06/29/2021
"Enemies among Us: The Relocation, Internment, and Repatriation of German, Italian, and Japanese Americans during the Second World War," by John E. Schmitz (1 August 2021) Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Walmart.
Note: The author, John E. Schmitz, is the son of John A. Schmitz, former internee of U.S. Family Internment Camp, Crystal City, TX, along with Crista Schmitz, Aunt, and William Schmitz (Uncle). John’s father, former internee Art Jacobs and numerous other internees were major contributors to this book. John was conferred his PhD of History at the American University and is now Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale campus.
Recent decades have drawn more attention to the United States’ treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Few people realize, however, the extent of the country’s relocation, internment, and repatriation of German and Italian Americans, who were interned in greater numbers than Japanese Americans. The United States also assisted other countries, especially in Latin America, in expelling “dangerous” aliens, primarily Germans.
In Enemies among Us John E. Schmitz examines the causes, conditions, and consequences of America’s selective relocation and internment of its own citizens and enemy aliens, as well as the effects of internment on those who experienced it. Looking at German, Italian, and Japanese Americans, Schmitz analyzes the similarities in the U.S. government’s procedures for those they perceived to be domestic and hemispheric threats, revealing the consistencies in the government’s treatment of these groups, regardless of race.
Reframing wartime relocation and internment through a broader chronological perspective and considering policies in the wider Western Hemisphere, Enemies among Us provides new conclusions as to why the United States relocated, interned, and repatriated both aliens and citizens considered enemies.
