In the 1940s Japanese-Americans on the west coast were forced in to internment, calling small shacks home in deserts and swampy areas for more than three years. At the same time on another continent Jews and other "rejected" people of society not seen as pure or useful to the Nazi party were put in to concentration camps in which they were given an identification number and were cruelly abused. Many think that these two situations are nothing like the other, while some think that they are very similar in experience. Japanese internment and German concentration camps were alike in the manner of being forced in to a camp because of race, preference, or religious ideals and they were in dangerous and unfavorable conditions. They were not alike because those in internment were never killed by authorities, and German concentration camps did not offer pay for the jobs the imprisoned people did.
Many Japanese-Americans read of the "relocation program" on posters and flyers taped up over their towns. These posters listed what to bring and what to leave behind; for example no pets. Travelers could bring only what they could carry, nothing more, and these rules seem to mirror those of the travelers off to concentration camps in Germany. Both parties were forced to relocate because of ethnic heritage, religious beliefs, or lifestyles. In the United States, Japanese-Americans were forced to relocate due to the war against Japan, and the fear that those of Japanese descent would interfere with the war and side with Japan instead of the United States. Thus, for their "own protections" are those in internment were told, they were relocated to deserts and swamps. Once there they were ushered in to cramped conditions where an entire family lived in one room, and they shared a bathroom with over 100 other people. In Germany, anyone seen as undesirable was put in "work camps" or concentration camps. Gypsies, Jews, homosexuals, communists, and other communities were taken to places such as Auschwitz to be worked to death or quarantined. Those off Auschwitz and other camps carried only a suitcase with their most cherished possessions. Once there, they were brutally abused by authorities, worked to death, and killed. Many in the United States and in Germany were packed on to trains for long rides, though Japanese-Americans were more comfortable riding to northern California than Auschwitz.
In concentration camps all over Germany and Poland – along with other countries, prisoners were worked to death, living in bad conditions and with even worse authorities. Those who "lived" there were assigned a number, much like in a prison system, which was then tattooed on a part of their body. They were fed very poorly, all of the prisoners were emaciated and their skin hung on their bones with no muscle. When they first arrived they were put in two groups – male and female. After that they were paired down again to desirables and undesirables; the undesirables were then exterminated. Forced to work in factories or on "farms" they went long hours without rest, and slept little through the night. If one did not work hard enough, or rested for even a moment they would be brutally punished by being shot in the head or another form of torture. Yet for most prisoners they were literally "worked to death" by their watchers since the Nazi party instated the "annihilation through work" policy. In Japanese internment the people residing there were offered jobs which could pay up to 19 dollars a month. Though having to pay for food in a cramped cafeteria, people worked as seamstresses, dishwashers, dance teachers, and other "normal" jobs in a normal eight hour work day. Unlike German camps in which prisoners were worked to death, people in internment were at least given rest and pay in an attempt for the government to mirror a normal life.
Though Japanese Internment and German Concentration camps mirror each other in many aspects, they are different. They are alike in the way that both parties were relocated due to race, and in concentration camps preference and religious belief. They are different in the cruelty that was put on them by authorities; prisoners were worked to death and killed by authorities while residents in Japanese internment camps were given pay and good hour jobs.
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