two most liberal members at that time),rnupheld the conshtutionality of ExecutivernOrder 9066. The Court ruled that thernexclusion of residents of Japanese ancestryrnfrom the West Coast was deemedrnnecessary because “there were disloyalrnmembers of that population whose numberrnand strength could not be preciselyrnand quickly ascertained.” There was alsorna justifiable fear that Japan would invadernthe West Coast. The Court furtherrnruled that no Japanese was being compelledrn”either in fact or by law” to go to arnrelocation center. The Court also reprimandedrnthe Japanese American CitizensrnLeague and the American Civil LibertiesrnUnion: “We deem it unjustifiable to callrndiem [relocation centers] concentrationrncamps witli all the ugly connotations thatrnterm implies.”rnWhen the War Department announcedrnon December 18,1944, that allrnrelocation centers would be closed byrnthe end of 1945, the same JapanesernAmerican Citizens League, which onlyrntwo months earlier had argued that thernrelocation centers were “concentrationrncamps,” implored the government tornkeep the centers open.rnOn July 2, 1948, Congress acted improperly,rnif not unconstitutionally, by enactingrnPublic Law 886, which providedrnfinancial compensation for wartime relocationrnto those of Japanese ancestry. AlthoughrnPL 886 stipulated that all claimsrnnot presented within 18 months “shall bernforever barred,” Congress enacted additionalrnlaws granting further financialrncompensation to former internees andrnrelocatees of Japanese ancestry in 1951,rn1952,1956,1960,1972,1978,1988, andrn1992.rnIn 1988, Public Law 100-383 grantedrn$20,000 per person to all survivingrnJapanese and Japanese-American formerrninternees and relocatees at the recommendationrnof the Commission onrnWartime Relocation and Internment ofrnCivilians. The Commission was establishedrnin 1980 to “review the facts andrncircumstances surrounding ExecutivernOrder Numbered 9066, Issued Februaryrn19, 1942, and the impact of such ExecutivernOrder on American citizens and permanentrnresident aliens . . . and review directivesrnof United States military forcesrnrequiring the relocation and, in somerncases, detention in internment camps ofrnAmerican citizens, including Aleut civilians,rnand permanent resident aliens ofrnthe Aleutian and Pribilof Islands.” Butrnthe Commission illegally altered thernscope of its own investigation, limiting itrnto “American citizens of Japanese ancestryrnand resident Japanese aliens, as wellrnas the people of the Aleutian Islands.”rnThe unprofessional conduct of thernCommission was scandalous. In existencernfor over two years, it held only 20rndays of public hearings. Two of the ninerncommissioners were former relocateesrnwith a vested financial interest in therncommission’s decision. Forty percent ofrnthe staff had Japanese surnames andrnstood to benefit financially if the Commissionrnrecommended compensation.rnAt the start of its hearings, the Commissionrnpublicly expressed the opinion thatrnonly the Japanese had been victimizedrnby the policy of internment and relocation.rnThe Commission did not hear anyrntestimony from former internees ofrnEuropean ancestry, and the Japanese-rnAmericans who testified were neverrnplaced under oath.rnWhile praising Commander KennethrnRingle as “the most capable intelligencernofficer we had,” the Commission omittedrnfrom its report. Personal Justice Denied,rnhis estimate that 25 percent of allrnAmericans of Japanese ancestry were ofrndoubtful loyalty and that 3,500 Japanese-rnAmericans could be expected to engagernin espionage and sabotage against thernUnited States. The testimony of EdwardrnEnnis, Director of the Alien ControlrnUnit of die U.S. Department of Justice inrnthe Roosevelt Administration, and JamesrnRowe, Roosevelt’s Assistant AttorneyrnGeneral, that the Japanese were treatedrnexactly the same as Germans and Italiansrnand were not arrested in mass nor deniedrnthe right of appeal before hearing boardsrnwas also omitted from the Commission’srnreport.rnIn testimony before Congress in 1984,rnDr. David Trask, chief historian at thernU.S. Army Center of Military History,rndismissed Personal justice Denied.rn”I am simply unable to certify this brief asrna credible piece of history. It simplyrndoesn’t measure up to professional standards.”rnCongress, nevertheless, enactedrnlegislation granting financial compensationrnbased solely on the Commission’srnflawed recommendations in PersonalrnJustice Denied.rnIn 1992, the damage was compoundedrnby the enactment of Public Law 102-rn371. Under this new law, European-rnAmerican spouses of Japanese interneesrnwho voluntarily joined their husbands inrninternment are eligible for financialrncompensation of $20,000. But European-rnAmerican spouses of European interneesrnwho voluntarily joined their husbandsrnin internment are not.rnIronically, the demand for compensationrnfor Japanese-Peruvians interned inrnthe United States during World War IIrnmay yet unmask the historical fraud thatrnonly the Japanese were victims of internment.rnFor during World War II, thernRoosevelt administration “requested”rn18 Latin American governments to arrestrnGermans and Italians (as well asrnJapanese) living in their counhies and tornship them to the United States for internment.rnThe number of Latin Americans ofrnGerman descent interned in the UnitedrnStates may have been as high as 5,000,rnincluding some Jewish Germans. ThesernJewish Germans included citizens andrnlegal residents of Latin American countries,rnand possibly some refugees fromrnHider. Official documents reveal thatrnthe United States government knew itrnwas interning Jewish German LatinrnAmericans.rnFrom 1942 to 1945, the United Statesrngovernment shipped interned Germansrnto the Nazis in return for American andrnLatin American civilians who had beenrninterned by the Nazis at the start of thernwar. The apparent reason for interningrnGerman Latin Americans in the UnitedrnStates was so Washington could havernmore bodies for these “exchanges.” Thernavailable evidence strongly suggestsrnthat the United States government knowinglyrnshipped Jewish German LatinrnAmericans to the Nazis as part of this program.rnIf so, a congressional investigationrnshould be conducted to uncover therntiuth about Jewish German Latin Americanrninternees. Should such an investigationrnoccur, the American public mightrnalso learn—at long last—the tiuth aboutrninternment, relocation, compensation,rnand the Japanese.rnJoseph E. Fallon writes from Rye,rnNew York.rnFor Immediate ServicernCHRONICLESrnNEW SUBSCRIBERSrnTOLL-FREE NUMBERrn1-800-877-5459rnFEBRUARY 1998/39rnrnrn