I read two novels about this, and even as a child who suffered from the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, it was unconscionable, their having to be taken from their homes and placed in those internment camps. War is a terrible thing; makes people do terrible things to their fellow human beings, makes people hate ones on the other side... and some of this hatred, and prejudices they engendered, last...
Huh ??? Excuse me ??? Look at what Hitler did !!! did we lock up German-Americans ???? Huh wake up and smell the roses !!! fucking idiot, and puhleeeeez explain to me WHY German-Americans and their Italian allies were not interned in Concentration Camps, that is what they were. And then read about how German soldiers , Prisoners of War were brought to Louisiana and allowed to freely roam the countryside. I am a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant, and I have personally spoken with old WW 2 , Wehrmacht soldiers, who spent "internment" in the U.S. they loved it. Nuff said !!!, my blood pressure is starting to sky rocket
You are absolutely right, and I said as much above when I said the German POW's were free to roam the countryside, and we know american blacks were not, not even black soldiers !!!
I suggest you check the video on UA-cam for Crystal City, Texas. It was the largest of several internment camps for German-American and Italian-Americans. It was the exact same set up that was used for Japanese displaced from the west coast. Over 11,000 German nationals and their American citizens families and almost 2,000 Italians were interred.
Pepita Jimenez-Jacobs well they bombed Pearl Harbor because they thought we would sue for peace, because they thought we were weak and lead frivolous lives. The Japanese army was also killing 20 THOUSAND people a DAY in Asia, so I don't know how a treaty would help them.
Smithsonian Channel I wouldn't call it amazing cause it's just not right but I'm thankful &a grateful for the history piece cause at least I know we the people won't let this happen again
It was today in 1945 that an order to end the internment of Japanese American went into effect. Meet one survivor of the camps who struggled to stay positive in the face of her unfair imprisonment. This Was Life for Japanese-Americans During WWII
Thank you for making this video and introducing us to Betty Taira. I was doing some research about the Japanese Internment for an American Foundations class when I found this. I plan to share it with my classmates. It is refreshing to hear from someone who refused to become a dysfunctional and/or bitter victim.
How do you know that America doesn't teach us this? I was taught this two times in two grades in High School. So it is common knowledge as long as some people have the mentality to listen in class. And America isn't the only country that has done questionable things in the past. Many countries have committed atrocities in the past, but they just don't want to admit it. Those countries are just as guilty as America. So don't point the finger just towards America.
I met a few people who were imprisoned in those things. One of them ended up in the 442nd Infantry Regiment _after_ being imprisoned in a concentration camp for being Japanese. I think that that says a lot about what horrible, stupid idea the camps were.
4estrose - If you're middle class, be patient, they'll get to you soon enough, Buddy. (All of us) Look what they did to Pat Tillman's family. They are good people from my community. (GWB didn't even serve)
sienna three I wish people could. They don’t teach this. They were imprisoned but they were treated better. You wanna know why? They were white. So ken McGuire don’t say that. It happened yes but they weren’t starved, and tortured.
Most of the Japanese in Hawaii was not sent to internment camps on the mainland. I don't know what criteria was used to get sent to the mainland. At any rate, the Japanese were treated the same way before and after December 7 in Hawaii by the locals and even the GI's. I was just 9 to 12 years old during WWII, so this is through the eyes of a kid.
Concentration Camps. Of course, the US govt calls them "internment camps". Just as it calls the "genocide bombing" of Austria, Germany, Japan and Korea " strategic bombing".
My father was a guard in a POW camp that had Germans. He said they were happy to be away from the war and he said they were treated well. it's amazing how you get treated when you are of a certain race. Melting pot my ass.
The school curriculum doesn’t teach this and it is wrong. This wasn’t long ago. Americans should own up to the bad things we have done. We did this for no reason. We should own up to it. I wish we would.
my grandparents had Japanese neighbors in the early 40's. when they were sent away for safekeeping they asked my grandparents to watch their house and possessions. after a couple of weeks they didn't come back so grandpa claimed their property. we still have many things that proudly we still have. there is a chest with cutlery and dishes and many tapestries and pearl inlaid mirror with comb and makeup kit among other things. my brother and I recently threw away the photo albums and other insignificant things but a lot of it is in good condition still. I was wondering how much it may be worth, may be more because of its historical value
the japanese did not apologized even a single word ,.look at what happens to asian comfort women from korea china philippines and indonesia.,did they apologized for that?.,did they apologize for what they did in nanking? bullshit,. dropping the atom bomb in nagasaki and hiroshima is appropriate move., if you ask those war victims in th asia.,the japanese empire just reap what they saw.,to those self morally uprght assholes and stupid who keeps moaning about the hiroshima and nagasaki bombing eat your shit and shut up your fucked up mouth,.if only icould see you i will knock off tour teeth.
We grow up with the grandkids of that war they never got over it the shame of lossing everything for nothing punished unfair my father said that will never happen again if he had to defend his house himself or even put his house up to save his anything to save our neibour fears and said not eveeyone felt so sad after how eveeyone was treated my father was a kid at the time he just loved everything japazies we all did and slowly everyone moved away sadly we missed them in school veey good kind caring people mistreated
Hey smithsonian. I am from Canada and I was able to see your videos . But now I am pretty disappointed cause I can't view it in this country. I really enjoyed your videos . Can you by any chance make it possible so that your Canadian viewers have a chance to see it. Thank you
You do realize that what you are saying is a gross simplification and generalization of the camps right? If you talk to anyone who has family who survived the camps, or have family friends who went through it, they would tell you a much different story than what you are trying to push.
My family and relatives were interned in the camps. They were housed in bare-bones, quickly assembled barracks that were cold in the winter and hot in the summer. And they most certainly DID NOT live and eat better then most Americans at the time! It's true that they worked hard and were creative in trying to improve their living conditions as best they could but no American citizen should be forced from their home and incarcerated behind barbed wire like that. Many lost their homes and everything they had. Try educating yourself on this subject before making ignorant comments.
In World War 2 Fifty million people died. They were shot, gassed, ,bombed, burned crushed. In the so called horribly unjust American internment camps the survival rate for Japanese was nearly 100%. No one was beaten, starved nor were they accused of any crime nor were they tried. They spend 3 years tending gardens, raising livestock, reading, going to classes. They even went on field trips. Lets talk about that for a change..
While I have empathy for the internees, I believe there internment was necessary. That was a time that you best make rational decisions, this was wartime, we were under attack. Hurting someone's feelings should've the last of their worries. Stop and think about the consequences of being on the losing end of that war.
Bruh the US government agreed that the Japanese interment was unconstitutional in 1988. The Civil Liberties Act blamed racism, war hysteria and poor leadership 🙄
Never forget that when Japanese Amnericans were detained we had a Democrat President, a Democrat house and a Democrat Senate. Those Super Majorities who did bold things that AOC likes to talk about.
@@hyperallie01 Far more than you have. In 1942 Japanese Americans were stripped of their rights and put in concentration camps. The President was Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. There were 66 Democrats in the Senate to 31 Republicans. There 268 Democrats in the House to 162 Republicans. Every act of evil in American History was performed by Democrats. Every, single one.
Whose the they and whose the US? And why do you get to decide where these lines are? You say the American Japanese are not part of the "US" in America, but that they are part of the government of Japan, that they are not real Americans, they are lesser American that is racism and it's wrong
you know what was worse? america being surprise attacked at pearl harbor, thousands killed....all young american men drafted and sent to die... don teven start about japanese treatment of chinese, and of american prisoners.... i dont feel bad about this..
The people put into the camps were American citizens. It doesn’t matter at all what “their government” was doing. They had no part of it. I can’t change your feelings, but I’m just giving you a less restricted perspective than what you are giving yourself.
The US did apologize already DUMMY. Are you seriously this uneducated. Look up Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Please educate yourself. So YOU the DUMMY happens to think "we" did nothing wrong but yet the United States Government already apologized for what they did wrong. LOL!!
The Chichijima incident (also known as the Ogasawa incident) occurred in late 1944, when Japanese soldiers killed and consumed five American airmen on Chichi Jima, in the Bonin Islands. Maybe if they were a little more humane to prisoners, then Americans would have not be so afraid of the Japanese propensity for inhumanity
look, these camps are a dark mark on American history and should never be accepted as an ethical thing to do, but it seems like "survivor" is used a little too lightly here, the death rate was consistent with the population outside of the camps.
He was great in some aspects. You can't deny that he did more for America than any other president in the modern era. But this is one of his bad decisions. War makes people afraid, and in that fear, they do irrational things.
😢this system of things we live in sucks😰so much pain and suffering to all humanity throughout history and the present, it just shows that Satan is controlling this world right now...But he knows he doesn't have much time left anymore..His end is near
I read two novels about this, and even as a child who suffered from the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, it was unconscionable, their having to be taken from their homes and placed in those internment camps. War is a terrible thing; makes people do terrible things to their fellow human beings, makes people hate ones on the other side... and some of this hatred, and prejudices they engendered, last...
One more plea for patient negotiations in place of going to war!
Huh ??? Excuse me ??? Look at what Hitler did !!! did we lock up German-Americans ???? Huh wake up and smell the roses !!! fucking idiot, and puhleeeeez explain to me WHY German-Americans and their Italian allies were not interned in Concentration Camps, that is what they were. And then read about how German soldiers , Prisoners of War were brought to Louisiana and allowed to freely roam the countryside. I am a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant, and I have personally spoken with old WW 2 , Wehrmacht soldiers, who spent "internment" in the U.S. they loved it. Nuff said !!!, my blood pressure is starting to sky rocket
You are absolutely right, and I said as much above when I said the German POW's were free to roam the countryside, and we know american blacks were not, not even black soldiers !!!
I suggest you check the video on UA-cam for Crystal City, Texas. It was the largest of several internment camps for German-American and Italian-Americans. It was the exact same set up that was used for Japanese displaced from the west coast. Over 11,000 German nationals and their American citizens families and almost 2,000 Italians were interred.
Pepita Jimenez-Jacobs well they bombed Pearl Harbor because they thought we would sue for peace, because they thought we were weak and lead frivolous lives. The Japanese army was also killing 20 THOUSAND people a DAY in Asia, so I don't know how a treaty would help them.
Did you know about this chapter in US history?
Seriously Amazing Objects provides an important history lesson from WWII.
Who DOESN'T know about japanese history like this?
Please, use your head.
Smithsonian Channel I wouldn't call it amazing cause it's just not right but I'm thankful &a grateful
for the history piece cause at least I know we the people won't let this happen again
Did the Japanese government ever apologize for the atrocities they did to American and European POWs in Asia ????
no apology until 1988
Shouldn’t have apologised at all
No Japanese apology for their war crimes in china
@@ByalKanye irrelevant
@@azzlaird5541 found the racist
@@azzlaird5541yea they should have
It was today in 1945 that an order to end the internment of Japanese American went into effect.
Meet one survivor of the camps who struggled to stay positive in the face of her unfair imprisonment.
This Was Life for Japanese-Americans During WWII
Charles Romeo...you're so full of hate and nonsense. No Japanese American was ever convicted of espionage. There were no Japanese American spies.
Charles Romeo Sources?
Thank you for making this video and introducing us to Betty Taira. I was doing some research about the Japanese Internment for an American Foundations class when I found this. I plan to share it with my classmates. It is refreshing to hear from someone who refused to become a dysfunctional and/or bitter victim.
Guys remember this is something school doesn't teach you, trust me this isn't the only bad thing the united states of America has done.
How do you know that America doesn't teach us this? I was taught this two times in two grades in High School. So it is common knowledge as long as some people have the mentality to listen in class. And America isn't the only country that has done questionable things in the past. Many countries have committed atrocities in the past, but they just don't want to admit it. Those countries are just as guilty as America. So don't point the finger just towards America.
Bullshit. I was told about this in school. You know nothing
Margarita Garcia
First nations
I learned this in high school
Me watching this video from a link given for a school assignment😭
I met a few people who were imprisoned in those things. One of them ended up in the 442nd Infantry Regiment _after_ being imprisoned in a concentration camp for being Japanese. I think that that says a lot about what horrible, stupid idea the camps were.
4estrose oh please
4estrose - If you're middle class, be patient, they'll get to you soon enough, Buddy. (All of us) Look what they did to Pat Tillman's family. They are good people from my community. (GWB didn't even serve)
@4estrose your constitution only suits you as you see fit. Says alot about your loyalty to america.
German and Italian Americans were put into camps too. Why don't we ever hear about that?
Ken McGuire they got never treated this badly
sienna three I wish people could. They don’t teach this. They were imprisoned but they were treated better. You wanna know why? They were white. So ken McGuire don’t say that. It happened yes but they weren’t starved, and tortured.
Maybe because it wasn’t in the numbers of 110,000?
to be fair it was harder to look at one and go " he is German" or " he is Italian"
Most of the Japanese in Hawaii was not sent to internment camps on the mainland. I don't know what criteria was used to get sent to the mainland. At any rate, the Japanese were treated the same way before and after December 7 in Hawaii by the locals and even the GI's. I was just 9 to 12 years old during WWII, so this is through the eyes of a kid.
Concentration Camps. Of course, the US govt calls them "internment camps". Just as it calls the "genocide bombing" of Austria, Germany, Japan and Korea " strategic bombing".
💯
Don't forget about Captain Sulu himself, George Takei. He was in an internment camp with his family too. Unfortunately.
my parents were incarcerated at Rohwer,Arkansaw. My dad and aunt cotracted tuberculosis because of the terrible conditions.
My father was a guard in a POW camp that had Germans. He said they were happy to be away from the war and he said they were treated well. it's amazing how you get treated when you are of a certain race. Melting pot my ass.
The school curriculum doesn’t teach this and it is wrong. This wasn’t long ago. Americans should own up to the bad things we have done. We did this for no reason. We should own up to it. I wish we would.
@Ero Ero Oyaji lol that’s not an excuse 💅
when and where did you go to school. I definitely learned this but im in california
The soldier barracks at Ft Bragg NC looked like this until about 1988.
Thanks man you help me in in my homework
Out of all groups during WW2 Japanese Americans had it the most severe due to the Interment Camps which they were locked up for most of the war.
my grandparents had Japanese neighbors in the early 40's. when they were sent away for safekeeping they asked my grandparents to watch their house and possessions. after a couple of weeks they didn't come back so grandpa claimed their property. we still have many things that proudly we still have. there is a chest with cutlery and dishes and many tapestries and pearl inlaid mirror with comb and makeup kit among other things. my brother and I recently threw away the photo albums and other insignificant things but a lot of it is in good condition still. I was wondering how much it may be worth, may be more because of its historical value
Your grandparents only gave them a couple of weeks before looting their home? Bro
They should have paid them a compensation for that.
They did. They received $20,000 per surviving internee.
articles.latimes.com/1988-08-04/news/mn-10462_1_japanese-american-internees
Not just Japanese they also detained anyone who looked like Japanese or Asian
And don't forget that in Hawaii,the Constitution was suspended and marshal law implemented for the entire war.
American government sure does a lot of apologizing. I guess saying sorry makes everything okay.
No pardoning people who did this
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes
makes it okay apparently...
the japanese did not apologized even a single word ,.look at what happens to asian comfort women from korea china philippines and indonesia.,did they apologized for that?.,did they apologize for what they did in nanking? bullshit,. dropping the atom bomb in nagasaki and hiroshima is appropriate move., if you ask those war victims in th asia.,the japanese empire just reap what they saw.,to those self morally uprght assholes and stupid who keeps moaning about the hiroshima and nagasaki bombing eat your shit and shut up your fucked up mouth,.if only icould see you i will knock off tour teeth.
Litteraly every country has demons in its past. The world and its past are DARK. These are the good times.
Try that with religious institutions as well, don't just cherry pick.
They aplogized years after the japanese -americans were freed from the camps
Curious so...What about Native Americans or African Americans. No apology?
Hadouken Hadouken happened six generations ago get over it
😢 ... this was discrimination and wrong.
bullshit
We grow up with the grandkids of that war they never got over it the shame of lossing everything for nothing punished unfair my father said that will never happen again if he had to defend his house himself or even put his house up to save his anything to save our neibour fears and said not eveeyone felt so sad after how eveeyone was treated my father was a kid at the time he just loved everything japazies we all did and slowly everyone moved away sadly we missed them in school veey good kind caring people mistreated
No insulation but there is a roof, a bed, it's better than being homeless in Little Tokyo, LA today.
Amazing. No complaining just success.
She was so cute omg!! 😭❤️
Fernando Mikell is that seriously your take away from this video?
Fernando Mikell no u
Hey smithsonian. I am from Canada and I was able to see your videos . But now I am pretty disappointed cause I can't view it in this country. I really enjoyed your videos . Can you by any chance make it possible so that your Canadian viewers have a chance to see it. Thank you
Having fun with Big Copyright? Now you see why people pirate.
Oh Government apologized.. thank god.. Thank you government for apologizing
Neo Theone yea I’m happy they apologized but not until years later. It could’ve happened a lot sooner
If you would like to learn much much more I recommend reading "Infamy" by Richard Reeves.
So much for that apology... they've done it again
Should have never apologised to them
I read about this in Scholastic News
read about dec 7th 1941
And FDR gets always gets a pass on this....its sad.
This must end, it shall end.
My teacher gave me a QR code to scan and watch this video
You know, George Takei spent his childhood in a concentration camp.
and Pat Morita
The Japanese handled this beautifully. I am sure in their hearts were understanding and must have kept the camps immaculate.
Yeah, some interviews are very hard to hear. so heart breaking what they went through.
+4estrose Sources?
You do realize that what you are saying is a gross simplification and generalization of the camps right? If you talk to anyone who has family who survived the camps, or have family friends who went through it, they would tell you a much different story than what you are trying to push.
My family and relatives were interned in the camps. They were housed in bare-bones, quickly assembled barracks that were cold in the winter and hot in the summer. And they most certainly DID NOT live and eat better then most Americans at the time! It's true that they worked hard and were creative in trying to improve their living conditions as best they could but no American citizen should be forced from their home and incarcerated behind barbed wire like that. Many lost their homes and everything they had. Try educating yourself on this subject before making ignorant comments.
To think we might see this again in our generation with the new policies proposed.
This video seems to make light of the internamnt camps...
2:00
When will Japan apologize for war crimes in the pacific? Ill wait..
@Ramen Lover The same was said in the Niihau incident and look how that turned out.
In World War 2 Fifty million people died. They were shot, gassed, ,bombed, burned crushed. In the so called horribly unjust American internment camps the survival rate for Japanese was nearly 100%. No one was beaten, starved nor were they accused of any crime nor were they tried. They spend 3 years tending gardens, raising livestock, reading, going to classes. They even went on field trips. Lets talk about that for a change..
While I have empathy for the internees, I believe there internment was necessary. That was a time that you best make rational decisions, this was wartime, we were under attack. Hurting someone's feelings should've the last of their worries. Stop and think about the consequences of being on the losing end of that war.
dvrmte how was the Japanese internment camps a rational decision?
Bruh the US government agreed that the Japanese interment was unconstitutional in 1988. The Civil Liberties Act blamed racism, war hysteria and poor leadership 🙄
Never forget that when Japanese Amnericans were detained we had a Democrat President, a Democrat house and a Democrat Senate. Those Super Majorities who did bold things that AOC likes to talk about.
Dems were more like republicans of now back then
@@theofficialphoenixtv5765 No, Dems are still Dems and still bigots. This Republicans are Racists is a Dem lie to hide Dem Racism.
@@thermalreboot you clearly have not studied anything you are talking about
@@hyperallie01 Far more than you have. In 1942 Japanese Americans were stripped of their rights and put in concentration camps. The President was Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. There were 66 Democrats in the Senate to 31 Republicans. There 268 Democrats in the House to 162 Republicans. Every act of evil in American History was performed by Democrats. Every, single one.
I can't even
Broken Angel ik i can’t believe that some people don’t know that the Japanese put American soldiers in camps in Japan and died there.......
@@Gryffindor_-gv3jm not the same people 🤦♀️
We need movies about this part of United States history.
Jim Crow and Segregation was infull effect
This is heaven compared to how they treated us on occupied territories..simply heaven
Whose the they and whose the US? And why do you get to decide where these lines are? You say the American Japanese are not part of the "US" in America, but that they are part of the government of Japan, that they are not real Americans, they are lesser American that is racism and it's wrong
you know what was worse? america being surprise attacked at pearl harbor, thousands killed....all young american men drafted and sent to die... don teven start about japanese treatment of chinese, and of american prisoners.... i dont feel bad about this..
The people put into the camps were American citizens. It doesn’t matter at all what “their government” was doing. They had no part of it. I can’t change your feelings, but I’m just giving you a less restricted perspective than what you are giving yourself.
What happened to Americans in Japan during this time?
BenNuttinYahoosreel Exactly, they put American soldiers in Death camps
False equivalencies
The word 'perceived' is the key word here. Unfortunately, it eventually led to much greater crimes against humanity than may have been ever imagined..
No mercy !
I feel bad for Japanese.
ThatOneDude Gcrap - Ninjala Hype I feel as for what japan did to Korea and China and the rest of Asia in WW2
Apologized? That's how you end this?
Vinh Ho what are they meant to do time travel
The US did apologize already DUMMY. Are you seriously this uneducated. Look up Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Please educate yourself. So YOU the DUMMY happens to think "we" did nothing wrong but yet the United States Government already apologized for what they did wrong. LOL!!
The government also compensated the Japanese-Americans who were in the camps 20k on 1988
It just took 40 years for the gov to get around to it...
The Chichijima incident (also known as the Ogasawa incident) occurred in late 1944, when Japanese soldiers killed and consumed five American airmen on Chichi Jima, in the Bonin Islands. Maybe if they were a little more humane to prisoners, then Americans would have not be so afraid of the Japanese propensity for inhumanity
look, these camps are a dark mark on American history and should never be accepted as an ethical thing to do, but it seems like "survivor" is used a little too lightly here, the death rate was consistent with the population outside of the camps.
Watch the POW videos ? Internment saved these peoples lives !
Why don’t we hear about how the Japanese but Americans in camps in Japan in WW2! It was a DEATH CAMP
False equivalencies
The dems think FDR was so great?
He was great in some aspects. You can't deny that he did more for America than any other president in the modern era. But this is one of his bad decisions.
War makes people afraid, and in that fear, they do irrational things.
Im still waiting israel
😢this system of things we live in sucks😰so much pain and suffering to all humanity throughout history and the present, it just shows that Satan is controlling this world right now...But he knows he doesn't have much time left anymore..His end is near
I understand Where the American people were coming from But it was something we had to do...a tad paranoid but a decision made none the less
Jack The cat And why the government didnt make the same camps for italian and german descendants?
A tad? Ya might wanna bring that up 300,000,000%
Uh no there’s no justification, even the US government admired to it in 1988 🤦♀️
@@rotemplatino91because the Germans and Italians didn’t just do an attack in American soil, japan did.
@@_________. well, coming from a country that had an apartheid even in the 20th Century, this kind of excuses don't surprise me at all
Welp that's war
Welp that’s racism
@@KillJoyFull correct this was an irrational and racist decision made during the fear of war
It's fake, it's fake. They got food
Poseidon99Jeus they got little food. They got food but little little food.