“A Jap’s a Jap. It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen or not.” -Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt, April 15, 1943
The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during WWII was one of the worst violations of civil rights in American history. The government and the army, falsely citing “military necessity,” removed 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry—about two-thirds were American citizens—from their homes on the West Coast and forced them into ten remote camps controlled by the War Relocation Administration (WRA).
Topaz War Relocation Center
The Topaz camp was located in central Utah, on the edge of the Great Basin. Topaz recorded 11,212 people processed into the camp while it was in operation from September 11, 1942 to October 31, 1945.
The camp housed two elementary schools and a high school, a library, and some recreational facilities. The extreme temperature fluctuations of the arid area made conditions very uncomfortable; high altitude and arid climate created hot, dusty summers and cold, snowy winters.
Each residential block housed 200–300 people, housed in barracks that held five people within a single 20-by-20-foot room. Families were generally housed together, while single adults would be housed with four other unrelated individuals. Residential blocks contained a recreation hall, a mess hall, an office for the block manager, and a combined laundry/ toilet/bathing facility. Each block of 200–300 people contained only four bathtubs for all the women and four showers for all the men.. Barracks were built out of wood frame covered in tarpaper, with wooden floors. There was no furniture provided. Inmates used communal leftover scrap wood from construction to build beds, tables, and cabinets.
The camp was patrolled by 85–150 policemen and was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Manned watchtowers with searchlights were placed every quarter-mile surrounding the perimeter of the camp. None of the Japanese Americans were ever convicted or even charged with sabotage or espionage, yet were confined, some up to four years, Internees could apply for clearance and leave the camps to go east for college or jobs, but the West Coast was off limits until January 1945.
