The Train to Crystal City

The Train to Crystal City

This is the untold story of not just Japanese-Americans held in US Internment camps during WWII, but the largely unknown story of German-Americans and Italian-Americans as well, many of whom had lived in the US for years but had not gained citizenship. Based on unreliable sources and nonexistent evidence, they were taken from their homes and deemed enemies of America and thrown into internment camps.  In addition, this story reveals how their American born spouses and children were also incarcerated.

"The Train to Crystal City" also details a secret prisoner exchange designed and approved by FDR whereby these prisoners were sent to enemy combatant countries along with their spouses and American born children, often against their will, in exchange for key individuals being held behind enemy lines, including downed airmen and US businessmen. Not only did they incarcerate those that were in the United States, but the military also kidnapped foreign nationals---German-Mexicans or Peruvian-Japanese along with their families, with the aid of their respective governments, who were then shipped to the US to be held at the internment camps as potential exchange candidates. Many of those that were eventually exchanged, had never actually been to the war torn countries of their heritage and didn't even speak the language.