VOA标准英语2010年-Former Detainees Return to World War I

The buildings used to house internees are still standing¹ today, and serve as classrooms and dorms for United Tribes Technical College.

North Dakota is a land of broad, open prairie known for its Native American heritage, the travels of explorers Lewis and Clark and record snow and cold.

But there are parts of North Dakota's past that many are unaware² of.

During World War II, it was home to an internment³ camp for aliens, as well as American citizens the government considered a threat to the nation's security.

Courtesy United Tribes Technical College
Established as a military post in 1895, Fort Lincoln was converted into a detention⁴ center in 1941.

Painful past

Dennis Neuman is the public information director for United Tribes Technical College.

Before the college was established in 1969, this site was a U.S. Army post known as Fort Lincoln.

"They turned this fort into a camp for Germans and German alien citizens, German nationals and Japanese and Japanese-American citizens, and some other nationalities," says Neuman.

On an overcast⁵ spring day, 60 people - former internees and descendants of internees - gathered at the college for a conference to recall those times, and to create a memorial to those who lived through it.

Courtesy United Tribes Technical College
In 1942, the Department of Justice issued notices advising aliens to register for Certificates of Identification at their local post office.

Recording⁶ history

College president David Gipp sees a significant parallel between what camp internees endured and what the many Native American tribes represented at the college suffered at the hands of the federal government.

"We not only lost our land, but we lost a lot of our fundamentals in terms of the ability to move across the land, the ability to express ourselves, our traditional forms of government," says Gipp, who believes it's imperative⁷ for United Tribes Technical College to support this preservation⁸ of the past.

"And it's important to record this for history. Especially people that don't realize that here was a place on the high northern plains, the high prairie, where this kind of thing occurred."

"This kind of thing" included the incarceration⁹ of 1,800 Japanese, 1,500 Germans, as well as smaller numbers of Italians and other Europeans at Fort Lincoln during the war years, under the Alien Enemy Control Program.

Ebel Family Collection
Max Ebel, far right, boarding the SS New York in May 1937, bound for New York City.
Internment camp

Karen Ebel's father emigrated to the U.S. in 1937 from Germany to flee the increasingly oppressive Nazi¹⁰ state, and began to take the steps necessary to become a U.S. citizen. The process took several years.

"The day that he actually filed his citizenship¹¹ papers was December 5th," Ebel says, "and, of course, we all know what happened on December 7, 1941. So, the process sort of came to a screeching¹² halt at that point."

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany. Nine months later, Ebel's father was arrested. He remained a prisoner in his newly-adopted country for most of the war.

Like family members of many of the internees, Ebel didn't learn about that chapter of her father's life for many years. She says anger doesn't begin to describe her feelings when he told her the story. "Hurt and betrayal. I guess maybe a lot of the same emotions that my father felt because of what happened to him."

That was the story of tens of thousands of other legal aliens, as well as thousands of Latin Americans of German and Japanese ancestry¹³, who were brought to the U.S. at the request of the Roosevelt Administration.

Arthur Kazuya Ogami attended the Ft. Lincoln Memorial conference at United Tribes Technical College.

No guarantee

American citizenship was no guarantee of safety, though.

The U.S. sent 120,000 Japanese-Americans to detention camps. Most of them were on the West coast. But Arthur Kazuya Ogami was among 650 Japanese-Americans at Fort Lincoln who were coerced¹⁴ into renouncing¹⁵ their American citizenship and were later deported¹⁶ to Japan. 

Ogami regained¹⁷ his U.S. citizenship in 1952 and returned the following year. He recalls his emotion as he stepped back onto U.S. soil.

"It felt great," he says, as his voice quivers. "I thought I'd never be able to come back."

Ogami says he holds no grudge¹⁸, but the hurt lingers. "It's still here. And the memory's here. And I want those memories recorded... documented... go into the classrooms. This is why I'm willing to talk." 

The National Park Service has awarded grants to preserve and interpret more than 50 historic locations across the country where internees like Arthur Ogami and Max Ebel were held.

The former site of Fort Lincoln is among them, and the conference participants here hope to have a memorial in place within the next five years.
 

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

3 internment   

n.拘留

参考例句：

• Certainly the recent attacks against the internment camps are evidence enough. 很明显，最近营地遭受到的攻击就是一个足好的证明。 来自互联网
• The chapters on the internment are Both readaBle and well researched. 这些关于拘留的章节不仅具可读性而且研究得很透彻。 来自互联网

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 overcast   

adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天

参考例句：

• The overcast and rainy weather found out his arthritis.阴雨天使他的关节炎发作了。
• The sky is overcast with dark clouds.乌云满天。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

8 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

9 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

10 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

11 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

12 screeching   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• Monkeys were screeching in the trees. 猴子在树上吱吱地叫着。
• the unedifying sight of the two party leaders screeching at each other 两党党魁狺狺对吠的讨厌情景

13 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

14 coerced   

v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• He was coerced into making a confession. 他被迫招供。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 renouncing   

v.声明放弃( renounce的现在分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃

参考例句：

• He enraged the government by renouncing the agreement. 他否认那项协议，从而激怒了政府。 来自辞典例句
• What do you get for renouncing Taiwan and embracing Beijing instead? 抛弃台湾，并转而拥抱北京之后，你会得到什么？ 来自互联网

16 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

18 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。