I just saw this:


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The author of "The Rape of Nanking," an acclaimed history of Japanese brutality against China in the 1930s, has committed suicide, officials said on Thursday...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=762&e=1&u=/nm/20041111/en_nm/arts_literature_chang_dc


I've seen and read parts of "The Rape of Nanking" and it's a truly sad and depressing look about what happened in China in 1937 after the Japanese Army invaded it. Reading that book makes one take a second look at the internment of ethnic Japanese during World War II.

I just saw this:


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The author of "The Rape of Nanking," an acclaimed history of Japanese brutality against China in the 1930s, has committed suicide, officials said on Thursday...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=762&e=1&u=/nm/20041111/en_nm/arts_literature_chang_dc


I've seen and read parts of "The Rape of Nanking" and it's a truly sad and depressing look about what happened in China in 1937 after the Japanese Army invaded it. Reading that book makes one take a second look at the internment of ethnic Japanese during World War II.



Why ???  When you hear about the Holocaust you don't question the comparatively low numbers of internments of ethnic Italians and Germans.

Yes, I heard about Chang's suicide yesterday.  Such a shame.  Only 36 years old.  Apparently she had been suffering from clinical depression for a long time.  Depression is a dangerous disease, some sufferers do succomb.
:\'( :\'( :\'(

Why ???  When you hear about the Holocaust you don't question the comparatively low numbers of internments of ethnic Italians and Germans.


The internment of others?

Actually, someone has just written about that...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20040811.shtml

:)

The internment of others?

Actually, someone has just written about that...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20040811.shtml

:)



I have read about the interrment of the Germans and Italians and the criteria for the interrment of the Japanese was much more stringent.  If you believe that the rounding up(and confiscation of property) of those of Japanese descent was right, then you must by extension, believe that the same should have held true for those of Italian and German descent.

I have read about the interrment of the Germans and Italians and the criteria for the interrment of the Japanese was much more stringent.  If you believe that the rounding up(and confiscation of property) of those of Japanese descent was right, then you must by extension, believe that the same should have held true for those of Italian and German descent.


I believe that when people complain about how they were treated during World War II they need to see and read about how horribly others were being treated and how it really puts things in perspective, that's all.
;)

I believe that when people complain about how they were treated during World War II they need to see and read about how horribly others were being treated and how it really puts things in perspective, that's all.
;)



WHAT?  A person's call for justice is somehow less legitimate if others have also been victimized?
That is an incredibly arrogant point of view.

WHAT?  A person's call for justice is somehow less legitimate if others have also been victimized?
That is an incredibly arrogant point of view.


The policy of internment of those who were ethniclly from the Axis was, in my view, stupid and un-American.  My German great grandfather can here before WWI, and my grandfather was born here.  He couldn't serve because he had a bad heart but was persecuted because of his German name.  The internments were, I think, unconstitutional and those who lost property deserve compensation both for their loss and for the time they spent in our goulag.

Its sad that such a bright historian and good writer is no longer with us.

Racism was accepted at the time of WWII in ways we can hardly imagine today.  The Japanese were demonized in part because they looked so obviously different.  Even Dr. Seuss, a politically progressive thinker, portrayed the Japanese as a race of devilish  little yellow men who all looked alike.

Why ???  When you hear about the Holocaust you don't question the comparatively low numbers of internments of ethnic Italians and Germans.


I have mentioned this before, but will do so again.

There were more German and Italian Americans interred during WWII then there were Japanese.  In fact, the US Government used pressure to force Latin American countries to tern over their own citizens of German descent for internment in the US.  I have been unable to find any references to them doing that for people of Japanese descent in foreign countries.

In addition, thousands were deported at the end of the war to Europe.  I have also not been able to find any records of similar deportations happing to the Japanese that were interred during the war.

And we were not alone.  England did the same thing, imprisoning thousands of German and Italian descent, mostly in Scotland.

Here are some TRUE facts:

The total number of people interned during World War II was 31,275.

This number includes 5,620 Japanese who were renunciants -- i.e., native-born U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry who renounced their U.S. citizenship so they could be deported to Japan and help that country’s war effort. The U.S. government lists no European-Americans who similarly renounced their U.S. citizenship.

The total number of non-renunciants -- i.e., enemy aliens -- interned was 25,655. Of this number 14,426, or 56 percent, were of European origin -- Germans, Italians, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, even some Czechs and Poles.

Only 16,849 Japanese -- 11,229 enemy aliens and 5,620 who renounced their U.S. citizenship -- were interned.

Wow, that is hardly a "relatively low" number.

Of course, reality does not matter.  Truth does not matter.  Only what people BELIEVE matters.


http://www.foitimes.com/internment/rel_int.htm

I have mentioned this before, but will do so again.

There were more German and Italian Americans interred during WWII then there were Japanese.  In fact, the US Government used pressure to force Latin American countries to tern over their own citizens of German descent for internment in the US.  I have been unable to find any references to them doing that for people of Japanese descent in foreign countries.

In addition, thousands were deported at the end of the war to Europe.  I have also not been able to find any records of similar deportations happing to the Japanese that were interred during the war.

And we were not alone.  England did the same thing, imprisoning thousands of German and Italian descent, mostly in Scotland.

Here are some TRUE facts:

The total number of people interned during World War II was 31,275.

This number includes 5,620 Japanese who were renunciants -- i.e., native-born U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry who renounced their U.S. citizenship so they could be deported to Japan and help that country’s war effort. The U.S. government lists no European-Americans who similarly renounced their U.S. citizenship.

The total number of non-renunciants -- i.e., enemy aliens -- interned was 25,655. Of this number 14,426, or 56 percent, were of European origin -- Germans, Italians, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, even some Czechs and Poles.

Only 16,849 Japanese -- 11,229 enemy aliens and 5,620 who renounced their U.S. citizenship -- were interned.

Wow, that is hardly a "relatively low" number.

Of course, reality does not matter.  Truth does not matter.  Only what people BELIEVE matters.


http://www.foitimes.com/internment/rel_int.htm


Assuming that the source is accurate, and I"M NOT SAYING IT ISN"T, this is interesting.  Confining people who renoiunced their citisenship seems legit to me, but incarcerating people who remained loyal to this country, and Japanese Americans overwhelmingly did, was, I think, wrong, as was jailing others of Axis decent.  There is much in the history of WWII that we should ber ashamed of, like the Breman.

Assuming that the source is accurate, and I"M NOT SAYING IT ISN"T, this is interesting.  Confining people who renoiunced their citisenship seems legit to me, but incarcerating people who remained loyal to this country, and Japanese Americans overwhelmingly did, was, I think, wrong, as was jailing others of Axis decent.  There is much in the history of WWII that we should ber ashamed of, like the Breman.


Personally, I think that the internment during WWII was wrong.  The fact that so many that were once in those camps joined and served valiantly in Europe shows that most of them were true citizens of this country.

But distorting the truth is wrong.  I do not agree with the internment.  In fact, both German and Italian Americans have been fighting for years to get the same treatment that their Japanese American counterparts got after it was all over with.  That their story is almost unknown is yet another tragedy of the era.

I wonder if the gruesome nature of the subject matter she dealt with in her work contributed to her depression. I've heard that the suicide rate is much higher among peacekeepers and aid workers who have to spend time in areas like Bosnia and Rwanda right after  a genocide has taken place.