Japanese-Americans Went To The Internment Camp Where Their Relatives Were Detained And It Was Chilling

"It was a lot more emotional for me than I thought it would be."

Posted on September 10, 2016, 21:01 GMT

Jen Ruggirello

BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Staff

Nyla Wissa

Junior Social Media Strategist

In 1942, the US government detained more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans in incarceration camps. To learn more about it, a few younger Japanese-Americans decided to visit Manzanar, a former internment camp in California, to gain a deeper understanding of their ancestors' past.

BuzzFeedVideo / Via youtube.com

BuzzFeedVideo / Via youtube.com

Mananzar was one out of ten incarceration camps across the United States. At its peak, it held over 10,000 detainees.

Before heading to Manzanar, most people had little to no knowledge of what their families had experienced.

And they hoped to gain a better grasp on what life was like during this time.

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They soon learned that people were given limited materials to live comfortably.

And they were never told how long they would be living in the camp.

During their visit, they were shown models of the entire camp that displayed how massive it was and how many people were kept there.

A few of the visitors even found records of their families' time in the incarceration camps.

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Sean was even told that they had located his grandparents' exact block address.

And when he visited the area where his grandfather was stationed...he was moved.

Some expected the experience to be more informative and not as emotional...

…and others were inspired to spread awareness about the injustice Japanese-Americans faced during this time.

But they all learned how important it is to address historical events in order to create a better tomorrow.

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