The Arthur D. Jacobs Papers consist primarily of official documents, correspondence, photographs, and other materials documenting Jacobs' detention in and deportation from the United States due to his German-American heritage during World War II, his research into the United States' internment of German nationals and German-Americans in the 1940s, and his work to pass federal legislation recognizing this internment, formally apologizing for it, and providing restitution to its victims. Also included are photographs and official documents showing Lambert and Paula Jacobs' emigration to the United States in the 1920s and publications and other materials created by German-American internees. The collection is composed of both physical and digital materials.
Identification:
MSS-427
Language:
Material in English with some German
Repository:
Arizona State University Library
Rare Books and Manuscripts
P.O. Box 871006
Tempe, AZ 85287-1006
Phone: (480) 965-4932
E-Mail: archives@asu.edu Questions? Ask An Archivist!
Biographical Note
Lambert Dietrich Jacobs (1908-1983) was born to Lambert and Anna Florin (Adler) Jacobs in Bremen, Germany. He had two sisters, Mara (Jacobs) Leg stein (1905-1991) and Florin (1906-). Jacobs worked in a delicatessen in Bremen before emigrating to the United States in 1928. He settled in New York City, where he worked as a painter and maintenance mechanic. He married Paula Sophie Noiseless (1906-1976) on March 2, 1929 and the couple had two sons, Lambert Walter (1931-) and Arthur D. (1933-).
In March of 1944, Lambert Jacobs was investigated by the FBI, ruled an "alien enemy … dangerous to the public peace and safety of the United States," and arrested. He was granted interim parole until October of 1944, after which he was interned at Ellis Island. Paula Jacobs submitted an application to have herself and her sons interned with her husband, as the family wanted to remain together and she could not support herself and her children without her husband's income. Her application was granted, and she and the couple's two sons joined Lambert Jacobs at Ellis Island in February of 1945. The family was transferred to Crystal City, Texas in March of 1945. In October of 1945, Jacobs requested to be repatriated to Germany on the condition that his wife and sons (both of whom were American citizens by birth) accompany him. The family was transferred to Ellis Island in December of 1945 and departed for Germany on the SS Aiken Victory in January of 1946.
When the family arrived in Germany, Lambert and Arthur Jacobs were separated from their parents and transported to Williamsburg, Germany, where Arthur Jacobs was confined in Grasshopper prison. His captors treated him poorly, referring to him as the "little Nazi" and threatening him with hanging if he misbehaved. In October of 1947, the brothers were issued an American passport and allowed to return to the United States. Their parents elected to remain in Germany.
Arthur Jacobs enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951, received his commission in 1962, and retired at the rank of Major in 1973. He married Viva Jane Sims (1932-) in 1952. After leaving the military, Jacobs worked for Motorola before joining Arizona State University's College of Business in 1977. Throughout his life, and particularly after his military retirement, Jacobs researched civilian internment in the United States, worked to raise awareness of German-American internment during World War II, and fought for the passage of federal laws acknowledging and formally apologizing for this injustice. Arthur Jacobs retired from ASU in 1997.
Scope and Content Note
The Arthur D. Jacobs Papers consist primarily of official documents, correspondence, photographs, and other materials documenting Jacobs' detention in and deportation from the United States due to his German-American heritage during World War II, his research into the United States' internment of German nationals and German-Americans in the 1940s, and his work to pass federal legislation recognizing this internment, formally apologizing for it, and providing restitution to its victims. The collection is composed of both physical and digital materials.
Series I: Jacobs Family Internment and Deportation consists primarily of official documents, photographs, interviews, correspondence, and other materials documenting the Jacobs family's internment at Ellis Island, New York and Crystal City, Texas; their repatriation to Germany; and Arthur Jacobs' experiences in Grasshopper prison. Also included are materials showing Jacobs' The Prison Called Grasshopper: An American Boy Betrayed by his Government during World War II (1999) and his work to acquire copies of the federal records documenting his family's internment and deportation.
Series II: Materials Created by Internees consists primarily of camp newspapers created by internees in Camp Forrest, Tennessee; Crystal City, Texas; Fort Lincoln, North Dakota; Mariana, California; and Seville, Texas. Programs for internee theatre programs and announcements of camp events are also present.
Series III: Research and Legislation Regarding Internment and Internees houses federal records, correspondence, photographs, proposed legislation, interviews, television programs, and other materials documenting internment of German nationals and German-Americans in the United States during World War II. The majority of these items focus on surveillance and detention of German-Americans, internment in Crystal City, and deportation to Germany (sometimes in exchange for American POW). Information regarding the detention of Italian-Americans and Japanese-Americans and materials documenting Jacobs' opposition to legislation formally acknowledging and apologizing for the internment of Japanese-Americans on the grounds that it excluded German- and Italian-Americans who endured similar treatment is also present.
Series IV: Correspondence houses letters exchanged between Jacobs and elected officials at the local, state, and national levels written as part of Jacobs' efforts to pass legislation recognizing German-American internment, formally apologizing for it, and providing restitution to its victims. This correspondence also details Jacobs' opposition to legislation focusing exclusively on Japanese-American internees.
Series V: Other Papers contains information regarding Jacobs' papers at the U.S. Air Force Academy, unidentified photographs, certificates, and other materials.
Arrangement
This collection consists of eight boxes divided into five series:
To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.
Digital materials are not available online. Please contact Distinctive Collections for research support.
Copyright
The Arizona Board of Regents retains copyright to this collection for and on behalf of Distinctive Collections, Arizona State University Library. Requests for permissions to publish, display, or redistribute information from this collection must be submitted via our online application.
Alien Control Division, Chicago, Illinois, 1943-1945
Alien Control Division, Chicago, Illinois, 1945 (Digital Material)
Alien Enemy Control Unit Report, 1943 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
2
22
American Political Science Review Article List
2
23
"Americans: The Story of the 442nd Combat Team", 1946
2
24
"America's Forgotten Captives" in Ethos Magazine, 2011 January 3
"Archaeological Metal Detector Survey of Two Portions of the Former Crystal City Family Internment Camp", 2013 June (Digital Material)
Arrest, Internment, Deportation, and Exclusion of Enemy Aliens, 1941-1946 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
2
25
Arrests of Italian People in the United States, circa 1943
Box
Folder
3
1
Arrests of Japanese People in the United States, circa 1940s
3
2
Arthur D. Jacobs vs. the Attorney General of the United States et. al., 1991
3
3
Arthur D. Jacobs vs. Richard Thornburgh, Attorney General of the United States; Nicholas Brady, Secretary of the Treasury; Fred Korematsu, et. al.; and Japanese American Citizens League, et. al., 1990
3
4
Arthur D. Jacobs vs. William Barr, et. al., 1991
Articles and Speeches Regarding Immigration, Internment, and Racism, 1942-2016 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
3
5
Berman, Edward Military Service, 2008
3
6
Busch, Adolf, 1942-1943
Camp Forrest, Tennessee, circa 1940s (Digital Material)
Custodial Detention: Arrests of Foreign Nationals, Japanese Americans, German Americans, and Italian Americans in New York, 1941-1946 (Digital Material)
Dateline NBC Program Regarding Kidnapping and Internment of "Enemy Aliens" from Latin America by the U.S. Federal Government During World War II, 1994 November 30 (Digital Material)
Dateline NBC Program Regarding Kidnapping and Internment of "Enemy Aliens" from Latin America by the U.S. Federal Government During World War II, 1998 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
4
3
"The Deconstruction of America" by Joseph E. Fallon, 1997 Winter
4
4
Department of State Repatriation Activities and the MS Gripsholm, 1944-1945
4
5
Deutsches Auswanderer Haus [German Emigration Center], 2013-2014
Ebel Family, 1947 (Digital Material)
Eberhart Family, circa 1940s (Digital Material)
Ellis Island, 1943-1947 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
4
6
Enemy Aliens Detained and/or Interned in the United States, 1942
4
7
"Enemy Aliens" by David Cole, 2002
4
8
Excerpts from the Report of the Committee on Un-American Activities Having Special Reference to Japanese Problems in California, 1945
Exchanges of American POWs for German-American Internees, 1944 (Digital Material)
Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute (Digital Material)
House of the Good Shepherd, 1991 (Digital Material)
H. Res. 118: National Day of Remembrance, 2015 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
4
16
H. Res. 122: National Day of Remembrance, 2007
[Oversized Materials Removed to Box 8/OV2, Folder 2]
H.R. 543: An Act to Establish the Manzanar National Historic Site, 1991 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
4
17
Index to Press Conference Volumes 17 and 18, circa 1940s
4
18
Information Regarding Hohenasperg
"INS Records Related to the Detention and Internment of Enemy Aliens During World War II", 1991 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
4
19
"INS Records Related to the Detention and Internment of Enemy Aliens During World War II", 1991 June 30
Internee Families, circa 1942 (Digital Material)
Internee Reports, 1942 (Digital Material)
Internee Reunion, Quackertown, Pennsylvania, 2010 August 27 (Digital Material)
Internment of "Enemy Aliens" from Latin America by the U.S. Federal Government During World War II, 1991 (Digital Material)
The Internment of German and Italian Aliens Compared with the Interment of Japanese Aliens During World War II, 1980 (Digital Material)
Internment of German Jews in the United States, 1998 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
1
Interview with Dr. Amy N. Stannard (Officer-In-Charge of the Seagoville, Texas Internment Camp), 1978 November 30
5
2
"The Japanese American Cases - A Disaster" by Eugene V. Rostow, 1945 June
Japanese American Confinement Site Program, 2014 (Digital Material)
Japanese Repatriation, 1942-1943, 2015 (Digital Material)
Kalinowsky, Tlory, circa 1942 (Digital Material)
Lameyer, Paul, circa 1940s (Digital Material)
Lechner Family, 1943-1944 (Digital Material)
Manzanar National Historic Site, 2001 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
3
Manzanar National Historic Site, 1991-2007
Map of Internment Camps in the United States, 1996 (Digital Material)
Memo to J. Edgar Hoover Regarding the "A, B, C" List, 1943 (Digital Material)
Munson, Curtis, 1941 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
4
National Defense Authorization Act, 2008
5
5
National Defense Migration Report, 1942 March 19
Nazis in America: A Secret History, 2000 January 5 (Digital Material)
Notes Regarding The Burden of Ethnicity: The German Question in Chicago, 1914-1942, 2016 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
6
Number of Men Inducted into the Armed Forces, 1917-1972
5
7
"The Other Side of Internment" by Arthur D. Jacobs, 1991
5
8
Papers Regarding the Asama Maru Incident of 1940 January 21 by Chester G. Dunham, 1997
5
9
Photographs of Crystal City, Texas Held at the University of Texas, San Antonio, 2007
Pinnow, Otto, 2010 (Digital Material)
Political Cartoons (Digital Material)
Posters, circa 1940s (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
10
Prisoner of War (POW) Camps in the United States, 1945
5
11
Prisoner of War (POW) Work Detail Check Sheet, 1944
Proclamations No. 2525-2527 Regarding National Defense Migration, 1942 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
12
Proclamations No. 2525-2527 Regarding National Defense Migration, 1942
Pro-German Groups (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
13
Proposed "Day of Remembrance" for Internees, 2003
5
14
Public Law 100-383: Civil Liberties Act of 1988, 1988
Public Law 100-383, 1993 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
15
Public Law 106-451, 2007
Public Law 109-441: Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites, 2007-2012 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
16
Public Law 109-441: Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites, 2007-2012
5
17
"Public Laws, Legislation, and Proposed Bills on Internment of Civilians [German Americans, Italian Americans, and Japanese Americans] During World War II", circa 2000s
Public Laws, Legislation, and Proposed Bills on Internment of Civilians [German Americans, Italian Americans, and Japanese Americans] During World War II, 2010-2011 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
18
Records Regarding Enemy Alien Petitions for Naturalization, 1942, 2006
5
19
"Redress for Japanese Americans Under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988: Questions and Answers", 1990
Regulations Governing Enemy Aliens, circa 1940s (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
20
"Report: Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California to [the] California State Legislature", 1943
Report of Lemuel B. Schofield, 1941 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
21
Report of Lemuel B. Schofield, Special Assistant to the Attorney General in Charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1941
Research Requests: National Archives and Records Administration, 2000 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
22
Research Requests: National Archives and Records Administration, 2008-2011
A Review of the Restrictions on Persons of Italian Ancestry During World War II, 2001 (Digital Material)
Selective Service and Military Draft, 1942 (Digital Material)
Sims Family, circa 1940s (Digital Material)
Social Studies Curriculum Standards, 2005, 2015 (Digital Material)
Society for German-American Studies Newsletter, 2005 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
23
Stacheldrahtreime by Dr. Helmut Erbe
5
24
Statement of Arthur D. Jacobs, Major, USAF Retired for the United States Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism, and Property Rights on Protecting Constitutional Freedoms in the Face of Terrorism, 2001 October 5
Theberath, Peter L., circa 1942 (Digital Material)
Thuss, Otto, 1945 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
5
26
Transfer of Internees, 1942
Tuna Canyon Detention Center Enemy Alien Case Files, 1941-1947 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
6
1
Tuna Canyon Detention Center: Enemy Alien Case Files, 1941-1947
6
2
"Unsere Internierung Während des Zweiten Weltkrieges", circa 2000s
USS Gripsholm Exchange Voyage: Documents, 1943-1944 (Digital Material)
USS Gripsholm Exchange Voyage: Photographs, 1943 (Digital Material)
War and MAGIC: The Secret Behind the 1942 Evacuation of the Ethnic Japanese Episode 1 (Digital Material)
In this program, Martha Wild King interviews Radioman Jack Clamm.
War and MAGIC: The Secret Behind the 1942 Evacuation of the Ethnic Japanese Episode 3 (Digital Material)
War and MAGIC: The Secret Behind the 1942 Evacuation of the Ethnic Japanese Episode 4 (Digital Material)
In this interview, Keith Robar discusses MAGIC (a project designed break Japanese military and diplomatic codes during World War II), the Tokyo Syndicate, and murders of Issei loyal to U.S.
War and MAGIC: The Secret Behind the 1942 Evacuation of the Ethnic Japanese Episode 5 (Digital Material)
In this episode, Keith Robar discusses the Hirabayashi hearings and the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC).
War and MAGIC: The Secret Behind the 1942 Evacuation of the Ethnic Japanese Episode 6 (Digital Material)
In this episode, Keith Robar discusses martial law in Hawaii, the Ni'ihau incident, and education.
War Changes Liberties and Freedoms (Digital Material)
Wartemann Family (Digital Material)
Wartime Treatment Study Act, 2002-2009 (Digital Material)
Box
Folder
6
3
Wartime Treatment Study Act, 2006-2007
6
4
Wartime Treatment Study Act: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2007-2008
Includes information regarding Jacobs' malpractice complaint against Richard A. Hertling.
WCPN Cleveland Interview with Eberhart Fuhr, 2013 May 14 (Digital Material)