The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 27, July 6, 2003, Article 16

STILL MORE ON INTERNMENT CAMPS

  Ronald Thompson writes: "I have trouble understanding how
  John Kleeberg could say "Yes, some of their American
  spouses and children joined them, but that was voluntary."
  It could only be construed as "voluntary" if the spouse had
  independent means of support to survive while their German
  or Italy citizen/spouse was interned.  That was the day of one
  bread winner per family.  My guess is that most of German
  or Italy citizen/internees were men.  That meant that their
  housewife/homemaker had to feed the family and pay the
  bills without any income.  This was before the welfare system
  of the last half of the 20th century.  Certainly the housewife/
  homemaker could conceivably get a job if she had the skills,
  however, most didn't.  Yes, there were Rosie the riveters
  etc., but those individuals worked in the defense industry.
  How many spouses of interned aliens do you think could
  get a job with the defense industry?  And if they lived in a
  small town who would hire them for anything when they
  knew the husband was an interned alien?

  No, this wasn't voluntary.  It was the only alternative to being
  homeless that was forced on them due to the government's
  policy.  It is somewhat like the choice the cow has in the
  slaughter yards - go down the chute or get zapped with the
  cattle prod.  If the cow had a real choice, it would be anywhere
  but in the slaughter yards, but circumstances and, in this case,
  the government's actions, dictated this "voluntary" choice."

  Russ Rulau writes: "Dear Friends, I guess I should enter the
  discussion about Germans being interned in the U.S. during
  WWII, as I covered this in a small way in one of my books,
  "Latin American Tokens" (2nd edition, 2000, page 220).

  Beginning 1873 Guatemalan president Justo Rufino Barrios
  invited Germans  to immigrate, and Chancellor Bismarck gave
  a boost to the arrangement.  A special agreement permitted
  the Germans to reside, own property and every other right
  (except the vote) as resident aliens, keeping German citizenship.
  In the next 25 years these Germans and their offspring became
  wealthy, controlling coffee estates, railroads, banks, etc. In
  1918 Guatemala declared war on Germany and seized all
  German-owned property controlled from Germany, but did
  not disturb the resident aliens or their lands, etc.

  In 1941 strongman Jorge Ubico declared war on Germany
  and "intervened" all property of those Germans of the third
  or fourth generation who had never taken Guatemalan
  citizenship, and interned all the Germans themselves (many
  of whom had never seen Germany). The internees, full
  families, were locked up at a U.S. Army base in Texas by
  arrangement with the U.S. government. In all, Ubico seized
  130 German-owned coffee plantations of more than
  600,000 acres, employing 80,000 persons.

  Ref: "Area Handbook for Guatemala," John Dombrowski et
  al, American University, Washington, D.C., 1970.  Good
  input recently from John Kleeberg on this subject. Under
  international law, enemy aliens do have some rights, but as
  the above shows, they are slim."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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