Japanese Relocation, 1943

Japanese Relocation, 1943

Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Overseas Operations Branch. New York Office. News and Features Bureau.

Japanese Relocation

In this film created by the Office of War Information, Milton S. Eisenhower explains the need for, and methods of, moving Japanese-Americans from the West Coast. Nisei families register with the War Relocation Authority which helps them sell or rent their homes, businesses, and farms. The Nisei are temporarily quartered at the Santa Anita Race Track and then moved to a midwest relocation center. Shows daily activities at the center and waterfront scenes in San Francisco.

National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD; YouTube

1942-1945(ca.)

Video

38743

Motion Picture 208.207; Japanese Relocation; 1943; Propaganda, Information, and Documentary Motion Pictures, ca. 1942 - 1945; Records of the Office of War Information, Record Group 208; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

English

Copyright Not Evaluated

0:16
♪ (Music) ♪
0:51
(Milton S. Eisenhower): When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,
0:54
our West Coast became a potential combat zone.
0:58
Living in that zone were more than
0:59
a hundred thousand (100,000) persons
1:01
of Japanese ancestry; two-thirds of them
1:03
American citizens, one-third - Aliens. We knew that
1:07
some among them were potentially danger. No one
1:12
knew what would happen among this
1:13
concentrated population if Japanese forces
1:16
should try to invade our shores. Military
1:20
authorities therefore determined that all of them -
1:22
citizens and aliens alike - would have to move.
1:25
This picture tells how the mass migration was
1:28
accomplished. Neither the army nor the War
1:31
Relocation Authority relished the idea of taking
1:34
men, women, and children from their homes, their
1:36
shops and their farms, so the military and civilian
1:39
agencies alike determined to do the job as a
1:42
democracy should - with real consideration for the
1:45
people involved. First attention was given to the
1:48
problems of sabotage and espionage. Now (pointing to a location on a map), here in San
1:53
Francisco, for example, convoys were being made
1:56
up within site of possible access agents. (Music)
2:01
There were more Japanese in Los Angeles than in any
2:04
other area. In nearby San Pedro, houses and hotels,
2:08
occupied almost most exclusively by Japanese,
2:10
were within a stone's throw of a Naval airbase.
2:14
Shipyards, oil wells. Japanese fishermen had every
2:21
opportunity to watch the movement of our ships.
2:25
Japanese farmers were living close to vital aircraft
2:28
plants. So in first step, all Japanese were required
2:32
to move from critical areas such as these. But, of course
2:35
this limited evacuation was a solution to only part
2:38
of the problem. The larger problem, the
2:41
uncertainty of what would happen among these
2:43
people in case of a Japanese invasion, still
2:46
remained. That is why the commanding general of
2:49
the Western Defense Command, determined that all
2:52
Japanese within the coastal areas should move inland.
2:56
Immediately, the Army began mapping evacuation
2:57
areas and for a time, encouraged the Japanese to
3:00
leave voluntarily. The trouble for the voluntary
3:03
evacuee soon threatened their new locations. So
3:07
the program was quickly put on a planned and
3:10
protected basis. Thereafter, the American citizen,
3:12
Japanese and Japanese aliens, made plans in
3:15
accordance with orders (??).
3:17
Notices were posted. All persons of Japanese
3:20
descent were required to register.
3:24
They gathered in their own churches and schools,
3:26
and the Japanese themselves cheerfully handled the
3:29
enormous paperwork involved in the migration.
3:32
Civilian physicians made preliminary medical
3:35
examinations. Government agencies helped in a
3:37
hundred ways. They helped the evacuees find
3:40
tenants for their farms. They helped businessmen
3:44
lease, sell or store their property. This aid was financed
3:48
by the government, the quick disposal of property
3:50
often involved financial sacrifice for the
3:53
evacuees. Now the actual migration got under way.
4:00
The army provided fleets of vans to transport
4:02
household belongings...and buses to move the
4:06
people to assembly centers. The evacuees
4:09
cooperated wholeheartedly, and any loyal
4:12
among them, felt that this was a sacrifice they
4:14
could make in behalf of America's war effort.
4:18
♪ (Music) ♪
4:21
Small towns, as well as large, up and down the coast.
4:24
The moving continued. ♪ (Music)
4:35
Behind them, they left shops and homes they had
4:38
occupied for many years.
4:40
♪ (Music) ♪
4:52
Their fishing fleets were impounded and left
4:54
under guard. Now, they were taken to racetracks
4:59
and fairgrounds, where the Army almost
5:01
overnight had built assembly centers. They
5:03
lived here until new pioneer communities could
5:06
be completed on federally-owned lands in the interior.
5:09
♪ (Music) ♪
5:12
Santa Anita racetrack, for example, suddenly
5:14
became a community of about 17,000 persons.
5:17
The Army provided housing, and plenty of
5:20
healthful, nourishing food for all.
5:26
The residents of the new community set about
5:28
developing a way of life as nearly normal as possible.
5:31
They held church services: Protestant, Catholic
5:35
and Buddhist. They issued their own newspaper,
5:38
organized nursery schools, and some made camouflage
5:41
nets for the United States Army.
5:46
Meanwhile, in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and elsewhere,
5:51
quarters were being built where they would have an
5:53
opportunity to work, more space in which to live.
5:57
When word came that these new homes were ready,
5:59
the final movement began.
6:01
♪ (Music) ♪
6:23
At each relocation center, the evacuees were met by
6:27
an advanced contingent of Jappies who had
6:29
arrived some days earlier, and who now acted as
6:31
guides. Naturally, the newcomers looked about
6:34
with some curiosity. They were in a new area. On
6:37
land, it was raw, untamed, and full of
6:41
opportunity. Here they would build schools,
6:44
educate their children, reclaim the desert.
6:48
Their own physicians took precautions to guard
6:51
against epidemics. They opened advanced
6:54
Americanization classes for college students, who
6:56
in turn would instruct other groups.
7:01
They made a rough beginning of self-government,
7:04
for while the Army would guard the outer limits of each area,
7:08
community life and security within were largely
7:11
up to the Japanese themselves.
7:13
They immediately saw the need for developing
7:15
civic leaders. At weekly community meetings,
7:17
citations were given to the block (??) leaders who had
7:19
worked most diligently.
7:22
Special emphasis was put on the health and care of
7:25
these American children of Japanese descent.
7:28
♪ (Music) ♪
7:48
Their parents, most of whom are American citizens,
7:52
and their grandparents who are aliens, knew that they
7:55
wanted to go to work. At Manzanar, they built a lathe
7:58
house and began rooting Guayule cuttings.
8:01
The plants, when mature, will add to our rubber supply.
8:14
At Parker, they undertook the irrigation of fertile
8:17
desert lands.
8:19
Meanwhile, in areas away from the coast, and
8:21
under appropriate safeguards, many were
8:24
permitted to enter private employment,
8:26
particularly, to work in sugar beet fields, where
8:29
labor was badly needed.
8:31
Now, this brief picture is actually the prologue to
8:35
a story that is yet to be told. The full story will
8:38
begin to unfold when the raw lands of the desert
8:42
turn green, when all adult hands are in
8:45
productive work on public lands, or in private
8:47
employment. It will be fully told only when
8:51
circumstances permit the loyal American citizens
8:54
once again, to enjoy the freedom we in this
8:56
country cherish, and when the disloyal, we hope,
9:00
have left this country for good. In the
9:03
meantime, we are setting a standard for the rest
9:06
of the world in the treatment of people who may
9:08
have loyalties to an enemy nation. We are
9:11
protecting ourselves without violating the
9:13
principles of Christian decency. We won't change
9:16
this fundamental decency, no matter what our
9:19
enemies do, but of course, we hope most
9:22
earnestly, that our example will influence the
9:24
Axis powers in their treatment of Americans who
9:27
fall into their hands.
9:29
♪ (Music) ♪

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