Minnesota was home to a little-known Japanese codebreaker school during WWII that trained Japanese Americans, also known as Nisei, to be translators. Primarily recruited from concentration camps on the West Coast, these men and women served while many of their families remained imprisoned. For their efforts it is said that they “shortened the Pacific War by two years and saved possibly a million American lives.”

00:00 Thank you for watching Minnesota Experience!
00:30 Japanese codebreakers helped win World War II while their families were imprisoned in concentration camps in the United States
02:25 December 7th, 1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor
07:40 The Nisei, a Japanese language school, and the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans
13:18 Japanese-Americans are needed on the frontlines and offer to fight for different reasons
17:20 The Japanese language school moves from San Francisco to Minnesota
24:07 The Nisei school begins to branch out beyond language
28:13 The Nisei begin to change the outcome of the war
31:12 Nisei soldiers save Merrill's Marauders
36:28 The first class of women at the language school
39:59 The war continues on and the Nisei continue their fight, even with their families in concentration camps
43:25 After the war, the work of the Nisei turns to the pacification of Japan
45:32 The devastation of the war on families and countries
48:48 January 1945: the Japanese leave the camps to find their homes and possessions gone
50:25 The racism experienced by the Japanese after leaving the camps
53:15 Petitioning the US government for reparations, redress, and an apology

Racism and xenophobia have shaped our history and continue to have devastating impacts on AAPI communities.

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