This is an excerpt of
page 3 of the Hertling memorandum dated May 8, 2007 to the Chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee; its purpose was to present the view of the
Department of Justice on S.621, the “Wartime Treatment Study Act.” The entire memorandum can be found at Hertling.pdf
“Other Concerns”
Commission on the Wartime Treatment of European
Americans
We are concerned that although the bill calls for the creation of a Federal commission to conduct what it terms an "independent review" of the wartime treatment by the United States Government of Axis nationals and Americans of European descent in the United States, it predetermines the results presumptively to be derived though the Commission's research. Thus, the bill states, at section 2 (entitled "Findings"), paragraphs (1) through (5), that "thousands" of these individuals were subjected to "devastating" "violat[ions]" of their civil rights through arrest, internment, property confiscation, and deportation, and that detrimental effects "are still being experienced." When a similar bill was introduced in 2001 (S. 1356), we contacted the Senior Historian of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ("USHMM), who advised that that bill's identical depiction of the treatment of Axis citizens and European Americans was "outrageously exaggerated." For example, section 2, paragraph (1) implies that the United States Government improperly harmed the personal property rights of more than 900,000 German- and Italian-born United States permanent resident aliens and their families, and paragraph (2) states that the United States Government interned thousands of European Americans, expelling some of them -including United States-born children – “to European Axis nations...” during World War 11. The USHMM Senior Historian is aware of no historical facts to support these conclusions. Indeed, we are aware of an analysis by one reputable scholar that terms the treatment of European enemy aliens "benign" and humane.1 Any commission established to perform an "independent" inquiry into the United States Government's wartime treatment of Axis citizens and others should be directed to do so without congressional predetermination of the conclusions that the commission's investigations will yield….”
__________________
1Robert H. Abzug (University of Texas, Austin):
review of John Christgau, "Enemies," World War 11 Alien Internment
(Ames, Iowa: Iowa State U. Press, 1985), in HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE STUDIES,
Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 330-31 (Washington: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. 1986)
("[O]ne is struck by the rather benign treatment of aliens and the
extraordinary access they had to the legal system and to appeal
procedures," with "even openly pro-Nazi German aliens . . . [having
been] treated far less shabbily than [interned Americans of Japanese
descent]"). Abzug notes that after the war, most of the German aliens
quickly returned home or became
The following letter
refutes the claims of
August 23, 2007
The Honorable Alberto Gonzales
Attorney General
Dear Attorney General Gonzales:
The Department of Justice letter dated May 8, 2007, authored
by
Annual Reports of the
Attorney General of the
(for Fiscal years 1941 through 1949)
Because the Department of Justice (DOJ) was responsible for prosecuting
American civilian internment policy during WWII, why would the DOJ prefer to
contact a senior historian at the
Wartime Treatment Study
Act (Section 2 Paragraph 1 & 2 Fact or Fiction?)
Section 2, Paragraph 1:(1)
During World War II, the United States Government deemed as `enemy aliens' more
than 600,000 Italian-born and 300,000 German-born
Facts:
The Alien Registration Act of 1942, promulgated by Presidential Proclamation 2537 of January 14, 1942, required lawful permanent resident aliens of the nationality of our enemies, to register as “Enemy Aliens.”
1. All males and females over the age of 14 were labeled and identified as “Enemy Aliens“.
2. All were fingerprinted and photographed as common criminals.
3. All were required to carry an identification card labeling them as “Enemy Aliens.”
4. All were forbidden to fly—private or commercial.
5. All were forbidden to travel outside their neighborhoods.
6. All were forbidden to have in their possession cameras, firearms, and short-wave receivers.
7. All were required to report any change of address to the Department of Justice.
8. All were required to report a change of employment to the Department of Justice.
Section 2, Paragraph 2:
(2) During World War II, the United
States Government arrested, interned, or otherwise detained thousands of
European Americans, some remaining in custody for years after cessation of World
War II hostilities, and repatriated, exchanged, or deported European Americans,
including American-born children, to European Axis nations, many to be
exchanged for Americans held in those nations
Facts:
Arrest and interment began on December 7, 1941 and for
German Merchant Seamen as early as April 1941. The record will also confirm
that almost 11,000 German Americans were interned in the
Surely, comments by scholar [Robert H. Abzug] which portrays the treatment of European enemy aliens as "benign”...” is dubious, if not, specious. Reputable scholars investigating civil liberty violations would not consider the foregoing as benign.
Extraordinary Access to
the Legal System and to Appeal Procedures:
Clearly, the data does not support Abzug’s further conclusions, that the aliens had extraordinary access to the legal system and to appeal procedures. Here are the facts:
1. Persons arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were not told the name(s) of their accuser(s)—even until this day the names of the accusers remain undisclosed.
2. Persons arrested by the FBI were not permitted to have an attorney at their hearings.
3. Persons interned were denied “writ of habeas corpus.”
4. Persons were held incommunicado for weeks.
5. Persons were not apprised of their rights.
6. Persons were repeatedly “grilled.” Often they were told if you tell us what we want to hear, we will let you go.
7. Homes were ransacked, torn asunder, during arbitrary searches by agents of the FBI—which resulted in negative results.
8. Personal property, photographs and letters, were removed by the FBI from homes and were never returned to the owners.
9. Statements made by the “man on the street” were often used as a basis for arrest.
Benign treatment applied
to European American internees?
1. At Ellis Island US-born boys, 12 and 13, were housed in open bays with adult male internees, many of whom had been incarcerated for up to five years.
2. At
3. Internees were arrested; taken away from their homes; and in many instances the family had no idea where either or both parents were.
4. Children were orphaned. Both parents were removed from their home, and minor children were left home alone because of an act of the government.
5. Persons were arrested and locked up never knowing why.
6. Families were destroyed.
7. While transporting
internee families to
8. Some families lost four or more years of their life.
9. Thousands,
including US-born infants and children were deported to a
10. I was sent to
11. I was transported in a frigid, stench-filled boxcar while obscenities were shouted at me.
12. I was placed in a prison, Camp 76, aka Hohenasperg…there I was threatened with hanging if I did not behave and shut up! There I was required to eat standing up and to walk with my hands on top of my head. There I was locked up alone in a dark, cold, dingy cell.
After the War:
Continuing with Abzug’s conclusions cited in a footnote on page 3 of the Hertling memorandum. Abzug concludes:
“…after the war, most of the German aliens quickly returned
home or became
Just how does Abzug know this? Contrary to his baseless opinion, most internees were forbidden to return to the former professions. As noted earlier, thousands, including US-born infants and children, were deported. The “scars” left by internment are many—most of which were taken to the graves of the now deceased internees. The “scars” ran so deep, that most would not even discuss their internment—with many it remains a deep dark secret. In at least one family the secret is so deep and dark that the grandchildren of two former internees have never known the names of their grandparents. When a former internee of the Crystal City, Texas internment camp wrote to Mr. Tate, a former official of the camp, to ask him for a recommendation, the former internee’s plea to Mr. Tate was “please do not mention my internment.”
Probably unknown to most, particularly Abzug, is that many of the former internees signed compulsory statements pledging they would not say anything laudatory or negative regarding their captivity. For those of us who did not end up with permanent scars, it was not because of our “benign” experience or our “humane” treatment, but because of our self-determination.
Time to Correct the Record
It is time for Department of Justice to come clean regarding their WWII internment policies. Mr. Hertling not only owes an apology to the European American victims of internment but as a public servant he is obligated to be truthful. Hertling’s letter to the Judiciary Committee was misleading whether intentional or not and should require correction. He has attempted to diminish the pain and sufferings of the victims of internment by using undocumented and secondary sources. Attorney General Gonzales, no one should ever diminish another person’s incarceration or the trauma of their arrest and internment experiences. For thirty years I have been researching European American internment policy, few if any have a better grasp of the facts than I. Certainly, once anyone is exposed to the facts it would be almost impossible to come to the conclusion that European American internment was “benign”. Mr. Hertling needs to remember one important principle - a golden cage is still a cage. When and how will the Department of Justice, and Mr. Hertling correct the record and extend an apology for all the injustices?
Sincerely,
/s/
Arthur D. Jacobs
Major, USAF Retired
A US-born internee at 12
Address removed….
Enclosure
______________________________________________________________________
ADDENDUM
BACKGROUND ON
ALIEN REGISTRATION DURING WORLD WAR TWO INTERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES
Alien Registration Background: The 1940
Alien Registration Act of the
January 14, 1942 Proclamation 2537 issued. Regulations
pertaining to alien enemies. President proclaims that all alien enemies
within the continental
February 5, 1942 Travel and other conduct of Aliens of
Enemy Nationalities. Attorney General Biddle issues regulations
implementing Proclamation 2537 cited above. This regulation prescribes curfews,
restricts travel, and precludes possession of cameras and short-wave radio
receivers.
July 14, 1945 President Harry S. Truman issues proclamation (2655) proclaiming that "All alien enemies now or hereinafter interned with the continental limits of the United States...shall be deemed by the Attorney General to be dangerous to the public peace and safety of the United States...shall be subject upon the order of the Attorney General to removal from the United States and may be required to depart therefrom in accordance with such regulations as he may prescribe."
PAGE AND PARAGRAPH
ADDRESSED BY THIS MEMORANDUM
This following has been excerpted from page 3, of a
memorandum from
“Other Concerns”
Commission on the Wartime
Treatment of European Americans
We are concerned that although the bill calls for the creation of a Federal commission to conduct what it terms an "independent review" of the wartime treatment by the United States Government of Axis nationals and Americans of European descent in the United States, it predetermines the results presumptively to be derived though the Commission's research. Thus, the bill states, at section 2 (entitled "Findings"), paragraphs (1) through (5), that "thousands" of these individuals were subjected to "devastating" "violat[ions]" of their civil rights through arrest, internment, property confiscation, and deportation, and that detrimental effects "are still being experienced." When a similar bill was introduced in 2001 (S. 1356), we contacted the Senior Historian of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ("USHMM), who advised that that bill's identical depiction of the treatment of Axis citizens and European Americans was "outrageously exaggerated." For example, section 2, paragraph (1) implies that the United States Government improperly harmed the personal property rights of more than 900.000 German- and Italian-born United States permanent resident aliens and their families, and paragraph (2) states that the United States Government interned thousands of European Americans, expelling some of them -including United States-born children – “to European Axis nations...” during World War 11. The USHMM Senior Historian is aware of no historical facts to support these conclusions. Indeed, we are aware of an analysis by one reputable scholar that terms the treatment of European enemy aliens "benign" and humane.1 Any commission established to perform an "independent" inquiry into the United States Government's wartime treatment of Axis citizens and others should be directed to do so without congressional predetermination of the conclusions that the commission's investigations will yield….”
__________________
1Robert H. Abzug (University of Texas, Austin):
review of John Christgau, "Enemies," World War 11 Alien Internment
(Ames, Iowa: Iowa State U. Press, 1985), in HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE STUDIES,
Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 330-31 (Washington: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. 1986)
("[O]ne is struck by the rather benign treatment of aliens and the
extraordinary access they had to the legal system and to appeal
procedures," with "even openly pro-Nazi German aliens . . . [having
been] treated far less shabbily than [interned Americans of Japanese
descent]"). Abzug notes that after the war, most of the German aliens quickly
returned home or became
[1]
Mr. Black is the Senior Historian [of the