EISENBERG

Probing Jewish silence on Japanese-American internment

By DEBORAH MOON

article created on: 2008-11-15T00:00:00

Salem author Ellen Eisenberg will discuss her recently published book, “The First to Cry Down Injustice: Western Jews and Japanese Removal During WWII,” at two events in the coming month.

“From Protest to Collaboration: Western Jews and the Plight of Japanese Americans during World War II,” will be the title of both lectures. Eisenberg’s 11:15 a.m., Nov. 23 presentation at Temple Beth Sholom in Salem is free. On Dec. 18, she will repeat her talk in Portland as part of the Pacific Northwest Writers and Scholars lecture series of the Institute for Judaic Studies. Cost for the Portland talk is $5 general or free for students. It meets at Congregation Neveh Shalom at 7 p.m. and is cosponsored by the Oregon Jewish Museum.

Both lectures will focus on Eisenberg’s exploration of Western Jewish responses to the removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. She said she will talk about communities up and down the West Coast, but will illustrate her talk drawing on examples from the Portland experience. Eisenberg is the Dwight and Margaret Lear Professor of American History at Willamette University.

In the acknowledgements section of her book, Eisenberg writes: “Familiar with the literature on Jewish work against prejudice, I expected to find some evidence of Jewish opposition to wartime Japanese American policy. I was taken aback by the Jewish silence in Portland and determined to understand it.”

During the following decade, she expanded her research along the West Coast where Jews and Japanese Americans lived in close proximity, making the issue more difficult to ignore.

The resulting book includes four chapters—“Western Jews, Whiteness, and the Asian ‘Other,’ ” “A Studious Silence: Western Jewish Responses to Japanese Removal,” “To Be the First to Cry Down Injustice? Western Jews and Opposition to Nikkei (Japanese American) Policy” and “Fighting Fascism: The LAJCC and the Case for Removal.”

Asked in an e-mail interview if after researching and writing the book she felt more disappointed or understanding of West Coast Jews’ response, Eisenberg replied:

“I felt a combination of these responses. I think that many people expect that Jews would have spoken out—we are so used to hearing about the active role of Jews in civil rights/civil liberties causes that we assume this would have been the case. … So, of course, when I first started researching, it was disappointing that such a response was not the norm in this instance.

“But, of course, in researching it, I came to better understand the context. In Portland, for example, there was virtually no opposition at all … Portland was also a community where there was relatively little contact between the Jewish and Japanese American communities (the neighborhoods were not adjacent). In other communities, such personal relationships often motivated those who spoke out.

“Finally, I initially looked at silence and saw it as a lack of opposition. After I came to understand more fully the context—including the overwhelming anti-Japanese American sentiment on the West Coast in general and Portland in particular—I started seeing it differently.

“Unlike many other groups that joined in the chorus supporting internment, the Jewish community did not—which suggests a recognition of the injustice. … In addition, while they did not speak out directly, many of their statements against discrimination and against harsh wartime policies can be read as implied criticism. Given the context, I think that is important to recognize.”

While Eisenberg said she found no active resistance from prominent Portlanders, Jewish or otherwise, during the interments, Judge Gus Solomon did work with a group of activists later in the war to prepare to welcome Japanese Americans back after the war.

“In doing this, Solomon and his allies were working against a vigorous anti-Nikkei movement trying to prevent their return,” wrote Eisenberg in an e-mail.

For more information on the Nov. 23 talk in Salem call 503-362-5004. For information on the Dec. 18 talk contact Sylvia Frankel at frankel@lclark.edu.