Recently at the Memphis Paper Money Show I acquired a US propaganda leaflet - these were dropped over Japan in 1944-45. I just had this translated. For details see http://www.navonanumis.blogspot.com/2012/06/us-propaganda-japans-hour-of-doom.html thanks for viewing...
That is really cool. I really like that, I've never come across anything like that at a coin show but I will keep my eyes out from now on. Do you mind sharing how much something like that cost? You can give an estimate, personal message me or not answer at all. My wife is Japanese so I am very interested in stuff like that. I didn't even know about the Japanese Internment Camps until just recently, so I already keep an eye out for that type of stuff. :thumb:
Really? Well I suppose there are a lot of Americans who don't know about that part of our history. But the Japanese internment camps are well known compared to the German and Italian internment camps. (No I am not talking about the German and Italian POW camps. I'm talking about camps where US citizen of German and Italian decent were interned during the war.)
Well that's kind of embarrassing. So how'd you find out? This admission from you is particularly alarming since you're located in, if not a life long resident of, California and you're married to a Japanese person. California is the state which held more of these camps than any other. If you really are pursuing this material, you might find interest reading about different things on the following web site and looking at some of the material they link to on military propaganda: psywarrior.com And here is a link to a dealer of such leaflets where you may get some ideas about what's out there and the asking prices: Propaganda Leaflets A little bit different, but a more recently public exhibited aspect of camp life that the Japanese settled in the States endured was the idea of, gaman. You may be interested in a checking out what is known as 'gaman art' or decorative objects that internees created. There have been some exhibitions in recent years and ongoing. In the last couple months or I watched an interview on PBS Newshour about a woman who discovered many of these hidden objects the older generation had tucked away and wished to forget about after they left the camps. The Newshour has a YouTube channel so the video interview should be online there, but I wasn't able to find the video quickly to link to for this post.
WWII US internment camp tokens and chits from David Frank's website: http://worldandmilitarynotes.com/category/internment-camps/usa-internment-camps/
The internment camps of any nation are a sad reminder of the world's history. As an adjunct to this subject, the US also had prisoner of war camps in the US. This site chronicles the one in Arizona ( some estimate as high as 5000 German soldiers) and was where an escape worthy of Hollywood occurred on Christmas 1944. It would have gone well as the Germans had a smuggled map that showed a river very close, and they figured to tunnel out and steal boats at the river and float down to the Colorado river and to Mexico and the Gulf. Unfortunately there was no water in the river ( Arizona), so they scattered ( any way this site has an interesting summary) http://brazilbrazil.com/powcamp.html Jim
I read a great novel about this called BREAKOUT! the original release of this novel was titled The Eagle and the Iron Cross about a pair of German soldiers who escaped a POW camp in Arizona. Conscripted into the Wehrmacht, they were reluctant soldiers to begin with. Determined to not return to post-war Germany, the escape was planned so that they may begin anew as Americans. Enamoured as they were with Karl May's stories of the Wild West, as most Germans were at that time, they are taken in by a very poor tribe of native americans and hidden from vigilante locals who sought to make up for being too old to fight the war by torturing and killing escapees. One of members of their small sanctuary had just returned home after serving as a Code Talker and tensions run high... I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject and though it does not pertain to Japanese internment camps it does reflect the attitudes of the time.
WWII history is truely awesome. Did you know that Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz were called upon to help the USAAF in WWII? Bad planning and the rush to put planes in the air led to a strange crisis where normal sized mechanics could not physically fit into the tiny space allowed for a person to attatch key components and sensors in the pre-assembled plane bodies. Barely stopping short of hiring small children 8-10 years old, someone hit on the idea of calling up the Munchkins for duty. I had a history professor once with a video of them marching out to work for the day. I live near where Judy Garland hailed from, and when they are able the Munchkins make the annual trip to the celebration of all things Wizard of Oz. As a joke, the Professor dubbed audio of the dwarves (from Snow White) singing "Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it's off to work we go!" over a copy of the original clip of them marching off to work on the planes and played it for them. What a laugh! They appreciated the humor. Today there are less than 10 original Munchkins left, and any time they can make the trip they get a very warm welcome.
