In law, an enemy alien is a citizen of a country which is in a state of conflict with the land in which he or she is located. Usually, but not always, the countries are in a state of declared war.

[edit] Australia

During World War I Australia passed the War Precautions Act 1914 which among other powers included the power to intern enemy aliens, that is nationals of a country at war with the King of the United Kingdom, and others who were thought to pose a threat to Australia’s security. Almost 7000 people were interned including about 4500 enemy aliens and British nationals of German ancestry resident in Australia.^[1] 2,940 German and Austrian men were interned in ten different camps in Australia. In 1915 many of the smaller ones were closed and their inmates transferred to others. The largest camp was at Holsworthy in New South Wales.^[2] Their families were placed in a camp near Canberra.

During World War II Australia interned enemy aliens under the National Security Act of 1939 in various camps located throughout Australia. Altogether, about 7000 Australian residents were interned at some stage between 1939 and 1946 - mostly German nationals and Italian nationals (4,721 Italian people were interned^[3]).^[1]

Australia also accommodated about 8000 overseas internees during World War II: from the United Kingdom, from Dutch, British and French colonies in the Pacific and South-East Asia, and from the Middle East.^[1] These included 2500 internees from Britain, mostly German or Austrian refugees, who arrived in Australia in August 1940 on the British troopship Dunera.^[1] There were also 507 political prisoners from the Tanah Merah camp in West New Guinea transferred by Dutch authorities to Australia, many of whom died during their internment.^[1]

[edit] Germany

[edit] United Kingdom

At the outbreak of World War II, in 1939, the United Kingdom had become a place of refuge for people who had fled Nazi persecution, including Jews and political refugees. At first, the authorities interned these refugees with other enemy residents, without distinction. Later on, when Italy also declared war, significant numbers of Italian residents were also interned.

The Isle of Man, relatively isolated from the British mainland and with a useful amount of holiday accommodation was used to provide housing for the "Alien Civilians" (as it had in World War I). There were also efforts to move internees from Britain. In July, 1940, the Arandora Star was torpedoed and sunk while transporting Italian and German aliens to North America; 743 died, including prisoners, crew and guards. The 813 surviving prisoners were subsequently included in the 2,500 men transported by HMT Dunera for internment in Hay, New South Wales.

[edit] United States

A well known example of enemy aliens were the Japanese citizens residing in the United States during World War II. Many of these Japanese and Japanese-Americans were imprisoned in internment camps by President Roosevelt during wartime, alongside many Italian-Americans. It is important, however, to recognize that the Japanese-Americans and Italian-Americans were not actually "aliens", as they held American citizenship, only the non-American citizens can be correctly termed "enemy aliens" and be interned. However, German American, Italian American and Japanese American permanent resident aliens were interned in the United States during WWII. For the record we know that 10,905 Italian Americans and 11,229 Japanese Americans were interned in many different camps and sites across the country. German Americans were held in more than 50 different locations.

Citizens of an enemy country who lived in the USA during World War II, were required to have a "Enemy Alien" card and register monthly with the authorities. Similar regulations existed in Canada and Mexico.

[edit] See also

• 1798 US Alien and Sedition Acts
• alien (law)
• legal alien
• illegal alien
• resident alien
• nonresident alien
• Crystal City, Texas

[edit] References

• Handbook of Texas online entry on WWII internment camps in Texas.