Manzanar Relocation Center

Manzanar Relocation Center

Internment facility for Japanese Americans during World War II. Fear that Japan would invade the western U.S. with the aid of spies living in the U.S. led the government to force Japanese Americans in western states to relocate to one of ten camps, of which Manzanar, in California, was the first to be established and the best known. During its operation from March 1942 to November 1945, some 10,000 people were confined there. It was named a national historic site in 1992. An interpretive centre featuring exhibits and a bookstore opened in 2004.