There are no physical reminders of the old World War II-era internment camp that once existed in Sharp Park, but what it represented and the pain it caused those who were once locked inside was revealed during a presentation about the infamous site on Saturday clear.
The session was hosted by the women’s group of Le Donne d’Italia and chaired by Christina Olivolo. She’s a native Pacifician who, like many others who grew up in the area, had no idea that this country was once home to as many as 2,500 immigrants of Italian, Japanese, and German descent.
“I’m Italian-American and I had no idea,” she said. “It seemed like most of the people I spoke to didn’t know it happened.”
A year ago, Olivolo read Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II and was overwhelmed by what she learned. Motivated to share the history and stories of the detention center, she asked author Lawrence DiStasi to give a presentation at Sharp Park, but health issues limited his travel from Bolinas.
So, Olivolo, who is not a historian, took on the task of researching all sorts of books, photos and written accounts and identifying the surviving prisoners. Just over two dozen people attended on Saturday, most of them of Italian heritage, to learn a little history and how paranoia at the highest levels of American government led to a prison in their backyard near where the archery club is now.
In 1939, then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, with the assistance of President Franklin Roosevelt, compiled a list of immigrants of Italian, German, and Japanese nationality who the government believed might be spies or pose a threat to the nation
Security. By 1940, Italians were the largest immigrant group in America, at an estimated 5 million nationwide. San Francisco was the largest hub in the western states.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the US officially entered the war. Authorities began rounding up foreigners across the country who were on Hoover’s list. Roosevelt’s executive order allowed the military to force Italians, Germans and Japanese into detention centers. Without evidence, authorities booked immigrants and even American citizens in camps across the country.
Sharp Park’s “enemy alien” camp opened in 1942 and was primarily a processing or holding area for prisoners before they were transported to larger resettlement camps inland. Almost all were men, but a few women were booked, including several from Hawaii. Internees were held for weeks or months and no one really understood why they were being held. None have been charged with legitimate crimes, Olivolo said. Most of the Italian prisoners were released in March 1943 when Italy surrendered, but the camp remained open until the end of the war.
The capacity varied between 450 and 1,200 people, but at times it held 2,500 German, Italian and Japanese internees. The camp was manned by armed guards and surrounded by ten-foot fences with barbed wire and five watchtowers. Quonset huts were originally used before barracks were built. The barracks were destroyed after the war. One of the Quonset cabins was moved to Carmel Avenue and is a Pacifica Co-op Nursery School classroom.
Today you would have a hard time finding any evidence of the detention center in the overgrown vegetation next to the San Francisco Archers Club. But during the weekend’s presentation, it didn’t take much to get an idea.
“We didn’t even know this was here,” Olivolo said. “It got to me. Why weren’t we told that? We should have been told. People need to know. I found it very disturbing that we didn’t even know about it.” ▪