Tule Lake National Monument

USA / Oregon / Malin /
 Second World War 1939-1945, prisoner-of-war camp, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, U.S. National Historic Landmark

www.nps.gov/tule/index.htm

Tule Lake was the largest and most controversial of the ten War Relocation Authority WRA camps used to carry out the government’s system of exclusion and detention of persons of Japanese descent, mandated by Executive Order 9066. The Order, which eliminated the constitutional protections of due process and violated the Bill of Rights, was issued February 19, 1942 following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Two-thirds of the 120,000 persons of Japanese descent incarcerated in American concentration camps were American citizens, an act that culminated decades of anti-Japanese violence, discrimination and propaganda.

Tule Lake opened May 26, 1942, detaining persons of Japanese descent removed from western Washington, Oregon and Northern California. With a peak population of 18,700, Tule Lake was the largest of the camps - the only one turned into a high-security segregation center, ruled under martial law and occupied by the Army. Due to turmoil and strife, Tule Lake was the last to close, on March 28, 1946.

Tule Lake incarcerated persons of Japanese ancestry, of whom the majority were American citizens, behind barbed wire and guard towers without charge, trial or establishment of guilt. These camps are reminders of how racism, economic and political exploitation, and expediency can undermine the constitutional guarantees of United States citizens and aliens alike. May the injustices and humiliation suffered here never recur.

www.sonic.net/~laird/landmarks/counties/800-899/850-2.h...
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°53'14"N   121°21'39"W

Comments

  • Another page wtih some Tule Lake photos: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/08/world-war-ii-internment-of-japanese-americans/100132/
This article was last modified 4 years ago