Several dozen former German and Japanese internees, internment and relocation scholars, and Native Americans gathered at the site of the former alien enemy internment camp, which is now the United Tribes Technical College just outside Bismarck North Dakota. Prior to its use as an internment facility from 1941-46, the site was an Army post, and, as can be seen in the photos below, many of the original brick buildings reflect the classic style of its original purpose.
The college staff was most welcoming, and they generated much enthusiasm for the conference and its goal. The planning group, consisting of representatives of the German and Japanese American communities, provided us with an efficient and well-conceived agenda. Consequently, we made productive use of every second of our time at Ft. Lincoln.
Our task was to generate ideas for a permanent memorial on the UTTC campus, representative of the nationwide system of internment camps during World War II, as well as reflective of the treatment of Native Americans.
Most of our time was devoted to small group discussions of memorial themes and design ideas, which were in turn reported out to the assemblage for further consideration.
As the sun set our final evening, conferees gathered on the old parade grounds (athletic fields during internment years), where a Lakota medicine man performed a traditional ceremony appropriately called "Wiping the Tears." All of us found it relevant to our purpose that weekend and quite moving. Thank you UTTC!
I offered some "Thoughts on Enemy Alien Internment" the last night of the conference. Apparently I had a good time doing it!
And signed some books at Barnes & Noble...
Links to news stories about the conference:
http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=40496
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/local/article_72d54f7c-6ece-11df-b875-001cc4c03286.html
http://www.kxnet.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=580993
Photos from our walking tour led by author/Ft. Lincoln expert John Christgau (left). Listen here: http://tinyurl.com/24pgsdc
