Minidoka was one of many terrible Japanese relocation camps (internment camps) that took place in WWII. It all started with the bombing of pearl harbor. Japan bombed pearl harbor on December 7, 1941. After the bombing, our country didn't trust the japanese that were living here anymore so they forced them to live in relocation camps until the war was over. That is how the camp Minidoka started.
Minidoka opened on August 10, 1942, and remained in operation until October 28, 1945. During this period, 10,000 evacuees from Oregon, Washington, and Alaska lived at the camp at Minidoka, which the WRA built to mimic a small American town. The camp had a 600-bed hospital, schools, a library, fire station, food and retail stores, barbershops, salons, and recreational areas, such as theatres, ballparks, swimming pools, and social halls. In addition to the recreational and service buildings, the camp had 35 residential blocks, each of which consisted of 12 sleeping quarters. All of these blocks included a central H shaped building, where residents could shower and do their laundry.…show more content… the WRA planned to develop the relocation center into a farming community, but over time, as the number of residents and facilities at Minidoka continued to grow, the evacuees began doing many jobs to support the camp. The inmates worked as doctors, nurses, mechanics, dentists, draftsmen, surveyors, and laborers, who helped the Bureau of Reclamation design and build the camp. Despite holding respectable positions at the camp, the Japanese evacuees earned very low wages for performing these jobs compared to the minimum wage available to Americans working in the same professions outside of the relocation centers. On average, most inmates at Minidoka earned between $12 and $19 per month; meanwhile prisoners of war during this time earned on average $19.50 a
