GermanAmericanHistory8

German-American History - 8

  German-American Internee Coalition

   World War II Violations of the Civil Liberties
of German Americans and German Latin Americans
                       by the US Government

German Americans constitute the largest ethnic group in the US.
Approximately 60 million Americans claim German ancestry. German
American loyalty to America's promise of freedom traces back to the
Revolutionary War. Nevertheless, during World War II, the US
government and many Americans viewed ethnic Germans and others
of "enemy ancestry" as potentially dangerous, particularly recent
immigrants. The Japanese American World War II experience is well
known. Few, however, know of the European American World War II
experience, particularly that of the German Americans and Latin
Americans. We also have much to learn about the Japanese and
Italian Latin American programs. The focus of this overview is the US
resident German experience. However, the programs were applied to
all of “enemy ancestry” with varying ramifications.

The US government used many interrelated, constitutionally
questionable methods to control those of enemy ancestry, including
internment, individual and group exclusion from military zones,
internee exchanges for Americans held in Germany, deportation,
"alien enemy" registration requirements, travel restrictions and
property confiscation. The human cost of these civil liberties
violations was high. Families were disrupted, reputations destroyed,
homes and belongings lost. Meanwhile, untold numbers of German
Americans fought for freedom around the world, including their
ancestral homelands. Some were the immediate relatives of those
subject to oppressive restrictions on the home front. Pressured by the
US, Latin American governments arrested at least 8500 German
Latin Americans. An unknown number were sent directly to
Germany, while 4050 were shipped in dark boat holds to the United
States and interned. At least 2,650 US and Latin American resident
immigrants of German ethnicity and their native-born children were
later exchanged for Americans and Latin Americans held in Germany.

Some allege that internees were captured to use as exchange bait.

During World War II, our government had to do its utmost to ensure
domestic security against dangerous elements in its midst. But it could
have exercised greater vigilance to protect the liberties of those most
vulnerable because of their ethnic ties to enemy nations. Some were
dangerous, but too many were assumed guilty and never able to prove
their innocence. Admittedly, US wartime governmental actions are
difficult to assess decades later. To prevent possible future erosion of
our civil liberties, however, the federal government must fully review
and acknowledge its wartime civil liberties violations.

A comprehensive federal review of the European American
experience has never been done. On August 3, 2001, Senators Russell
Feingold (D-WI) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced The
Wartime Treatment Study Act in the US Senate for the first time.

This bill would create a independent commission to review US
government policies directed against European "enemy" ethnic
groups during World War II in the US and Latin America. This
commission would also review the US government's denial of asylum
to European (primarily Jewish) refugees seeking refuge in the US
from persecution in Europe. The bill was most recently reintroduced
in March 2009.

The following summarizes two methods of control: internment and
exclusion. A timeline of relevant events follows.

Selective Internment:

Pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (50 USC 21-24), which
remains in effect today, the US may apprehend, intern and otherwise
restrict the freedom of "alien enemies" upon declaration of war or
actual, attempted or threatened invasion by a foreign nation. During
World War II, the US Government interned at least 11,000 persons of
German ancestry. By law, only "enemy aliens" could be interned.
However, with governmental approval, their family members
frequently joined them in the camps. Many such "voluntarily"
interned spouses and children were American citizens. Internment
was frequently based upon uncorroborated, hearsay evidence
gathered by the FBI and other intelligence agencies. Homes were
raided and many ransacked. Fathers, mothers and sometimes both
were arrested and disappeared. Sometimes children left after the
arrests had to fend for themselves. Some were placed in orphanages.
Read More Real Stories.

The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) instituted very limited due
process protections for those arrested. Potential internees were held
in custody for weeks in temporary detention centers, such as jails and
hospitals, prior to their hearings. Frequently, their families had no
idea where they were for weeks. The hearings took place before
DOJ-constituted civilian hearing boards. Those arrested were subject
to hostile questioning by the local prosecuting US Attorney, who were
assisted by the investigating FBI agents. The intimidated, frequently
semi-fluent accused had no right to counsel, could not contest the
proceedings or question their accusers. Hearing board
recommendations were forwarded to the DOJ’s Alien Enemy Control
Unit (“AECU”) for a final determination that could take weeks or
months.

Internees remained in custody nervously awaiting DOJ's order--
unconditional release, parole or internment. Policy dictated that the
AECU resolve what it deemed to be questionable hearing board
recommendations in favor of internment. Based on AECU
recommendations, the Attorney General issued internment orders for
the duration of the war. Internees were shipped off to distant camps.
Families were torn apart and lives disrupted, many irreparably.
Family members left at home were shunned due to fear of the FBI and
spite. Newspapers published stories and incriminating lists. Eventually
destitute, many families lost their homes and had to apply to the
government to join spouses in family camps, apply for welfare and/or
rely on other family members who could afford to support them.

Eventually, under such duress, hundreds of internees agreed to
repatriate to war-torn Germany to be exchanged with their children
for Americans. Once there, food was scarce, Allied bombs were
falling and their German families could do little to help them. Many
regretted their decision. Considering the spurious allegations, which
led to the internment of a majority of internees, their treatment by
our government was harsh indeed. Their experience provides ample
evidence of why our civil liberties are so precious.

Exclusion:

In cooperation with the War Department, pursuant to the Alien
Enemies Act, DOJ created a network of prohibited zones and
restricted areas. Enemy aliens were forbidden to enter or remain in
certain areas and their movements severely restricted in others. The
restrictions imposed great hardship on those living or working in these
areas. Pursuant to Presidential Executive Order 9066, the military
could restrict the liberties of citizens and aliens, as it deemed
necessary. This led to the exclusion of individuals and groups from
extensive "military zones" comprising over a third of the US. The
most well known group exclusion was the massive relocation of US
citizens and aliens of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast and
their subsequent incarceration overseen by the War Relocation
Authority. Several hundred individual exclusion orders were issued.

The government was particularly suspicious of naturalized citizens of
enemy ethnicity. Citizens could not be interned, so the military
threatened those it deemed dangerous with exclusion. Many felt
contesting exclusion orders was futile and moved before an order was
actually issued. Unlike West Coast Japanese group exclusion pursuant
to Executive Order 9066, hearings were required for individual
exclusions.

Resembling enemy alien internment hearings, these hearings were
subject to very limited due process protections, clearly violating the
rights of American citizens. If an exclusion order was issued following
a hearing, excludees were given little time to depart. Homes were
abandoned. Some excludees left their families behind. FBI agents
followed them to their new communities.

The government often advised police and employers how
"dangerous" excludees were, so finding and keeping jobs was
difficult. Little or government resettlement assistance was given to
excludees. Some contested their exclusion orders in court, protesting
the government's violation of their due process rights. After several
federal courts found the military's actions of questionable
constitutionality, the individual exclusion program decreased in
popularity. Although more unusual, in lieu of exclusion the
government also sought to denaturalize citizens, so they could be
interned as enemy aliens or deported.

Conclusion:

Thanks to federal legislation and effective activism by their ethnic
group, US government mistreatment of Japanese Americans is well
known. After almost 60 years, the German American and Latin
American experiences remains buried. The few surviving, aged
internees remember their experiences well, despite years of trying to
forget. Their memories haunt them. Mostly, because they are
Americans who revere freedom, they want the dreadful saga of their
wartime mistreatment told so it will never happen again.

    TIMELINE

History of Wartime Treatment of Germans from the United States
and Latin America by Karen E. Ebel (2006).

1917 · 1939 · Dec 7,1941 · Dec 11,1941 · Oct 1942 · May 7,1945 ·
1980's to present.

1917-1918: The Passport Acts of February 5, 1917 and May 22, 1918
make entering the US without a passport or other travel
documentation illegal.

1918: Codification of Alien Enemies Act of 1798, 50 U.S.C 21-24,
permitting apprehension and internment of aliens of “enemy
ancestry” by U.S. government upon declaration of war or threat of
invasion. The President is given blanket authority as to “enemy alien”
treatment. Civil liberties may be completely ignored because enemy
aliens have no protection under this 200+-year-old law. Government
oppression is likely during wartime.

1939-1940: President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes creation of
new secret intelligence agency to be deployed for espionage and
counterespionage in the Latin America. Federal Bureau of
Information (“FBI”) chief, J. Edgar Hoover, creates the Secret
Intelligence Service in July 1940.

1936-1941: Various governmental bodies, such as the FBI, special
intelligence agencies of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the
Office of Naval Intelligence, and the Army’s Military Intelligence
Division compile lists of dangerous “enemy aliens” and citizens,
including the FBI’s Custodial Detention Index (the “CDI”).

1940: The US census data includes specific listings and location of
persons based on their ethnicity, which may have assisted the U.S.
Government in later identification of “suspect” individuals of “enemy
ancestry.”

1940: Alien Registration Act of 1940 passed requiring all aliens 14
and older to register with the U.S. government.

1941: Roosevelt issues Presidential Proclamation 2497 setting forth
the Proclaimed List of Certain Blocked Nationals following Britain’s
example. The proclamation lists Axis citizens and businesses with
which the US could no longer deal.

Dec. 7, 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. Pursuant to the Alien
Enemy Act, Roosevelt issues identical Presidential Proclamations
2525, 2526 and 2527 branding German, Italian and Japanese nationals
as enemy aliens, authorizing internment and travel and property
ownership restrictions. A blanket presidential warrant authorizes U.S.
Attorney General Francis Biddle to have the FBI arrest a large
number of “dangerous enemy aliens” based on the CDI. Hundreds of
German aliens are arrested by the end of the day. The FBI raids
many homes and detains many hundreds before war was even
declared on Germany. Martial law declared in Hawaii and hundreds
of US citizens and aliens of German ancestry interned, as well as
those of Italian and Japanese ancestry. By Dec. 10, 449 Japanese,
German and Italian aliens were interned, as well as 43 German,
Japanese and Italian American citizens.

Dec. 11, 1941: U.S. declares war on Germany and Italy.

Jan. 1942: Pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 2525-2527 and 2537
(issued Jan.14, 1942), the Attorney General issues regulations
requiring application for and issuance of certificates of identification
to all “enemy aliens” aged 14 and older and outlining restrictions on
their movement and property ownership rights. Approximately one
million enemy aliens reregister, including 300,000 German-born
aliens, the 2nd largest immigrant group at that time. Applications are
forwarded to the DOJ’s Alien Registration Division and the FBI. Any
change of address, employment or name must be reported to the FBI.
Enemy aliens may not enter federally designated restricted areas. If
enemy aliens violate these or other applicable regulations, they are
subject to “arrest, detention and internment for the duration of the
war.” U.S. Government seeks cancellation of citizenship in federal
courts for “suspicious” naturalized citizens of “enemy ancestry.”
Individuals frequently accused of fraudulently taking oath of
citizenship which requires pledge of sole allegiance to the U.S. and
renunciation of allegiance to all other countries. Once citizenship is
cancelled, individuals can be interned or deported as “enemy aliens.”

Jan.-Feb. 1942: In cooperation with the military, the DOJ establishes
numerous, small prohibited zones strictly forbidden to all enemy
aliens. DOJ also establishes extensive “restricted areas” in which
enemy aliens are subject to stringent curfew and travel restrictions,
particularly on the West Coast.

Jan. 1942: Emergency Advisory Committee for Political Defense
created at conference of Western Hemisphere countries in Rio de
Janeiro to monitor “enemy aliens” in Latin America. Laws
established similar to enemy alien laws in the US requiring aliens from
Axis nations to register with their local authorities, restricting travel
and personal property rights and subjecting the aliens to increased
surveillance. Naturalization procedures slowed. Detention of
“suspicious” enemy aliens urged. Cancellation of citizenship
recommended for “suspicious” native-born or naturalized citizens
from Axis nations. Once citizenship was cancelled, detention was
established for many enemy aliens as possible.

Feb. 19, 1942: Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 authorizing the
Secretary of War to define military areas in which “the right of any
person to enter, remain in or leave shall be subject to whatever
restrictions” are deemed necessary or desirable. This order applies to
all “enemy” nationalities.

March 11, 1942: Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9095 establishing
the Office of the Alien Property Custodian pursuant to authority
granted under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. Pursuant to
the order, the property interests of all foreign countries and their
citizens vested in the Alien Property Custodian at his discretion until
such time as he relinquished control of those interests. This Order
created havoc in the lives of many internees and their families,
particularly when the heads of households were arrested.

October 1942: Wartime restrictions on Italian Americans terminated.

1942 – 1943: The US Army and the DOJ establish and administer
internment camps throughout the country. The Immigration and
Naturalization Service operates the DOJ camps. The largest DOJ
camps holding ethnic Germans are in Crystal City and Seagoville,
Texas and Ft. Lincoln, ND. At least 50 temporary detention and long-
term internment facilities are used throughout the US. Internees are
transferred from camp to camp under armed guard, further disrupting
their lives and making it even more difficult for their families to find
them. Read More on Internment Camps

1942: U.S. Government initiates exchanges of approximately 2,650
internees for Americans held in Germany. Six exchange voyages
carry many families to Germany, including American-born children
and U.S. citizen spouses of German alien internees. LINK to
Gripsholm Tickets DOCUMENT As the war progresses, travel across
the Atlantic is increasingly hazardous. Upon arrival in war-ravaged
Germany, exchangees are unexpected and unwanted by their families.
Many are suspected of being spies. Families with young children, some
even born during the trip to Germany, have to make their own way to
family homes through hazardous countryside, frequently in winter,
carrying all their worldly belongings. Some men are beaten and
arrested by the Gestapo as spies and put in camps, leaving families
destitute again.

1942: The U.S. initiates a cooperative program whereby Latin
American countries at U.S. direction capture German Latin
Americans, including German and Austrian Jews who had fled
persecution. Under U.S. military guard, most prisoners are shipped to
the U.S. in the dark, dank holds of boats and rarely permitted on
deck. Open bucket latrines are placed among the prisoners. No one
informs them why or where they are going. They are interned and
many are forcibly shipped to Germany. General George Marshall
states in a 12/12/42 memo to the Caribbean Defense Command:
“These interned nationals are to be used for exchange with interned
American civilian nationals.” By the end of the war, over 4,050
German Latin Americans are brought to American internment camps.

1942 – 1945: Thousands of German aliens and German Americans are
arrested, interned, excluded, paroled, exchanged and generally
harassed by a suspicious country. Few know why they are interned or
for how long. Internees try to make lives in camps, attempting to
ignore the psychological and physical upheaval to which they have
been subjected. Mental anguish, anger, guilt and shame are common.
Armed guards and guard dogs watch over internees living in huts or
dorms in barren parts of the country surrounded by barbed wire,
observed from guard towers. All mail is censored. Contact with the
outside world is severely limited. Many continually appeal their
internment orders. DOJ generally ignores their requests, requiring
unobtainable “new evidence” for consideration of appeals. Some are
granted rehearings, pursuant to which an even smaller number are
released. Released internees do not know why or ever learn why they
were interned. Those released are generally subject to parole
restrictions. Many internees are pressured to repatriate. Hopeless
and bitter, many agree and are readily used for exchange. Some are
exchanged against their will. There were six exchanges with
Germany, primarily of civilians, but also of POWs. One trip of the SS
Gripsholm in January 1945 involves 1,000 exchangees. The
government arranges for “trustworthy” able-bodied men to work
outside camps. One group works on the Northern Pacific Railroad in
North Dakota repairing the railroad tracks and living in boxcars with
coal stoves throughout the winter. Others work for the Forest Service
and 3M.

May 7, 1945 Germany surrenders:

July 1945: Truman issues Presidential Proclamation 2655 authorizing
the U.S. to deport all enemy aliens deemed “to be dangerous to the
public peace and safety of the United States.” This affects hundreds,
if not thousands, of internees who remain imprisoned indefinitely.

Aug. 14, 1945 Japan surrenders:

Sept. 8, 1945: President Harry S Truman issues Presidential
Proclamation 2662 authorizing the U.S. Secretary of State to order
the repatriation of dangerous enemy aliens deported from Latin
American countries during the war. Latin American Program.
Note: Most of the Peruvian Japanese that were forcibly turned over
to the U.S. to be eventually used to trade them for imprisoned
Americans, and were sent to Japan. However most of the Peruvian
Japanese had lived in Peru for generations and most were even born
there; spoke little or no Japanese at all, and were not a threat to
either the U.S. or Peru. Only the Crystal City Internment Camp and
the Crystal City residents treated both the Japanese, the Germans,
and the four Italians like family. This Internment camp was a family
internment camp where all the internees were treated with respect;
and at the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the camp, the former
internees were treated with a celebration, a colorful parade, and the
love of all the citizens of Crystal City; and a few years ago they had a
second reunion for those former internees that were still alive. Many
of the Japanese received small monetary compensations for their
inconveniences. The Germans however, are still in a cover up mode,
have been denied their rightful places in the American society, were
denied proper press coverage of the truth by the media, and never
received a single cent for their incarceration.

In New Jersey, there was a camp in Sussex County, New Jersey, on
route 23, called Federal Hill. Five Thousand Germans built cabins on
that land, a recreation facility, and a lake. The place was confiscated
by the Feds, and the members subjected to being interned or expelled
from the United States as undesirable aliens. However, the land itself
was owned by American citizens and could not be confiscated. A
lawyer was in charge of their money which was held in escrow; but
this kind gentleman took the money and used it for his own personal
gain, leaving the account without funds.   This camp was not a Bund
camp or a Nazi Camp, but a family recreational resort for members
that came to the United States for a better life, and had no intention
of harming their adopted country.   They came here for a better life
and were loyal to this country.

November 1945: Many internees are released from camps and parole
limitations for most persons were terminated. Internment camps were
progressively closed and remaining internees were eventually
consolidated at Crystal City and Ellis Island.

April 10, 1946: President Harry S Truman issues Presidential
Proclamation 2685, superseding Presidential Proclamation 2662,
reauthorizing the U.S. Secretary of State to order the repatriation of
dangerous enemy aliens deported from Latin American countries
during the war and deemed 30 days as a sufficient period for
deportees to get their affairs in order for deportation. Latin American
Program.

Late 1947: Crystal City family camp closes. Those still imprisoned,
exclusively German internees and their families, are transferred to
cramped Ellis Island where others are held. Virtually all are of
German ancestry. Over the next year, many additional persons are
returned to Germany. Others are paroled or unconditionally released
to return to their homes. The barbed wire exercise areas overlook the
Statute of Liberty. The captives contest repatriation and deportation
by pooling their limited funds to finance appeals in court.

July 1947: S. 1749 introduced by Sen. William Langer of North
Dakota for “the release of all persons detained as enemy aliens.” The
bill did not pass, but the internees got a voice in Congress and the
legislation gave them hope. Langer Bill

June 21, 1948: In its 5-4 Ludecke v. Watkins decision, the Supreme
Court tacitly upholds the Alien Enemies Act by denying the writ of
habeas corpus for release from detention sought by German internee,
Karl Ludecke, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 2655. Mr.
Ludecke had been interned since December 1941 and was resisting
deportation. Ludecke v. Watkins.

August 1948: Due in large part to Senator Langer’s efforts, among
others, the last person, a German internee, is finally released from
Ellis Island, almost three and a half years after cessation of hostilities
with Germany. No internee was ever convicted of a war-related
crime against the United States. Upon release, most adult internees
sign secrecy oaths; many are threatened with deportation with no
prospect of return if they speak of their ordeal. Most internees,
always fearful, take the secret to their graves. Camp employees also
sign oath of secrecy. The secret is well kept. Few today know of
selective internment.

Aftermath:

Internees and excludees return home to suspicious communities, some
have been interned 6-7 years. Children do not remember life without
barbed wire. Homes and livelihoods are lost. Reputations destroyed.
No safety net protects them. They confront feelings of confusion,
anger, resentment, bitterness, guilt and shame. They try to
understand what happened and repair broken lives. The experience
scarred families forever. Those exchanged to Germany struggled to
survive in the extremely difficult postwar years. Some exchangees
returned to the U.S. years later. Frequently, American-born children
left their families behind in Germany in order to do so. Many never
were allowed to return. Others, embittered by what they perceived as
America’s betrayal, never wanted to come back. Some repatriates
had been returned to Soviet-occupied eastern Germany or died
directly due to deportation.

1980: Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
(“CWRIC”) created. Focused primarily on the relocation of Japanese
and Japanese Americans, the CWRIC did not allow German
Americans or other European Americans to testify or offer written
testimony on their wartime experiences. The final report, Personal
Justice Denied, focuses primarily on German American individual and
group exclusion issues under Executive Order 9066. It identifies only
4 DOJ internment camps. The tribulations of German internment are
barely reviewed. The CWRIC asserts that the minimal hearing
process afforded by the DOJ to enemy aliens is sufficient “rough
fairness” under the circumstances. The CWRIC is wrong. Lacking
sufficient due process protections, this “rough fairness” frequently
resulted in unjustified, painful years of captivity, exchange and
property loss for thousands.

1988-present: Civil Liberties Act of 1988 passed solely giving redress
to and acknowledging injustices to Japanese Americans and Aleuts.
No German American or other affected European American allowed
to give oral or written testimony on their wartime experience during
congressional hearings. Civil Liberties Education Fund established to
fund projects relating to public education regarding the Japanese
American experience. National Park Service study funded to
designate Japanese relocation camps administered by the WRA as
national historic landmarks. In January 1999, the U.S. settles
Mochizuki class action agreeing to monetary redress of $5,000 and a
presidential apology for Japanese Latin Americans. In November
2000, the Wartime Violations of Italian American Civil Liberties Act
signed into law recognizing only the government’s wrongful denial of
Italian American civil liberties. In February 2005, Wartime Parity and
Justice Act introduced for third time to provide for the inclusion of
Japanese Latin Americans in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, among
other things.

March 4, 2004: U.S. House of Representatives passes HR 56,
originally introduced by Michael Honda (D-CA) supporting the goals
of the Japanese American, German American, and Italian American
communities in recognizing a National Day of Remembrance to
increase public awareness of the events surrounding the restriction,
exclusion, and internment of individuals and families during World
War II. Companion Senate Resolution did not come to a vote. Only
adopted federal legislation to date acknowledging German American
WWII internment experience.

November 16, 2005: U.S. House of Representatives passes HR 1492
to provide for the preservation of historic confinement sites where
Japanese Americans were detained during World War II and setting
aside $38 million for this purpose. German and Italian Americans and
Latin Americans and Japanese Latin Americans who were detained at
many of the same DOJ internment facilities as Japanese Americans
are not included in bill. The companion bill, S. 1719, is pending before
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

June 30, 2005- present: The Wartime Treatment Study Act
(“WSTA”) is introduced in Congress for a third time. Two previous
attempts at passage fail to clear procedural hurdles. The legislation
would establish a long overdue commission to study the wartime
treatment of Germans and Italians during World War II. Senators
Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced the
legislation in Senate as S. 1354 and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL)
introduced measure in House as HR 3198. On Nov. 17, 2005, the
WSTA was voted favorably out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. If
passed, the Act will give German American internees and their
families hope that perhaps one day the public will know of their
experience and the US government will formally acknowledge their
internment, as it has for the Japanese and Italians.

Related Laws:

Alien Enemies Act and Related World War II Presidential
Proclamations

In 1798, the US government passed the Alien Enemies and Sedition
Acts. The Sedition Act was eventually overturned, but the Alien
Enemies Act ( AEA) was recodified in 1918 and is part of the US war
and national defense statutes. (50 USC 21-24). The AEA provides
that the President, pursuant to proclamation, may deem all aliens of a
hostile nation within the United States alien enemies and determine
the manner in which they may be "apprehended, restrained, secured
and removed." (50 USC 21). See below for a discussion of the
Presidential Proclamations, as well as links to the full text of each
Proclamation and related documents.
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The Alien Enemies Act Presidential Proclamations:

The Alien Enemies Act ("AEA"), set forth above, provides that the
President, pursuant to proclamation, may deem all aliens of a "hostile
nation" within the United States alien enemies and determine the
manner in which they may be "apprehended, restrained, secured and
removed." (50 USC 21) Following Pearl Harbor, FDR did exactly
that. Presidential Proclamations 2525-2527 which follow are virtually
identical, except for the nation specified. Proclamation 2525
(applicable to Japanese aliens) also sets forth the regulatory
restrictions on alien enemies which were incorporated by reference
into Proclamation 2526 (Germans) and Proclamation 2527 (Italians),
so that all nationalities were treated identically under the AEA.

The proclamations deemed Japanese, German and Italian aliens to be
"alien enemies," and: 1) delegated authority to control alien enemies
in the US, Alaska to the Department of Justice and those in Hawaii,
the Philippines and the Panama Canal Zone to the Secretary of War,
2) required them to register with the US government as alien
enemies, 3) set forth general regulations to restrict their actions
(which permitted establishment of zones from which they could be
evacuated) and 4) specifically authorized summary apprehension and
internment for the duration of the war if an alien enemy was "deemed
potentially dangerous to the peace and security of the US."
(Presidential Proclamations 2525 (Japanese), 2526 (Germans) and
2527 (Italian) Dec. 1941).

Presidential Proclamations 2525-2527 noted above were issued by
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt pursuant to the Alien Enemies
Act as the war began. As the war ended, President Harry S Truman,
rather than risk releasing the dangerous internees from the camps,
decided to require deportation in accordance with regulations to be
created by the Attorney General, and, with respect to Latin
American internees, in accordance with US agreements with those
countries from which the internees originated and the US Secretary
of State. See Presidential Proclamations 2655, 2662 and 2685.

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Post-War Presidential Proclamations and Supreme
Court Decision--Ludecke v. Watkins:

Presidential Proclamations. In March 1945, Latin American countries
which participated in the US-Latin American program pursuant to
which at least 4,050 German Latin Americans and over 2000
Japanese Latin Americans were interned in the US, granted authority
to President Truman to deport internees originating from those
countries to nations outside the Western Hemisphere. In July 1945, as
hostilities with Germany ended, President Truman issued Presidential
Proclamation 2655, requiring all US resident internees who the
Attorney General deemed still to be a threat to the United States to
be deported. In September 1945, President Truman issued
Presidential Proclamation 2662 authorizing the deportation of Latin
American internees in accordance with agreements the US had with
those countries. Presidential Proclamation 2662 was superseded by
Presidential Proclamation 2685 issued in April 1946. This provided,
among other things, that if an internee was to be deported, thirty days
was declared a reasonable time for the "alien enemy to effect the
recovery, disposal, and removal of his goods and effects, and for his
departure.

Ludecke v. Watkins, District Director of the Immigration. 335 US 160
(1948) Presidential Proclamation 2655 was contested in court by Kurt
G. W. Ludecke, a German enemy alien arrested on December 8,
1941. He was interned for the duration of the war and ordered
deported by the Attorney General in January 1946. After making its
way through federal court system, Mr. Ludecke's write of habeas
corpus for release from detention under the deportation order was
finally affirmed in June 1948 by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision.
In the majority opinion written by Justice Felix Frankfurter, the
Court did not agree with Ludecke's position that the Alien Enemies
Act only permitted internment and deportation until hostilities ceased
with a nation with which the US was at war, in this case, Germany.
The court determined that under the Alien Enemies Act, an alien
enemy could be restricted as provided in that act until a treaty was
signed with the foreign government. At the time the Supreme Court
reached this conclusion, hostilities with Germany had been over for
three years and Mr. Ludecke had been interned for seven. It is not
known if he was deported or released. What is known is that hundreds
of ethnic German enemy aliens and their families remained interned
in Ellis Island fighting deportation for up to three years after the
cessation of hostilities with Germany. Many others were deported.

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The William Langer Bill, S. 1749:

Known to many at the time as a defender of the "underdog," Sen.
William Langer of North Dakota, home of the large Ft. Lincoln
internment camp, tried to come to the rescue of those remaining in
the internment camps pursuant to President Truman's post-war
Presidential Proclamations 2655, 2662 & 2685. In July 1947, two
years after the cessation of hostilities, Sen. Langer introduced S. 1749
"for the relief of all persons detained as enemy aliens." At that time,
hundreds of ethnic Germans remained incarcerated at Ellis Island.
The bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee but never
passed. It directed the Attorney General to cancel the "outstanding
warrants of arrest, removal, or deportation" of many German alien
enemies who remained interned. Many internees were listed by name,
but included all other persons detained by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service of the DOJ as enemy aliens.

The legislation also directed the INS not to issue additional warrants
or orders if they were based on any act or status which served as a
basis for the original warrants of arrest, removal or deportation being
canceled by the bill, if passed. Sen. Langer tried to make sure the
internees would not be accosted again by the INS. The bill continues:
"Such persons shall not again be subject to removal or deportation by
reason of the same facts upon which such removal or deportation
proceedings were commenced or such warrants have been issued."
Although it never passed, S. 1749 and Sen. Langer's interest gave the
languishing internees hope. At this time, no one knows conclusively
what finally led the US government and its then-Attorney General to
relinquish their plenary jurisdiction over the internees. Many
internees believe that the mere fact that Sen. Langer's introduced the
bill heightened awareness of the internees plight, and that, along with
the passage of time, finally led to their release. The last internee left
Ellis Island in late 1948.

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Executive Order 9066:

Executive Order 9066, issued pursuant to the President's war powers,
set the stage for the military oversight of Japanese, German and
Italian aliens and citizens. The order clearly had the greatest impact
on West Coast Japanese and Japanese Americans of whom over
100,000 were evacuated and incarcerated for much of the war. The
US government has since apologized for this highly controversial and
regrettable action. It has also paid reparations to many Japanese and
Japanese Americans pursuant to the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

German and Italian Americans were not incarcerated in this way for a
variety of reasons, not the least of which was that it was inexpedient
to evacuate and incarcerate millions. The executive order was used
by the military, however, to exclude naturalized German and Italian
Americans and aliens on an individual basis based on the same sort of
"evidence" and hearing procedure used by the Attorney General to
intern alien enemies. There was much collaboration between the
Department of Justice and the War Department regarding the various
excludees. The program was not of long duration, however, and some
brave federal judges helped put an end to it. Not in time, though, for
hundreds who were forced to leave their homes, or left in fear of
being ordered to do so.

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