Anyone know of information about any MFMC leadership opinions or talks concerning the incarceration and imprisonment of US Citizens of Japanese extraction in WWII?

Did any leaders give talks on it in conference? Speak about it openly? Topaz relocation/internment camp in Delta, UT was one of the prisons they were sent to.

The camps are a monument to racism - did the Mormons support them?

I believe there was an article about this in Dialog - A Journal of Mormon Thought, many years ago. I don't remember any details.

I don't know about the official Church's stance. My wife's grandfather took in a family that worked on his farm and were given a shack to live in. I doubt they got paid very well as he was not wealthy himself. I know of many Japanese who avoided the large encampments by working on local farms in Box Elder and Cache County. One of my sister's friends in high school had parents and grandparents that worked for local farmers during the war and then stayed in my hometown. I had a girlfriend at USU whose parents also were laborers during the war. I don't know if they were already living in Utah, but I believe most came from the Pacific Coastline. No doubt racism was involved in the internment but I don't think racism in the Japan / US conflict was only on the US side. The Japanese government published horrendous lies about Americans. The Japanese did a surprise attack on the US that killed about 2400 citizens and Japanese culture and people were very unfamiliar to most Americans, unlike citizens with recent German roots. Different times and the Japanese were known for atrocities in China and other nations they had already invaded. I worked for a company where I visited Japan four times a year for several years. One of my Japanese counterpart's father was assigned to control what amounted to basically slaves in Korea that supplied the Japanese war effort. As he said, "war is very bad."

I believe one of the 'camps' (not an attractive word, eh?) was close to Idaho Mormon HQ in Minidoka).

Here in the PNW where there is moderate to a heavy Asian chart, the topic surfaces periodically.

BoydKKK Wrote:
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> The camps are a monument to racism - did the
> Mormons support them?

I would rather have been a Japanese in an American camp than an Allied national in a Japanese camp. They're not even comparable. Japanese soldiers got access to "comfort women" (sex slaves) and tortured and killed many of their prisoners. The Australian government was criticized a few years ago for covering up the fact this had been done to some Australian nurses who were captured by the Japanese. I understand why they did this. The Japanese were brutal. They considered anyone who surrendered to be below contempt.

It was pretty common for the Allies to intern enemy nationals at that time. There was a significant Italian population in the UK at the outbreak of the war and much of that got put into camps, along with the much smaller German contingent. The Soviet Union took the Volga Germans (who had migrated there centuries ago) and sent them to its concentration camps in Siberia.

If you see this through parochial American eyes, then this was a terrible thing. If you see the wider picture, you'd realize this is just a tiny part of it.

Jennifer Wrote:
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> BoydKKK Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The camps are a monument to racism - did the
> > Mormons support them?
>
> I would rather have been a Japanese in an American
> camp than an Allied national in a Japanese camp.
> They're not even comparable. Japanese soldiers got
> access to "comfort women" (sex slaves) and
> tortured and killed many of their prisoners. The
> Australian government was criticized a few years
> ago for covering up the fact this had been done to
> some Australian nurses who were captured by the
> Japanese. I understand why they did this. The
> Japanese were brutal. They considered anyone who
> surrendered to be below contempt.
>
> It was pretty common for the Allies to intern
> enemy nationals at that time. There was a
> significant Italian population in the UK at the
> outbreak of the war and much of that got put into
> camps, along with the much smaller German
> contingent. The Soviet Union took the Volga
> Germans (who had migrated there centuries ago) and
> sent them to its concentration camps in Siberia.
>
> If you see this through parochial American eyes,
> then this was a terrible thing. If you see the
> wider picture, you'd realize this is just a tiny
> part of it.

Actually, Boyd KKK got it right. Consider that while the U.S. was interning Japanese-American civilians, it was not also at the same time interning Americans of German descent, though it could be argued that the latter group posed a greater threat.

Regarding *that* threat and the LDS' church response to it, please read Henry Bemis' thread at

https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2526276,2526276#msg-2526276

including my response which includes two links to *very* important posts and articles about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' response (or lack thereof) to Adolf Hitler and his horrors.

A major reason for internment of foreign nationals in the UK was the fear of their potential help to the enemy during a probable invasion. The major camps were on the Isle of Man and internees included Germans, Italians , and even some Jewish refugees. Many were quickly released once the potential for invasion was over.

So because the Japanese ran death camps and the Russians put Germans in starvation camps, the US unconstitutional treatment of its own citizens was no big deal?

Stick with Holocaust denialism before you make us all think you are silly.

A big difference in Japanese military treatment of Prisoners and US treatment of US Citizens of Japanese lineage.

Having lost three Uncles on Bataan - and being a military family & veteran I'm only too familiar with this.

How did MFMC deal with the racism of putting US Citizens who "looked different" in the camps? That is the question here.

Won't get into whether Truman would have dropped Atomic Bombs on Germans - who "look like us" compared to the "monkey men" - subhuman Japs.

The reason we didn't drop an atomic bomb on Germany was because nuclear fallout and radiation doesn't recognize a country's borders. Japan was a perfect target that wouldn't result in fallout to any allies. Kermit Beahan was my neighbor in Clear Lake City, Texas. He was the best bombardier in the Air Force. He was in the spotter plane when the Enola Gay dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima and was the bombardier in Bockscar that dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki. His daughter, Lisa and I went to school together. I read a lot about WWII and he helped me with reports. His famous quote was something like "I hope I'm the last man to ever drop a nuclear bomb on other humans". He had the bomb cradle safety pin from Fat Man in his home office. He told me that there was an internal political battle where politicians wanted to drop an Atomic bomb on Germany, but scientists and military leaders told them that we'd ruin a lot more of Europe than just Germany.

Well, that and the fact that the war with Germany was already over by the time the US had working atomic bombs.

Mormons, like most everybody, are good at "Monday morning whitewashing" after they have behaved badly aka doing the Lord's work.

Most everybody did an atrocious job of everything. Humans are not good at being good.