The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 23, June 8, 2003, Article 14

CRYSTAL CITY CALL FOR ACTION

  Eiserloh's relative is Ensi Bennett of Anaheim, CA, and
  she writes: "Harold Eiserloh, a subscriber to The E-Sylum
  newsletter, recently sent me a copy of your article in E-Sylum
  about the Crystal City Internee tokens.  In that article you
  wonder if the the 11,000 German American internees
  received reparations as did the Japanese.  The answer is a
  resounding  NO, and such reparation is not even on the
  radar screen.

  My family lost not only the home my engineer father built
  with his own hands,  which today is valued at a half million
  dollars, but we lost every personal possession except the
  clothes on our backs by the time we arrived in Germany,
  not to mention my father's career, life's work and business.
  My parents, who were in their forties at the time, never
  quite recovered from those painful events, either emotionally
  or financially, and my father died a very broken man at age
  65.

  In any case, the insult on top of injury, has been the fact that
  the treatment of German Americans has been ignored and
  even denied through the years.  History books do not
  mention it, schools teach our children only about the Japanese
  internment and relocation, and the media has repeatedly
  stated that "NO German Americans were interned", until just
  this last year when a few journalists brought a little scattered
  attention by mentioning the GA internment in the same
  sentence with JA internment.  The German American internees
  were commanded to never speak of the internment and had
  to sign a document agreeing not to do so when they were
  released.  And that silence has prevailed to the point that
  most of them never even told their own children who were
  born after the war.

  It was therefore refreshing to read your comments and
  question - but your mention of being "surprised" to learn that
  German Americans were also interned does serve to
  underscore the secrecy of this bit of history.  Sadly, there
  are very few of us still living who can speak of it - we are
  the children of the camps.  Our parents, for the most part,
  are no longer living.

  We have only recently, finally, succeeded in getting a bill
  (S. 1356 - WW II Treatment of European Americans)
  before congress.  It was sponsored by Sen. Feingold of
  Wisc. and proposes establishing a commission to study
  the internment, exclusions and forced relocations and
  repatriation of European Americans.

  We are not seeking reparations as did the Japanese
  Americans, but we do want our government's
  acknowledgment of this travesty, and at least some form
  of apology for the mass ruination of so many innocent lives.

  So, if you have occasion to encourage your own senators
  and congressmen to support this bill by asking them to
  co-sponsor S-1356, there are a handful of us still left who
  would be deeply grateful on behalf of ourselves and our
  deceased parents."

  [My mother's side of the family is German, and luckily,
  they did not endure such hardships that I am aware of.
  But I would encourage E-Sylum readers in the U.S. who
  are so inclined to please consider Mr. Bennett's request.
  As history buffs we know the importance of setting the
  historical record straight, and it is never too late to right
  an old wrong.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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