The Kooskia Internment Camp, a unique, virtually forgotten, World War II Detention and road building facility, was located on the remote, wild, and scenic Lochsa River in north central Idaho. Between mid-1943 and mid-1945 the Kooskia camp held an all-male contingent of some 265 so-called "enemy aliens" of Japanese ancestry. Most came from 21 states and 2 territories, but others were from Mexico; some were even kidnapped from Panama and Peru. Two alien internee doctors, an Italian and later a German, provided medical services; 25 Caucasian employees included several women; and a Japanese American man censored the mail. Despite having committed no crimes, but suspected of potential sabotage, these noncitizen U.S. residents of Japanese descent had been interend elsewhere in the U.S. following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. They volunteered for transfer to the Kooskia Internment Camp and received wages for helping construct the Lewis-Clark Highway, now Highway 12, supervised by U.S. Bureau of Public Roads employees. Knowledge of their rights under the 1929 Geneva Convention empowered the Kooskia internees to successfully challenge administrative mistreatment, thereby regaining much of the self-respect they had lost by being so unjustly interned. Here, finally, is their story. --back cover

1939-1945, Américains d'origine japonaise Relogement et internement forcés, 1942-1945, Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945 Camps d'internement Idaho, History, Idaho, Idaho Kooskia, Internment camps, Japanese Americans Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945, Kooskia (Idaho) History, Kooskia Internment Camp (Idaho), Kooskia Internment Camp (Idaho) History

Anti-Japanese attitudes : foreshadowing Japanese American internment and incarceration Anticipating internee arrival : establishing the Kooskia Internment Camp No barbed wire : living conditions at the Kooskia Internment Camp "A real he-man's job" : work assignments and working conditions A powerful petition : internees protest deteriorating conditions at the Kooskia Camp Finding freedom in leisure : recreation at the Kooskia Internment Camp Candid and outspoken : internee and employee perspectives on the Kooskia Internment Camp Surviving external scrutiny : inspections, rehearings, and releases Friends or enemies? : internees interact with the "home front" Back to barbed wire : closure of the Kooskia Internment Camp List of all men at the Kooskia Internment Camp