In September, euphemisms abounded in Netanyahu, Trump, and international partners’ intended plan for Gazans in their own homeland. According to the Washington Post (Sept. 2, 2025), a postwar plan for Gaza “envisions at least a temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s more than 2 million population, either through what it calls ‘voluntary’ departures to another country or into restricted, secured zones inside the enclave during reconstruction.”1
All so that Trump et al can turn Gazans’ homes, villages and farms into a playground for the rich. Japanese Americans, does this not set off alarm bells?
We remember how some of our families attempted to escape incarceration between Feb. 19, 1942 and late March by moving outside of the military’s designated exclusion zone 1. It was a small window before the government decided to close off that option, expanding the forced removal to include Zone 2 as well. By the end of March, any Japanese Americans within Zones 1 and 2 were fair game for incarceration.
This week we bring you Part 2 of Iso Umeki’s memoir: “Voluntary Relocation,” the story of one such family’s attempt to avoid incarceration. (To read part 1, see The Life Interrupted.)
1 “Gaza postwar plan envisions ‘voluntary’ relocation of entire population,” by Karen DeYoung and Cate Brown, Washington Post, September 2, 2025. Accessed 9/5/2025.
For more information on “voluntary evacuees” during WWII, see Densho’s article on voluntary evacuation.
The Topaz Stories Team
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Media Coverage:
Watch “Utah Historians Run Exhibit on Japanese American Internment,” abc4 News, 2/19/2025).
Read “Utah Once Said ‘Never Again’–Do We Mean It? Deseret News, (2/26/2025).
Read “Topaz Stories Exhibition: A Way to Remember the Past.” SUU News, 2/7/2025.
Read ‘Topaz Stories’ exhibit travels Utah showing human side of WWII internment (KSL.com, May 24, 2024)
Read ‘Topaz Stories’ mines the history of a Japanese American internment camp (ParkRecord, May 18, 2024)
Read Remembering Japanese American Internment–Day of Remembrance (Rosie the Riveter Trust blog, March 24, 2024)
Read Internee’s story told with ‘Topaz Collages’ (Wheel of Dharma, Vol. 5, Issue 3, March 2023).
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 News, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration on Brad Westwood’s “Speak Your Piece” podcast featuring Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)