Interviews

1. Lack of political power led to camps

2. Results of being more American than Japanese

3. Family separated in the camps

4. Feeling imprisoned at camp

5. World War II hysteria against Japanese in New York City

6. Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp

7. Positive experiences with Asian Americans for Action

8. Redress payments to Issei who did not enter camps

9. Waiting for the right time to start Redress Movement

10. State Department records show concern for treatment of Japanese American internees

11. Lack of support from fellow Nikkei lawyers during the war

12. Political motivation to keep the camps open until end of 1944 election

Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp

I think the lack of privacy was such a big thing. You couldn’t get away to have any kind of privacy. That does something. It was such a controlled community that way. And when you don’t have your own space, it does something to you, I think. It was a good thing that it did not last much longer, because as one of the fellows said in the testimony before the Commission [on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians], that even if it [the incarceration] was three or four years, people got used to being institutionalized, being taken care of. And it was showing signs of lack of discipline, lack of initiative on the part of people. And especially Issei, who had lost everything, anyway. They had no initiative to go and start life anew and it got harder [as they remained in the camps], so they were so much fearful when it was announced that the camps would close. They were afraid to go out. And this institutionalization was a bad aspect of the camps.

imprisonment incarceration World War II World War II camps

Date: August 26, 1998

Location: Virginia, US

Interviewer: Darcie Iki, Mitchell Maki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig was born in Sacramento, California in 1924. Her family immigrated from Kumamoto, Japan in 1919. During the Depression, the Yoshinaga family moved to Los Angeles, California.

During World War II, Aiko was incarcerated first at Manzanar with her husband’s family. She transferred to Jerome, Arkansas with her newborn daughter to be with her family. In 1944, the Yoshinaga family left Jerome and resettled in New York. She divorced and remarried a Nisei soldier. She went with him to Japan where he worked during the Occupation period. One of her husband’s co-workers was her future husband, Jack Herzig.

After her return to the United States, Aiko became involved in Asian Americans for Action. Aiko and Jack played a pivotal role in the Redress Movement through their research at the National Archives in Washington D.C. The documents they found were instrumental in the coram nobis case that vacated the convictions against Fred Korematsu, Min Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi. Aiko was also hired as the primary researcher for the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, and then worked for the Department of Justice Office of Redress Administration to help identify individuals eligible for redress payments.

She passed away on July 18, 2018 at age 93. (July 2018)