Reading a new book on the WWII internment (read concentration) camp in South Texas for thousands of Japanese, Germans and some Italians. What drew me to read it was not the fact of the camp’s existence (on vegetable-growing land southwest of San Antonio near the Mexican border) which I knew about, but that it was for whole families. And more, below.
They’d been arrested and uprooted from California, Ohio and elsewhere—including some kidnapped by the FBI from Peru and other South American countries—losing all of their property and possessions. Father, mother and their American-born children. For simply being from enemy countries.
Okay, except for the kidnappings, I’d heard most of that. But not this: to compound the injustice, the “Greatest Generation” designated some 4,500 of the Germans, including whole families, as “trade bait.” They were dispatched to Nazi Germany during the war in exchange for other Americans held prisoner there. One Ohio family’s then-teenage daughter tells their sad tale.
And who did they have to thank for all this? Why the great Democrat saint FDR, who engineered it all and stamped it secret. The guy Barry likes to compare himself to. When he isn’t channeling Abraham Lincoln.
More when I finish the book.
Via Instapundit.
UPDATE: I was almost done when I wrote this and I’m finished now. It’s a good tale about federal perfidy with some stunning personal stories. The author found a Dutch Jewish family who were freed from Bergen Belsen apparently in conjunction with the dispatch of a German-American family from Crystal City to Naziland. The Nazis were keeping “trade Jews” in their camps for just such an occasion.
See the comments for more. Arthur Jacobs who was a child at CC when he was shipped to the Nazis (and wrote a book about it) sent me jpeg’s of some docs from the Nazi archives gathered by Texas A&M Prof Arnold Krammer apparently showing the names of 15 German Jews kidnapped from Panama and Honduras by the FBI who were interned at a Seagoville camp near Dallas. Jacobs said Krammer found no evidence they or other German Jews were sent to the Nazis, but given the docs from the Nazi archives you have to wonder.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
That would be the same Democrat who confiscated Ranchers’ property on Matagorda Island. The families are still in court trying to get it back, last I heard. Not the same level of abuse of power, but in the same spirit. Thanks for bringing the book to my attention.
Be interesting to know whether there were German Jews among those sent back to Germany. Some story.
Highly likely, because German Jews from Latin America were interned.
The book, which mentions Mr. Jacobs and his unsuccessful lawsuit for reparations (though not his book), says there were 18 German Jews kidnapped from Latin America and interned at a similar camp in Oklahoma. But if any were sent back in exchange there’s no mention of it. But, then, the feds still refuse to acknowledge the internment of Germans (or the Latin kidnappings) and the reparations that have been paid were to the Japanese only.
Time permitting, I will look for and if I can post them here, I will.
You’re welcome to comment here. As for posting, check with me first at cavalryscoutbooks@yahoo.com
List sent to you at the link you suggested
Thanks for the docs that Aggie history Prof Arnold Krammer found in the Nazi archives. I saved them to my desktop. I see 15 names under Juden or Judische, most of them, apparently, single males, all from the camp at Seagoville near Dallas.
Did you show these to Mrs Russell, the author of the Crystal City book? If so, do you know why she didn’t use them?
She did cite Krammer as a source and at least one of his books in her bibliography. Do you know if he ever wrote of German Jews being sent to the Nazis during the war?
Krammer wrote that no German Jews were exchanged. I personally doubt if that was true, for there were many places used for internment and detention, (more than 50) that it would have been difficult to prove without a doubt that German Jews were exchanged.
Last line of my previous post should have read “doubt that German Jews were NOT exchanged.”
It would be hard to prove the negative. Especially when their names, under Seagoville, are found in the Nazi archive. Thanks for the comments, here and privately. Good luck with federal recognition and compensation. Y’all certainly deserve it.
Most of us are not interested in any compensation; our main goal is that the government recognize that it occurred; that the agencies like the National Archives, the National Parks, the Library of Congress, etc.,provide equal support for German American internment in their literature, their actions, and on the Internet.
If you will send me your postal mail address I will send you a signed copy of my book!
Art
Sent from my cool computer
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Done. Thank you!