May 5, 2005
Internment of German American Civilians
On May 31, at 1:00 PM CDT THE INTERNMENT OF GERMAN AMERICAN CIVILIANS will be presented by retired Major, US Air Force, Arthur D.Jacobs and Eberhard Fuhr who was interned by the USA from March 1943 until September 1947. Presented in Gallery 227 at the Art Institute located on Michigan Ave in downtown Chicago.
They will discuss alien registration,travel restrictions,exclusion from certain "zones", repatriation, deportation, prisoner exchanges, constitutional questions, and of course the actual internment of over 15,000 Europeans in various sites around the US.
Arthur Jacobs is the author of THE PRISON CALLED HOHENASPBERG, and the creator and Web master of http://www.foitimes.com which documents the internment saga.
The presentation is part of a "WITNESS" program to the exhibit opening MAY 7 entitled : 1945:CREATIVITY and CRISIS Chicago Architecture and Design of the World War ll 1945 was the pivotal year, the first use of the ABOMB (which was conceived within city blocks of my internment site in Chicago) and the conclusion to that war. It is also the watershed of the culture and mores of pre and post war, of design, architecture,transportation,highways, life styles and much more, that Stanley Tigerman, the internationally renowned architect, and creator of this exhibit presents until it closes in January 2006. For complete information, contact the Art Institute Department of Public Affairs, Media contact Chai Lee, clee4@artic.edu or (312)443-3625.
This is one of the rare occasions when the internment of Europeans is publicly presented while discussing their consequent losses, and their trauma. Ramifications of that exist to this very day, which requires debate and discussion about civil and human rights as well as necessity of the state to protect itself and its citizens in times of crisis and peril.
EBERHARD FUHR 2373 Irene Drive Palatine, IL. 60074 (847)991-3424