Holocaust Vs. Japanese-American Internment Camps

Holocaust vs. Japanese-American Internment Camps The Japanese-American and Jewish internment camps were brutal. During a normal war people were not usually placed in barracks and killed because of their ethnicities. The Japanese-American oppression began with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, after which the secretary of war was in charge and “took care” of them after they were placed in camps (ex. Order 9066.) The Holocaust was when Hitler decided to take away Jewish humanity. Hitler placed them in camps and killed about six million Jews’. In Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, the Wakatsuki family along with many other Japanese-Americans were interned in camps throughout U.S. In Night by Elie Wiesel, his family and millions of Jews were also placed in concentration camps. One war took killing to another extreme by holding groups of people and controlling their lives.

The Japanese American and Jews both experienced an extreme war while being held captive in camps. Both groups were

The internment camps barracks were “built of one thickness of pine planking covered with tar paper. THey sat on concrete footing, with about two feet of open space between the floorboards and the ground.” These barracks were considered to be finished while having walls with holes throughout the sides. The concentration camps cell blocks were guarded with SS officers, the bunks were stacked together giving people less space than Japanese-American barracks. Another difference would be the mortality rates. The Holocaust was considered genocide becuase six million Jews were killed. They were killed by gas chambers, hunger, disease, and some were shot. In concentration the Japanese- Americans were not intentionally killed. The last difference would be the amount of clothing supplied. The Jewish were given one uniform for the entire time, while the Japanese-Americans were supplied with old war