DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at Crystal City tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most folks who know their World War II history have heard about the Japanese-American internment camps on the West Coast. That story has been told.
But there's another chapter — lesser-known, the marker itself calls it that — and part of it played out right here in Zavala County, Texas, in a place called Crystal City. When the U.S. entered the war in 1941, fear moved fast. The worry was enemy agents — not just in the country, but across the Western Hemisphere.
And so the Immigration and Naturalization Service went to work building a camp system. Not for Japanese-Americans this time, but for Japanese, German, and Italian nationals — people arrested in the U.S., in Hawaii, in Peru, in other Latin American countries. The idea was to hold them until they could be exchanged for American detainees held abroad.
A swap. Human currency in a world gone sideways. Three of these INS camps were in Texas — at Kenedy, at Seagoville, and at Crystal City.
And Crystal City was something else entirely. It was converted from an existing migratory labor camp. Started at 200 acres, then grew — expanded to almost 500 acres before it was done, with agricultural areas and support facilities spreading out around the edges.
But the heart of it, the primary living area, was a 100-acre compound. Ten-foot barbed wire fence all the way around. Guard towers.
Spotlights cutting through the South Texas dark. And inside that fence? Seven hundred buildings.
Family housing. Schools. A hospital.
Shops, warehouses, markets, recreation areas. Like a small town, the marker says — and it wasn't wrong. Crystal City was the largest internment facility in the entire United States.
And the only one built exclusively for families. Though it was originally intended for Japanese internees, Crystal City also held Germans and a few Italians. Throughout the war, the population averaged twenty-eight hundred people.
It peaked at nearly thirty-four hundred in December of 1944, two-thirds of them Japanese. Think about that for a moment. Nearly thirty-four hundred people — families, children, people who had been pulled from their lives in countries up and down the Western Hemisphere — living behind a ten-foot fence in Zavala County, Texas.
When the war finally ended, the government paroled internees throughout the U.S. or sent them to their home countries. The other camps closed. Crystal City kept going.
It was the only one still operating by June of 1946. It didn't officially close until February 27, 1948. And when it did, the property transferred to the city and the school district.
A labor camp became an internment camp. An internment camp became a school. The ground holds all of it — every chapter — right there in Crystal City.
What the marker says
When the U.S. entered the war in 1941, an immediate fear was the possibility of enemy agents in the country and the Western Hemisphere. As one response, thousands of Japanese-Americans were moved away from the West Coast. Lesser-known was an internment camp system operated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The government built these camps to hold Japanese, German and Italian nationals arrested in the U.S. and Hawaii, and in Peru and other Latin American countries until they could be exchanged for American detainees. Three of these camps were in Texas at Kenedy, Seagoville and Crystal City. The Crystal City camp, converted from an existing migratory labor camp, was the largest internment facility in the U.S. and the only one built exclusively for families. The original 200-acre camp later expanded to almost 500 acres, with agricultural areas and support facilities. The primary living area was a 100-acre compound enclosed by a 10-foot barbed wire fence, complete with guard towers and spotlights. Like a small town, the compound had 700 buildings and included family housing, schools, a hospital, shops, warehouses, markets and recreation areas. Although intended for Japanese, the Crystal City camp also held Germans and a few Italians. The population averaged 2800 throughout the war. It reached a peak of almost 3400 in December 1944, two-thirds of whom were Japanese. At the end of the war, the government paroled internees throughout the U.S. or sent them to their home countries. The Crystal City camp was the only one still in operation by June 1946. It officially closed February 27, 1948, and the property transferred to the city and school district. Texas in World War II, V+60 (2005)