Crystal City Internment Camp - Life Behind Barbed Wire

Life Behind Barbed Wire

The idea of family internment was a new concept proposed with regards to the detention of German and Japanese aliens in World War II. In the Crystal City internment camp, German and Japanese internees lived separately from one another and were placed in two different sections of the Camp. Crystal City INS officials justified the segregation as a way to monitor both groups. The Crystal City Internment Camp received large numbers of detainees from other internment facilities in the United States and the camp became overpopulated. The camp's German section provided its internees with a German bakery, mess hall, community hall, and cottages. Large German families were given their own cottages that included showers, kitchens, bathrooms, and hot water. The Japanese section included a Japanese School, the Federal High School, the Federal Elementary School, a citrus orchard, and several recreational facilities such as tennis courts, basketball courts, a football field, and a swimming pool. The Japanese internees of the camp lived in housing with running water and iceboxes.