Solivagant:
Any OUV? Leaving aside any questions of likelihood of it happening etc - purely in terms of comparison with other sites getting inscribed and the new UNESCO policy on Sites of Memory?
Japanese-American Internment Camps [
Flickr Album]
Manzanar is a National Historic Site and includes an excellent museum. Since all ten "War Relocation Centers" primarily had hastily built wooden barracks that were mostly dismantled after 1945-1946, visitors can expect limited remains. Some have a few barracks still standing or have been reconstructed/preserved, including guard towers. Manzanar includes a cenotaph honoring the Japanese-Americans (nisei and issei) buried there, including markers for other graves. There are also ruins and foundations of gardens, the layout of the site is generally intact.
Tule Lake is a National Monument and includes an original stockade used for interrogation and detention. Tule Lake housed the so-called "No . . No" internees, those who responded unsatisfactorily to the infamous "
Loyalty Questionnaire". Tule Lake does have some other buildings still intact, but are not always accessible to the public.
Poston is a Historic District and National Historic Landmark, which is unique since its located within the boundaries of a Native American reservation and there are numerous examples of how these two communities adjusted to each other and eventually formed certain levels of cooperation. The most significant site here is the
Poston Elementary School which was designed and built by Japanese-Americans. Interpretation is minimal, there have been efforts made to eventually build a museum.
Manzanar and Tule Lake are managed by the National Park Service. Some of the other Internment Camps have recently been added as National Park Units, gaining recognition or protection primarily during the Bush and Obama administrations.
The Japanese-American Internment Camps are recognized at the national level. Management, boundaries, authenticity are all high. The programing on-site is typically presented as a warning
(this could happen again) and focuses on the difficult experience of those interned, war hysteria, nativism, and xenophobia. Over the decades, these internment camps
(sometimes called concentration camps) have became pilgrimage sites for those who were imprisoned, their children, and now grandchildren. I think World Heritage USA
(formerly US ICOMOS) would not be opposed to such a nomination.
*The U.S. Gap Study Report (2016) included the Trail of Tears (forced migration), Manhattan Project Sites (Cold War), and Angel Island alongside Ellis Island (Chinese Exclusion 1882-1943).