Historian races to record fading memories of Japanese Americans at Topaz camp

As the number of surviving Japanese American World War II internees declines, oral historian Diana Tsuchida is intensifying her efforts to record the final first-hand accounts from families connected to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Delta, Utah. Through her oral history project and journal Tessaku, she documents daily life inside the 19,000-acre desert compound where more than 8,000 Japanese Americans were confined.

Tsuchida founded Tessaku in 2015 to preserve the memories of those imprisoned under Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes on the West Coast. Her grandparents and father were among the thousands sent from California to Topaz between 1942 and 1945.

Over the past decade, Tessaku has gathered more than 100 interviews from survivors and descendants across multiple camps, including Manzanar, Tule Lake and Poston. This fall, Tsuchida has expanded her outreach to locate families who still hold letters, photographs and other materials that document daily life under confinement.

Located in Utah’s remote Sevier Desert, Topaz was known for its severe climate, frequent dust storms and uninsulated barracks that offered little protection from the elements. Families established schools, churches and art programs to maintain community life despite constant surveillance.

During her recent visit, Tsuchida photographed the remaining foundations, met with museum staff in Delta and recorded oral histories from descendants attending memorial events. She described the site as “so vast” and “overwhelming,” noting that little remains beyond scattered artifacts and a few restored barracks preserved by the Topaz Museum.

“We really are at the end of generations, where they experienced this,” she told KUTV. “It’s just so vital because we’re on that cusp of losing all of the memories from World War II.”