Were the Interment camps we set up for Japanese citizens like concentration camps?

[Cicero]

I don't believe they were similar, sure, neither provided the best living conditions. But those in interment camps didnt have to worry about getting executed. They also had freedom. So I say no.

[PinkFloyd]

They were fed decently and had okay living spaces -- not shacks made from rotting wood

[Harry Smith]

The concentration camps were actually invented by the british in the boer war to keep south African farmers and families who were pro-Boer under watch, what the Nazis had were extermination camps where people where sent to die.

And the only bad thing about the interment camps was that a lot of Japanese people got there business taken away and sold

[StoppingTime]

Things that are comparable to the Holocaust:

The Holocaust.

Things that are comparable to Japanese Internment camps:

Japanese Internment camps.

____

You simply cannot compare those two things.

[Gigablue]

I'm assuming that you are referring the the nazi concentration camps. However, you seen to be confusing concentration camps with extermination camps. Concentration camps were where people were sent to be kept, but not killed unless they tried to escape. Extermination camps, on the other hand, were built simply to kill people. The nazis had both, but the two should not be confused.

Anyway, the two were very different. While the japanese internment camps were certainly not good, they aren't even comparable to the holocaust and its atrocities.

[StoppingTime]

I'm assuming that you are referring the the nazi concentration camps. However, you seen to be confusing concentration camps with extermination camps. Concentration camps were where people were sent to be kept, but not killed unless they tried to escape. Extermination camps, on the other hand, were built simply to kill people. The nazis had both, but the two should not be confused.


Um no? While there were two kinds of Nazi Concentration camps (i.e. death/extermination camps and concentration camps), people were killed in both, and it wasn't just if they were trying to escape.
For example, Buchenwald was known as a "concentration camp" but thousands were executed there, and not just because they were trying to escape.
While Auschwitz (and it's connected camps) was known as a "death camp."

[Harry Smith]

The concentration camp was first used by Hitler in 1933 after the enabling act to hold political prisoners due to overcrowding. This then expanded to other prisoners such as gypsies,homosexuals,etc.

Jews weren't placed in death camps until the Wansee conference in 1942

[Gigablue]

Um no? While there were two kinds of Nazi Concentration camps (i.e. death/extermination camps and concentration camps), people were killed in both, and it wasn't just if they were trying to escape.
For example, Buchenwald was known as a "concentration camp" but thousands were executed there, and not just because they were trying to escape.
While Auschwitz (and it's connected camps) was known as a "death camp."

Reading over what I wrote, I realize I was very unclear. People were killed in both, I didn't mean to say otherwise. It's just that in some camps, people arrived and were killed almost immediately, while in others, the goal was mainly making then do labour. Either way, that wasn't really my main point, but I apologize for having worded it so badly.

[Cicero]

Reading over what I wrote, I realize I was very unclear. People were killed in both, I didn't mean to say otherwise. It's just that in some camps, people arrived and were killed almost immediately, while in others, the goal was mainly making then do labour. Either way, that wasn't really my main point, but I apologize for having worded it so badly.

People were killed in internment camps? Never heard of this. Unless it was due to disease or natural death.

[StoppingTime]

People were killed in internment camps? Never heard of this. Unless it was due to disease or natural death.

He meant both Concentration and Execution camps, I'm assuming

[Guillermo]

Just because the government allowed people in these internment camps to have more "freedoms" it doesn't make the internment camps right. Honestly, they were both extreme human rights violations. Imprisoning people just because the U.S. was at war with people that shared their ethnicity and were thought to be "disloyal" to the U.S.? Some of these prisoners had been American citizens all their life and their families had been here for 2+ generations. They had lost their homes, jobs, and most everything they owned. And all for the "security of our country"? What a load of bullshit. And here's the best part: it was later found out that the Japanese internment camps were not justified (http://library.thinkquest.org/trio/TTQ04160/Complete%20Site/aftermath/reparations.htm) by the government and people of Japanese origin were merely interned because of race, war hysteria, and lack of good governance.

[Sir Suomi]

Although majority of the Japo-Americo people were loyal to our nation during the war, it was a necessary step. We needed to make sure we didn't have people still loyal to Japan spying/sabotaging the war effort. They had good living conditions and food, and some of them even served in the war.

[StoppingTime]

Although majority of the Japo-Americo people were loyal to our nation during the war, it was a necessary step. We needed to make sure we didn't have people still loyal to Japan spying/sabotaging the war effort. They had good living conditions and food, and some of them even served in the war.

I'm sorry what now.

[Sir Suomi]

I'm sorry what now.

Did you read the rest of what I said? :what:

To insure that Japo-Americans did not do any espionage did not occur, we put them into the interment camps. Was it exactly fair? That's up to debate. But in times of war, it can be a deadly mistake to overlook something, so for the duration of the war we took the steps to insure nothing was overlooked. Could we have done it better in different ways? Possibly.

[StoppingTime]

Did you read the rest of what I said? :what:

To insure that Japo-Americans did not do any espionage did not occur, we put them into the interment camps. Was it exactly fair? That's up to debate. But in times of war, it can be a deadly mistake to overlook something, so for the duration of the war we took the steps to insure nothing was overlooked. Could we have done it better in different ways? Possibly.

Right, let's take another example. Say the United States were to go into some war with.... oh let's make this interesting (but unlikely), Iran. Should we then round up all Iranian born people and put them in camps?

[Guillermo]

Although majority of the Japo-Americo people were loyal to our nation during the war, it was a necessary step.

No, it wasn't a necessary step, actually.

We needed to make sure we didn't have people still loyal to Japan spying/sabotaging the war effort.

If you think that's what these internment camps were for, then you're wrong as I've already shown in my source above. Here (http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html) is another one for you. Not even one person of Japanese descent in any of the internment camps was found guilty of any type of spying/sabotaging.

They had good living conditions and food, and some of them even served in the war.

Tell me, would you like to be taken away from your home, lose your job and the life that you once knew to basically go to a prison?

All in all, it was really because of poor leadership based on racism and war hysteria that this decision was made.

[anyone50]

I don't believe their was any comparrison between the two. The only thing they shared was they were both fenced off and deprived people of thier freedom by guards with guns Thats where the similarity ends.

[Kahn]

I don't believe they were similar, sure, neither provided the best living conditions. But those in interment camps didnt have to worry about getting executed. They also had freedom. So I say no.

"Freedom"

http://questgarden.com/64/19/3/080417100246/images/Japanese-american_children.gif

I'm sure they loved their freedom.

Regarding the OP's question,

The Nazi camps came about to persecute many minorities (not just Jews), while the American camps were born out of racial malice and distrust. Both were bad, neither had any positive effect on their respective cultures. End of story. Many died in the Nazi camps, but I'm sure our government didn't treat their prisoners kindly either. There is no justice in locking up any ethnicity, religious group or minority.

[Human]

We can never really know... I'm sure the government wouldn't want to release any files relating to terrible conditions. American camps could all of been made out to be good places, they could of been just as bad as Nazi camps but obviously on a smaller scale. Who says they weren't executing them? Even today, governments have black sites where they torture and execute out of the law.

[Guillermo]

We can never really know... I'm sure the government wouldn't want to release any files relating to terrible conditions. American camps could all of been made out to be good places, they could of been just as bad as Nazi camps but obviously on a smaller scale. Who says they weren't executing them? Even today, governments have black sites where they torture and execute out of the law.

Yes we can really know. Look on my links that I've posted above. Former president Jimmy Carter actually conducted research on whether or not these camps were justified. All the information is there; the problem is people are educated that these camps were "right" because that's all they were taught. It's sad but history really is told from the victors point of view. In other words, it's hard to hear an unbiased look on any event that's happened in history.

[CharlieFinley]

Yes we can really know. Look on my links that I've posted above. Former president Jimmy Carter actually conducted research on whether or not these camps were justified. All the information is there; the problem is people are educated that these camps were "right" because that's all they were taught. It's sad but history really is told from the victors point of view. In other words, it's hard to hear an unbiased look on any event that's happened in history.

They're still hardly comparable to either death camps or concentration camps.

[Kahn]

They're still hardly comparable to either death camps or concentration camps.

I disagree. The psychological damage done to Japanese prisoners must've been massive. Imagine, a second generation American-Japanese citizen who did their duty, went to work, paid bills like their white neighbor suddenly getting forced out of their home to live in crowded internment camps. Not exactly appealing. They were put to work, like German prisoners. I'm sure the conditions were better because the German camps were said to be wretched, but that's aside the point. There is no justification to lock up a group of people.

No one has the right to do wrong, even if they've been wronged.

[Guillermo]

They're still hardly comparable to either death camps or concentration camps.

I never said they were. I said that interment camps and concentration camps just shouldn't have been compared in the first place. But the OP was making it sound that interment camps were OK or more right because they allowed "freedom" - which is not the truth at all.

[CharlieFinley]

I never said they were. I said that interment camps and concentration camps just shouldn't have been compared in the first place. But the OP was making it sound that interment camps were OK or more right because they allowed "freedom" - which is not the truth at all.

Ah. I gotcha now.
I disagree. The psychological damage done to Japanese prisoners must've been massive. Imagine, a second generation American-Japanese citizen who did their duty, went to work, paid bills like their white neighbor suddenly getting forced out of their home to live in crowded internment camps. Not exactly appealing. They were put to work, like German prisoners. I'm sure the conditions were better because the German camps were said to be wretched, but that's aside the point. There is no justification to lock up a group of people.

No one has the right to do wrong, even if they've been wronged.
Psychological damage is shitty, and I didn't mean to imply the camps were in any way acceptable, but you must admit that the Japanese internment camps were in no way forced labor (and then death) or death camps.