Densho Digital Repository - Hannah Hirabayashi Interview (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-493-5)

<Begin Segment 5>

BY: All right, so going back to your wartime experiences, so your father was taken away, and so it was your mother, your sister and you. And you were initially taken to Puyallup, but then you, instead of going to Minidoka like most of the people did, your family went to Tule Lake. Can you talk about that and how that happened?

HH: Uh-huh. My mother's aunt and her family also lived in Seattle just at that time. And her aunt heard about this request for volunteers to go to Tule Lake to, what would you say? Begin the initial camp thing, I guess. I mean, it wasn't totally completed, so they needed some people to come and start living there. And so my aunt said to my mom, "Well, let's go there, it's better than living in the stalls," so that's where they went.

BY: So in other words, they volunteered to be sort of this first wave of people.

HH: Uh-huh.

BY: And do you know, did your aunt have a family as well?

HH: Yes, uh-huh, she had a few kids. They were teenagers, though.

BY: And was her husband also taken away or was he there, do you know?

HH: I don't remember seeing him, but I think he was there.

BY: And so when you were, when you went to Tule Lake then, do you know if your aunt's family lived with your family?

HH: No, we didn't live together, but they were in a different block, I think.

BY: And then you said that you lived there for, you think, about a year and then were transferred to Heart Mountain. Do you remember that transfer? You must have been maybe four years old then?

HH: [Shakes head]

BY: No, don't remember at all. Do you remember, like, a train ride or anything? Nothing, okay. Yeah, I mean, you're still pretty young. And do you know why they were, why your family was transferred from Tule Lake to Heart Mountain?

HH: No, I don't, no idea at all.

BY: Is that one the segregation? Yeah.

TI: There's probably a good chance it was segregation.

BY: Okay, all right. And so you were, you spent, what, three years from about three years old to six years old.

HH: To six, yes.

BY: So what do you remember about camp, either Tule Lake or Heart Mountain?

HH: Hot and cold.

BY: Hot and cold, okay, the weather.

HH: The weather, uh-huh. Playing on the desert sand with some of the kids' marbles or whatever. But not really.

BY: Do you remember the barracks where you lived, like the room?

HH: Just vaguely. Yeah, I remember the straw beds kind of itching. The potbelly stove in the corner, that's about all, I don't remember tables and chairs.

BY: Do you have any memories of eating in camp? Like did you eat with your mom or do you have any memories of that?

HH: No, I don't. But I would have eaten with the family.

BY: Yeah. Some families kind of, some family life broke down a little bit, I was just wondering if that happened.

HH: Yeah, with the teenagers, basically, yeah.

BY: And do you remember the food at all?

HH: No.

BY: Or the bathrooms?

HH: Uh-uh.

BY: No, I mean, you were very young.

TI: Do you have any, like, feelings when you think about Tule Lake or Heart Mountain? Is there any kind of feelings about the place?

HH: No, I don't think so. I think the feelings came later when I knew what was happening as an adult or teenager. Then the feelings would come out.

TI: One other question about going from Tule Lake to Heart Mountain, did you ever hear later on why they chose Heart Mountain rather than Minidoka where other Seattle people would be at Minidoka?

HH: No, uh-uh. I wish I did.

BY: And do you know what your parents did in camp?

HH: Oh, my dad was a chief steward in the kitchen.

BY: Okay.

HH: And my mom, she kind of, in a way, she was a daycare person for kids. She loved kids, kids loved her, and so she spent a lot of time with kids.

BY: Took care of...

HH: Yeah, I don't know that you'd say she actually took care of them like they would now, but yeah, she kept them entertained. And then she got involved with all the other mothers with arts and crafts.

BY: I think your mother made some jewelry in camp.

HH: That's right. Oh, she did crochet and stuff. And then since there was a surplus, I guess you'd say, of seashells in that area, which she made seashell things, flowers and birds. And I think a lot of women did that, too.