How did you feel as you read about conditions in the internment camps? Prior to reading this book, were you aware of the internment of German- and Italian-Americans during WWII?
I probably answered this earlier! However, it shocked me. It also made me aware of the power of J. Edgar Hoover. I googled the German internment and learned there were a couple of camps not too far from where I live.
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I first heard of German internments only this year. Prior to that, I only knew about Japanese internment camps. So while I was not shocked, I was still disappointed in how as Americans we treated loving, caring contributors to the country just because they came from a certain country.
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I was totally unaware of the internment of Italian and German families during WWII. And I was also unaware that the FBI under J Edgar Hoover had open files on these families and was ready to pounce and round them up as soon as the US entered the war.
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Jensen’s book was my first awareness of German internment camps. The conditions she described were dismal with threats always present whether from guards or other imprisoned Germans.
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No matter how many historical novels one reads about WWII, there seems to be more to learn. I had no knowledge about these internment camps. In fact, while reading, i “googled” to find out if this really happened. Somehow knowing this was FACTUAL, increased my interest and resonated to me how many of us never learned this. So very sad to know our country did this to German families.
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I’m surprised that so many people were unaware of the internment of Germans and Italians during WWII. We put Germans in concentration camps during WWI, too. Granted, it was a small number compared to the number of Japanese people we incarcerated, but the number was still considerable.
That’s not all we did, either. We also enforced mandatory registration, travel limitations, curfews, and restrictions on owning certain items like cameras and radios. A good historical fiction book that talks about some of this (but not exclusively) is Mercury Pictures Presents. In it, a young Italian woman and her family are only able to meet at one cafe because it was the only place each could reach due to the travel restrictions.
I also was unaware of Germans and Italians being interned during World War I or II. I did know about the Japanese because a long time ago I read the book, Snow Falling on Cedars.
I had a hard time reminding myself that I was reading about interment camps in America. And the conditions were just heart breaking. I recently read Brittany Grindner’s book, Coming Home, where she described the her life in a few prison camps in Russia. The two camps had lots of similarities.
What bothers me the most is the timeliness of this book. The president-elect is talking about rounding up illegal immigrants and putting them in detention camps to be deported. I just hope In Our Midst is not on the verge of being “history repeating itself”.
When I finally found out about Japanese internment, I wondered about Germans and Italians. Why weren’t they interned? Weren’t they possibly dangerous to our country too?? I had no idea that 11,000+ Germans and 400+ Italians were put in camps along with the 120,000+ Japanese. This book was an education in the politics of fear - fear of race, gender, sexual identity - fear of others different from ourselves. It was shocking and dehumanizing.I fear that our present political climate has the potential to make this all happen again.
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As I read the book I felt I was part of their lives because their decisions and emotions and how they evolved were included thus it was hard book to put down. Also, as I have said this was not aspect of history taught in schools or one reads about–it is a hidden but important part of World War II history.
I found the Italian and German people interned to be a part of history that I was not aware happened. Since then, I read another book with German interns were also depicted. The Italians and Germans were not interned as Japanese families were interned with their families. In the second book, Germans could be repatriated to Germany in exchange for US interns.
I was not aware of the internment of German and Italian nationals during WWII. Since moving to Arkansas in 1969, I learned a lot about the Japanese internment camps at Rohwer and Jerome, and have been able to visit the sites. But the big difference here is that the Japanese interned during the war were American citizens! And many of their young men enlisted and were recognized for heroic service in the war. Overall, these camps were in very undesirable locations and were not good places to live in.
The only reason I knew about the Germans being interned in US prison camps was because a dear friend and colleague of my husband was interned as a child with his family on the Greenbriar grounds. His father was a German diplomat to the US and they were caught up in the insanity.
Also, I recall mention of German POW camps in the historical fiction book “All the Little Hopes” by Leah Weiss. North Carolina, if I recall correctly.
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I had no idea these camps existed in the United States. Although, as a minority myself I am not surprised. The conditions described by Gerhardt were unacceptable and heartbreaking. I cannot understand how anyone can justify treating human beings with such disrespect.