Topaz 1942–1946

Fifteen miles west at Abraham stood the bleak desert site of Topaz, one of ten concentration camps in Western America where 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were interned against their will during World War II. They were victims of wartime hysteria, racial animosity, and economic opportunism on the West Coast. Confined behind barbed wire fence, guarded by armed sentries, and held for no justifiable reason, the internees, two-thirds of whom were American citizens and most of whom were women and children, endured the bitter physical discomforts of desert heat and cold and suffered a shocking affront to their sense of justice, fair play, and human dignity. Former residents of Topaz remembered with grateful appreciation the friendliness and understanding shown by the people of Delta during this period of trial and despair.

Delta, Utah · United States