SIRS Decades: Japanese American Interment Resources

Japanese American Internment

Children of the Camps by PBS

What led to the internment of Japanese civilians in the western U.S., how was the plan carried out and why? 

Japanese living in America were rounded up and sent to internment camps, where they lived in barracks.  These were not spies, collaborationists, or sympathizers; they were Americans. What were the conditions in the camps?  What did the people do while they were imprisoned?

Dominant religious philosophy in Japan before and during World War II.  It believed the emperor divine, and was instrumental in the Japanese battle tactics and philosophy of war.

Japanese people believed Hirohito was a god.  What role did he play in the decision to attack the United States?  What was his function during World War II?  What happened to him at the end of the war?

“The divine wind” strategy to turn the tide of battle in the Pacific war.  Where did this idea originate?  Why were these young men willing to crash their planes into United States naval vessels and die?

Japanese people began immigrating long before World War II.  Why did these people move to America?  How did they survive once they arrived?  How did they contribute to their new homeland?

 Submarine attacks and aerial attacks were feared by the civilian and military populations of the West Coast.  How real were those fears?  What types of attacks did the Japanese actually launch?  Were they successful?

The Japanese Balloon Bomb Attack at Alturas

With most of the men fighting overseas, women’s role in society changed.  They weren’t simply housewives, but factory workers, pilots, nurses, and served their country in many ways unheard of  in pre-WW II America.