Tulelake Segregation Center - Newell, CA - World War II Sites on Waymarking.com

May 1942          TULE LAKE          March 1946

Tule Lake was one of ten American concentration camps established during World War II to incarcerate 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, of whom the majority were American citizens, behind barbed wire and guard towers without charge, trial, or establishment of guilt. These camps are reminders of how racism, economic and political exploitation, and expediency can undermine the constitutional guarantees of United States citizens and aliens alike. May the injustices and humiliation suffered here never recur.

California Registered Historical Landmark No. 850-2. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Northern California-Western Nevada District Council, Japanese American Citizens League, May 27, 1979.

If you drive a little NE along County Road 176, there is a gate entrance (only open for guided tours during summer months) with a couple of signs. One of the signs contains an interpretive display that reads:

Tule Lake Unit
WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument

World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument was established in 2008 in part to serve as a reminder of the grave injustice endured by Japanese Americans incarcerated at the Tule Lake Segregation Center. The Tule Lake Unit also preserves a portion of the tumultuous history of the United States from the 1930s through the end of the war, through the stories of Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees, Japanese Americans, and Prisoners of War who are part of the history at Camp Tulelake. The Tule Lake Unit is a reminder to all Americans that the Constitution is no more than a piece of paper unless we are willing to defend its principles.

The Tule Lake Segregation Center began in 1942 as one of ten War Relocation Centers. Initially it held 15,276 of the approximately 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry who were forcibly removed from their homes by the President Executive Order 9066. It was transformed into a segregation center in 1943 following a deeply flawed "loyalty questionnaire" that was used to separate supposedly "loyal" from "disloyal" Japanese Americans. Under segregation, the center's population expanded to 18,789. Overcrowding, harsh living conditions, and mismanagement contributed to the strife and controversy that led to construction of a stockade with a jail, and the implementation of martial law.

Camp Tule Lake began as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in 1935. Until 1942 it housed young men from around the nation who were employed to rehabilitate and expand the use of public lands. During World War II the camp was used by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), first in February 1943 when it was used to hold men from the Tule Lake War Relocation Center who refused to answer the "loyalty questionnaire". It was used a second time in October 1943 to house 243 Japanese Americans from other War Relocation Centers who were brought in to harvest crops at the Tule Lake Segregation center. In 1944, after local farmers petitioned the US Government for additional farm labor, 150 Italian Prisoners of War (POW) converted the buildings into a POW camp. Soon 800 German POWs arrived at the camp and worked in the Tulelake Basin helping local farmers tend and harvest their fields.

All that remains of this Japanese interment camp are a few preserved buildings and a monument (inaccessible without a guide) that notes this site as being National Historic Landmark in 2006. This site was also listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Please call or visit the Tulelake Butte Valley Fairgrounds for guided tours during the summer months (530) 260-0537.