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Her grandfather in a concentration camp in Fusagasuga (Spanish)

(Spanish) When World War II erupted, I imagine, the United States government decided that some citizens needed to be controlled. Germans, Italians, and Japanese in Colombia, heads of households, mainly, were taken to a concentration center in Fusagasugá, in Cundinamarca. They were held there while their families stayed on the land where they lived.

My grandpa had to leave my grandma living on the farm and when that happened, my grandma wrote a letter in Japanese to my grandpa, where she said she had to go... She left out certain things, so he wouldn't worry, so they would let him out to visit them.

Then she wrote letters in Spanish, so the men guarding my grandfather would know. She wrote things like “Little Lily is very sick, we don't know what to do, please try to help us.” Then they let my grandpa out for 15 days to visit my grandma, to make sure the situation went back to normal. Then they sent him back to the concentration camp.

They had some freedoms, but obviously they were under constant police supervision.


Colombia World War II World War II camps

Date: September 22, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Monica Teisher was born in Cali, Colombia in 1974 to an Issei father and Nisei mother. She and her large extended family were active in the Cali Japanese community, the largest in Colombia. She moved to the United States after marrying a U.S. citizen of Eastern European Jewish descent. They and their daughters spend vacation time in Colombia, participating in community events. (May 2020)

George Ariyoshi
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Prom during the war

(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i

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George Ariyoshi
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Influence of veterans

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Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi
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Day Pearl Harbor was bombed

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

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Kazuo Funai
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Japan vs. the United States (Japanese)

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Kazuo Funai
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Company in Tokyo burned down (Japanese)

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James Hirabayashi
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Life in camp as teenager

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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Robert Katayama
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Being ordered to keep a diary that was later confiscated, ostensibly by the FBI

Hawaiian Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Bombing of Pearl Harbor

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Barbara Kawakami
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Helping soldiers

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Barbara Kawakami
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Brother leaves for war, survival

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Didn't have rights that whites had

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Californians didn't know about evacuation

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Yuri Kochiyama
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The day Pearl Harbor was bombed

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Father as prisoner of war in hospital

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Patriotism versus loyalty

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