The former location for
the ManzanarJapanese
internment camp is turned
into a national historic site
By Sandy Kleffman
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
MANZANAR, Calif. — Walk the
grounds here, and the only sounds
that emerge are the rustle of a darting
lizard, the drone of an occasional jet
and the distant rumble of traffic.
Yet Manzanar tells its story.
Weathered brown signs reveal
where the mess halls, the hospital and
the churches once stood.
Row upon row of foundations
show how more than 10,000 people
squeezed into one square mile, sur
rounded by barbed wire, searchlights
and armed guards.
Finally, a worn historical marker
drives the message home:
"May the injustices and humilia
tion suffered here as a result of hyste
ria, racism and economic exploitation
never emerge again."
Last month, hundreds of people
began converging on the Manzanar
National Historic Site for the opening
April 24 of a $5.1 million interpretive
center in the old Manzanar gym.
The center commemorates what
many consider to be a shameful chap
ter in American history _ the intern
ment of 120,000 people of Japanese
ancestry during World War II.
To some, it may seem strange to
transform a relocation center into a
national park, recalling America at
less than its finest hour.
But the former internees who
pushed for such recognition say it's
one thing to read about what hap
pened in history books. It's another to
walk where the military-style barracks
stood, breathe the dust and envision
the men, women and children who
ate, slept and toiled here for 3 1/2
years.
"We tried very hard to personalize
this story," said Alisa Lynch, chief of
interpretation and cultural resources
management for the National Park
Service.
"It’s a story that's so complex and
controversial, it's important to have
multiple voices."
San Francisco resident Paul Ohtaki,
who entered Manzanar at age 17, said
he encounters young people today
who don't believe the internment re
ally happened.
"You must have done something
wrong," he says they tell him.
"The main point is that we were
locking up regular American citizens,"
Ohtaki said. "We were put in for no
other reason than the fact that we
looked like the enemy. *
'The main point is that we
were locking up regular
American citizens.
... We were put in for no
other reason than the
fact that we looked
like the enemy."
Paul Ohtaki
Former Manzanar prisoner
Park officials designed the interpre
tive center to illustrate experiences at
all 10 relocation camps, including
Topaz, Utah, where many Bay Area
residents went
The center, funded with a congres
sional allocation, has a section about
Tule Lake in Northern California,
where authorities segregated those
who refused to sign loyalty oaths.
It also contains displays sure to pro
voke debate A Sept. 11,2001, photo of
smoke billowing from the World
Trade Center towers sits next to a shot
of the USS Arizona in flames during
the Pearl Harbor attack.
A quote from Benjamin Franklin
runs above both photos: "They that
can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither
liberty nor safety."
Park officials hope visitors make
connections with recent events as they
learn the Manzanar story, said Super
intendent Frank Hays.
The United States entered World
War II after Japan's deadly attack on
Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7,1941.
The attack intensified racial
Turn to CAMP, page 10
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