Topaz (1945 film)

Topaz is a 1945 documentary film, shot illegally (though with the assistance of members of the camp staff), which documented life at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah during World War II.

Filmed by internee Dave Tatsuno (1913–2006), it was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress in 1996, ^[1] and was the second amateur ^[2] film ever selected for the National Film Registry (after the "Zapruder" film of the JFK assassination).

Tatsuno always credited his store supervisor, Walter Honderick, for helping him get the movie camera into the camp. Film was smuggled out of the camp on trips that Tatsuno made to buy merchandise for the store.

While images appear to show the internees happy and enjoying their lives, Tatsuno said that they were "hamming it up" for the camera, hiding their sorrow.^[3]

References[]

^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
^ Fox, Margalit (February 13, 2006). "Dave Tatsuno, 92, Whose Home Movies Captured History, Dies". The New York Times.
^ Ishizuka, Karen (2008). "The Home Movie and the National Film Registry: The story of Topaz". In Ishizuka, Karen; Zimmerman, Patricia (eds.). Mining the Home Movie: Excavations in Histories and Memories. University of California. pp. 129–131. ISBN 978-0-520-24807-6.

External links[]

Topaz essay [1] by Karen L. Ishizuka at National Film Registry
Topaz essay by Daniel Eagan in [2] America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 ISBN 0826429777, pages 388-390
Topaz at IMDb
http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/nikkeialbum/items/3575 through http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/nikkeialbum/items/3617

hide v t Internment of Japanese Americans
Key topics	Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9102 Yasui v. United States Hirabayashi v. United States Korematsu v. United States Ex parte Endo Lordsburg killings War Relocation Authority History Life before World War II Life after World War II Propaganda Military service in World War II 442nd Infantry Regiment 100th Infantry Battalion Military Intelligence Service
Concentration camps	Gila River Granada Heart Mountain Jerome Manzanar Minidoka Poston Rohwer Topaz Tule Lake
Assembly centers	Arboga Assembly Center Fresno Assembly Center Mayer Assembly Center Merced Assembly Center Owens Valley Reception Center Parker Dam Reception Center Pinedale Assembly Center Pomona Assembly Center Portland Assembly Center Puyallup Assembly Center Sacramento Assembly Center Salinas Assembly Center Santa Anita Assembly Center Stockton Assembly Center Tanforan Assembly Center Tulare Assembly Center Turlock Assembly Center Woodland Civil Control Station
Citizen Isolation centers	Leupp Isolation Center Moab Isolation Center Old Raton Ranch Camp Camp Tulelake
Detention facilities	Catalina Federal Honor Camp Crystal City Alien Enemy Detention Facility Fort Lincoln Alien Enemy Detention Facility Fort Missoula Alien Enemy Detention Facility Fort Stanton Alien Enemy Detention Facility Kenedy Alien Enemy Detention Facility Kooskia Alien Enemy Detention Facility Santa Fe Alien Enemy Detention Facility Seagoville Alien Enemy Detention Facility Tuna Canyon Detention Station
Army facilities	Camp Blanding Camp Forrest Camp Livingston Camp McCoy Camp Florence Fort Bliss Internment Camp Fort Howard Internment Camp Fort McDowell Internment Camp Fort Meade Internment Camp Fort Lewis Internment Camp Fort Richardson Internment Camp Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp Fort Sill Internment Camp Griffith Park Detention Camp Haiku Internment Camp Honouliuli Internment Camp Kalaheo Stockade Kilauea Military Camp Lordsburg Internment Camp Sand Island Internment Camp Stringtown Internment Camp
Notable incarcerees	See: Category:Japanese-American internees List of inmates of Manzanar Estelle Peck Ishigo Ralph Lazo Isamu Shibayama Elaine Black Yoneda
Literature and arts	Allegiance Born Free and Equal Farewell to Manzanar Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Judgment Without Trial No-No Boy Snow Falling on Cedars The Buddha in the Attic The Invisible Thread The Moved-Outers Under the Blood Red Sun Weedflower When the Emperor was Divine List of documentaries List of feature films Go for Broke!
Legacy	Redress and court cases Evacuation Claims Act Civil Liberties Act of 1988 Renunciation Act of 1944 Day of Remembrance Fred Korematsu Day Empty Chair Memorial Go for Broke Monument Japanese American National Museum Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project Japanese Evacuation and Resettlement Study The Long Journey Home Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Japanese American Internment Museum Sakura Square Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education
Category

This article about a documentary film on World War II is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

Topaz (1945 film)

See also[]

References[]

External links[]