Manzanar was extablished in 1941 as an internment camp for Japaneese Americand during WWII.
It grew almost overnight from 0 to 10,000 residents. I can only imagine what these people were feeling when they were moved from the warm welcoming parts of California to this hell on earth place. It is beautiful, but weather and nature here is very sewere.
Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were incarcerated during World War II (1).
“Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, led the United States into World War II and radically changed the lives of 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry living in the United States. The attack intensified racial prejudices and led to fear of potential sabotage and espionage by Japanese Americans among some in the government, military, news media, and public. In February, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War to establish Military Areas and to remove from those areas anyone who might threaten the war effort. Without due process, the government gave everyone of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast only days to decide what to do with their houses, farms, businesses, and other possessions. “ (2)
The reconstruction of the inside of the baraks
On November 21, 1945, the WRA closed Manzanar, the sixth camp to be closed. Although the incarcerees had been brought to the Owens Valley by the United States Government, they had to leave the camp and travel to their next destinations on their own.
