Hannah Haines
- 8 million German immigrants have entered the United States since its inception
- German Americans are the largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States.
- although prejudice and sheer numbers meant they suffered less than Japanese Americans
- Alien Enemy Act of 1798 the United States government interned nearly 11,000 German Americans between 1940 and 1948
Ebel, Karen E. “2WWII Violations of German American Civil Liberties by the US Government.” 4 February 2003. 21 April 2006. <http://www.foitimes.com/internment/gasummary.htm>.
- during World War II, the US government and many Americans viewed German Americans and others of "enemy ancestry" as potentially dangerous, particularly recent immigrants
- 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.
- Alien Enemy 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
- Homes were raided and many ransacked
- Newspapers published stories and incriminating lists
Oz, Tracey. “German-American Internment Camps in the U.S.” World War II. 2005. 23 April 2006. <http://www.teacheroz.com/Japanese_Internment.htm>.
- New York Times Magazine, January 17, 1943. By Rex Stout, Chairman, President Roosevelt's Writers' War Board
“...I hate Germans, and am not ashamed of it. On the contrary, in view of what the Germans have done, and of what my countrymen are preparing to do to them, I would be profoundly ashamed of myself if I did not hate Germans.”
"...I hate all Germans who, reluctant to join the Nazis, nevertheless failed, through lack of courage or conviction, to prevent the Nazis from seizing power..."
"Those are the Germans I hate from the bottom of my soul. Ninety-nine percent of them are in Germany.
"It is not true that if we hate the Germans now we are helping to fill a reservoir of hate-poison that will infect the future beyond all hope of antisepsis. On the contrary. If we do not hate the Germans now, we shall inevitably fail in our purpose to establish the world on a basis of peace...We shall hate or we shall fail.
- By the end of the war, 11,000 persons of German ancestry, including many American-born children, were interned.
Our American Century: Decade of Triumph, the 40s. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1999.