Remembering the 'Vanished' ones
By SARA KINCAID
Bismarck Tribune

Sixty years ago, the government succeeded in its plan to secretly inter Germans. But the prisoners of war have long been set free.

Now, the outrage and questioning begins as people begin to learn about something that happened long ago in their community.

A traveling exhibit, "Vanished: German and American Civilian Internment, 1941-1948," explains the predicaments of German immigrants at Fort Lincoln, now the site of the United Tribes Technical College campus. The exhibit director and others discussed the ethics of internment during a panel discussion at the Bismarck Public Library on Sunday.

The government interned more than 300,000 Germans in the United States under the Enemy Alien Act. Some came to Fort Lincoln, which was originally owned by the military. Portland resident Shirley Weiss' father was interned there. He was never charged with anything. Paperwork for his internment stated he sent money to his family in Germany, she said.

"(Internment) should be based on acts people have done," Weiss said. "They should not use a broad brush: 'You are this ethnicity.'"

It is a balancing act with national security, which is important, she said.

People who were interned were not charged with anything and did not have access to the legal system. The reason for internment was that there was a threat to national security because of a perceived threat of spying.

"On some level, it is starting to take place again with the war on terror," panelist Charlene Smith said.

Secret prisons in other countries run by the CIA and Guantanamo Bay were two possible examples given by Smith, other panelists and some audience members of ways this could be happening again.

The law used to intern the Germans, Italian-Americans, Japanese and Japanese-Americans has not been repealed or expired.

The camp at Fort Lincoln was known as a "friendlier" camp. Some interned prisoners would work in the community. After internment, some would settle down in Bismarck. The community knew who the interned Germans were, too, by the different type of German they spoke.

Exhibit director Michael Luick-Thrams doesn't buy that people didn't know about the internment camp. People in the communities he travels to have stories to tell. Also, he has discovered newspaper and magazine articles.

But after a space of 60 years, people come into a community and don't know its history, or are from a different generation.

The exhibit aims to teach people, so they won't forget. It also provides valuable lessons.

"What we're trying to do is stimulate discussion, reflection and critical thinking," Luick-Thrams said.

The exhibit will be on display at the state Capitol from noon to 2 p.m. today. It will be in Dickinson on Tuesday. It also has stops in Williston, Minot, Rugby, Fargo, Valley City and other communities. For more information, visit www.traces.org.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)

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