Status Report: Assessment of Cultural Losses Suffered by American Aleuts During World War II

• Published in: MRS Proceedings
• Main Author: Smith, Barbara Sweetland
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 1992
• Subjects: General Engineering; aleut; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1557/proc-267-113; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1946427400582578

ABSTRACT In 1988, the U. S. Congress provided $1.4 million to six Aleut communities in Alaska as restitution for damage done to their churches by U. S. forces stationed in the Aleutians during World War II. The residents of these communities had been forcibly evacuated and interned for up to three years in camps in southeast Alaska where many died. At the request of the Aleuts, restitution to the Orthodox churches was given a special place in the U. S. decision to make reparations. The Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, a non-profit organization, has been charged by Congress with assessing the damage and estimating the cost of restoration. The assessment project, begun in November 1991, has utilized the expertise of an architect and art conservator to examine structures and church furnishings of these churches and has reached some preliminary conclusions: 1) The stress of travel for those icons and liturgical vessels which accompanied the evacuees was significant and damage related to that travel is evident today; 2) The churches themselves were often targets of vandalism and looting by the American troops; 3) the churches were left without regular maintenance in the harsh climate of the Aleutians for three years; 4) the Aleuts were destitute on their return and could not restore the buildings to their former condition; 5) the results of makeshift repairs in the immediate post-war era are evident today in a general state of deterioriation. The final report to Congress on this project is due in the Spring 1993.