THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

As noted in my last blog entry (Dec. 9, 2011) I have been following with much consternation the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by Congress and hoping against hope that the President would veto it. The part of the bill that causes me so much heartburn is the provision that would allow for the indefinite detention, under military custody, of U.S citizens and legal residents, as well as others arrested on American soil, who have been accused of terrorist activities, with no chance of due process. In other words, in these cases, the Writ of Habeas Corpus would be suspended---up to now, a basic constitutional protection.

Right before the New Year, much to my disappointment, President Obama did sign this bill into law. However, I was very interested to read, in the Associated Press newspaper article covering this event, that as a condition of signing the bill, the Obama administration had convinced Congress to drop the military custody requirement for U.S. citizens or lawful U.S. residents. At first I was somewhat relieved to read this, but after listening to and reading articles by various constitutional scholars, I now know that the wording of this provision is tricky, which is too often the case with such murky legislation. Military custody is not required, the bill states---the key words here are “not required”-- but, many scholars think, this wording does not prevent indefinite military custody from still being an option at the discretion of a president, and even though this president promised in a signing statement that his administration would not authorize such detention, it still leaves the door open for future presidents to do so, or even this president, if he changes his mind.
History has shown us that such laws often live on or morph into other forms.In 1798, the U.S. government passed the Alien Enemies and Sedition Acts. Part of these Acts targeted foreign writers and speakers living in the U.S. who were sympathetic to the candidacy of Thomas Jefferson. The Sedition Act was eventually overturned, but the Alien Enemies Act was re-codified in 1918, making it a part of the U.S. War and National Defense Statutes. The AEA allows the President to issue proclamations in which aliens of a “hostile nation”, living within the U.S., can be labeled as alien enemies and may, at the president’s discretion, be “apprehended, restrained, secured and removed.” It was such a proclamation and/or executive order, issued by Franklin Roosevelt at the beginning of World War II, which sent my father and thousands like him----ethnic Germans, Italians and Japanese—--mostly legal residents and some citizens, to internment camps and sent thousands and thousands of Japanese American citizens to relocation camps.
Now, it seems, rather than having learned from our mistakes during the World War II years, we are amplifying those mistakes. Instead of passing laws which would nullify such unconstitutional activity during present and future wars, we are adding to the horror by creating new and even more onerous laws. At least World War II had some parameters—a beginning and an end. The war on terror has no such defining timeline. Someone detained during the so-called war on terror could be locked away indefinitely with no hope of due process---no hope of being exonerated or at least given a definite sentence.
Yesterday I learned that Seantor Diane Feinstein of California has introduced leislation to undo these provisions of the NDAA, in the form of the Due Process Guarantee Act. We need to urge our Congress members to support this legislation. I intend follow this very closely!

70 YEARS AGO TODAY

It was exactly 70 years ago today (December 9, 1941) that my father was suddenly arrested by the FBI. There was no forewarning of this. Several agents came to our farm home near Plaza, Washington, and after entering the house and searching it, they put handcuffs on Dad and took him away. My mother, brother and I stood by in shock.
He was gone from us for nearly two years, which, I found out later, was a relatively short time compared to thousands of others like him, who were interned for many years---some for several years after the war had ended. The actual number of ethnic Germans and other Europeans interned on American soil during the WWII years is shrouded in mystery----some say at least 10,000, others maintain the number is much higher. Whatever the number, we know now that these people were innocent of any wrongdoing. They were the victims of wartime hysteria.
In August of 2001, THE WARTIME TREATMENT STUDY ACT was first introduced to Congress by Senators Feingold and Grassley. If passed, this bill would have created a commission to study the internment of Europeans by the U.S. during the WWII years. It would have also created a second commission to study why Jews seeking asylum here were turned away. That bill was subsequently introduced 4 times and despite having been voted favorably out of the Senate Judiciary Committee those 4 times, it finally died in the 111th Congress never having been voted on by the House. Many former internees and/or their families and friends worked on promoting this bill, especially Karen Ebel, an attorney from New Hampshire whose father, Max Ebel (now deceased), was a former internee.
Why did this bill never come to a final vote? Some attribute this to too many other pressing issues before Congress which took precedence. And yet, just in the past month, a bill which would effectively suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus for U.S citizens accused of the same "crimes" my innocent dad was accused of committing, was quickly and quietly (with very little attention from the media) passed by the U.S. Senate. It will be interesting to see whether or not the President vetoes this bill and whether or not it actually becomes part of the law of the land.
I recently turned 71 years of age. Do the math. and you will realize that I wasn't very old when my dad was taken away. From the time of my early adulthood to now, I've gone through a real metamorphosis in my "political" views---going from very conservative to very liberal. I see the world differently from this age of 71. I see "big money" ruling and ruining our society. I see lying and distorting in the political realm being an accepted part of life. I see so-called public servants only working for personal power and wealth. And, getting back to what happened to my dad, I see too many U.S. citizens having to have scapegoats---people to hate---in order to be truly "patriotic".
Remember F.D.R's famous line: "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself!"? I have always thought that this line was, in itself, a great irony. It was fear that sent my dad and thousands like him away to internment camps, and it is this kind of fear that has motivated our senators to take the first step in removing a fundamental constitutional right from U.S. citizens.

The Gathering at Ft. Lincoln

The Gathering at Ft. Lincoln

They came from many corners of this land to a place on the Great Plains
Where the ancestors of the hosts of the gathering had roamed free and proud.

They came to a room constructed over a swimming pool of collective tears
Representing lost freedoms, lost integrity and shame.

They were of diverse lineage---mainly Native American, Japanese, German
But also Scotch Irish, English, African American and others.

Here they forged bonds of unity with story telling and conversations
And the examination of words such as justice, courage, integrity and resilience.

And from this forging and examining emerged friendships bridging the span of time
And the barriers of cultural differences;

Friendships cemented by shared experiences and empathy
And a ceremony led by a Lakota medicine man.

Ursula Vogt Potter
June 4, 2010

The Planning Conference at Ft. Lincoln

It has been two months since my husband, Ted, and I traveled to Ft. Lincoln (Bismarck, ND) to attend a planning conference which was the result of a grant
issued by the National Park Service in response to Public Law 109-441. This law authorized the NPS to create a program which would encourage and support the preservation and interpretation of historic confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. During the development of the grant program, the scope of the project was augmented to also include the stories of ethnic Germans and Italians as well as other Europeans and Latin Americans who were interned alongside the Japanese in some DOJ camps---Ft. Lincoln being an example of such a camp.
It has taken me at least this long to really digest the significance of the conference at Ft. Lincoln. Our hosts, and the actual recipients of the grant, were the people at United Tribes Technical College (the current owner and occupant of Ft. Lincoln).
Rather than try to put into my own words the scope of the conference, I am including a link to a news article written by Martha Nakagawa that describes wonderfully the happenings of the conference which took place from May 29 through June 2 of 2010:

http://www.uttc.edu/news/story/070810_01.asp

Here's to You, Fred! Here's to You, Jimmy Doolittle!

Picture 1: Internment group---Erich Braemer is first row, second from right Dad, Karl Vogt, is last row, second from right.
Picture 2: Doolittle crew and related article.

It happened on April 18, 1942. General James Doolittle led sixteen B-25 bombers, which had been modified to enable them to take off from the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet, to a very risky attack on Tokyo. The Doolittle Raid was a huge deal for Americans. The mission was designed to be a small pay back for Pearl Harbor. Those who planned the mission realized that the mission’s hoped for effect would be more a psychological victory than a military one. If successful, it would prove to the Japanese that we indeed could reach Japan with our war planes, and it would give the American people hope. However, the risks to the men involved would be enormous. Would the re-fitted airplanes make it off the carrier? Would the secrecy of the mission be maintained until the airplanes reached Tokyo? Would they be able to hit planned targets and make it to safe territory before their fuel tanks emptied? As it turned out, the bombing mission was successful, but the aftermath was indicative of the extreme dangers faced. All 16 aircraft were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured. However, the complete crews of 14 aircraft made it to safety. The members of the crew of Jimmy Doolittle’s lead airplane were among the lucky ones.
67 years later there are 9 of the original 80 Raiders still living. April 18, 2009 is the date of the 67th reunion of the Doolittle Raiders, to be held in Columbia, S.C.---a fitting place because this is where it all started.
Richard Cole, co-pilot for Jimmy Doolittle, will be one of the attendees. I wonder if he remembers Fred Braemer, the bombardier on his plane for this historic mission? I’m willing to bet anything that he remembers Fred very well. Those Raiders were a close knit bunch back at the beginning and continued to keep in touch over the years. Fred died in 1989, so at the next Raider reunion, his comrades must have toasted him, because that is one of the ceremonial events the Raiders have at their reunions---they toast the original fallen comrades and those who passed away during the previous year. Jimmy Doolittle passed away in 1993. Before his death he asked the group to keep meeting until only two are left. The final two will uncork a bottle of cognac from 1896, the year of Doolittle’s birth, and make one last toast.
If you have read the previous posts on this blog, you will understand why I am so fascinated with this part of military history. The lives of Jimmy Doolittle and Fred Braemer have touched my life in a small way through my dad and my dad’s friend, Erich Braemer. Dad and Erich were interned together for a short time at Ft. Lincoln, Bismarck, North Dakota. Right before Christmas in 1941, they rode the “internment train” together which took them from freedom in Washington State to incarceration in North Dakota. Erich was soon sent home---his son was a potential war hero after all---while Dad and many others languished in internment camps for much longer.

This day of hope in 2009

As you can see, it's been awhile since I last posted to this blog. I'm writing today because I am incredibly moved by what is transpiring as I write this, and because of what is happening, I am hopeful for "giant leaps" of advancement for human rights in this great country of ours and in the whole world.

Today is Martin Luther King day, and tomorrow is the inauguration of our first African American president. Two young girls and their mother, who are descendents of American slaves, and a man who was born in Hawaii, lived in Indonesia, and whose mother was white and father a black man from Kenya will soon take up residency in our national home, the White House. In a profound way, this story resonates with me, a daughter of a former internee. It must also resonate with other groups who are a part of the darker history of the U.S.: certainly African Americans, but also Native Americans, Japanese Americans, Jewish Americans, and others who have been excluded or discriminated against because of their ethnicity.

My friend Karen Ebel, a lawyer from NH, and others, and our hero, Senator Russ Feingold, and his staff have been working for years to pass THE WARTIME TREATMENT STUDY ACT which would form a commission to shed light upon why my dad, Karen's dad, Heidi Donald and her family, Eb Fuhr and his family, Art Jacobs and his family, Doris Berg Nye's family, and many many others were taken away to internment camps during World War II.

Perhaps this will be the year.
Perhaps we are at the dawn of a new era where light and transparency shed on such issues are seen to be good----guideposts for future generations rather than secrets to be hidden away.

The Christmas Train to Ft. Lincoln by Ursula Vogt Potter

It was seven days before Christmas in 1941 that Karl Vogt was taken from his cell in the Spokane County Jail in the state of Washington to a waiting train car. This car was filled with men from all over the West who had also been arrested on December 9, 1941, two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and two days before war was declared between Germany and the U.S.
These men shared a common ancestry---they were all German nationals; most were legal permanent residents of the U.S., who had been wrested from homes and occupations and taken to county and city jails in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Spokane, Washington and other western communities. Now the train was heading for Bismarck, North Dakota, to a place called Ft. Lincoln where a new type of holding facility was being established---an enemy alien internment camp.

As Karl looked out through the open door of the train car, a slight flurry of snow was visible in the afternoon sky. "Armin will be happy," he thought. "Four year old boys love snow, especially at Christmas time." Then the stricken faces of his family swam into his memory again, making him feel almost nauseous. "No," he thought, "Christmas will be a sad time for my family this year."
"Sir! Sir!" a persistent voice interrupted his thoughts. "Are you all right? You look very pale."
Looking up, Karl saw two kind eyes staring at him across the aisle. "Hello. My name is Heinrich Hoffmann."
"Karl Vogt. I am pleased to meet you. Is it Father Hoffmann?" Karl responded, noticing the gentleman's clerical collar.
"Yes, I am a priest, albeit a misplaced one. I was only intending to visit America for a few months. Now going home looks somewhat hopeless."
"Where is home for you, Father?"
"My most recent home is the Vatican. I am part of the library staff there. I was studying the library system here when I was picked up by the F.B.I. Oh, oh, don't be impressed," said Dr. Hoffmann noticing Karl's surprised look. "My status is evidently not lofty enough to remove me from this mess! And you, my son, where is your home? And do you have a family?"
"My wife, my brother and I own a farm near Plaza, Washington which is about 20 miles south of Spokane. I have two children---a son who is four years old and a daughter who is just a baby---she turned one this fall."
"Tell me why you are here, my son. I look around me and I see no one who looks the least bit dangerous, and you look the least dangerous of all!"

With that encouragement, Karl poured out his story to this kind listener. He told him how three F.B.I. agents came to the farm on the afternoon of December 9 and accused him of engaging in un-American activities. How when asking them what these un-American activities were, they said something about his having sent money to Hitler---a ridiculous allegation! How after searching the house from top to bottom, all while Elsie, his wife, and his two children wept uncontrollably, they hauled him off to the Spokane County Jail where he was mug shot and fingerprinted---like a common criminal. How he was left to languish in the jail without advice from counsel of any kind. How his wife was only allowed one short visit with him during this time, and now he was on this train going to some place in North Dakota---and it was almost Christmas!

By this time the fellow sitting next to Father Hoffmann had awakened and had heard with great interest most of Karl's story. "Sounds like what happened to me.---Hello, I'm Erich Braemer from Seattle.---Only difference---my wife, Mimi, cried while my daughter-in-law, Helene cussed those guys out royally. Would you believe that Helene's husband, my son, Fred, is in the U.S. Army Air Corps----and now I'm being hauled off to an internment camp?!"

As the train slowly made its way to Ft. Lincoln a special friendship grew between these three men, and this friendship seemed to spread throughout the whole car. Men shared their stories. They had very similar stories---some more tragic than others, but the core issues were essentially the same: they had been wrongfully accused; they had been denied legal counsel; they had been embarrassed and humiliated; they were victims of wartime hysteria. Now it was nearly Christmas and they were being taken away from the warmth of family circles; away from the respect and goodwill of their neighbors; away from the magic of Christmas trees and gift giving. These miracles of the season would be denied to them, but the true gift of Christmas would flame as brightly as ever. God would visit them through new friendships.

When the train finally crept into Bismarck, North Dakota and stopped, the men disembarked from the train, and as they walked throught the snowy landscape to Ft. Lincoln, they heard music in the distance. They were not the first people to arrive here after all! A group of men was standing just inside the gates---near the haunting outline of the guard tower. They were singing:

From Heav'n above to earth I come,
To bring good news to everyone!
Glad tidings of great joy I bring,
To all the world we gladly sing!

Searching for Erich-The Erich Braemer Story

When Ursula Vogt Potter first began the task of organizing the memoirs of her family members for the book, THE MISPLACED AMERICAN, she soon realized that some of the internment stories passed down to her from her dad, Karl Vogt, would need to be researched and verified. One of those stories centered around a man named Braemer whom Karl had met on the train to Ft. Lincoln and who was one of the few released from Ft. Lincoln and sent home to Seattle, Washington early in 1942. This man was said to have had a son who was part of Jimmy Doolittle’s raid over Tokyo in April of 1942. After Braemer’s release, he sent a letter with newspaper clippings back to the fellows who had been left behind at Ft. Lincoln. According to Karl, these newspaper clippings told of how Seattle was proud of the Braemers and that the Braemer son was a national hero. The stories centered around the Doolittle Raid.

The first step then, for Ursula and her husband, Ted, was to do some research about the Doolittle Raid. They soon found a website dedicated to the Raiders and yes, there was a man named Braemer who was a part of that group. Fred Braemer had been the bombardier on the lead airplane, piloted by Doolittle himself. General James Doolittle had led sixteen B-25 bombers, which had been modified to enable them to take off from the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet, to a very dangerous attack on Tokyo. (http://www.doolittleraiders.com/) Ursula and Ted were very excited to learn of Fred Braemer’s role in this mission.

Next, Ursula and Ted looked through microfiche of old Seattle Times Newspapers and found many articles about the Raid and the Braemer family. With copies of some of these articles in hand, they set about trying to locate members of the Braemer family. Ted searched Social Security records and death notices, and found the name of the mid-western town where Fred Braemer had died. A very helpful librarian in that town, located an obituary with names of survivors. One of the survivors was Fred Braemer, Junior. With a minimal amount of sleuth work, Ted was able to find the this man’s phone number. Fred was very surprised to hear from the Potters, but very cordial and directed them to the widow of his father. He told the Potters that his grandfather’s first name was Erich. Ursula soon contacted Mrs. Fred Braemer, who was also very cordial, and after conversing with Ursula for several minutes said that she should contact Clara Wetherby, who in her words, was the “family historian”. Clara is the granddaughter of Erich and the niece of Fred Braemer (the Doolittle Raider).

The Potters and Clara Wetherby met in Vancouver, Washington at the home of a friend of the Wetherbys. This was a magical afternoon for the Potters and also for Clara. She said that she had wondered for years about what had happened to her grandfather, Erich, during December of 1941 and after, but that both her grandfather and grandmother refused to talk about it, so any new information about this event in her family’s history would be greatly appreciated. Sadly, it was revealed that both Erich and his wife, Mimi, were deceased.

Clara then went on to talk about her grandfather, Erich. Born in German in 1889, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1910, settling in Seattle and eventually establishing a painting and paperhanging business there. When asked later, why he never became a citizen, he answered that he was busy and just never got around to it. He was a much loved husband, father and grandfather and a popular member of his community. Although Eric was really stepfather to Fred and his sister, they took the Braemer name and considered him to be their father in every respect. Erich was a member of several German American clubs---social in nature--- and was the financial secretary of one of them. He subscribed to at least one German language newspaper. All of these things, the Potters pointed out to Clara, probably put him on some kind of list, making it easy for the F.B.I. to locate him.

Clara also told of what she knew of the afternoon of December 9, 1941. Clara related that Helene, Fred Braemer’s wife, was staying with Erich and Mimi while Fred was gone on active duty for the Army Air Corps. The shock and dismay of the family when the F.B.I unexpectedly came to search the house and arrest Erich, was amplified even more by the outrage of Helene. “His son is in the Army Air Corps”, she screamed as the F.B.I. agents were taking Erich away in handcuffs. Erich was then held at the King County Jail until the train bound for Ft. Lincoln picked him up and took him to North Dakota along with Karl Vogt and others from several western states.

Clara also told of becoming friends with some of the surviving Raiders, who, after the raid, often visited the Erich Braemer home, meeting and socializing with Fred and his family as well as the other members of the household.

Like many other internees and their families, the story of what happened on December 9, 1941 and later, was somehow thought of as a shameful part of the family history and thus never discussed.

The Story of Erich Braemer

One of the people Karl met on the train to Ft. Lincoln was a man from Seattle named Erich Braemer. Erich, as were all of the men on the train, was still in shock from his sudden arrest by the F.B.I. "I even have a son in the Army Air Corps," he exclaimed. As it turned out, Erich was not kept at Ft. Lincoln very long. After he arrived back home, he sent some of his new friends several articles from the SEATTLE TIMES and other area newspapers. The recurring theme of the articles was "we are proud of the Braemers". Erich's son, Fred, was the bombardier on the lead airplane, piloted by Jimmy Doolittle himself, on the incredible and dangerous raid over Tokyo during April of 1942.

Karl is sent to Ft. Lincoln, Bismarck, ND

Karl was kept in the Spokane County Jail until a few days before Christmas, 1941, when he was taken by train to Ft. Lincoln in North Dakota. The train to Ft. Lincoln had picked up men from all over the West. Riding on a train with most of the windows barred or blacked out and a machine gun mounted at the rear of the car, was an eerie experience for Karl. However, on the trip, he met several men who would become good friends and a source of comfort during the long days ahead.

Read more about the Vogt family in: THE MISPLACED AMERICAN, published by 1stBooks Library (now AuthorHouse) 2003

A short synopsis of the internment of ethnic Germans during and after World War II

On December 9, 1941 Karl Vogt, a German national residing in the U.S., was abruptly taken from his home near Plaza, Washington by agents of the F.B.I. and eventually sent to internment camps located in North Dakota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and finally Montana. For nearly two years he was not told what the "evidence" was against him and he was never told who his accusers were. Left behind on the family farm, and also subjected to harassment by the United States government, were his wife, Elsie, and his two young children, all American born citizens.
Karl had immigrated to the U.S. in 1923, and although he was not yet a citizen at the time of his arrest, he had begun the process toward citizenship and considered himself an American.

Now we know that Karl, my dad, was joined in those internment camps by at least 11,000 other ethnic Germans, most of them immigrants, like Karl. As it turned out, Karl was one of the lucky ones. He was incarcerated for two years, while many others were held for a much longer period, some for as long as three years after the war. A majority of those held in internment camps lost all of their material possessions. At least 2,000 people, including American-born children, were deported into war-ravaged Germany to be exchanged Americans held there.

An additional 4,000 of Karl's fellow internees were German residents of Latin America, who were forcibly brought to the U.S. and destined to become a part of the exchange program. Incredibly, a number of these Latin Americans were Jews who had fled Germany years earlier.