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)

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1751 items

img Vine-covered barrack (ddr-densho-37-537)

Original WRA caption: Rohwer Relocation Center, McGehee, Arkansas. Vines hide the tar paper on this Rohwer residence.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-537/

img Three children in a camp dining hall (ddr-densho-37-10)

Original WRA caption: Christmas 1944.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-10/

img Administration building (ddr-densho-37-825)

Original WRA caption: Minidoka Relocation Center, Hunt, Idaho. Main administration building.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-825/

img Modified barracks (ddr-densho-37-774)

Original WRA caption: Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. A typical barracks building resident of the first apartment has constructed, with scrap lumber, a storm porch and added a touch with mock shutters at the windows.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-774/

img Japanese Americans filling straw mattresses (ddr-densho-37-403)

Original WRA caption: Poston, Arizona. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry are filling straw ticks for mattresses upon arrival at this war Relocation Authority Center.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-403/

img Camp entrance (ddr-densho-37-798)

Original WRA caption: Closing of the Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas. Last glimpse of the Jerome Center as residents leave by train to take up their residents at another center.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-798/

img Jerome concentration camp (ddr-densho-37-623)

Original WRA caption: Closing of the Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas. Panorama view of the Jerome Relocation Center.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-623/

img Camp street (ddr-densho-37-823)

Original WRA caption: Minidoka Relocation Center, Hunt, Idaho. Looking down the rows of barracks westward from block 44. At extreme left is a corner of the dining hall where the 275 to 300 residents of the block eat. At center background is the sanitation building including showers, lavatories, toilets and washtubs. Nearly all the residents planted …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-823/

img Flooded conditions (ddr-densho-37-689)

Original WRA caption: Flooded area between barracks in Block 3.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-689/

img Heart Mountain concentration camp, Wyoming (ddr-densho-37-795)

Original WRA caption: Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Heart Mountain, Wyoming. "Symbolic Heart Mountain towers at the end of "F" Street, the main thoroughfare of the Heart Mountain Relocation Center."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-795/

img View between barracks (ddr-densho-37-715)

Original WRA caption: Looking down the barracks from 34 to 44.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-715/

img Barracks and Castle Rock (ddr-densho-37-236)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-236/

img Muddy conditions (ddr-densho-37-349)

Original WRA caption: Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, California. Thaws turn the streets and firebreaks into seas of mud, and makes difficult motor transportation through the center.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-349/

img Unloading beds (ddr-densho-37-474)

Original WRA caption: Poston, Arizona. Apache Indians assist in the unloading of beds for evacuees of Japanese ancestry at this War Relocation Authority center which is located on the Colorado River Indian Reservation.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-474/

img Japanese Americans behind a fence (ddr-densho-37-799)

Original WRA caption: Closing of the Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas. Evacuees still remaining in the Jerome Center wave to their friends on the train from behind the wire fence surrounding the camp. On subsequent departures they were allowed to pass through the gate and say their goodbyes at close range.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-799/

img Camp landscaping (ddr-densho-37-532)

Original WRA caption: Rohwer Relocation Center, McGehee, Arkansas. In contrast to most of the relocation center sites, many of the blocks in the Rohwer Center are shaded by trees. The residents have done much to make their tar paper barracks more livable by the planting of flowers and vegetable gardens and the building of rustic walks …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-532/

img Japanese American children in the rain (ddr-densho-37-628)

Original WRA caption: Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas. One umbrella wasn't enough for these lads of Japanese ancestry, who formerly lived in west coast areas. The rainy season, in Arkansas, makes the relocation center one vast guagmire.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-628/

img Child standing between barracks (ddr-densho-37-777)

Original WRA caption: Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. It is a long time between meals at the mess hall for a hungry man, so the cracker box at the Kobayashi barracks gets a frequent raiding.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-777/

img View of camp fence (ddr-densho-37-235)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-235/

img Japanese American children in a victory garden (ddr-densho-37-781)

Original WRA caption: Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. Fourth grade children weeding their victory garden.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-781/

img View between barracks (ddr-densho-37-747)

Original WRA caption: Looking down the rows of barracks westward from block 44. At extreme left is a corner of the dining hall where 275 to 300 residents of the block eat. At center background is the sanitization building including showers, lavatories, toilets, and washtubs. Nearly all the residents planted flowers and vegetable gardens in front …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-747/

img Winter in camp (ddr-densho-37-351)

Original WRA caption: A winter time scene looking east down the main fire break.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-351/

img Exterior view of Amache (Granada) (ddr-densho-37-389)

Original WRA caption: Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. Weeds are already taking over where recently thousands of evacuees moved about between their temporary homes and the mess halls, schools and churches of various denominations. A total of nearly 15,000 evacuees were induced into the Granada Project, Amache, Colorado, since August 27, 1942, when the first group …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-389/

img Barracks and Castle Rock (ddr-densho-37-239)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-239/

img Camp entrance (ddr-densho-37-726)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-726/