Living conditions

All of the camps were constructed according to the War Department's specifications, which included barbed-wire fences, guard towers, and armed guards around the perimeter. The camps were organized in "blocks" consisting of twelve to fourteen barracks, a mess hall, communal showers and toilets, laundry facilities, and a recreation hall. Each barracks was divided into four or six rooms with each room housing one family, no matter how large, and there was no running water. The furnishings that Japanese Americans found on their arrival were canvas cots, a potbellied stove, and a single bare light bulb. The thin walls offered little protection from the harsh weather, which ranged from 110 degrees in the summer to 25 degrees below zero on winter nights. The flimsy construction allowed no privacy and made normal family life difficult. Camp inmates improved their own living conditions by creating interior walls and partitions, constructing furniture from scrap lumber, and planting gardens.

World War II (231)
Concentration camps (1434)
Living conditions (1751)

Related articles from the Densho Encyclopedia :
Arts and crafts in camp, Community analysts, Manzanar Children's Village

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1751 items
Ena Okonogi Sakamoto (ddr-csujad-8-96)
doc Ena Okonogi Sakamoto (ddr-csujad-8-96)
Oral history interview with Ena Okonogi Sakamoto. Information on the oral history project is found in: csuf_stp_0012A; Glossary in: csuf_stp_0014. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: FCPL Sakamoto, Ena Okonogi
John Kubota (ddr-csujad-8-31)
doc John Kubota (ddr-csujad-8-31)
Oral history interview with John Kubota. Information on the oral history project is found in: csuf_stp_0012A; Glossary in: csuf_stp_0014. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: FCPL Kubota, John
George Abe (ddr-csujad-8-1)
doc George Abe (ddr-csujad-8-1)
Oral history interview with George Abe. Information on the oral history project is found in: csuf_stp_0012A; Glossary in: csuf_stp_0014. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: FCPL Abe, George
Hasegawa Family (ddr-csujad-8-16)
doc Hasegawa Family (ddr-csujad-8-16)
Oral history interview with the Hasegawas, including Ray, Helen, Peter, Yoshino, Becky and George Hasegawa. Information on the oral history project is found in: csuf_stp_0012A; Glossary in: csuf_stp_0014. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: FCPL Hasegawa Family
Stockade wood-burning stove (ddr-densho-11-8)
img Stockade wood-burning stove (ddr-densho-11-8)
In 1943, Tule Lake concentration camp became a segregation center. A stockade was built to detain those who were considered security risks by the WRA. This wood-burning stove was used to help heat the stockade.
Japanese American in front of a vanity (ddr-densho-15-47)
img Japanese American in front of a vanity (ddr-densho-15-47)
Yoneko Tanaka from Seattle did her best to make her austere barrack apartment homelike. She constructed the vanity from scrap lumber.
Laundry room (ddr-densho-15-71)
img Laundry room (ddr-densho-15-71)
The Minidoka concentration camp was divided into thirty-six blocks, each with its own communal laundry facility, like the one shown here.
Japanese Americans inside barracks (ddr-densho-15-123)
img Japanese Americans inside barracks (ddr-densho-15-123)
Left to right: Norio Mitsuoka, Bob Ikeda, and Tak Hori sit inside Yoneko Tanaka's barracks.
Two Japanese Americans in their barracks apartment (ddr-densho-15-58)
img Two Japanese Americans in their barracks apartment (ddr-densho-15-58)
Grandma Yorozu, who at eighty-four years of age was one of the oldest Japanese Americans at Minidoka, and Fusa Yorozu inside their barracks apartment.
Japanese American making furniture (ddr-densho-15-63)
img Japanese American making furniture (ddr-densho-15-63)
Barracks apartments were furnished only with a coal-burning stove and a cot. Consequently, many camp inmates made furniture from scrap lumber.
Japanese American shoveling coal into a heater (ddr-densho-15-72)
img Japanese American shoveling coal into a heater (ddr-densho-15-72)
Camp inmate shoveling coal into the block's central heater, which will warm water for the laundry and bath facilities.
Japanese Americans carrying plywood (ddr-densho-15-55)
img Japanese Americans carrying plywood (ddr-densho-15-55)
Yoneko Tanaka (left) and Norio Mitsuoka carry away lumber to make furniture.
Two Japanese Americans inside barracks (ddr-densho-15-60)
img Two Japanese Americans inside barracks (ddr-densho-15-60)
Mrs. Shioshi (left) and Mrs. Odoi inside camp barracks. Both had sons in the military.
Japanese Americans making furniture (ddr-densho-15-65)
img Japanese Americans making furniture (ddr-densho-15-65)
The barracks apartments that housed Japanese Americans contained cots and a coal-burning stove, but no other furniture. Camp inmates often made their own furniture and other accessories from scrap lumber.
Japanese Americans washing dishes (ddr-densho-15-74)
img Japanese Americans washing dishes (ddr-densho-15-74)
Issei washing dishes inside the camp's warehouse kitchen.
Letter to a Nisei man from his sister (ddr-densho-153-33)
doc Letter to a Nisei man from his sister (ddr-densho-153-33)
Excerpt: "What do you know, well I'm going to be a A9 next Monday & I sure am glad this semesters over & next semester im going to have to study real hard." Sent from Manzanar concentration camp, California, to Chicago, Illinois.
Letter to a Nisei man from his brother (ddr-densho-153-47)
doc Letter to a Nisei man from his brother (ddr-densho-153-47)
Excerpt: "We've been receiving yours letters steady and as you mentioned in your last letter, we will send you more letters and much steadier." Sent from Manzanar concentration camp, California, to Chicago, Illinois.
Letter to a Nisei man (ddr-densho-153-46)
doc Letter to a Nisei man (ddr-densho-153-46)
Excerpt: "Pardon me for the long delay in answering your last letter which I received some three weeks ago." Sent from Manzanar concentration camp, California, to Chicago, Illinois. Letter is incomplete.
Letter to a Nisei man from his brother (ddr-densho-153-44)
doc Letter to a Nisei man from his brother (ddr-densho-153-44)
Excerpt: "I have about forty-five minutes to kill before a show so I thought I'd write you." Sent from Manzanar concentration camp, California, to Chicago, Illinois.
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