German internment in WW2

As for the Japense, you will have to look up the specifics but there was an incident in Hawaii after pearl harbor where a Japanese plane crashed on one of the remote islands that was populated by some Japanese Americans. Some of whom did show support to Japan and took him in and protected him. Some though of lesser Japanese sympathy snuck off the island to tell authorities who then arrested the pilot.

This was part of the reason people were scared of which way Japanese Americans would turn in the event of saboteurs or an invasion.

It was Nihau (?) I believe. A privately owned island off Kauai whose farm labor inhabitants (primarily native Hawaiian and some Japanese American) were kept isolated from of the outside world by the owner for religious reasons. I was in Kauai last year and that is apparently still the case to a large extent. While there, I picked up and read a semi-fictionalized account of this event that suggested that the Japanese pilot was able to convince some of the Japanese-Americans (who did not know the Pearl Harbor raid had even occurred) that Japan had successfully invaded the Hawaiian Islands and that people who sheltered him would be well-treated when the occupying army arrived. If this is even remotely true, this account puts a different light on the actions of those who sheltered the pilot and (according to the fictionalized account) sought to help him destroy is papers and aircraft.
 
It was Nihau (?) I believe. A privately owned island off Kauai whose farm labor inhabitants (primarily native Hawaiian and some Japanese American) were kept isolated from of the outside world by the owner for religious reasons. I was in Kauai last year and that is apparently still the case to a large extent. While there, I picked up and read a semi-fictionalized account of this event that suggested that the Japanese pilot was able to convince some of the Japanese-Americans (who did not know the Pearl Harbor raid had even occurred) that Japan had successfully invaded the Hawaiian Islands and that people who sheltered him would be well-treated when the occupying army arrived. If this is even remotely true, this account puts a different light on the actions of those who sheltered the pilot and (according to the fictionalized account) sought to help him destroy is papers and aircraft.

Ni'ihau. two "i"s and an 'okina.

the Island is Privately owned, not sure if it was religious.

there was very few Japanese in Ni'ihau actually, and the one who did help the Pilot was an Nissei, second Generation Japanese-american.

they never tricked the Residents into thinking Japan invaded.
the Residents had some Idea of what happened after they heard a Radio report, and the pilot told them anyway when confronted.

one of the Residents, Kaleohano, got the Papers, but refused to give them back to the Pilot.
the aircraft was Destroyed, but that was by the Pilot himself.

they had taken a Hostage, Ben Kanahele. together with his wife they over powered the Pilot, who was killed after he was thrown into a wall, got his head bashed in and throat slit, and the Nisei, Yoshio Harada committed suicide.

the issei, Ishimatsu Shintani, was sent to an Internment camp, and the Wife of Harada was imprisoned for 31 months, but never charged with Treason.
 
Ni'ihau. two "i"s and an 'okina.

the Island is Privately owned, not sure if it was religious.

there was very few Japanese in Ni'ihau actually, and the one who did help the Pilot was an Nissei, second Generation Japanese-american.

they never tricked the Residents into thinking Japan invaded.
the Residents had some Idea of what happened after they heard a Radio report, and the pilot told them anyway when confronted.

one of the Residents, Kaleohano, got the Papers, but refused to give them back to the Pilot.
the aircraft was Destroyed, but that was by the Pilot himself.

they had taken a Hostage, Ben Kanahele. together with his wife they over powered the Pilot, who was killed after he was thrown into a wall, got his head bashed in and throat slit, and the Nisei, Yoshio Harada committed suicide.

the issei, Ishimatsu Shintani, was sent to an Internment camp, and the Wife of Harada was imprisoned for 31 months, but never charged with Treason.

Thanks for the clarifications. The account I read was advertised as a work of fiction, but based on facts. It did conform pretty well with what you say...there were few Japanese-Americans on the island and only one family - a man and wife - assisted the pilot. It does mention the radio, but that its use was forbidden by the owner and only one resident - a Native Hawaiian - ever listened to it. It also used people's real names. The novel implies it was the wife who most wanted to help the pilot. The novel never said anyone became convinced the Japanese had invaded, but because the owner was prohibited from making several customary trips to the island by US authorities after Pearl Harbor, people began to believe something was wrong and this led the Japanese family to considerthe arrival of Japanese troops at least a possibility.

I don't know if this was purely put in for effect, but the author has the American army detail that eventually sails to the island with the owner under the command of a Nisei Lieutenant.
 

CalBear

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We beat the hell out of this incident a while back here in the Forum. An isolated incident wasn't the reason for what happen on the West Coast. Racism was. Pure simple & unadulterated racism.

.
Ni'ihau. two "i"s and an 'okina.

the Island is Privately owned, not sure if it was religious.

there was very few Japanese in Ni'ihau actually, and the one who did help the Pilot was an Nissei, second Generation Japanese-american.

they never tricked the Residents into thinking Japan invaded.
the Residents had some Idea of what happened after they heard a Radio report, and the pilot told them anyway when confronted.

one of the Residents, Kaleohano, got the Papers, but refused to give them back to the Pilot.
the aircraft was Destroyed, but that was by the Pilot himself.

they had taken a Hostage, Ben Kanahele. together with his wife they over powered the Pilot, who was killed after he was thrown into a wall, got his head bashed in and throat slit, and the Nisei, Yoshio Harada committed suicide.

the issei, Ishimatsu Shintani, was sent to an Internment camp, and the Wife of Harada was imprisoned for 31 months, but never charged with Treason.
 
As noted out of 136 people on that island none were ever charged with any crime and only two were arrested and held for aiding a downed Japanese pilot on an island so isolated that, after the pilot arrived, several men had to row over to a larger island to learn that the US and Japan were at war.
 

CalBear

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Wiki claims over 11000 were interned. That constitutes 'quite a few' in the US, which wasn't anywhere near as much of a high incarceration nation in those days.

Regarding the 11,000 German or German origin who were interned. There were 5.25 MILLION German non citizens (including visitors and immigrants who had not naturalized) in the U.S. according to the 1940 Census. The number interned = 0.21% of the population. That is around 1/5 of the percentage interned in WW I. The TOTAL German origin/ancestory population of the U.S. in 1941 was ~40 MILLION. Interned = 0.028%

Three one hundredth of one percent.

As noted earlier, insignificant.
 
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We beat the hell out of this incident a while back here in the Forum. An isolated incident wasn't the reason for what happen on the West Coast. Racism was. Pure simple & unadulterated racism.

.

I never said that was the cause for the internment camps, I was explaining the incident to Zoomar.
 

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Regarding the 11,000 German or German origin who were interned. There were 5.25 MILLION German non citizens (including visitors and immigrants who had not naturalized) in the U.S. according to the 1940 Census. The number interned = 0.21% of the population. That is around 1/5 of the percentage interned in WW I. The TOTAL German origin/ancestory population of the U.S. in 1941 was ~40 MILLION. Interned = 0.028%

Three one hundredth of one percent.

As noted earlier, insignificant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_internment
A total of 11,507 people of German ancestry were interned during the war, accounting for 36% of the total internments under the Justice Department's Enemy Alien Control Program.[10] Such internments began with the detention of 1,260 Germans shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.[11] Of the 254 persons evicted from coastal areas, the majority were German.

There is no doubt that the Japanese were targeted to a degree that the German community was not, but to your point, most of those German non-citizens were fleeing from persecution in Nazi Germany and were enemies of the Nazis. In fact, many were involved in the war effort either as scientists, translators, or soldiers.
 
Japanese American GI's

I saw a TV programme about a regiment / batallion of Japanese American GI's that fought solely in the European Theatre of Operations in WW2 (Italy I believe) and ended up being the most decorated unit per head of any American unit.

Being English it was most interesting, but I don't know a lot about the issues. I do know that there were some anomalous internments in the UK including a Black / Mixed Race German musician who was interned because he had played with the Berlin Philharmonic and was thus deemed to have Nazi sympathies
 

CalBear

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442nd.

Tough bunch of bastards. Most were Hawaiian by place of birth.

They saved a Texas NG unit that was surrounded after a couple other attemts failed.

Reputedly, for several years after the war a Japanese male couldn't buy his own drink in Texas. Drinks were on the House or on somebody's tab out of respect for the 442's actions.


I saw a TV programme about a regiment / batallion of Japanese American GI's that fought solely in the European Theatre of Operations in WW2 (Italy I believe) and ended up being the most decorated unit per head of any American unit.

Being English it was most interesting, but I don't know a lot about the issues. I do know that there were some anomalous internments in the UK including a Black / Mixed Race German musician who was interned because he had played with the Berlin Philharmonic and was thus deemed to have Nazi sympathies
 
If anyone wishes to doubt the racist base for the Nisei imprisonment, check out public statements made by General John DeWitt, commander of Western Defences. And it wasn't just him. It was by FDR's executive order and confirmed that same year by SCOTUS. FDR's darkest hour. IIRC, Harry Hopkin's diary says FDR's motive was to save the House of Representatives for the Democrats. Which he barely did.
 
A German Mustang

Dutch Kindelberger, an American born of German Parents, hired a German-born Edgar Schmued to design airplanes. He was pretty good at it. Imagine a German Mustang.
Now theres an idea for althist! Germans designe and build the Mustang. How much difference did that make in the air over Europe.
 
He's A Bundist !

There was a lot of concern about the Bund. News paper editorialists got a lot a mileage out of them. People used to joke about the Toledo Ohio radio station that had Jim Ublehardt and John Lindamulder in the same news room. They might from a Bund. When rock and roll became popular the lader used his middle name and was John Gary. It didn't sound too German.
 
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