BOOK REVIEW | Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp

Together in Manzanar, by Tracey Slater, is the story of Karl and Elaine Yoneda and their relocation to the Manzanar concentration camp during the Second World War. The Manzanar camp is situated in Death Valley, California. It is one of 12 camps within which around 120,000 Japanese-Americans were infamously interned under Executive Order 9066, commencing in February 1942.

There were three categories of interned Japanese-Americans. The Issei were immigrants who had been born in Japan but who had migrated to the United States. Nissei were the children of the Issei. They had been born in the US and were thereby American citizens. Kibei-Nissei were Nissei who were American citizens by birth, but who had temporarily resided in Japan, generally for a period of schooling.

One Drop Rule

Karl Yoneda was a Kibei-Nissei. Elaine Yoneda, his wife, was a Caucasian Jew. At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, their son, Thomas Yoneda, was just shy of three years old. Elaine additionally had a twelve-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.

The Yoneda's were well-known activists - passionate supporters of unionism during the union movement's formative years. They were labelled as communists by the US government. After her eventual death, a newspaper tribute to Elaine confidently predicted she was "unionizing Heaven."

As a military-aged male, Karl's internment was inevitable. He had hoped that his sickly infant Japanese-American son would be exempt, but this was not to be. The initial months of the internment program operated under the "one drop (of blood) rule." There were to be no exceptions. Elaine was left with a choice. Remain with her twelve-year-old daughter or follow her three-year-old son into camp.

Karl joined the camp construction team in return for the promise that the families of such volunteers would be the last to be interned. The promise was unkept. On April 1, 1942, the Yoneda family was reunited when Elaine and Tommy arrived at the Manzanar camp. They were part of the first group of forced incarcerees.

A Policy of Military 'Necessity'

One of the many virtues of Slater's book is its account of how the policy of internment for Japanese-Americans came into being. It was promoted by the army as a "military necessity." A Navy report did not concur. This report concluded that the matter "should be handled on the basis of the individual," regardless of race or "citizenship." J Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, considered the policy to be "primarily" motivated by "public and political pressure" rather than a "factual" foundation. The opinions of both Hoover and the Navy were ignored.

*Karl, Tommy and Elaine in front of their barrack apartment (Courtesy of the Karl G. Yoneda papers, UCLA Library of Special Collections)*

A further strength is Slater's recounting of the prewar racist construction of the US and the popularization of the pseudo-science of eugenics. The prominence of eugenics is made clear by a quote from President Franklin Roosevelt himself. In 1925, he stated that "the mingling of Asiatic blood with European or American blood produces, in nine cases out of ten, the most unfortunate results."

After the initiation of the Asia-Pacific War, the tone of public discourse shifted dramatically. A host of American politicians and commentators began to express openly the full extent of racist views that had previously been spoken only in private, whispered, or left unsaid. Congressman John E Rankin of Mississippi declared that "all Japanese, alien or native born, should be taken into custody immediately and deported to the Orient after the war." A radio broadcast from San Francisco proposed that Japanese-Americans "be hung, deported," and "deprived of American citizenship," to which Slater adds, "presumably not in that order."

Follow-on Effect

Calls for the Japanese-American incarcerees to be stripped of their citizenship had a profound effect within the Manzanar camp. Most internees were "fence sitters" who were simply hoping to endure their incarceration without "added turmoil." Gradually, however, the uncertainties regarding their fate led to the emergence of a pro-Japan faction.

The dominant personality of the pro-Japan group was Joe Kurihara, a Nissei who had never lived in Japan. Kurihara was a patriotic American who carried the scars of combat from World War I upon his torso. Upon American entry into the Second World War, he volunteered to once again fight but was sent into internment instead. Unable to reconcile his dedication and patriotism with the treatment received in return, he embraced his Japanese heritage. Kurihara ultimately opted to be expatriated to Japan, which occurred after the conclusion of the war.

The response of Karl Yoneda to incarceration, by contrast, was one of total compliance. This brought him into conflict with Kurihara and his like-minded supporters. The eventual implication was a December 1942 riot during which the guards were marshaled and two internees were killed.

Manzanar Factionalism

The disparities between Yoneda and Kurihara generate thought-providing issues that are an unexpected theme of the book. Most Western readers of Together at Manzanar would be naturally drawn towards identifying with Karl Yoneda, but should they?

The standard 1940s trope about the Japanese (largely intact to this day) is of blind acceptance of that which is inflicted upon them from above, irrespective of how unjust it is. By contrast, the perception of Americanism is of passionately standing up for one's rights. Under this rubric, however, it was Kurihara, not Yoneda, who responded like an American.

The Kurihara/Yoneda factional divide did not cease with Allied victory and the closure of the camp. It continued into the postwar years, during which the Manzanar narrative was hotly contested. In reporting on Kurihara and his fellow agitators to the camp administration, Yoneda was accused of being an informant. His detractors further contend that the riot should be considered a "revolt." Yoneda retorted that his adversaries did not "realize what WWII was all about" and that characterizations of him as "blind patriot" hardly jibed with his lifetime of activism "against imperialism, exploitation, fascism, racism, and for decent working conditions."

Leaving Los Angeles for Manzanar on the same transport as Elaine and Tommy, April 1, 1942 (Photo by Clem Albers, courtesy of the Online Archive of California, War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement)

Minimal Threat to the Homeland

The animosity that remained between the competing Manzanar camp narrative factions during the postwar years is best characterized by a comment from Karl Yoneda. He remarked that if not for the Axis defeat, Kurihara and his team would have been "oven-tenders." This most disparaging of summations, however, suggests that Yoneda was the one who lacked understanding of the Second World War.

Hitler's stated intention was to acquire living space for the Germanic people to the east. He attacked the Western powers because they had first declared war over the issue of Poland. The Japanese sought to establish a "Monroe Doctrine over Asia." They sought to enjoy the same prerogatives within Asia that the US reserved for itself within America. Neither of these belligerents was a direct threat to the US. This is especially true with the Japanese. After the Pearl Harbor attack, they withdrew into a defensive posture immediately.

Rhetoric from the pro-Japan faction at Manzanar may have sometimes been overly passionate. However, their support for the Japanese cause need not necessarily imply that they wanted America to be occupied.

Ultimately, the best interests of the US were for the internment program to be discontinued. The incarceration of the Japanese-American population denied America thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of war industry laborers. It also tied up large numbers of non-Japanese-American guards and administrative workers. Which approach, compliance or dissent, would open the way for Japanese-Americans to participate in the war effort? Both factions could reasonably have assumed that their option was more likely to prevail.

A Softening of Interpretations

As Together in Manzanar focuses on the Yoneda family, rather than the Manzanar camp per se, Slater's narrative of camp life ends, somewhat frustratingly, after the Yoneda family departed. This occurred in early 1943, when Karl was accepted into the Military Intelligence Service. He worked within the Asian war zone as a Japanese language specialist, interrogator, and translator. Elaine and Tommy left Manzanar when less draconian applications of Executive Order 9066 decreed that infant Tommy was no longer a threat to national security. In October 1944, Elaine was informed that she no longer needed to file the monthly report for Tommy, which had been a condition of his release.

An activity of the Military Intelligence Service in which Karl Yoneda was actively involved was producing flyers imploring Japanese soldiers to surrender. The program rarely worked, Karl conceded, but the flyers, Japanese soldiers, assured him, "were very useful for toilet needs." A combat role for Japanese-Americans came about when the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed of Nissei, was formed in early 1943. During active service within Europe, it went on to become one of the most decorated and widely respected US fighting units of the entire war.

A Collective Victory – a Cautionary Tale

Discrimination towards Asian-Americans did not end with the closure of the internment camps. All of the principal characters within this tale had struggles during the postwar years. There were no winners. Ironically, however, through the very existence of camp factionalism, a collective victory was achieved.

When Karl Yoneda directed complaints to the camp leadership, he was met with the reply, "You are all Japanese. I want you to get along." This rejoinder is a mirror of the rationale behind the incarceration itself: that a "Jap" is a "Jap." The factionalism of the camp and the battle for the postwar Manzanar narrative is the compelling proof that this was never the case – if, of course, further proof is still required.

*Tommy on the train to Manzanar, waving goodbye. (Courtesy of the Karl G. Yoneda papers, UCLA Library of Special Collections)*

Together at Manzanar is a valuable book that comprehensively details the wartime experience of Japanese-Americans and the enabling racist culture. It personalizes the impact of the internment policy upon the Japanese-American community before, during, and after incarceration. It is a book that is also particularly well-timed. In March of 2025, the webpage of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was temporarily deleted from the US Army's website in line with President Donald Trump's anti-DEI crusade.

More significantly, hardline applications of immigration law are presently forcing soon-to-be deported immigrant parents to make Elaine Yoneda-like decisions regarding whether or not to separate from their American-born and thus American citizen children. One hopes those American youngsters will fare better than their WWII-era Japanese-American counterparts.

Author: Paul de Vries