Remarks of U.S. Senator Feingold
On the Wartime Treatment Study Act
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today I introduce the Wartime Treatment
Study Act. This bill would create two fact-finding commissions: one
commission to review the U.S. government’s treatment of German
Americans, Italian Americans, and European Latin Americans during
World War II, and another commission to review the U.S. government’s
treatment of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution during World
War II. This bill is long overdue.
I am very pleased that my colleagues Senators Grassley, Kennedy,
Lieberman and Inouye have joined me as cosponsors of this important
bill. I thank them for their support. And I thank Congressman Wexler,
who has been the unflagging champion of this legislation in the House
of Representatives.
The victory of America and its allies in the Second World War was
a triumph for freedom, justice, and human rights. The courage displayed
by so many Americans, of all ethnic origins, should be a source of
great pride for all Americans.
But, at the same time that so many brave Americans fought for freedom
in Europe and the Pacific, the U.S. government was curtailing the
freedom of people here at home. While, it is, of course, the right
of every nation to protect itself during wartime, the U.S. government
must respect the basic freedoms for which so many Americans have given
their lives to defend. War tests our principles and our values. And
as our nation’s recent experience has shown, it is during times
of war and conflict, when our fears are high and our principles are
tested most, that we must be even more vigilant to guard against violations
of the basic freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
Many Americans are aware that during World War II, under the authority
of Executive Order 9066, our government forced more than 100,000 ethnic
Japanese from their homes and ultimately into internment camps. Japanese
Americans were forced to leave their homes, their livelihoods, and
their communities and were held behind barbed wire and military guard
by their own government. Through the work of the Commission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment of Civilians, created by Congress in 1980,
this shameful event finally received the official acknowledgement
and condemnation it deserved. Under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988,
people of Japanese ancestry who were subjected to relocation or internment
later received an apology and reparations on behalf of the people
of the United States.
February 19, 2007, is the “Day of Remembrance,” the 65th
anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066. On this day, we
should remember the freedoms all of these individuals were forced
to give up, and resolve never to make these mistakes again.
While I commend our government for finally recognizing and apologizing
for the mistreatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, I
believe that it is time that the government also acknowledge the mistreatment
experienced by many German Americans, Italian Americans, and European
Latin Americans, as well as Jewish refugees.
The Wartime Treatment Study Act would create two independent, fact-finding
commissions to review this unfortunate history, so that Americans
can understand why it happened and work to ensure that it never happens
again. One commission will review the treatment by the U.S. government
of German Americans, Italian Americans, and other European Americans,
as well as European Latin Americans, during World War II.
Mr. President, I believe that most Americans are unaware that, as
was the case with Japanese Americans, approximately 11,000 ethnic
Germans, 3,200 ethnic Italians, and scores of Bulgarians, Hungarians,
Romanians or other European Americans living in America were taken
from their homes and placed in internment camps during World War II.
We must learn from this history and explore why we turned on our fellow
Americans and failed to protect their basic freedoms.
A second commission created by this bill will review the treatment
by the U.S. government of Jewish refugees who were fleeing Nazi persecution
and genocide. We must review the facts here as well and determine
how restrictive immigration policies failed to provide adequate safe
harbor to Jewish refugees fleeing the persecution of Nazi Germany.
It is a horrible truth that the United States turned away thousands
of refugees, delivering many refugees to their deaths at the hands
of the Nazi regime.
As I mentioned earlier, there has been a measure of justice for Japanese
Americans who were denied their liberty and property. It is now time
for the U.S. government to complete the accounting of this period
in our nation’s history. It is time to create independent, fact-finding
commissions to conduct a full and through review of the treatment
of all European Americans, European Latin Americans, and Jewish refugees
during World War II.
Up to this point, there has been no justice for the thousands of
German Americans, Italian Americans, and other European Americans
who were branded “enemy aliens” and then taken from their
homes, subjected to curfews, limited in their travel, deprived of
their personal property, and, in the worst cases, placed in internment
camps.
There has been no justice for Latin Americans of European descent
who were shipped to the United States and sometimes repatriated or
deported to hostile, war-torn European Axis powers, often in exchange
for Americans being held in those countries.
Finally, there has been no justice for the thousands of Jews, like
those aboard the German vessel the St. Louis, who sought refuge from
hostile Nazi treatment but were callously turned away at America’s
shores.
The injustices to European Americans, European Latin Americans, and
Jewish refugees occurred more than fifty years ago. Americans can
learn from these tragedies now, while the people who survived these
injustices are still with us, and are still here to teach us. We cannot
put this off any longer. If we wait, the people who were affected
will no longer be here to know that Congress has at last recognized
their sacrifice and resolved to learn from the mistakes of the past.
We should never allow this part of our nation’s history to
repeat itself. And, while we should be proud of our nation’s
triumph in World War II, we should not let that justifiable pride
blind us to the treatment of some Americans by their own government.
As the Day of Remembrance approaches, I urge my colleagues to join
me in supporting the Wartime Treatment Study Act, and to allow this
bill to become law as soon as possible. I have been seeking to enact
this legislation for six years. It is time for a full accounting of
this tragic chapter in our nation’s history.
I ask that the full text of the Wartime Treatment Study Act be placed
in the record following these remarks. Thank you, Mr. President. I
yield the floor.
|
