American Internees in Germany
More than 100 Americans were arrested in Berlin, following the bombing
of Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war between the United States,
Japan and Germany as of December 1941. Mostly diplomats and journalists,
the 115 Americans spent some four months interned in Jeschke's Grand
Hotel, in Bad Nauheim in the Tanus Mountains, near Frankfurt on
the Main. While treated correctly for the most part, the group resented
internment and longed to be returned to the United States. As timed
passed, their frustration led to numerous conflicts and complaints—until
they were released.
Louis
P. Lochner on
internment
George
F. Kennan on
internment
|
German
Internees in America
(adapted
from Arthur D. Jacobs’ research and website)
The
World War II experience of thousands of German Americans, to most, is
an unknown history. During World War II, the U.S. government and many
Americans viewed German Americans and others of “enemy ancestry”
as potentially dangerous— particularly recent immigrants. The
government used many interrelated, constitutionally questionable
methods to control persons of German ancestry, including internment,
individual and group exclusion from military zones, internee
exchanges, deportation, repatriation, “alien enemy” registration,
travel restrictions and property confiscation. The human cost of these
civil liberties violations was high: families were disrupted, if not
destroyed; reputations ruined; homes and belongings lost. By the end
of the war 11,000 persons of German ancestry, including many
American-born children, were interned. Pressured by the United States,
Latin American governments collectively arrested at least 4,050 German
Latin Americans. Most were shipped in dark boat holds to the United
States and interned. At least 2,000 Germans, German Americans and
Latin American internees were later exchanged for Americans and Latin
Americans held in the Third Reich.
The mission of the authors of the following documentation is to tell
the stories of thousands whose lives were forever changed because the
United States suspected them of disloyalty. Government suspicion was
based upon national origin and led to great hardship: their story must
not be forgotten; it deserves to be told. To date, it remains shrouded
in history.
National Archives link
www.gaic.info |
