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 (1435)
Living conditions (1764)

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1764 items

img View between barracks (ddr-densho-37-782)

Original WRA caption: Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. Evacuee barracks showing gardens and trees.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-782/

img Japanese American walking in the rain (ddr-densho-37-617)

Original WRA caption: Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas. The Arkansas rainy season, and this young resident of the Jerome Center dons rubber boots and carries a parasol. The (buckshot) mud makes the tirp to and from school a little dificult.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-617/

img Vacant barracks (ddr-densho-37-827)

Original WRA caption: Poston, Arizona. Some of the "blocks" which were vacated earlier, are already dropping to pieces as shown here. The barracks were of cheap construction, rough lumber, and tar paper and few people thought that they would be occupied for three years. Units II and III of the Colorado River Relocation center, Poston, Arizona, …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-827/

Born Free and Equal: Photographs of the Loyal Japanese-Americans at Manzanar Relocation Center and Manzanar High School Yearbook (ddr-densho-402-41)

doc Born Free and Equal: Photographs of the Loyal Japanese-Americans at Manzanar Relocation Center and Manzanar High School Yearbook (ddr-densho-402-41)

Includes "Valedictorian," Manzanar High School yearbook from 1945.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-402-41/

img Exterior of "Rooms" at camp (ddr-densho-402-21)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-402-21/

doc Letter to Guyo and Larry Tajiri from Midori Kimura (ddr-densho-338-133)

A letter from Midori Kimura describing life in camp.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-338-133/

doc Comments by the War Relocation Authority on statements attributed to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (ddr-densho-381-11)

The War Relocation Authority writes to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (Dies Committee) to correct some of the Committee's "more flagrantly inaccurate statements."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-11/

doc Relocation problems and policies (ddr-densho-381-24)

An address delivered by War Relocation Authority Director, Dillon S. Myer, to the Tuesday Evening Club. Myer discusses a variety of topics, including the creation of the War Relocation Authority, managing the camps, and plans for relocation.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-24/

doc Comments by the War Relocation Authority on remarks of Representative John M. Costello (ddr-densho-381-8)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-8/

doc Statement on the testimony of Harold H. Townsend before the House of Representatives Subcommittee (ddr-densho-381-4)

A rebuttal of statements made by Harold H. Townsend, former Chief Supply and Transportation Officer, before the House of Representatives Subcommittee of the Special Committee on Un-American Activities. The author, most likely the War Relocation Authority, argues that Townsend's testimony was almost entirely composed of false statements about events and living conditions at the Poston concentration …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-4/

doc Dillon S. Myer's National Broadcasting Company network address (ddr-densho-381-7)

An advance release copy of Dillon S. Myer's address over the National Broadcasting Company network about the loyalty of Japanese-Americans incarcerated in concentration camps and their living conditions.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-7/

doc Letter to Martin Dies from Dillon S. Myer (ddr-densho-381-5)

A letter to Martin Dies, Chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities, from Dillon S. Myer, War Relocation Authority Director, about misleading statements made by committee members and their affect on the War Relocation Authority.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-5/

doc Conversation between W. Wade Head and Harold H. Townsend (ddr-densho-381-2)

An investigative interview conducted by W. Wade Head, Project Director, of Harold H. Townsend, Supply and Transportation Officer, who abandoned his post during the Poston Strike claiming he feared for his life.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-2/

Supplementary comments by the War Relocation Authority on newspaper statements allegedly made by Representatives of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (ddr-densho-381-12)

doc Supplementary comments by the War Relocation Authority on newspaper statements allegedly made by Representatives of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (ddr-densho-381-12)

Additional comments from the War Relocation Authority in response to statements made by to the House Committee on Un-American Activities to the press about living conditions in the camps, rumors of violence and protest, and criticisms of how the camps are being managed.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-12/