<Begin Segment 28>

TI: Okay, so Fred, before we go on there, I actually want to bring you back to Springfield.

FH: Oh.

TI: And then I want to take a break after we finish Springfield. But when you were at Springfield, this was during the war.

FH: Yes, 1940.

TI: Yeah, did you have conversations with other, your classmates about what was going on?

FH: Oh, sure. Many people.

TI: And where you were, like in a concentration camp? Did that ever, have those discussions?

FH: Well, they would... I used to, they would come and get me to speak about it all over in the New England states, Vermont and New Hampshire and Boston, yes. But the students were very friendly, they were there, and they were very friendly. I was living in the dormitory that's called the Foreign Student Dormitory, fourth floor. I said, "I'm not a foreign student," but I came from a camp, so that made me a foreign country. [Laughs] But there was Chinese, Canadians, Puerto Ricans, Hawaiian, quite a few. So we had international group on that fourth floor, Springfield, yes.

TI: And do you recall some of the conversations, or were people surprised?

FH: No, they were shocked to hear about it. They couldn't believe it. They couldn't believe it that this democracy, considered the most Western, modern democracy in the world, could do something like that. If it happened in their country, they said, yeah, you expect it. But here, my gosh, can't believe it. But that's what happens, it happened. And that's why education is so important. That's why I just felt that one of the vehicles of education for this experience is JANM at the time. What you're doing is excellent. That's a great institution, Densho. Absolutely, that's an educational tool.

TI: No, thank you.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.