Beginning on Sept. 11, 1942, Japanese Americans living in San Francisco and the Bay area, including Chiura Obata and his family, were pulled from their homes and sent to the internment camp in Topaz, Utah that was ringed by barbed wire fences and guard towers.
The flimsy, uninsulated barracks consisted of wood frames covered with tarpaper. Everything was built so hurriedly that not all of the stoves for heat had been installed. Temperatures in the winter went below zero and in summer above 100 degrees. Inmates were expected to learn how to grow food in the arid desert in order to eat. As the green wood dried, gaps formed between boards and dust constantly drifted in.
