Unalaska, Alaska: memory and denial in the globalization of the Aleutian landscape

Figures & data

Table 1. Evacuation, internment, and repatriation of Aleut villages during World War II.

Village	Population before WWII	Forcible evacuation	Internment	After WWII
Akutan	41	6 July 1942	Ward Lake, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp	Repatriated 1945
Atka	83	12–14 June 1942	Killisnoo, an abandoned herring and whaling saltery. Village burned to the ground by US Navy	Repatriated 1945, including compulsory resettlement of villagers from Attu
Attu	42	Occupied by Japan on 7 June 1942	Prison camp in Otaru, Japan	Repatriation denied, villagers sent to Atka
Biorka	18	6 July 1942	Ward Lake, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp and then at Burnett Inlet, a burned and abandoned cannery site	Repatriation denied, villagers sent to Unalaska
Kashega	20	6 July 1942	Ward Lake, a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp and then at Burnett Inlet, a burned and abandoned cannery site	Repatriation denied, villagers sent to Unalaska
Makushin	8	6 July 1942	Ward Lake, a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp and then at Burnett Inlet, a burned and abandoned cannery site	Repatriation denied, villagers sent to Unalaska
Nikolski	72	6 July 1942	Ward Lake, a Civilian Conservations Corps camp	Repatriated 1945
Saint George	183	16 June 1942	Funter Bay in a gold mine facility	Repatriated 1944, some men allowed to return earlier to conduct fur seal harvesting activities
Saint Paul	294	16 June 1942	Funter Bay in an abandoned cannery	Repatriated 1944, some men allowed to return earlier to conduct fur seal harvesting activities
Unalaska	110	22 July 1942	Burnett Inlet, a burned and abandoned cannery site	Repatriated 1945, including compulsory resettlement of villagers from Biorka, Kashega, and Makushin
Source: Information compiled from Kohlhoff (1995).

Figure 1.  Abandoned World War II bunker and gunmount, Unalaska 2002.

Figure 2.  Unalaska/Dutch Harbor crab pots stored in 2002 on the rusted hull of the SS Northwestern, bombed by Japanese during World War II.

Figure 3.  Alaska Pollock exports go all over the world, but are dominated by Japan. (Figure by Michael Dalton, Alaska Fisheries Science Center.)

Figure 4.  The population structure of Unalaska shows the typical ‘labor shape’ of communities with onshore seafood processing facilities that attract transient labor. Source: Census 2000 data.