Heading down 395, there is the site of the old Manzanar Barracks. Operating from March 22, 1942 to November 21, 1946 it housed more than 11,000 Japanese Americans for their "protection". This was a ruse that the U.S. government played on them because they were not trusted during the war with Japan. Dark part of American History. Here is the way the barracks were organised. There were 36 nearly identical blocks which are now mostly just foundations.
The park service decided to rebuild part of block 14. Each of the 36 blocks consisted of 8 barracks (living space), separate bathrooms, a laundry building, ironing building, recreation building and a mess hall.
This is the way the Japanese found the barracks when they arrived. They didn't even have any insulation or bed mattresses! There was also no privacy. There were no partitions for couples and no dividers in the bathrooms between stalls.
Here is a picture of the signs marking the different barracks going back to the reconstructed mess hall.
Inside the mess hall. Huge pots! They at least had dinner cooked for them but they had to go to dinner at the same time when called.
A view looking back at the barrack. The inside of which you saw 2 pictures above.
The Japanese would often hide contraband items in the floor board including equipment for making saké.
A view of the tables they ate on (reconstructed). They eventually made things more homier by ordering things by mail order, plating beautiful outdoor gardens and organizing sports teams.
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