_____________
San Francisco
August 27, 1981
Summary Statement

Commission on Wartime Relocation
And Internment of Civilians
Washington, D.C.

To Commission Members:

I, Catherine Treadgold was employed; this is sworn in and hired by the U.S. Government, at Sacramento, Ca., for the task of registering the Japanese for relocation and when the Japanese were all evacuated I was given a different job. In charge of all "German and Italian Enemy Alien Travel Permits". This consisted of taking requests of Enemy Alien Nationals for trips into military zones of Sacramento area.

A military zone would be so designated if there were troops or implements of warfare or anything pretaining to the war effort on a particular street or area of the city.

My orders came directly from the army, represented by military men in the building where my office was located.

I was born in 1916, therefore I was approximately 26 years old at the time. Also, I was married and the mother of one child.

Sacramento is the State Capitol and because of that I was aware of the attitude of politicians as well as government and army policy toward the German and Italian aliens.

There are examples of this job which return to mind and one of them was the fact that I did encounter one spy. He was a tall thin, blond German who came to me with a request for a permit to take his expectant wife into a 'military zone', one week from that day, on a Wednesday to see a certain motion picture at a theater in the zone. He was hesitant to answer the questions which were routine for me to ask, and so I told him that which I had told others, to relax them that these questions were not important as it would be if I were in Germany and questioning them. Further I might myself be part German and may have had a great grandmother who had come from Germany. He sat up more tall and with expressionless eyes asked me "If you had a grandmother who came over from Germany, what ship did she come over on?" It gave me such a chill that I excused myself and went over and told one of the army men of my reaction. He instructed me to give the man anything he asked for by way of zoning permit and to bring back to the army where and when he would be in that zone.

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This I did and about two weeks went by and I had heard nothing more of the incident so I asked the army man if I had wasted their time or what information they had regarding this man. He told me, "I cannot tell you anything except you caught a big one." Then he added "He had tunneled under the house he rented and installed radio equipment with which he could reach Berlin."

There was some trickery pulled by a young Italian man also, whom we caught. There were many isolated problems involving humane and family matters such as Chinese and Japanese marriages.

There were special laws made regarding the Italian Enemy Alien which I would like to reveal.

One young German man came in and volunteered that he was sent by Hitler and the Army took him immediately. He became a "counter-spy" and you might want to know how this was done.

I was especially glad that the Commission at the San Francisco Hearing spoke to Supervisor Moliari, when he told his view of the Italian situation in San Francisco, (how his father had talked to General DeWitt,) and told him, "There was more to it than that."

I do have some interesting post WW 2 knowledge because after the end of the war I rented rooms in my home and did rent to a young man from Japan who came over to attend college here. He had left Japan after General D. McArthur was there and he told me of the quick conversion of the young people to music and other American influence before he had left Japan.

Sincerely,

[Signed]
Catherine Treadgold