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 (277)
Concentration camps (1771)
Living conditions (1870)

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1870 items

img Concentration camp street scene (ddr-densho-151-69)

Original WRA caption: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Street scene looking east toward the Inyo Mountains at this War Relocation Authority center. The children are coming to their barrack homes from play school.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-151-69/

img Concentration camp barracks (ddr-densho-151-67)

Original WRA caption: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Street scene looking west between barrack blocks at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-151-67/

img Family inside barracks (ddr-densho-151-416)

Original caption: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. A typical interior scene in one of the barrack apartments at this center. Note the cloth partition which lends a small amount of privacy.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-151-416/

img Manzanar concentration camp, California (ddr-densho-151-64)

Original WRA caption: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. View of the Manzanar Relocation Center showing the buildings (right) where camouflage nets are made.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-151-64/

img Concentration camp gardens (ddr-densho-151-71)

Original WRA caption: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry are growing flourishing truck crops for their own use in their "hobby gardens". These crops are grown in plots 10 x 50 feet between blocks of barracks at this War Relocation Authority center.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-151-71/

doc A Year at Gila Anniversary Booklet (ddr-densho-469-8)

Includes the legend of Gila, a history of the beginning of the Gila River, facts, and maps of the Gila River, as well as summaries of Gila's River's various organizations, departments, work, and activities.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-469-8/

doc Second Year at Gila (ddr-densho-469-9)

A summary of the second year spent by camp inmates at the Gila River Relocation Center. Topics on the second year of the camp include the camp's administration, involvement in the war, predominant religions, schools, agriculture, recreation, and population, ending with a timeline of events.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-469-9/

doc Letter to Rev. Robert Inglis from D. Uchida (ddr-densho-498-52)

Letter to Robert Inglis from D. Uchida updating him on the conditions at Topaz and thanking him for sending Mary Coxhead.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-498-52/

doc Letter to Alice Opie from Yuki Kamayatsu (ddr-densho-498-41)

Letter to Alice Opie from Yuki Kamayatsu explaining what life is like in Amache. She explains that many people are sick and the camp is not satisfactory. She mentions that the administration is not kind and that contractors harass the girls in the camp.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-498-41/

img Concentration camp street scene (ddr-densho-93-25)

Original Ansel Adams caption: Manzanar street scene, spring, Manzanar Relocation center / photograph by Ansel Adams.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-93-25/

img View from guard tower (ddr-densho-93-9)

Original Ansel Adams caption: Manzanar from Guard Tower, view west, (Sierra Nevada in Background) Manzanar Relocation Center, California.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-93-9/

img Concentration camp street scene (ddr-densho-93-24)

Original Ansel Adams caption: Manzanar street scene, clouds, Manzanar Relocation Center, California / photograph by Ansel Adams.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-93-24/

img Street scene in winter (ddr-densho-93-39)

Original Ansel Adams caption: Winter storm, Manzanar Relocation Center, California / photograph by Ansel Adams.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-93-39/

img Japanese Americans lining up for mess hall (ddr-densho-93-21)

Original Ansel Adams caption: Mess line, noon, Manzanar Relocation Center, California / photograph by Ansel Adams.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-93-21/

img Dust storm (ddr-densho-93-14)

Original Ansel Adams caption: View SW over Manzanar, dust storm, Manzanar Relocation Center / by Ansel Adams.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-93-14/

img Japanese American walking on camp road (ddr-densho-93-15)

Original Ansel Adams caption: People walking, Manzanar Relocation Center / photograph by Ansel Adams.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-93-15/

img Winter concentration camp street scene (ddr-densho-93-23)

Original Ansel Adams caption: Manzanar street scene, winter, Manzanar Relocation Center / photograph by Ansel Adams.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-93-23/

doc Change of address notice for a life insurance policy (ddr-densho-350-27)

Shigenori Oiye's change of address for a life insurance policy. The change is to his new address at Tule Lake concentration camp.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-350-27/

img Children on a slide at Tule Lake (ddr-densho-350-18)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-350-18/

img Guard tower with a tank in the foreground (ddr-densho-350-19)

Caption on reverse: "Guard tower - guard by TFA (Task forces alfa [sic])."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-350-19/

img Baby girl in a stroller in front of barracks (ddr-densho-350-23)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-350-23/

img The Oiye Family at Tule Lake (ddr-densho-350-20)

Left to right: Mary Shizuko Oiye, Shoji Oiye, unknown, Misa Mihara. Caption on reverse: "Jan, 1946."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-350-20/

img Tule Lake panoramic landscape (ddr-csujad-3-9)

Photograph of Tule Lake camp showing expanse of camp including buildings, barracks, watch towers, and railways within the basin landscape. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_010

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3-9/

img Tule Lake rooftops (ddr-csujad-3-4)

Photograph looking across rooftops of buildings at Tule Lake towards hills in the distance. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_004

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3-4/

img Tule Lake landscape panoramic photograph (ddr-csujad-3-5)

High vantage point panoramic photograph of Tule Lake camp showing expanse of camp including buildings, railroad, roadways, and the basin landscape. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_005

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3-5/