Visited: Friday, September 18, 2020
One of the great things about the NPS sites in Idaho is how isolated they are. You drive and drive - and eventually get there. But you're a long way past the last city with a population of even 500.
And that is precisely where nearly 10,000 Japanese-Americans were sent during WWII. Not that the other interment camps were any less isolated, of course; and not that the situation in Minidoka was worse than elsewhere; it can reasonably be argued that it was among the better camps, and it was certainly preferable to Tule Lake.
I have a real challenge with Minidoka; my father was a civilian POW during WWII. And I've heard many times about the challenges my grandfather's family faced - including being rescued by the US Army just a day before the Japanese were planning to kill all of the POWs. The situations weren't identical by any stretch - but I can't help but notice how much better the situation was in Minidoka.
But better does nothing to excuse Minidoka. Which is well presented - particularly the difference between the first, second, and third generation immigrants. The visitor center is new, and is fantastic - it _fits_, and tells the story of the site very well. The choice of having a baseball field (along with two of the barracks which served as living quarters - and everything else - for those interned) _fits_, on the whole; there was a lot of life at the site. Doesn't excuse things, but - it gives the site a sense of hope that I hadn't really expected.
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