Manzanar
Manzanar National Historic Site (formerly the
Manzanar War Relocation Center) was a
Japanese American internment camp (concentration camp) during
World War II that operated in the
Owens Valley, between the towns of
Lone Pine, California on the south, and
Independence, California on the north. Manzanar is the best-known of the ten camps in which
Japanese Americans, both citizens (including natural-born Americans) and resident aliens, were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the imposing
Sierra Nevada, Manzanar has been identified as the best preserved of these camps by the
United States Park Service which maintains and is restoring the site as a
U.S. National Historic Site.
Manzanar held 10,046 internees at its height, and a total of 11,070 were imprisoned there. Over 110,000 persons of Japanese descent were incarcerated as a provision of
Executive Order 9066.
On
December 6,
1942, there was a riot and sentries shot two detainees. In February of
1943, provisions of the
Registration Act required camp officials to transfer detainees who would not take a loyalty oath to the
Tule Lake War Relocation Center. After the turmoil that this caused, the residents began to improve the camp significantly.
During the waning years of the war, the military presence at the camp was reduced and many internees were allowed to wander around the countryside and even fish and hunt in the Sierras. The camp was closed in November of
1945. Many internees did not want to leave because most had nothing to return to. One hundred and thirty-five people died during its operation as a War Relocation Center but only 15 were buried there (the rest were buried in hometown cemeteries).
Most photographs of Manzanar during the Japanese internment were shot by
Toyo Miyatake, who was interred along with his family, and
Ansel Adams. Adams, known for his breathtaking shots of Yosemite befriended Miyatake while visting the camp. Miyatake, a Los Angeles-based photographer and artist, smuggled in a lens, film, and film holder and later had a craftsman in camp construct a wooden box with a door that hid the lens. Miyatake's contraband camera was eventually discovered and confiscated, however, the camp director appointed Miyatake the official photographer of the camp - allowing him to photograph freely within the camp. Initially, Miyatake was not allowed to actually press the shutter button, requiring a guard or camp official to do this simple task. Eventually, the administrator saw no point to this technicality and allowed Miyatake to take the picture solely by himself. In the TV movie
Farewell to Mazanar,
Pat Morita portrayed Zenahiro, a character based on Miyatake.
Other notable Manzanar internees
:*
Sadao Munemori:*
Koji AriyoshiAlmost all the buildings were sold in the
1940s, and the site returned to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, from whom the land had been leased in 1942. However, public interest in the internment camps and organizing by the Manzanar Committee led the
United States National Park Service to preserve the site as a memorial, and the Park Service is now working to build replicas of barracks and a latrine so that a demonstration block can be built. An interpretive center has been opened in the former Manzanar High School auditorium, used for years as a maintenance facility for the
Inyo County road department.
A shrine in the form of an
obelisk was built in the
cemetery by a group of internees led by
Ryozo Kado in 1943. There is an inscription in Japanese on the shrine that reads, 慰靈" ("
Monument to console the
souls of the dead.") The inscription on the back reads "August 1943" and "erected by the Manzanar Japanese." The obelisk shrine currently is draped in strings of
origami and has offerings of personal items left by survivors and visitors. The park service periodically itemizes and collects these items in order to gauge the changing feelings of visitors.
An annual pilgrimage to Manzanar, organized by camp survivors, takes place on the last Saturday of April each year. The first such public gathering was in 1969; however, a small group of survivors had been making the pilgrimage since the 1940s.
Visitors to Manzanar (or any other internment camp) are warned to watch for and avoid rattlesnakes, scorpions, spiders, wasps and other dangerous wildlife which may be present in the remote, back country areas which were selected for the internment camps. If planning to explore on foot at any time of year, visitors should bring plenty of drinking water due to the desert location.
Farewell to Manzanar ISBN 0553272586 was written by
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston in
1972, recounting her personal experiences in the camp as a seven year-old internee. This non-fiction book has become a staple of curriculum in schools and on campuses across the United States.
Fort Minor's song
Kenji tells the very real story of the life of
Mike Shinoda's family before, during and after World War II including their internment at Manzanar. In the song, it is told about the
Attack on Pearl Harbor along with the death of his uncle in the camp and their return back into the world after the war.
Image:Manzanar_sign-750px.jpg|Manzanar signImage:Manzanar shrine.jpg|Manzanar shrine.Image:Back_of_Manzanar_cemetery_monument-1200px.jpg|Manzanar shrine (rear).Image:Manzanar_cemetery-1200px.jpg|Cemetery wide shot.Image:Manzanar_sentry_gate1-750px.jpg|Sentry gate.Image:Manzanar_cemetery.jpg|Baby Ogata gravesite.Image:Ansel Adams - Farm workers and Mt. Williamson.jpg|Farm workers at Manzanar War Relocation Center with Mt. Williamson in the background. (Photo by Ansel Adams)*
Internment camp*
Japanese American internment*
War Relocation Authority*
Granada War Relocation Center*
National Park Service, Manzanar National Historic Site*
Manzanar Committee - Group that organizes the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage and speadheaded the drive to preserve and protect the site, including the movement to make Manzanar a National Historic Site
*
Controversy in the Desert - The Baseball Diamond at Manzanar*
Ansel Adams photographs of the Manzanar Relocation Center in 1943 at the Library of Congress*
The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger Than Justice a lesson on the Manzanar Relocation Center for young people.
