page_title: Topaz War Relocation Center
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Topaz War Relocation Center / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Chart showing the age distribution at Topaz Internment Center on January 30, 1943. Data comes from The Price of Prejudice and reflects a discrepency found in the original data from the January 30th issue of Topaz Times: the 35-40 age group is missing. This data was augmented with a similar chart found in Jewel of the Deseret, but that chart was missing information for the 19-21 age group. The data is probably incomplete.
context_page_description: The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an American concentration camp which housed Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come to the United States from Japan, called Nikkei. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, ordering people of Japanese ancestry to be incarcerated in what were euphemistically called, "relocation centers" like Topaz during World War II. Most of the people incarcerated at Topaz came from the Tanforan Assembly Center and previously lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. The camp was opened in September 1942 and closed in October 1945.
  The camp, approximately 15 miles west of Delta, Utah, consisted of 19,800 acres, with a 640 acres main living area. Most internees lived in the main living area, though some lived off-site as agricultural and industrial laborers. The approximately 9,000 internees and staff made Topaz into the fifth-largest city in Utah at the time.
context_section_description: In December 1941, the Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Shortly afterwards in February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. The order forced approximately 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent (Nisei) and Japanese-born residents (Issei)  in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska on the West Coast of the United States to leave their homes. About 5,000 left the off-limits area during the "voluntary evacuation" period, and avoided internment. The remaining 110,000 were soon removed from their homes by Army and National Guard troops.
  Topaz was opened September 11, 1942, and eventually became the fifth-largest city in Utah, with over 9,000 internees and staff, and covering approximately 31 square miles (80.3 km²) (mostly used for agriculture). A total of 11,212 people lived at Topaz at one time or another. Utah governor Herbert B. Maw opposed the relocation of any Japanese Americans into the state, stating that if they were such a danger to the West Coast, they would be a danger to Utah.  Most internees arrived at Topaz from the Tanforan or Santa Anita Park holding centers; the majority hailed from the San Francisco Bay Area. Sixty-five percent were Nisei, American citizens born to Japanese immigrants. The camp was governed by Charles F. Ernst until June 1944, when the position was taken over by Luther T. Hoffman following Ernst's resignation.  It was closed on October 31, 1945.
  Topaz was originally known as the Central Utah Relocation Authority, and then the Abraham Relocation Authority, but the names were too long for post office regulations. The final name, Topaz, came from Topaz Mountain which overlooks the camp from 9 miles (14.5 km) away.
  Topaz was the primary internment site in the state of Utah.  A smaller camp existed briefly a few miles north of Moab, which was used to isolate a few men considered to be troublemakers prior to their being sent to Leupp, Arizona.  A site at Antelope Springs, in the mountains west of Topaz, was used as a recreation area by the residents and staff of Topaz.
caption: Chart showing the age distribution at Topaz Internment Center on January 30, 1943
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