# Did any of the Japanese get their homes and/or businesses back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300 "2012-06-16T00:15:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300/21 "2012-06-19T03:17:44Z")
> [@Shosy](#): > > While my father took an “understanding” view based on the times in regards to internment, my mother (who really had a worse experience working in a war factory during the bombings) became very irritated when people were dismissive of the internment in the US. She never said so to the people who were dismissive of it, but she always said to us (me) “It was not Japan, it was not Nazi Germany, it was not France, this was in the United States of America!” Well, remember- there were two classes of Japanese-American internees: a. Those who were residents of the USA but were citizens of the Japanese Empire. b. Those who were American citizens but of Japanese ancestry. _Everyone_ interned “enemy aliens”. Us, the British, the Germans, the Canadians, the Japanese, etc. In theory they were sworn to do their duty by the nation they were a citizen of. In a way, this also protected them. If a American (for example) hadn’t been interned by the Nazis, and thus had worked, he could have been accused of treason after the war. (This was also done in WWI.) The internment of Japanese _citizens_ was not wrong or shameful. However, the USA also interned quite a large number of American _citizens_ simply due to their ancestry. _This_ was wrong and shameful. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300/22 "2012-06-19T04:58:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The internment of Japanese _citizens_ was not wrong or shameful. I think the distinction is blurred a bit in that it was impossible for Japanese immigrants to gain American citizenship (something that in itself was wrong and shameful). When I hear of an American interned in Germany during the war I picture someone in Berlin on business for IBM, not someone who had been living there for decades. Also, while the US did intern German citizens during the war, they did so on a case-by-case basis. They did not attempt to intern German citizens en masse. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300/23 "2012-06-19T05:24:04Z")
We **couldn’t** intern Germasn and Italian-Americans because we literally **wouldn’t have had enough room** to do so! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300/24 "2012-06-19T12:55:37Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > We **couldn’t** intern Germasn and Italian-Americans because we literally **wouldn’t have had enough room** to do so! We had few German or Italian citizens. We had many, many American citizens of German or Italian ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300/25 "2012-06-19T13:03:14Z")
> **[Internment of German Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_internment)** > > Internment of German resident aliens and German-American citizens occurred in the United States during the periods of World War I and World War II. During World War II, the legal basis for this detention was under Presidential Proclamation 2526, made by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act. > With the US entry into World War I after Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare, German nationals were automatically classified as "enemy aliens". Two of the four... _At the start of World War II, under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the United States government detained and interned over 11,000 German enemy aliens. They were all either former civilians or citizens of Germany. Their ranks included immigrants to the U.S. as well as visitors stranded in the U.S. by hostilities. In many cases, the families of the internees were allowed to remain together at internment camps in the U.S. In other cases, families were separated. Limited due process was allowed for those arrested and detained._ About the Japanese internment \*:Somewhere between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were subject to this mass exclusion program, of whom about two-thirds were U.S. citizens.[2] The remaining one-third were non-citizens subject to internment under the Alien Enemies Act;… \* ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300/26 "2012-06-19T13:46:34Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > We had few German or Italian citizens. We had many, many American citizens of German or Italian ancestry. Technically, that is not true. We had many Italian citizens during WWII, because the primary wave of Italian immigrants was largely still around. I know my ancestors naturalized during WWII after having been in the country several decades. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300/27 "2012-06-19T17:22:37Z")
What I was refering to (and I assume you get this): We couldn’t intern Italian-Americans or German-Americans (i.e citizens) I have no issue with detaining resident aliens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-of-the-japanese-get-their-homes-and-or-businesses-back/625300.md?page=1)