Preserving a Japanese-American Internment Camp in Idaho
In 2005, the Fund started its Japanese American Internment Camp Preservation Initiative to protect the lands where more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated during World War II. One of these camps was Idaho’s Minidoka National Historic Site, which held more than 13,000 people caught between two countries at war from 1942 to 1945.
Working with private landowners, the Fund helped acquire 128 acres of the original Minidoka site. After a bipartisan effort in 2008, Congress authorized the expansion of the historic site and the Fund transferred the land to the National Park Service.
“These camp sites stand today as an important reminder of a difficult time in American history,” said Dan Sakura, project leader for the Fund’s Japanese American Internment Camp Preservation Initiative. “Preserving them and other storied places will leave a lasting legacy and ensure that future generations have a chance to understand, appreciate and learn from our nation’s rich and diverse history.”
Minidoka Internment Camp/Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley