"Breaking the Silence" Essays

 

Photo by R.H. Lodge, courtesy of Hawaii's Plantation Village

Breaking the Silence is a compilation of resesarch in the form of essays and articles that were written by staff of the University of Hawai‘i and members of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i. It is considered the seminal book detailing Honouliuli Internment Camp's history, including the history of the land on which it was built, prisoners of war and Americans incarcerated there, and its relocation story.

All the articles and essays written by The University of Hawai‘i affiliated academics are free to download and read on this page.

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Ka Fa Hamau Leo: Silences that Speak Volumes for Honouliuli

Written by Leilani Basham

This article will examine the silences that surround the i‘a hamau leo (the silent-voiced fish) known as the pipi (oyster), which was a major food source for the ahupua'a (land division) of Honouliuli and the entire moku (district) of ‘Ewa, I will do that by first describing the respect given to the pipi by Kanaka Maoli (the Native Hawaiian people) and the interdependence and interconnectedness between the pipi, the people, and their environment. This interdependence exemplifies the unique relationship that existed between the Native Hawaiian people and their environment, which was based on mutual respect and a seeking of pono—harmony and balance between the needs of people to extract resources from a place for life and livelihood and the needs ofa place and its other inhabitants to their own life and livelihood. The article will then examine another form of silencing that resulted from various forms of colonial influences, which created a rift in the relationship that existed between Kanaka Maoli, the pipi, and the environment in which the people and the pipi once lived and thrived. Various Hawaiian resources form the foundation of this work. These resources will include olelo no'eau (proverbial sayings), mele (song, poetry), and mo'olelo (histories, stories) that were written and published in Hawaiian language newspapers and books in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I will interpret these in terms of historical, political, and cultural content—in order to better understand and articulate the intimate relationship that Kanaka Maoli established and nurturedwith their land base in order that we, of this and future generations, can give life to these places through the knowing of them, by giving voice to their names, and their stories, and thereby honoring their lives.

Read it here.

 

Hell Valley: Uncovering a Prison Camp in Paradise

Written by Jeff Burton, Mary Farrell, Lisa Kaneko, Linda Maldonato, and Kelly Altenhofen

Even as scholars of the University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu (UHWO) research team begin to uncover the history of Honouliuli Internment and Prisoner of 6 War Camp (State Site No. 50-80-08-9068), archaeologists have been uncovering its physical remains. For decades, Honouliuli lay lost and forgotten, hidden in a densely vegetated gulch and surrounded by agricultural fields, 14 miles northwest of Honolulu. With the assistance of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i volunteers and UHWO archaeology students, over 130 archaeological features have been discovered and documented, and the site is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Contributing resources in the 122.5-acre archaeological site include two standing buildings, numerous building foundations, rock walls, fence remnants, artifact scatters, and other features. As an internment site, Honouliuli represents the fragility of constitutional rights and the effects of martial law; as a POW camp, Honouliuli exemplifies the management of enemy troops as the military balanced the need for national security and the need to comply with the Geneva Convention. This article describes how oral histories, archaeological fieldwork, and archival research have been integrated to document the physical remains of the Honouliuli Internment and POW Camp. ‘This interdisciplinary approach has contributed small but important details about the site on the one hand, and broader and more universal implications about how ethnicity and status play out on the other.

Download and read it here.

 

Neither Aliens nor Enemies: The Hearings of “German” and “Italian” Internees in Wartime Hawai‘i

Written by Alan Rosenfeld

Although officially billed by J. Edgar Hoover as an “Alien Enemy Control” program, an examination of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s wartime internment of civilians in Hawai‘i reveals that the bureau grossly overstepped the authority provided under the Alien Enemies Act. Specifically, the hearing board transcripts of those detained as German and Italian alien enemies demonstrate that wartime authorities in martial law Hawai‘i proceeded emphatically on the side of caution and security, even at the expense of justice. In fact, those apprehended for the purposes of “Alien Enemy Control” and subsequently interned at the Sand Island and Honouliuli detention camps included numerous US citizens—both by naturalization and by birth—and several men who had served in the US Armed Forces. One could also find people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds among the ranks of Hawai‘i’s “German” and “Italian” internees, ranging from civilians of Scandinavian descent to an Irish American woman and a family of Jewish refugees from Nazi occupied Austria. The stories of this diverse array of internees underscore the importance of defending democratic principles, particularly in moments of crisis.

Read it here.

 

Honouliuli’s POWs: Making Connections, Generating Changes

Written by Suzanne Falgout

Immediately adjacent to Honouliuli’s internment camp was Hawaii's largest prisoner of war camp. It housed as many as 4,000 or more Japanese, Okinawans, Koreans, and Filipinos sent from various locations in the Pacific Theater, plus Italians picked up from the Atlantic Theater. The Camp served as an important base camp and also as a main transit point for those sent to destinations on the US mainland.

Although framed within wider Geneva Convention and US military guidelines for the humane treatment of prisoners, conditions of imprisonment differed significantly from one group to another and also changed over time. Those differences were largely dependent on ethnic backgrounds, wartime political statuses, and the reputations of various POW groups. They were also significantly affected by connections made between POWs and the US military, some with internees of their own ethnic groups in the camp, and especially with members of the local community.

This paper examines those varying conditions of imprisonment. It also describes the significance of transnational, national, and local connections made by Honouliuli’s POWs.

Read it here.

 

Transnational Identities, Communities, and the Experiences of Okinawan Internees and Prisoners of War

Written by Joyce N. Chinen

Okinawans, people from Japan’s poorest and last to be incorporated prefecture, faced unique challenges during WWII. Regarded as racially and culturally “different” from the rest of the Japanese population, but officially categorized as “Japanese” by Americans, Okinawans in Hawai'i inhabited a social space of shifting transnational identities and experiences. Depending upon the parsing, at least two broad and different subgroups of Okinawans experienced detention and imprisonment in Hawai'i. In the first group were local Okinawans, either Issei (first generation immigrants carrying Japanese passports) or Kibei (American-born offspring of the Okinawan immigrants who had been raised in Okinawa or on the main islands of Japan); in the second group were prisoners of war (POWs or PWs) taken in the Pacific Theater or as a result of the Battle of Okinawa. Since Okinawan experiences varied noticeably from other Japanese internees and other POWs, this article explores some of the factors contributing to their detention and eventual imprisonment, and the responses of the local Okinawan community.

Read it here.

 

Reviving the Lotus: Japanese Buddhism and WWII Internment

Written by Linda Nishigaya and Ernest Oshiro

The World War II internment of American civilians and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry at Honouliuli Internment and POW Camp in Central O‘ahu, Hawai'i included mostly male leaders in the Japanese immigrant community. Religious leaders, especially those identified as Buddhist priests, figured prominently among those detained. The religious designation of Buddhist/Buddhism and the ethnic/racial category of Japanese were commonly viewed as synonymous and membership in either was cause for suspicion and internment. Buddhist priests numbered among the first civilians of Japanese ancestry to be arrested and detained, many until the end of the war. Most of the priests were transferred to one of the internment camps on the US mainland and records indicate that only seven were interned at Honouliuli for any length of time. The internment of the Buddhist priests at Honouliuli and other camps on the US mainland severely curtailed Buddhist religious services and activities in the Hawaiian Islands. On a larger scale, its effects on the future of Buddhism in Hawai'i and the US mainland were institution and life changing. This paper examines Buddhism and World War II internment and the aftermath of the war and uses rational choice theory to clarify the decisions and changes that followed.

Read it here.

 

From Priestesses and Disciples to Witches and Traitors: Internment ofJapanese Women at Honouliuli and Narratives of “Madwomen”

Written by Amy Nishimura

This paper will focus on two of the Japanese American women internees who shared a common variable regarding internment: they were Shinto priestesses or disciples studying the religion at the time of their incarceration. One woman in particular was well regarded within her community and had several followers or disciples; based on transcripts from her trial, retrial, and parole hearing, the questions and accusations leveled against her demonstrate social injustice based on the practice of religion. For another Japanese American woman internee, I will examine how she is objectified and subjected not only to unjust treatment but she is cast as social pariah and a triple-threat to society: Japanese, Shinto disciple, and misdiagnosed “madwoman.” Her records demonstrate the neglect of government officials to obtain treatment for her and clarify how she was subjugated to humiliating scrutiny by military authorities. What seems particularly poignant about her narrative are the reflective letters and poems that capture her angst; these letters and documents are addressed to military personnel who seemed to ignore her pleas. This paper will highlight not only civil rights violations endured by these and other women but I aim to argue how they were examined according to a Western patriarchal lens, preventing them from voicing (in their natural tongue) their identities.

Read it here.

 

The Effect of Internment on Children and Families: Honouliuli and Manzanar

Written by Susan Matoba Adler

The effect of internment in Hawai'i on children and families is considerably different from the mainland where families were interned together and camps provided schools, activities, and resources for internees. At Honouliuli, only a few children were interned with their parents, and there is limited information on their experiences in camp. The more compelling stories come from the few adults I interviewed who, as children, lived outside of camp under martial law in Hawai'i and visited their fathers and mothers in camp. This qualitative study contrasts interview data and literature on experiences of Nisei, who were teens in Manzanar, with adults of Japanese and German heritage, who were children with one or both parents interned at Honouliuli. Findings indicate that the participant groups share displacement in a time of political turmoil, weakening of the nuclear family unit, and changing women’s roles as a result of internment. The foundation of family cohesion was crumbling under martial law in Hawai'i and incarceration on the mainland.

Read it here.

 

Psychic Wounds from the Past: Investigating Intergenerational Trauma in the Families of Japanese Americans Interned in the Honouliuli Internment and POW Camp

Written by Garyn K. Tsuru
The Japanese Americans hold a distinct place in the pages of US history. Many immigrated to the United States from Japan in search of prosperity and a better future for their families. Enduring years of hard work and living in hostile conditions, the Japanese Americans who chose to remain in the United States put their trust in the democratic system of this country. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor this trust was shattered, as the Japanese Americans suffered from not only a loss of their constitutional rights, but one of the worst crimes against civil liberties in the history of the United States. More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were ordered to leave their home and relocate to internment camps under armed guard. The psychological effects of the internment have been well documented, with the impact of the trauma generated by the event affecting generations of Japanese Americans.

This paper examines the intergenerational effects of trauma, through the lens of the historical trauma theory, on three families who had a family member that was interned at the Honouliuli Camp during World War II. Their experiences were compared and contrasted to what has been written about families who were interned in camps on the continental United States. The Honouliuli Camp provides a unique opportunity to investigate the psychological sequelae resulting from interning a small fraction of the total Japanese American population in Hawai'i, and provides more insight into the deleterious effects of civil injustice.

Read it here.