Comprehensive Study Guide: Enemy Aliens and Internment in World War II

Historical Context of Japanese Canadian Internment and Enemy Aliens

• Initial Declaration of War: Following the Imperial Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Prime Minister Mackenzie King immediately declared that Canada was at war with Japan.
• Demographics of Japanese Canadians at the Outbreak of War:
  • Total population in British Columbia: Approximately $23,000$ people of Japanese descent.
  • Second-generation Canadians (Nisei): $14,000$ individuals (born in Canada to immigrant parents).
  • Naturalized Canadians: $3,000$ individuals who had obtained Canadian citizenship.
  • Japanese Citizens: $6,000$ individuals who maintained Japanese citizenship.
• Lack of Security Threat: Post-war investigations revealed that fears regarding the Japanese Canadian community were unfounded.
  • Canadian security officers reported that zero Japanese individuals in Canada were linked to or suspected of acts of espionage or sabotage since the commencement of the war.
  • Many Japanese Canadians were actively employed in essential war-related labor.
• The Uprooting (March 4, 1942):
  • The Canadian government ordered all people of Japanese heritage to vacate a designated "protected area."
  • The "protected area" consisted of a $100$-mile ($161\,km$) strip along the coast of British Columbia.

The Internment Process and Conditions

• Relocation Scale: The movement of $23,000$ Japanese Canadians is classified as the largest mass exodus in the history of Canada.
• Initial Detention: Many Japanese Canadians spent months housed in animal stalls before being moved further inland.
• Transport: Interned individuals were transported to the interior of the country via sealed trains.
• Internment Camp Distribution: A total of $10$ internment camps were established, primarily in the interior of British Columbia, with others located in Alberta and Ontario.
• Family Separation:
  • Men were often separated from their families to work on road gangs.
  • Women and children were relocated to shantytowns located in the wilderness of British Columbia.
• Property Seizure and Liquidation (January 1943):
  • Under pressure from British Columbia politicians, the Canadian government authorized the sale of all seized properties.
  • Homes, cars, businesses, and personal effects were sold for very low prices (described as a "pittance").
  • Muriel Kitigawa, an interned Japanese Canadian, wrote of the experience: "The bitterness, the anguish is complete… You, who deal in lifeless figures, files and statistics, could never measure the depth of hurt and outrage dealt out to those of us who love this land."

Post-War Repatriation and Redress

• Loyalty Tests: As the war ended, Japanese Canadians were forced to prove loyalty by either moving east of the Rocky Mountains immediately or signing papers to be "repatriated" to Japan.
• Exile to Japan ($1946$):
  • Approximately $4,000$ individuals were exiled to Japan.
  • $50\%$ of those exiled were born in Canada.
  • $1/3$ of the exiles were dependent children under the age of $16$.
• Restoration of Rights (April 1, 1949):
  • All restrictions were finally lifted four years after the war ended.
  • Full citizenship rights, including the right to vote and the right to return to the West Coast, were restored.
  • Despite the restoration of rights, the community in British Columbia had been virtually destroyed with no homes to return to.
• The Redress Settlement (September 22, 1988):
  • The settlement was announced in Parliament and included a formal apology.
  • Individual payments of $21,000$ were made to eligible survivors.
  • A community fund of $12$ million was established.
  • Criminal records for those charged under the War Measures Act were cleared.
  • Canadian citizenship was restored to those who had been exiled to Japan.
  • The Canadian Race Relations Foundation was created in $1997$ as part of the settlement.

Propaganda and Public Sentiment

• Dr. Seuss Political Cartoon ($1942$): A cartoon published by Marshall Field (The Newspaper PM) depicts Japanese Americans in Washington, Oregon, and California lining up to receive blocks of TNT from an official, titled "Waiting for the Signal From Home… Honorable 5th Column."
• Public Hostility: Signage after the war (August $1945$) in places like California explicitly stated, "WE DON'T WANT ANY JAPS BACK HERE-EVER!"

Collaborative Activity: Deconstructing Persecution and Complicity

• Section 1 Analysis (Uncaptioned Photos): Students are tasked with identifying the setting, describing visual elements, and inferring the event taking place in historical photographs.
• Section 2 Analysis (Captioned Photos): Upon receiving captions, students must discuss:
  1. The number of people involved in the depicted action.
  2. Whether everyone involved supported the action.
  3. Whether they would participate if ordered.
  4. The actions they would take as a witness.
  5. Whether the participants are "bad" people.
  6. Motivations/pressures (e.g., job requirements, social pressure, fear).

Detailed Visual Evidence of the Holocaust and Japanese Internment

• Picture 1 (Bielefeld, Germany, $1936$): German customs officials supervising the packing of a Jewish family's moving van to ensure no prohibited valuables were smuggled during emigration.
• Picture 2 (Lithuania, $1941$): A Lithuanian auxiliary police member auctioning off the property of Jews who had been executed in the Rase Forest.
• Picture 3 (Paris, France, $1942$): A police official distributing Jewish badges (Yellow Stars) to residents in the northern occupied zone.
• Picture 4 (Auschwitz vicinity, July $1944$): SS officers and female assistants relaxing at a resort $18\,miles$ from the camp; many were involved in processing deportees from Hungary.
• Picture 5 (Treptow, Germany): A banner over a commercial street reading "Die Juden sind unser Unglück!" ("The Jews are our misfortune").
• Picture 6 (Lom, Bulgaria, March $1943$): Jews from Bulgarian-occupied Greek territory registering for deportation to the Treblinka killing center.
• Picture 7 (Kerpen, Germany, $1942$): Gestapo officials loading Jews onto trucks in full view of public onlookers.
• Picture 8 (Esquimalt, BC, December 9, 1941): A Royal Canadian Navy officer interviewing Japanese Canadian fishermen while confiscating their boats.
• Picture 9 (Slocan, BC, c. $1946$): Documentation of the "second uprooting" as $4,000$ Japanese Canadians are exiled to Japan.
• Picture 10 (Internment Camps, $1942$): Churches organizing high school education because the British Columbia Security Commission refused responsibility for secondary schooling for interned children.
• Picture 11 (Tashme, BC, $1942$): Relocation process of Japanese Canadians moved from Vancouver to the Tashme camp.
• Picture 12 (California, August $1945$): A shop owner proudly displaying a racist anti-Japanese sign following the war's conclusion.
• Picture 13: An "Evacuation Sale" sign on a Japanese-owned notions, toys, and gift shop prior to internment.
• Picture 14 (Salinas, California, $1942$): Families of Japanese ancestry checking in at an Armory before being moved to assembly centers and later War Relocation Authority centers.
• Picture 15 (San Francisco, April 6, 1942): News photographers, including Dorothea Lange, documenting the first contingent of the evacuation.
• Picture 16 (BC Interior, $1942$): Japanese Canadians being transported to detention camps via public or official transport vehicles.
• Picture 17: An official Canadian government notice instructing all persons of Japanese ancestry to turn themselves in for internment.
• Picture 18: A Japanese American child tagged with an identification number, awaiting internment.