WWII Internments

I wish to add to the enlightening exchange of letters regarding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Dorothy Ehrlich made the historical record more complete by citing the role of Ernest Besig and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (“Foe of Internment,” Counterpunch Letters, Jan. 23). A current exhibit in the History Section of the Downtown Central Library sheds further light on the issue of World War II internment.

The display on view through March 4 traces the chilling effects of wartime internment, regulation, relocation and exclusion upon Italian aliens and their families in the United States.

The morning after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Los Angeles Times announced that “a great manhunt was afoot” as Italian, German and Japanese community leaders were arrested in an FBI sweep. Forty-five local Italians were taken to Terminal Island. Many of these were then transported to Fort Missoula, Mont., where they became part of an internment experience graphically portrayed in the display compiled by the Western Region of the American Italian Historical Assn. Many remained until 1943 when they were released with official apology.

The exhibit also documents the restrictions imposed on all three alien groups. These included the surrender of contraband, including cameras, flashlights and binoculars. The display explains that Presidential Proclamation 2525 restricted enemy alien travel outside the immediate community; prohibited aliens’ presence near docks, airfields and foothill areas; required their use of photo registration cards, and enforced a curfew that made them prisoners in their homes at night.

In Southern California, posted instructions in Italian, German and Japanese directed these aliens to move from 69 local areas, including Terminal Island and parts of Burbank and Huntington Park, by Feb. 15, 1942. The Times warned that even the old and the infirm would be moved, forcibly if necessary.

After the shelling of a wooden jetty at Goleta, calls for internment of all enemy aliens, their children and sympathizers were issued by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, the Orange County Grand Jury, the local chapter of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs and Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron. Executive Order 9066, issued in February, 1942, made it possible to intern anyone, not only the Japanese.

GLORIA LOTHROP, Professor

Whitsett Chair

of California History

Department of History

Cal State, Northridge