. Mr. McWhorter wrote the National register nomination.

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Picture: William A. McWhorter, 6th from the right, attends the premiere screening of COI at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

A Disregard of Personal Rights

KristinaWagner — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 21:50:58 +0000

In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the FBI by the Attorney General, Harlan F. Stone.

By 1936 the FBI and U.S. Justice Department had secretly collected a list of names of people across the country who might be “dangerous and disloyal.” This program was created during peacetime and gave those so labeled no right to confront their accusers. Acquiring thousands of names was the personal passion of Hoover. He believe he had a mandate to intrude into peoples’ lives. He understood better than anyone else in this century that information was power.

In January 1934, a New York Congressman, Sam Dickstein, created a special committee to investigate Nazi propaganda activities in the United States. The American public grew increasingly anxious about the presence of a possible internal Fifth Column of enemies. As Americans read about Hitler’s successes in the daily news, their eyes began to turn toward the Germans and German-Americans living in their midst.

German-Americans were thought to be putting ground glass in America’s sausage, poisoning community water supplies and spreading defeatist or pacifist thoughts. Rumor had it that Kaiser’s agents were disguised as Bible salesmen. The imagination of the public had run amok. ‘The Day Book’, a monthly publication in Chicago, ran stories that they claimed did not pan out. There was a seizure of the German ships interned in American harbors. This story was followed up by another story of the official denial by the president of its truth.

The published article reluctantly said that “fact reporting is a long ways from being an exact science in the United States.”

It goes on, “There is too much peddling of rumor and opinion – too much public sentiment founded on false information.”

Arnold Krammer, Undue Process (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1997), 1,3.

A Government That Manipulates With Fear – By Kristina Wagner

KristinaWagner — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 04:57:18 +0000

Nativism has always been a driving a force in America, but it was during WWI that the government established the precedent of manipulating nativist fears as a way of clamping down on civil liberties and curtailing dissent. During WWI anyone who opposed the war, for whatever reason, was synonymous with disloyalty and even sedition.

Creating fear and then exploiting that fear, the government used the "threat" of all dissenters to justify a larger crackdown on civil liberties. Both legal and illegal tools were employed, including legislation, surveillance, intimidation, and secrecy.

Since WWI German-American community leaders were outspoken and self-assured. They did not hesitate to express their sympathies for the fatherland, especially since America had not yet entered the war. American public opinion supported the British, and U.S. arms manufacturers sold large quantities of munitions to British and France on credit. American bankers granted huge loans to the Allies. Republican Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin, a peace advocate, asked, "How can we maintain a semblance of real neutrality while we are supplying the Allies with munitions of war and money to prosecute war?" German-American organizations tried to sway foreign policy in support of the Allies. German-Americans were now under suspicion. American leaders wanted to know what Germans were involved with Communist, Fascist, and other subversive groups. The government was promoting an "ALIEN ENEMY" hysteria.

*Jay Feldman, Manufacturing Hysteria (New York: Pantheon Books, 2011), xviii,xvii,6.

*La Follette, "Neutrality,"1.

Kristina’s on Twitter

KristinaWagner — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 17:35:54 +0000

woo hoo! I’m finally on Twitter. My handle is 1kristinawagner

Follow me at: https://twitter.com/1KristinaWagner

The media gets German Internment wrong…

KristinaWagner — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 16:27:21 +0000

Tom Brokaw wrote in his book, The Greatest Generation, Random House, Inc, New York. (p 216)

Italian and German aliens living in California coastal areas were ordered to move in early 1942 but by June of that year this order had been rescinded and there was no major relocation for those groups. Italian and German immigrants were picked up and questions closely; they may have had some uncomfortable moments during the war, but they retained all their rights. Not so for the Japanese Americans.

Our film gives voice to some of the German Americans and German Aliens that were interned, detained, suspected, deported, and repatriated. The Italians were suspected and relocated and a few detained. Presidential Proclaimations 2525, 2526, 2527 branded German, Italian and Japanese Nationals as enemy aliens, authorizing internment and travel and property ownership restrictions. This was more than uncomfortable. By Dec 10, 1941, 449 Japanese, German, and Italian aliens were interned as well as 43 German, Japanese and Italian American citizens.

Richard Santos – In Memoriam

Joe Crump — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:27:33 +0000

My friend, Richard G. Santos, passed away in his sleep February 22, 2013, in Pearsall, TX. I first met him in the fall of 2011. I had begun my senior thesis for college when he introduced me to many of the internees that we have been lucky enough to interview for the Children of Internment film. The "voice" of the German internees was a huge part of his agenda as a historian. I have attached an email he sent to me on his recollection of two incidents at the First National Reunion of the former WWII internees in November 2002. I will miss him dearly. Kristina

RECOLLECTION OF TWO INCIDENTS AT FIRST NATIONAL REUNION OF FORMER WWII INTERNEES IN NOVEMBER 2002
1) At the end of the memorial function by the water irrigation tank – swimming pool, I was approached by a group of German Americans. I was asked what I wanted "for having put the reunion together". I politely and tactfully answered that I hoped I was not being insulted or being offered financial consideration. They immediately apologized and said they felt they "should do something to show their appreciation". I asked them to sing Lili Marlene in German. Much to my surprise, to a person they said they did not know it in German but could sing it in English. Later after they had boarded on the bus, I was called to attend to an emergency on the bus. I ran fast as I could and on boarding the bus, the German former internees HUMMED Lili Marlene. I was very, very touched and thanked them. I walked to my car and played Lili Marlene by Marlena Dietrich (in German) at full blast in appreciation of their effort(s). Eb Fuhr later sent email saying a group was practicing the song in German and would sing it at next reunion.

2) In relation to the above, one of the German Americans told me their favorite sing-along song was "DON'T FENCE ME IN". I asked the local Crystal City radio station to play the Bing Crosby and Andrew Sister recording (which was popular during WWII and which I already had on tape) and every time I hear it (even today) I think of the U. S. born internees singing the very appropriate and relevant "Don't Fence Me In". I hear not Crosby and Andrew Sisters but my friends the former internees. Eb did not offer to sing this song and I have teased him about it.