Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Chizuko Norton Interview
Narrator: Chizuko Norton
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: April 27, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-nchizuko-01-0025

<Begin Segment 25>

AI: Which I do want to follow up with, but before we do, I wanted to go back and ask you a little bit more about the nature of the camp life at Tule Lake around that time that you had to make that very difficult decision on the questionnaire.

CN: Oh, that's right. Why am I skipping over that? It was a very...

AI: It's so easy to jump ahead, but please tell me about that.

CN: It was a very, very difficult time, especially after Tule Lake, after the loyalty oath.

AI: Was there much discussion within your circles?

CN: Oh, yes.

AI: Can you tell me about, a little bit about the nature of the discussions that you heard or that you participated in?

CN: Most all the Niseis, of course, said that they would say "yes-yes." There was no question. There were a few Niseis who said they couldn't because of their family and these were people who had family in Japan as well. I mean, immediate family members in Japan. So they were terribly torn. And then, of course, we were pulled apart again when everyone who signed "yes-yes" were allowed to leave Tule Lake and went to other camps or went out, period. And so we missed a lot of our, our friends. Some of them stayed on and we continued to hang around together.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.