Germfask, Michigan

American Concentration Camps for Conscientious Objectors in World War II

A few years ago I ran across an old Chicago Newspaper (I think it was the Sun Times), I don't remember the exact date but the main headline was about the recent death of the famous World War II war correspondent Ernie Pyle (died April 18, 1945).

The second front page article was by a reporter who had traveled to the concentration camps for Conscientious Objectors near Germfask, Michigan.

In the article he said there were about 60,000 inmates spread over some 12 camps (i.e. about 5,000 each).

Other Camps:

Since then I have found out that there were numerous "Civilian Public Service (CPS)" camps for Conscientious Objectors of which Germfask was only one.

This list of some of the camps is found at Civilian Public Service Union:

Camp #16 (Kane, Pa)
Camp # 20 (Wells Tannery)
Camp #21 (Cascade Locks)
Camp #23 (Coshocton)
Camp #26 (Alexian)
Camp #27 (Mulberry, Fla)
Camp #27 (Orlando)
Camp #27 (Tallahassee)
Camp #35 (North Fork, Ca)
Camp #36 (Santa Barbara)
Camp #37 (Coleville)
Camp #41 (Williamsburg)
Camp #42 (Wellston)
Camp #43 (Puerto Rico)
Camp #46 (Big Flats)
Camp #47 (Sykesville)
Camp #49 (Byberry)
Camp #50 (Presbyterian Hospital)
Camp #51 (Fort Steilacoom)
Camp #52 (Powellsville)
Camp #56 (Waldport)
Camp #59 (Elkton)
Camp #61 (Duke)
Camp #73 (Columbus)
Camp #75 (Medical Lake)
Camp #76 (Glendora)
Camp #77 (Greystone Park, NJ)
Camp #79 (Utah)
Camp #80 (Lyons)
Camp #81 (Middletown, GI unit)
Camp #82 (Newtown)
Camp #83 (Warren St.)
Camp #84 (Concord)
Camp #87 (Brattleboro)
Camp #88 (Agusta, Me)
Camp #94 (Trenton, SD)
Camp #100 Rutland, VT
Camp #108 Gatlinburg, TN
Camp #111 Mancos, CO
Camp #114 Mt. Weather, Bluemont, VA
Camp #115 Mass. General, Boston MA
Camp #115 Minneapolis, MN
Camp #115 Pinehurst, NC
Camp #115 Rochester, NY
Camp #115 Welfare Island, New York, NY
Camp #119 New Lisbon, NJ
Camp #121 Bedford, VA
Camp #127 American Fork, UT
Camp #128 Lapine, OR
Camp #129 Pennhurst, Spring City, PA
Camp #130 Pownal, ME
Camp #131 Cherokee, IO
Camp #132 Laurel, MD
Camp #134 Belden, CA
Camp #135 Germfask
Camp #136 Skillman, NJ
Camp #140 Jaundice Unit, Philadelphia, PA
Camp #140 New Haven, CT
Camp #148 Minersville, CA
Warren, Pennsylvania (?)

I count about 60 camps. I don't know how typical Germfask was, but using it as average, this would represent about 3.5 million men (60 camps x 60,000 each).
Considering that the total armed services for the US in WWII numbered about 14 million, this would represent quite a disafection rate (approximately 20%).
First we found out that Japanese Americans were interned, then some Italian Americans and now Conscientious Objectors too.

While I certainly don't advocate that our camps were anything like Hitler's death camps in Germany, it would be interesting to know just how many people were interned in the US during World War II?

...and what about next time?

Other Conscientious Objector Sites:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors Home Page

NISBCO: The National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors

THE NONVIOLENCE WEB: A Guide to the Contemporary Peace Movement

A PBS program about World War II Conscientious Objectors: http://www.pbs.org/itvs/thegoodwar

Click here to e-mail me at: swezeyt@winternet.com

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