"Enemies": World War II Alien Internment

by John Christgau, John Chistgau

Book by Christgau, John

187 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 1985

About the author

From Wikipedia: Christgau was born in Crookston, Minnesota. He later moved to California, where he attended San Francisco State University. He taught at several high schools and coached Crestmoor High School's first varsity basketball team, in San Bruno, California. He lived in Belmont, California.

His books have dealt primarily with sports and American history. His book, Michael and the Whiz Kids (2013), is the story of Christgau's experiences as coach of a championship, lightweight basketball team that featured the first African American athlete in Crestmoor High School's history. This book was followed by Incident at the Otterville Station: A Civil War Story of Slavery and Rescue, the true story of the rescue of slaves that were to be shipped from Missouri to Kentucky, in defiance of federal laws.

Christgau died following a heart attack on August 21, 2018.

Reviews

[Maria Strayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting look into how alien interments camps in WWII in America affected German born citizens. Chistgau has produced a very readable work by following specific people through their interment process. He devotes 4 of his 5 chapters to Germans including innocent seamen, convicted Nazis, relations within the camps and attempts to escape. His final chapter is largely out of place as he shifts to discuss the Japanese-Americans at Ft Lincoln. He traces numerous individuals who faced immense mistreatment throughout the war and fought the government when it tried to simple brush interment under the rug. Throughout the entire work Chistgau neglects to discuss the Japanese in interment camps so the reader is left a bit confused when he change focus here. Had he stuck with Germans, the book would have worked better but if he wanted to investigate internment camps in general, he needed more focus on Japanese and Italian internees.