The subject of the internment of Germans, Austrians, and Italians is relatively unknown. If you are interested in reference sources for the topic.This list has been compiled by the German American Internee Coalition at www.gaic.info.
Christgau, John. Enemies—WW II Alien Internment. Iowa State University Press, 1985, iUniverse.com, 2001. (reprint)
Contag, Kimberly and James Grabowska. Where Clouds Meet the Water. Inkwater Press, 2004.
DiStasi, Lawrence, ed. Una Storia Segreta: the Secret history of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II. Heyday Books, Berkeley, California, 2001.
Fox, Stephen, UnCivil Liberties: Italian Americans Under Siege during World War II. Universal Publishers, 2000. (revised and updated edition of The Unknown Internment: An Oral History of the Relocation of Italian Americans during World War II. Twayne Publishers, Boston, 1990.)
__. Fear Itself, Inside the FBI Roundup of German Americans during World War II. iUniverse, Inc., 2005. (revised and updated edition of America’s Invisible Gulag: A Biography of German American Internment & Exclusion in WWII. Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 2000.)
Holian, Timothy J. The German Americans and WWII: An Ethnic Experience. Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 1998.
Jacobs, Arthur D. The Prison Called Hohenasperg, An American Boy Betrayed by his Government during World War II. uPublish.com, 1999.
Krammer, Arnold. Undue Process, The Untold Story of America's German Alien Internees. Rowman & Littlefield, New York, 1997.
Krauter, Anneliese Wiegand. From the Heart’s Closet--A Young Girl’s World War II Story. Schatzi Press McCordsville, IN 2005.
Luick-Thrams. Michael and staff, VANISHED: German American Internment, 1941-48, (TRACES manual, issued to accompany St. Paul exhibit) TRACES. org 2005.
Potter, Ursula Vogt. The Misplaced American. 1stbooks Library (now Authorhouse), 2003. (a family memoir)
Mangione, Jerre G. An Ethnic at Large; A Memoir of America in the Thirties and Forties. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1978. (visited internment camps and staff)
Rout, Jr., Leslie B. and John F. Bratzel. The Shadow War: German Espionage and United States Counterespionage in Latin America during World War II. (University Publications of America, Inc., Maryland, 1986), 28.)
Schmitz, John Eric. Democracy Under Stress: The Internment of German-Americans in World War II, Master’s thesis, North Carolina State University, 1993. (John Eric Schmitz is the son of former internee, John Schmitz.)
Schmitz, John Eric. Enemies Among Us: The Relocation and Repatriation of German, Italian and Japanese Americans During the Second World War, The American University, 2007, Ph.D. dissertation # 3273603, available through ProQuest, 300 North Zeeb Road, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor Michigan, 48106-1346, or 1-800-521-0600 ext 7044 (order desk). (John Eric Schmitz is the son of former internee, John Schmitz.)
Tischauser, Leslie V. The Burden of Ethnicity: The German Question in Chicago, 1914-1941. Garland Publishing, New York, 1990. (out of print)
Tolzmann, Don H., ed. German-Americans in the World Wars. München: K.G. Saur.
The World War Two Experience: The Internment of German-Americans, vol. 4, 1995.
Wolter/Masters, Loyalty on Trial: One American’s Battle With the F.B.I., iUniverse 2004
The following websites were valid links on January 28, 2009.
www.enemyalienfiles.org/ The Enemy Alien Files: Hidden Stories of World War II
www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/enemy-aliens-overview.html National Archives and Records Administration website
www.johnchristgau.com/enemies/enemies.html Author and German internment researcher John Christgau’s website
www.traces.org TRACES.org website
www.fear-itself.com Author and German internment researcher Stephen Fox’s website
www.foitimes.com Author and German internment researcher Major Arthur D. Jacobs’ website
www.allout.co.uk/ram/crystalcity.ram BBC Radio 4’s audio link to Lost Voices of Crystal City, an award-winning
documentary on German American and Latin American World War II internment
www.campaignforjusticejla.org/history/index.html Campaign for Justice – Japanese Latin American Site
www.germanworldalliance.org German World Alliance
www.segreta.org/ Una Storia Segreta -- Italian American website
www.teachers-resources.ca Teacher's Resources
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1448029 American Journal of Public Health article on "Medical Care for Interned Enemy Aliens: A Role for the US Public Health Service in World War II" by Louis Fiset, DDS, BA
uitclib.utsa.edu University of Texas, San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures. (Type Crystal City or Camp Kenedy or Seagoville into search box to see historic photographs of these camps.)
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Sr. Gertrude Maria Schroeder, Internee, 4
Mrs. Ferrara was a matron at the facility who recognized Gertrude from going to Mass at the cathedral. “Mrs. Ferrara was very kind; she put me in the infirmary. It was a small two room facility. With me was the young woman who was in labor. All night long she moaned. I never knew what happened to her or to her baby.
Gertrude’s special treatment lasted a few days before she was sent back to the dormitory. “There were two women assigned to one bed. I shared mine with a girl named Maria.” (Maria Weissenberg was the youngest female held at Fort Armstrong.) She was a 16 years-old German student from Punahou. Maria’s father was a doctor who fled Germany to England, and then sent Maria to Hawaii to be safe.
“The Fort Armstrong center was cold. The dormitory was crowded there was no where to sit and there were fleas in the bed. On Christmas day they took all the beds and fumigated them and after that the we were relieved.
"The worst was that there was nothing to do, no reading materials was allowed and the only activity allowed was a one-hour exercise period. I gained ten pounds in seven weeks because all I could do was sleep and eat.”
During the one-hour exercise period the women walked up and down in a courtyard. Many women shouted up to their husbands in the men’s dormitory. Gertrude recalls, “I didn’t even look to see if my father was one of the men at the window. And I never shouted out to ask if he was among the detainees. I thought that if he were not there, I would have given him up to the FBI and they would pick him up.”
In fact, Mr. Schroeder was not impacted by the detention of aliens. He was living on the windward side of the island during the attack and when Gertrude told him he had been picked up, at first he didn’t believe her.
“Each time my name was called I was afraid. The FBI asked the same question, ‘Where were you on the morning of the attack?’ And my answer was always the same. I told the truth. I was studying for a botany exam and when I studied I used the books written in German. The German books were almost always available and I could read in German equally as well or better than I could in English.” Sr. Gertrude believes that her use of German-language scientific materials, and her friendship with Japanese students at the university, made her suspect.
Sr. Gertrude Maria states, “It is true that we had no contact with outsiders. I knew that the sisters at the convent would be concerned about me and I tried to talk to the guard to ask him to tell them, but he didn’t. And it is true that we didn’t have any change of clothes for three weeks. We wore the same things and washed them each night. It was the sisters who brought me clothes during the first visit.”
When the sisters found out where she was they brought Gertrude clothes and candy.
“Lots of candy,” Gertrude said. “They didn’t know I was so well-fed.” Gertrude remembers seeing Mother Louise for the first time since her arrest. “I broke all the rules explained to me by the guard and ran to her and hugged her.”
It was during that visit that Gertrude found out about Mother Louise’s attempts to arrange for her release. Mother Louise contacted the bishop about Gertrude and the bishop contacted Fr. Ryan Hughes, a Maryknoll father who had connections with the Army. Eventually, it was Fr. Hughes’ efforts that succeeded in Gertrude’s release.
“I remember making a novena and on the ninth day, January 26, 1942 I was released. That morning Captain Benson called my name and the name of Maria. Both of us were ordered downstairs.” At the bottom of the steps were two or three men in dark suits. “I didn’t know where they were going to take us. I wondered if we were being sent to Sand Island. Then Captain Benson told me the men were here to take me home.”
The January 27, 1942 entry of the community journal reads, “Gertrude Schroeder has been returned to us. There is great rejoicing among us. We also received another girl, Maria, who had been in captivity with Gertrude. The joy of these two children was indescribable.”
After Gertrude’s release, she returned to her studies at the university.
In 1943, Gertrude Erika Schroeder applied to become a member of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. To be accepted into the community she had to have no family obligations or objections. Gertrude asked her father for his permission and he gave his only child his blessing to become a Roman Catholic nun. But there was another obstacle to be resolved—Gertrude was an alien and technically “on parole” during the war. So she wrote to the Military General to release her from parole, which he did and several years later, she became a citizen of the United States.
Gertrude entered the convent in August 1943. “I was given the name Sr. Benigna. It distressed my father that I had been given the name. But after the Vatican II Council, I took back my own name of Gertrude adding Maria because of my devotion to the Blessed Mother.”
Gertrude’s special treatment lasted a few days before she was sent back to the dormitory. “There were two women assigned to one bed. I shared mine with a girl named Maria.” (Maria Weissenberg was the youngest female held at Fort Armstrong.) She was a 16 years-old German student from Punahou. Maria’s father was a doctor who fled Germany to England, and then sent Maria to Hawaii to be safe.
“The Fort Armstrong center was cold. The dormitory was crowded there was no where to sit and there were fleas in the bed. On Christmas day they took all the beds and fumigated them and after that the we were relieved.
"The worst was that there was nothing to do, no reading materials was allowed and the only activity allowed was a one-hour exercise period. I gained ten pounds in seven weeks because all I could do was sleep and eat.”
During the one-hour exercise period the women walked up and down in a courtyard. Many women shouted up to their husbands in the men’s dormitory. Gertrude recalls, “I didn’t even look to see if my father was one of the men at the window. And I never shouted out to ask if he was among the detainees. I thought that if he were not there, I would have given him up to the FBI and they would pick him up.”
In fact, Mr. Schroeder was not impacted by the detention of aliens. He was living on the windward side of the island during the attack and when Gertrude told him he had been picked up, at first he didn’t believe her.
“Each time my name was called I was afraid. The FBI asked the same question, ‘Where were you on the morning of the attack?’ And my answer was always the same. I told the truth. I was studying for a botany exam and when I studied I used the books written in German. The German books were almost always available and I could read in German equally as well or better than I could in English.” Sr. Gertrude believes that her use of German-language scientific materials, and her friendship with Japanese students at the university, made her suspect.
Sr. Gertrude Maria states, “It is true that we had no contact with outsiders. I knew that the sisters at the convent would be concerned about me and I tried to talk to the guard to ask him to tell them, but he didn’t. And it is true that we didn’t have any change of clothes for three weeks. We wore the same things and washed them each night. It was the sisters who brought me clothes during the first visit.”
When the sisters found out where she was they brought Gertrude clothes and candy.
“Lots of candy,” Gertrude said. “They didn’t know I was so well-fed.” Gertrude remembers seeing Mother Louise for the first time since her arrest. “I broke all the rules explained to me by the guard and ran to her and hugged her.”
It was during that visit that Gertrude found out about Mother Louise’s attempts to arrange for her release. Mother Louise contacted the bishop about Gertrude and the bishop contacted Fr. Ryan Hughes, a Maryknoll father who had connections with the Army. Eventually, it was Fr. Hughes’ efforts that succeeded in Gertrude’s release.
“I remember making a novena and on the ninth day, January 26, 1942 I was released. That morning Captain Benson called my name and the name of Maria. Both of us were ordered downstairs.” At the bottom of the steps were two or three men in dark suits. “I didn’t know where they were going to take us. I wondered if we were being sent to Sand Island. Then Captain Benson told me the men were here to take me home.”
The January 27, 1942 entry of the community journal reads, “Gertrude Schroeder has been returned to us. There is great rejoicing among us. We also received another girl, Maria, who had been in captivity with Gertrude. The joy of these two children was indescribable.”
After Gertrude’s release, she returned to her studies at the university.
In 1943, Gertrude Erika Schroeder applied to become a member of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. To be accepted into the community she had to have no family obligations or objections. Gertrude asked her father for his permission and he gave his only child his blessing to become a Roman Catholic nun. But there was another obstacle to be resolved—Gertrude was an alien and technically “on parole” during the war. So she wrote to the Military General to release her from parole, which he did and several years later, she became a citizen of the United States.
Gertrude entered the convent in August 1943. “I was given the name Sr. Benigna. It distressed my father that I had been given the name. But after the Vatican II Council, I took back my own name of Gertrude adding Maria because of my devotion to the Blessed Mother.”
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sr. Gertrude Maria Schroeder, Internee 2
Sister Gertrude Maria was born in Germany.“I was born in Rostock, Germany on July 12, 1923. Karl Rudolph Schroeder was my dad and Helena Kayser was my mother. I was just short of six years old when my family arrived in Hawaii. We sailed an Alrange ship from Vancouver and arrived at 3 p.m. on June 6th, 1929. It’s a date that I just remember.” (The photo above is of Lincoln School in the 1930's. The photo below is of the current Lincoln School.)
Gertrude's mother was a Catholic, her father was not.She told me, "When I was a kid my dad wanted me to go to Lincoln School. My mother had her eye on Sacred Hearts Academy. The academy was quite expensive, but my mother kept harping on it, and finally mother won. I entered Sacred Hearts Academy in 1929."
However, sister's stay at Sacred Hearts Academy was not continuous. It was broken by a three-year period (1936-1939)when she returned to live in Germany. She believes it was this time in Germany, and her friendship with Japanese students at University of Hawaii that was the reason for her internment.
In the 1930’s, Karl Schroeder was the caretaker of the community’s Nuuanu estate. At that time there was a kindergarten class held there during the day but there was no one there in the evening, so Mr. Schroeder was hired to oversee the estate. Gertrude lived there until 1936, when at age thirteen, she returned to Germany.
“My mother had been ill and we went to Germany for her treatment but my father remained in Hawaii.” Shortly after Gertrude and her mother returned to Hawaii, her mother died.
Gertrude returned to Sacred Hearts and went on to the University of Hawaii. Although she had graduated from Sacred Hearts, she lived at the convent while she was a univerity student. (Remember her mother died in 1939.)
Farrington Hall, University of Hawaii, circa 1940Sister recalled, “On the morning of December 7, I was at Mass, sitting in a back pew. Looking up through the window, I could see planes spiraling overhead and when Mass was over I wanted to go up to the third floor to see what was going on, but a sister stopped me and said I wasn’t allowed.” Gertrude asked the sister why not. “Then she told me there was a war on.”
That night a territory-wide blackout was imposed; no lights could be visible. (While on the Neighbor Islands the enforcement was not as stringent, in the Honolulu area it was exact.) According to Catholic tradition, a candle lights the Blessed Sacrament continually. The mother of the convent, Mother Louise kept to tradition and didn't extinguish the candle in the sisters' chapel.
When an air raid warden told her the candle had to be put out, she tried to explain her reasoning, but the warden wasn't having any of it. According to the community journal Mother Louise "moved the candle under the altar, but the flame shone through the stained glass window,” and Sister Julie Louise remembers hearing a loudspeaker outside, “Corner of Sixth and Waialae, get that light off!”
Mother Louise moved the candle again, but it still could be seen. After the third warning from the warden, she extinguished the candle.
Sister Gertrude Maria remembers, “The night of December 7, a young secretary from one of the military bases spent the night with us. She knew one of the sisters and asked if she could stay at the convent. She had seen the bombing and was so afraid she cowered at the clap of any loud noise. The woman couldn’t even stay in a room by herself so the sisters put her in with me. During the night, she held my hand any time there was a loud noise.
The next day in the paper there was news that the Japanese had landed behind St. Louis College."(The Honolulu Advertiser ran the headline Sabotuers Land Here! on December 8, 1941. They did not put out a paper on December 7, 1941. They'll be more on that later.)
Sr. Gertrude Maria Schroeder, Internee, 3
Sister Gertrude Maria recalls, "I went to Benediction. Sister Mary was in charge of the door. As I was walking back from the chapel to the dorm, Sister Mary came to me and said that there was a man waiting for me in the parlor. The man was wearing a Honolulu Police Department brown uniform."
Sister Gertrude Maria explained, “Since I was a German citizen and had to periodically register with the Immigration Service I had been expecting the police to come to verify my papers but the police officer didn’t ask for my papers, he asked if I would accompany but did not say to where. I asked him if I would be home for supper and he assured me I would. I then went to my room to get my purse, my alien card and a warm jacket. It was fortuitous that I took my jacket because Fort Armstrong was cold at night. Those were the only clothes I had with me for my seven weeks of internment. I could still visualize the skirt; it was red-plaid.”
The sisters’ community journal entry for December 9, reads, “A police officer came to get Gertrude Erika Schroeder. We did not even have time to notify Mother Henriette. When we did, Mother called the Chief of Police who tried to reassure her that Gertrude was in good hands and no harm would come to her. Mother sought the intervention of men of influence in order to return the child.”
Sr. Gertrude recalls, “As I walked away, I could see the sister gathered on the third floor looking down. When I got in the police car I saw an elderly woman and a I recognized a young women from the University of Hawaii. The young woman was in labor, it was apparent. In the car behind us I saw a professor of English from the university. He was a pro-Hitler German. He knew I had lived in Germany and my parents and I were all German citizens. I avoided any association with him while I was at the university. I’m not sure what happened to him."
According to the community journal, “It would take seven weeks of negotiations with the Western Defense Command and the fervent prayers of the Rev. Mother Louise Henriette and her nuns before the little girl [Gertrude Schroeder] was released from Camp Sand Island.”
In fact, Gertrude Schroeder was never sent to the Sand Island camp, but she was interned at Fort Armstrong.
Sister Gertrude Maria continued with her story, “When we were let out of the car we were at a building with a long line of people in front of it. No one spoke. When I got to the front of the line, I was ready to show my alien card. But when I showed the police officer my card, he took my purse, my papers, my passport and my nail clippers. I remember being upset that he took my nail clippers and voiced my concern as if I were oblivious to the fact that there were soldiers with guns guarding us.”
From there, Gertrude Schroeder got in line with several other women to go up the stairs to an open dormitory. “There were only bare beds in the room. I spotted a wooden box and dragged it to the window to calculate where I was. I saw the Our Lady of Peace Cathedral and Iolani Palace, so I knew I was near the harbor. Across the courtyard from my buiding was the male dormitory. The men in the windows could see in our rooms, something I did not appreciate.”
Sister Gertrude Maria explained, “Since I was a German citizen and had to periodically register with the Immigration Service I had been expecting the police to come to verify my papers but the police officer didn’t ask for my papers, he asked if I would accompany but did not say to where. I asked him if I would be home for supper and he assured me I would. I then went to my room to get my purse, my alien card and a warm jacket. It was fortuitous that I took my jacket because Fort Armstrong was cold at night. Those were the only clothes I had with me for my seven weeks of internment. I could still visualize the skirt; it was red-plaid.”
The sisters’ community journal entry for December 9, reads, “A police officer came to get Gertrude Erika Schroeder. We did not even have time to notify Mother Henriette. When we did, Mother called the Chief of Police who tried to reassure her that Gertrude was in good hands and no harm would come to her. Mother sought the intervention of men of influence in order to return the child.”
Sr. Gertrude recalls, “As I walked away, I could see the sister gathered on the third floor looking down. When I got in the police car I saw an elderly woman and a I recognized a young women from the University of Hawaii. The young woman was in labor, it was apparent. In the car behind us I saw a professor of English from the university. He was a pro-Hitler German. He knew I had lived in Germany and my parents and I were all German citizens. I avoided any association with him while I was at the university. I’m not sure what happened to him."
According to the community journal, “It would take seven weeks of negotiations with the Western Defense Command and the fervent prayers of the Rev. Mother Louise Henriette and her nuns before the little girl [Gertrude Schroeder] was released from Camp Sand Island.”
In fact, Gertrude Schroeder was never sent to the Sand Island camp, but she was interned at Fort Armstrong.
Sister Gertrude Maria continued with her story, “When we were let out of the car we were at a building with a long line of people in front of it. No one spoke. When I got to the front of the line, I was ready to show my alien card. But when I showed the police officer my card, he took my purse, my papers, my passport and my nail clippers. I remember being upset that he took my nail clippers and voiced my concern as if I were oblivious to the fact that there were soldiers with guns guarding us.”
From there, Gertrude Schroeder got in line with several other women to go up the stairs to an open dormitory. “There were only bare beds in the room. I spotted a wooden box and dragged it to the window to calculate where I was. I saw the Our Lady of Peace Cathedral and Iolani Palace, so I knew I was near the harbor. Across the courtyard from my buiding was the male dormitory. The men in the windows could see in our rooms, something I did not appreciate.”
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Recently, Senator Inouye has brought to light the internment of residents of Hawaii during World War II. Resident aliens (who were mostly Japanese, but also European citizens) were incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaii including Honouliuli Gulch, Sand Island, and the U.S. Immigration Station on Oahu, the Kilauea Military Camp on the Big Island, Haiku Camp and Wailuku County Jail on Maui, and the Kalaheo Stockade and Waialua County Jail on Kauai.
In fact, within one week of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the FBI detained 370 Japanese, 98 German and 14 Italians. Almost all of the Japanese detainees were men; of the European detainees many were women. During the course of the war, 1441 persons of Japanese ancestry were picked up for internment. This was .9% of the 160,000 Japanese living in Hawaii.
Among those aliens detained at the U.S. Immigration Station at Fort Armstrong was Gertrude Erika Shroeder. Gertrude was a seventeen-year-old student at the University of Hawaii. She was a graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy and was boarding at Sacred Hearts while attending the university. Her story begins with an entry from the Journal of the Community of the Sacred Hearts.” December 10, 1941. The only girl still with us, Gertrude Schroeder, born in Germany, has been taken away from us and taken to Sand Island. Great is our consternation as we know full well how innocent and harmless she is. Yet nothing can be done to release her.”
Actually, Gertrude Erika Schroeder was not taken to Sand Island Relocation Camp, she was detained at Fort Armstrong; it was six weeks before the sisters obtained her release.
I met Gertrude Schroeder by chance while I doing research at the Sacred Hearts Community Archives in Kaimuki. I had read that one of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts was interned during the war and I was curious why that particular nun was considered a threat. I discovered it wasn’t a nun who was detained, but a 1941 graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy—a seventeen-years-old student at the University, who was a boarder at the convent on Nuuanu Avenue. Her name was Gertrude Erika Schroeder. She was a German citizen, born in Germany and immigrated to Hawaii with her parents as a child.
When the Sacred Hearts archivist, Charlene Alipio, asked me who I was researching, I told her about the interned nun. Then she asked, “Do you want to meet her? She lives here.” Ms. Alipio led me down a hallway as she spoke. I had mixed feelings. Of course, I wanted to meet Gertrude, but I would have rather set up an appointment and let her know what my project was about without springing a visit on her, but Ms. Alipio insisted we meet immediately.
I waited in the corridor, standing next to a life-sized unidentified statue. I was rehearsing my apology for intruding on the sister. I estimated her age to be 83, and was unsure of her willingness to talk about World War II. From behind the closed door, I overheard that the sister had just returned from the doctors, and I heard bits of encouragement from Ms. Alipio for sister to meet me. Then, the door swung open and Sr. Gertrude Maria came forward.
Sr. Gertrude Maria used a walker, she was so hunched over it caused her to focus on the floor in front of her. I was sure this was a mistake, but then she looked up at me, smiled and said, “After all these years, somebody wants to hear my story.”
Our first meeting was brief. We sat at a patio set in an open courtyard. Next to us was a cafeteria table covered with a work in progress of a mosaic tile portrait of Father Damien about the size of a stained glass window.
Sr. Gertrude settled in the shade. Her hair is an absolute white, devoid of any color, her skin is fair and smooth, her manner is gracious, and her voice is elegant. She is at one time, physically frail, yet mentally bold, direct and clear. During one of our visits I asked if she was red-headed when she was young, and she answered that she was and wanted to know why I would presume that. “You have the passion of a red head,” I answered. She laughed and told me that she was often told she was quite strong-willed.
Sister’s story weaves through the stories of other Europeans who were detained at Fort Armstrong. Sr. Gertrude Marie remembers, “On the morning of December 7, I was at Mass, sitting in a back pew. Looking up through the window, I could see planes spiraling overhead. When Mass was over I wanted to go up to the third floor to see what was going on, but a sister stopped me and said I wasn’t allowed.” Gertrude asked the sister why she couldn’t. “Then she told me there was a war on.”
Sister Gertrude Maria was born in Rostack, Germany. Her father was a German citizen by birth. Her mother was an Australian by birth, but was considered a German citizen by marriage. When war broke out, Gertrude suspected that the authorities would request her to show her identification papers. So, she gathered them together. She never suspected that she would be detained.
She remembers that the night of December 7, 1941 a blackout was imposed; no lights could be visible. There was no exception for religious traditions. But according to Catholic tradition, the Blessed Sacrament had to be continually lit. “Mother Louise did not extinguish the candle in the sisters’ chapel and when an air raid warden came in to tell her the candle had to be put out, she tried to explain her reasoning, to no avail. So we moved the candle under the altar, but the flame shone through the stained glass window.”
Sr. Julie Louise, another sister who lived at the Kaimuki convent, wrote in her memoirs that she remembers hearing a loudspeaker outside. “It blasted, ‘Corner of Sixth and Waialae, get that light off!’ Mother moved the candle again, but it still could be seen. After the third warning, the candle was extinguished.”
Sr. Gertrude Maria remembers that on the night of December 7, 1941, “A young secretary from one of the military bases spent the night with us. She knew one of the sisters and asked if she could stay at the convent. She had seen the bombing and was so afraid she cowered at the clap of any loud noise. The woman couldn’t even stay in a room by herself so the sisters put her in with me. During the night, she held my hand any time there was a loud noise.
“The next day in the paper [Honolulu Advertiser] there was news that the Japanese had landed behind St. Louis College which was just up the hill from us. The day following that, I went to Benediction. Sr. Mary was in charge of the door. As I was walking back from the chapel to the dorm, Sr. Mary came to me and said that there was a man waiting for me in the parlor. She said the man was wearing a Honolulu Police Department uniform.”
Sr. Gertrude Maria explained, “Since I was a German citizen and had to periodically register with the Immigration Service. I had been expecting the police to come to verify my papers but the police officer didn’t ask for my papers, he asked if I would accompany but did not say to where. I asked him if I would be home for supper and he assured me I would. I then went to my room to get my purse, my alien card and a warm jacket. It was fortuitous that I took my jacket because Fort Armstrong was cold at night. Those were the only clothes I had with me for my seven weeks of internment. I could still visualize my skirt; it was red-plaid.”
I’ll continue the story of Sr. Gertrude Maria in the next column. The quotes from the Sisters’ journal is from the Journal
of the Community of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. Volume 1935-1949. Translated from French by Sr. Mary Rose Gordon, S.S, C.C.
My thanks go to Ms. Charlene Alipio, Archivists for the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, for permission to use their collection and for pushing both me and Sr. Gertrude Maria to meet.
In fact, within one week of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the FBI detained 370 Japanese, 98 German and 14 Italians. Almost all of the Japanese detainees were men; of the European detainees many were women. During the course of the war, 1441 persons of Japanese ancestry were picked up for internment. This was .9% of the 160,000 Japanese living in Hawaii.
Among those aliens detained at the U.S. Immigration Station at Fort Armstrong was Gertrude Erika Shroeder. Gertrude was a seventeen-year-old student at the University of Hawaii. She was a graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy and was boarding at Sacred Hearts while attending the university. Her story begins with an entry from the Journal of the Community of the Sacred Hearts.” December 10, 1941. The only girl still with us, Gertrude Schroeder, born in Germany, has been taken away from us and taken to Sand Island. Great is our consternation as we know full well how innocent and harmless she is. Yet nothing can be done to release her.”
Actually, Gertrude Erika Schroeder was not taken to Sand Island Relocation Camp, she was detained at Fort Armstrong; it was six weeks before the sisters obtained her release.
I met Gertrude Schroeder by chance while I doing research at the Sacred Hearts Community Archives in Kaimuki. I had read that one of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts was interned during the war and I was curious why that particular nun was considered a threat. I discovered it wasn’t a nun who was detained, but a 1941 graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy—a seventeen-years-old student at the University, who was a boarder at the convent on Nuuanu Avenue. Her name was Gertrude Erika Schroeder. She was a German citizen, born in Germany and immigrated to Hawaii with her parents as a child.
When the Sacred Hearts archivist, Charlene Alipio, asked me who I was researching, I told her about the interned nun. Then she asked, “Do you want to meet her? She lives here.” Ms. Alipio led me down a hallway as she spoke. I had mixed feelings. Of course, I wanted to meet Gertrude, but I would have rather set up an appointment and let her know what my project was about without springing a visit on her, but Ms. Alipio insisted we meet immediately.
I waited in the corridor, standing next to a life-sized unidentified statue. I was rehearsing my apology for intruding on the sister. I estimated her age to be 83, and was unsure of her willingness to talk about World War II. From behind the closed door, I overheard that the sister had just returned from the doctors, and I heard bits of encouragement from Ms. Alipio for sister to meet me. Then, the door swung open and Sr. Gertrude Maria came forward.
Sr. Gertrude Maria used a walker, she was so hunched over it caused her to focus on the floor in front of her. I was sure this was a mistake, but then she looked up at me, smiled and said, “After all these years, somebody wants to hear my story.”
Our first meeting was brief. We sat at a patio set in an open courtyard. Next to us was a cafeteria table covered with a work in progress of a mosaic tile portrait of Father Damien about the size of a stained glass window.
Sr. Gertrude settled in the shade. Her hair is an absolute white, devoid of any color, her skin is fair and smooth, her manner is gracious, and her voice is elegant. She is at one time, physically frail, yet mentally bold, direct and clear. During one of our visits I asked if she was red-headed when she was young, and she answered that she was and wanted to know why I would presume that. “You have the passion of a red head,” I answered. She laughed and told me that she was often told she was quite strong-willed.
Sister’s story weaves through the stories of other Europeans who were detained at Fort Armstrong. Sr. Gertrude Marie remembers, “On the morning of December 7, I was at Mass, sitting in a back pew. Looking up through the window, I could see planes spiraling overhead. When Mass was over I wanted to go up to the third floor to see what was going on, but a sister stopped me and said I wasn’t allowed.” Gertrude asked the sister why she couldn’t. “Then she told me there was a war on.”
Sister Gertrude Maria was born in Rostack, Germany. Her father was a German citizen by birth. Her mother was an Australian by birth, but was considered a German citizen by marriage. When war broke out, Gertrude suspected that the authorities would request her to show her identification papers. So, she gathered them together. She never suspected that she would be detained.
She remembers that the night of December 7, 1941 a blackout was imposed; no lights could be visible. There was no exception for religious traditions. But according to Catholic tradition, the Blessed Sacrament had to be continually lit. “Mother Louise did not extinguish the candle in the sisters’ chapel and when an air raid warden came in to tell her the candle had to be put out, she tried to explain her reasoning, to no avail. So we moved the candle under the altar, but the flame shone through the stained glass window.”
Sr. Julie Louise, another sister who lived at the Kaimuki convent, wrote in her memoirs that she remembers hearing a loudspeaker outside. “It blasted, ‘Corner of Sixth and Waialae, get that light off!’ Mother moved the candle again, but it still could be seen. After the third warning, the candle was extinguished.”
Sr. Gertrude Maria remembers that on the night of December 7, 1941, “A young secretary from one of the military bases spent the night with us. She knew one of the sisters and asked if she could stay at the convent. She had seen the bombing and was so afraid she cowered at the clap of any loud noise. The woman couldn’t even stay in a room by herself so the sisters put her in with me. During the night, she held my hand any time there was a loud noise.
“The next day in the paper [Honolulu Advertiser] there was news that the Japanese had landed behind St. Louis College which was just up the hill from us. The day following that, I went to Benediction. Sr. Mary was in charge of the door. As I was walking back from the chapel to the dorm, Sr. Mary came to me and said that there was a man waiting for me in the parlor. She said the man was wearing a Honolulu Police Department uniform.”
Sr. Gertrude Maria explained, “Since I was a German citizen and had to periodically register with the Immigration Service. I had been expecting the police to come to verify my papers but the police officer didn’t ask for my papers, he asked if I would accompany but did not say to where. I asked him if I would be home for supper and he assured me I would. I then went to my room to get my purse, my alien card and a warm jacket. It was fortuitous that I took my jacket because Fort Armstrong was cold at night. Those were the only clothes I had with me for my seven weeks of internment. I could still visualize my skirt; it was red-plaid.”
I’ll continue the story of Sr. Gertrude Maria in the next column. The quotes from the Sisters’ journal is from the Journal
of the Community of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. Volume 1935-1949. Translated from French by Sr. Mary Rose Gordon, S.S, C.C.
My thanks go to Ms. Charlene Alipio, Archivists for the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, for permission to use their collection and for pushing both me and Sr. Gertrude Maria to meet.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sr. Gertrude Marie Schroeder
The story of Gertrude Erika Schroeder begins with an entry from the Journal of the Community of the Sacred Hearts.“December 10, 1941. The only girl still with us, Gertrude Schroeder, born in Germany, has been taken away from us and taken to Sand Island. Great is our consternation as we know full well how innocent and harmless she is. Yet nothing can be done to release her.”
In fact, Gertrude Erika Schroeder was not taken to Sand Island Relocation Camp, she was detained at Fort Armstrong; it was six weeks before the sisters obtained her release.
I met Gertrude Schroeder by chance while I doing research at the Sacred Hearts Community Archives in Kaimuki. I had read that a Sister of the Sacred Hearts was interned during the war and I was curious why that particular nun was considered a threat. I discovered it wasn’t a nun who was detained, but a 1941 graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy—a seventeen-years-old student at the University, who was a boarder at the convent on Nuuanu Avenue. Her name was Gertrude Erika Schroeder. She was a German citizen, born in Germany and immigrated to Hawaii with her parents in 19…
When the Sacred Hearts archivist, Charlene Alipio, asked me who I was researching, she asked, “Do you want to meet her? She lives here.” Then she led me down a hallway.
I waited in the corridor, standing next to a life-sized unidentified statue. I was already rehearsing my apology for intruding on the sister. I estimated her age to be 83, and was unsure of her willingness to talk about World War II. From behind the closed door, I overheard that the sister had just returned from the doctors, and bits of encouragement from Ms. Alipio for her to meet me. Then, the door swung open and Sr. Gertrude Maria came forward.
Sr. Gertrude Maria used a walker, she was so hunched over it caused her to focus on the floor in front of her. I was sure this was a mistake, but then she looked up at me, smiled and said, “After all these years, somebody wants to hear my story.”
Our first meeting was brief. We sat at a patio set in an open courtyard. Next to us was a cafeteria table on it was a mosaic tile portrait of Father Damien about the size of a stained glass window.
Sr. Gertrude settled in the shade. Her hair is an absolute white, devoid of any color, her skin is fair and smooth, her manner is gracious, and her voice is elegant. She is at one time, physically frail, yet mentally bold, direct and clear. During one of our visits I asked if she was red-headed when she was young, and she answered that she was and wanted to know why I would presume that. “You have the passion of a red head,” I answered. She laughed and told me she is strong-willed.
Sister’s story weaves through the stories of other Europeans who were detained at Fort Armstrong. Sr. Gertrude Marie remembers, “On the morning of December 7, I was at Mass, sitting in a back pew. Looking up through the window, I could see planes spiraling overhead. When Mass was over I wanted to go up to the third floor to see what was going on, but a sister stopped me and said I wasn’t allowed.” Gertrude asked the sister why she couldn’t. “Then she told me there was a war on.”
Sister Gertrude Maria was born in Rostack, Germany; Her father was a German, her mother was an Australian, but she was considered a German citizen by marriage. She suspected that the authorities would request her to show her identification papers at some time, so she gathered them together. She never suspected that she would be detained.
She remembers that the night of December 7, 1941 a blackout was imposed; no lights could be visible. There was no exception for religious traditions. But according to Catholic tradition, the Blessed Sacrament had to be continually lit. “Mother Louise did not extinguish the candle in the sisters’ chapel and when an air raid warden came in to tell her the candle had to be put out, she tried to explain her reasoning, to no avail. So we moved the candle under the altar, but the flame shone through the stained glass window.”
Sr. Julie Louise wrote in her memoirs that she remembers hearing a loudspeaker outside, ‘“Corner of Sixth and Waialae, get that light off!’ Mother moved the candle again, but it still could be seen. After the third warning, the candle was extinguished.”
Sr. Gertrude Maria remembers that on the night of December 7, 1941, “A young secretary from one of the military bases spent the night with us. She knew one of the sisters and asked if she could stay at the convent. She had seen the bombing and was so afraid she cowered at the clap of any loud noise. The woman couldn’t even stay in a room by herself so the sisters put her in with me. During the night, she held my hand any time there was a loud noise.
“The next day in the paper [Honolulu Advertiser] there was news that the Japanese had landed behind St. Louis College which was just up the hill from us. The day following that, I went to Benediction. Sr. Mary was in charge of the door. As I was walking back from the chapel to the dorm, Sr. Mary came to me and said that there was a man waiting for me in the parlor. She said the man was wearing a Honolulu Police Department uniform.”
Sr. Gertrude Maria explained, “Since I was a German citizen and had to periodically register with the Immigration Service I had been expecting the police to come to verify my papers but the police officer didn’t ask for my papers, he asked if I would accompany but did not say to where. I asked him if I would be home for supper and he assured me I would. I then went to my room to get my purse, my alien card and a warm jacket. It was fortuitous that I took my jacket because Fort Armstrong was cold at night. Those were the only clothes I had with me for my seven weeks of internment. I could still visualize my skirt; it was red-plaid.”
Information resources include an interview with Sr. Gertrude Marie and the Journal of the Community of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. Volume 1935-1949. Translated from French by Sr. Mary Rose Gordon, S.S, C.C.
In fact, Gertrude Erika Schroeder was not taken to Sand Island Relocation Camp, she was detained at Fort Armstrong; it was six weeks before the sisters obtained her release.
I met Gertrude Schroeder by chance while I doing research at the Sacred Hearts Community Archives in Kaimuki. I had read that a Sister of the Sacred Hearts was interned during the war and I was curious why that particular nun was considered a threat. I discovered it wasn’t a nun who was detained, but a 1941 graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy—a seventeen-years-old student at the University, who was a boarder at the convent on Nuuanu Avenue. Her name was Gertrude Erika Schroeder. She was a German citizen, born in Germany and immigrated to Hawaii with her parents in 19…
When the Sacred Hearts archivist, Charlene Alipio, asked me who I was researching, she asked, “Do you want to meet her? She lives here.” Then she led me down a hallway.
I waited in the corridor, standing next to a life-sized unidentified statue. I was already rehearsing my apology for intruding on the sister. I estimated her age to be 83, and was unsure of her willingness to talk about World War II. From behind the closed door, I overheard that the sister had just returned from the doctors, and bits of encouragement from Ms. Alipio for her to meet me. Then, the door swung open and Sr. Gertrude Maria came forward.
Sr. Gertrude Maria used a walker, she was so hunched over it caused her to focus on the floor in front of her. I was sure this was a mistake, but then she looked up at me, smiled and said, “After all these years, somebody wants to hear my story.”
Our first meeting was brief. We sat at a patio set in an open courtyard. Next to us was a cafeteria table on it was a mosaic tile portrait of Father Damien about the size of a stained glass window.
Sr. Gertrude settled in the shade. Her hair is an absolute white, devoid of any color, her skin is fair and smooth, her manner is gracious, and her voice is elegant. She is at one time, physically frail, yet mentally bold, direct and clear. During one of our visits I asked if she was red-headed when she was young, and she answered that she was and wanted to know why I would presume that. “You have the passion of a red head,” I answered. She laughed and told me she is strong-willed.
Sister’s story weaves through the stories of other Europeans who were detained at Fort Armstrong. Sr. Gertrude Marie remembers, “On the morning of December 7, I was at Mass, sitting in a back pew. Looking up through the window, I could see planes spiraling overhead. When Mass was over I wanted to go up to the third floor to see what was going on, but a sister stopped me and said I wasn’t allowed.” Gertrude asked the sister why she couldn’t. “Then she told me there was a war on.”
Sister Gertrude Maria was born in Rostack, Germany; Her father was a German, her mother was an Australian, but she was considered a German citizen by marriage. She suspected that the authorities would request her to show her identification papers at some time, so she gathered them together. She never suspected that she would be detained.
She remembers that the night of December 7, 1941 a blackout was imposed; no lights could be visible. There was no exception for religious traditions. But according to Catholic tradition, the Blessed Sacrament had to be continually lit. “Mother Louise did not extinguish the candle in the sisters’ chapel and when an air raid warden came in to tell her the candle had to be put out, she tried to explain her reasoning, to no avail. So we moved the candle under the altar, but the flame shone through the stained glass window.”
Sr. Julie Louise wrote in her memoirs that she remembers hearing a loudspeaker outside, ‘“Corner of Sixth and Waialae, get that light off!’ Mother moved the candle again, but it still could be seen. After the third warning, the candle was extinguished.”
Sr. Gertrude Maria remembers that on the night of December 7, 1941, “A young secretary from one of the military bases spent the night with us. She knew one of the sisters and asked if she could stay at the convent. She had seen the bombing and was so afraid she cowered at the clap of any loud noise. The woman couldn’t even stay in a room by herself so the sisters put her in with me. During the night, she held my hand any time there was a loud noise.
“The next day in the paper [Honolulu Advertiser] there was news that the Japanese had landed behind St. Louis College which was just up the hill from us. The day following that, I went to Benediction. Sr. Mary was in charge of the door. As I was walking back from the chapel to the dorm, Sr. Mary came to me and said that there was a man waiting for me in the parlor. She said the man was wearing a Honolulu Police Department uniform.”
Sr. Gertrude Maria explained, “Since I was a German citizen and had to periodically register with the Immigration Service I had been expecting the police to come to verify my papers but the police officer didn’t ask for my papers, he asked if I would accompany but did not say to where. I asked him if I would be home for supper and he assured me I would. I then went to my room to get my purse, my alien card and a warm jacket. It was fortuitous that I took my jacket because Fort Armstrong was cold at night. Those were the only clothes I had with me for my seven weeks of internment. I could still visualize my skirt; it was red-plaid.”
Information resources include an interview with Sr. Gertrude Marie and the Journal of the Community of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. Volume 1935-1949. Translated from French by Sr. Mary Rose Gordon, S.S, C.C.
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