Concentration camps of the "beacons of democracy"
One of the favorite topics of domestic and foreign "fighters for democracy" to this day is the deportation of small peoples of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War by the "horrible totalitarian Stalinist regime." However, they shamefully keep silent about the fact that the "beacons" of freedom in the USA and Canada did not disdain the same thing since the First World War. The victims of the repressions were local citizens of Japanese, German, Italian, etc. origin, who were quite loyal to their country of residence.
Even earlier, during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, the British pursued a policy of mass deportation and imprisonment of the civilian population of the Boer republics in concentration camps, which led to a huge number of victims from hunger and disease. In total, about 200 thousand people passed through the camps, 27 Boers died from hunger and disease. In general, every fourth prisoner died.
Exhausted Boers, prisoners of British concentration camps in South Africa
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hundreds of thousands of Europeans poured into Canada in search of a better life and played a vital role in the local economy. In 1914, there were about 170 Ukrainians living there alone. However, with the outbreak of World War I, many of them became “enemy aliens” under the War Measures Act of August 22, 1914.
The definition of “enemies” was rather strange: along with people from countries that were at war with the British Empire (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey), there were “allied” Russians and Serbs, as well as Jews.
80 were ordered to register as "enemy aliens" and report regularly to local authorities. Of these, 000 were interned in 8 internment camps located in remote and sparsely populated areas of the dominion, where they were held from 579 to 24. The internees' property was confiscated and they were used for unpaid forced labor. The bulk of the internees (about 1914 people) were Ukrainians, mostly from Austro-Hungarian Galicia.
Internees at forced labor in Canada during World War I
Monument to Ukrainians interned in Canada during World War I
The harsh living conditions in the camps caused discontent among their inhabitants, which was expressed in various forms of protest. This was most clearly demonstrated in the form of an open mutiny in Kapuskasing (Ontario) in May 1916, in which 1200 people took part. Three hundred armed soldiers were deployed to suppress it.
The United States followed a similar policy. President Woodrow Wilson passed laws in 1917 that placed certain restrictions on U.S. citizens of German descent. The 250 males affected were required to register and were subject to a number of restrictions. In April 000, these requirements were extended to women.
About 6300 "enemy aliens" were arrested, thousands were investigated and interrogated. 2048 were placed in two internment camps, where they remained until 1919-1920, despite the fact that the war had ended in 1918. In addition, about 2000 crew members of German merchant ships in US ports were interned.
Among the internees were prominent scientific and cultural figures, including 29 musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
With the outbreak of World War II, the steamroller of repression against their own citizens, who suddenly became “enemy aliens,” resumed its work in the United States and Canada, but on a much larger scale.
According to the 1940 census, there were about 12,2 million Germans living in the United States, either born in Germany or with one or both parents born in Germany. By the time the United States entered World War II, there were 695 Italian immigrants living in the United States. There were 127 Japanese on the mainland, and 150 in Hawaii, accounting for a third of the population.
After the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Presidential Proclamations 2525–2527 were issued, enforcing the Alien Enemies Act, which targeted people of German, Italian, and Japanese descent. In January 2525, all “enemy aliens” were required to undergo a registration process, including fingerprinting, photographing, and issuance of an appropriate document (“enemy alien registration cards”). They were prohibited from living in several dozen areas on the West Coast (the Exclusion Zone).
The US War Department demanded that all "enemy aliens" (Germans and Italians) living in coastal areas be moved to the interior regions under the pretext that they were a threat to national security. However, the government did not take such radical measures and limited itself to moving only a portion of these "enemy aliens".
11 persons of German descent were interned and placed in camps of the United States War Department and the United States Department of Justice. In addition, under pressure from the American authorities, a number of Latin American countries, with the exception of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, deported more than 507 persons of German descent to the United States and placed them in internment camps. Among them were German Jews who fled Nazi persecution. Some of the internees were held in the camps until 4500. Eleven Latin American countries also interned citizens of the Axis powers on their territory. It is interesting to note that only 1948 to 11 percent of German citizens living in the Americas were members of the NSDAP.
The repression also affected people of Italian descent: 1881 of them were arrested and 418 were interned. In addition, 288 people were deported from Latin America and then interned. On September 8, 1943, Italy capitulated, and a few months later, most of the internees were released.
The most severe fate awaited the "American" Japanese. On February 19, 1942, President F.D. Roosevelt approved Executive Order 9066, which gave military authorities the right to designate eviction zones and evict any persons from them.
A Japanese boy with a tag awaiting deportation to a camp, California, 1942
Japanese children swear allegiance to the United States before being sent to a concentration camp
As a result, 112 people of Japanese descent out of 127 living on the West Coast, 62% of whom were U.S. citizens, ended up in concentration camps. Even people with 1/6 Japanese blood, including children, could end up in the camps. Of the significant number of Japanese in Hawaii (150), only about 2264 were interned, as they played an important role in the local economy. In addition, 1944 Japanese were deported to the United States from Latin American countries. In XNUMX, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of internment, arguing that limiting the civil rights of a racial group is permissible if “public necessity requires it.”
Japanese Internment Camp, Hawaii
However, the Japanese charges of espionage and sabotage proved unfounded. A State Department report commissioned by President F.D. Roosevelt found that most ethnic Japanese and 90-98% of Japanese Americans were loyal.
On March 11, 1942, the Office of the Alien Property Custodian was established, which could dispose of this property at its own discretion. Many Japanese were deprived of all or part of their property.
The Japanese internment camps were located in remote, sparsely populated areas, mostly on Indian reservations. They were barracks with no running water, no sanitation, and no kitchens. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire fences and guarded by armed sentries who had the authority to open fire if internees attempted to escape.
Internment camp in the United States during World War II
In a camp for internment of Germans during World War II, USA
On January 2, 1945, the expulsion laws were lifted and internees were able to return home, but the last camp was not closed until 1946. Those released received $25 and a train ticket.
From 1948 to 1992, the American government passed a series of decrees providing partial compensation to the Japanese for the loss of property, and in 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a document in which the U.S. government apologized for the internment, which was caused by "racial prejudice, war hysteria, and political failure."
The Canadian government pursued a similar policy towards “enemy aliens” during the Second World War. On August 25, 1939, the War Measures Act came into force, giving the Minister of Justice the power to detain any person “whose actions posed a danger to public safety or the security of the state.”
As a result, about 40 people of German and later Italian descent, most of whom were Canadian citizens, were detained in more than 24 internment camps. In addition, about 000 people of German and Italian descent were subject to mandatory registration, reporting to the police every month.
Internment camp in Canada during World War II
In the summer of 1940, they were joined by more than 3000 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. Ironically, they were often held in camps with German prisoners of war.
After Canada entered the war with Japan in December 1941, it was the turn of the local Japanese, although they had been subject to mandatory registration since March of that year. It was believed, in particular, that they could facilitate the Japanese takeover of the province of British Columbia.
720 Japanese were arrested, and on February 24, 1942, the Canadian cabinet issued an order for the removal of people of Japanese descent from a 100-mile zone adjacent to the Pacific coastline into the interior of the country. 21 people, 000% of whom were Canadian citizens, were separated by sex and placed in internment camps. They were allowed only carry-on luggage; all other property was confiscated.
Deportation of Japanese in Canada
The internees were housed in primitive housing without running water, sanitation or electricity and were used for agricultural work. They often went hungry, which required the intervention of the Red Cross for food aid.
Tens of thousands of people deported from other British territories on the American continent and Great Britain itself, as well as crew members of enemy merchant ships captured in ports, also ended up in Canadian camps.
Internment was also carried out for political reasons. Along with 850 Canadian fascists, members of the Canadian Communist Party and other labor leaders were in the camps.
Arrest of an Italian in Canada during WWII
It was only in the late 80s that the Canadian government's position on these events began to change. And in 1988, the prime minister issued an official apology to the interned Japanese, and each of them who was still alive was paid $21 in compensation.
It is interesting to note that the property losses of the interned Germans and Italians were not compensated.
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