By ANN DION

The Friends of Topaz Museum (FOTM) is thrilled to announce the launch of its new website, www.friendsoftopaz.org, which chronicles the organization’s efforts to engage in and support the research, education, and historic preservation of the World War II concentration camp at Topaz and the joint projects they are working directly with the Topaz Museum on.

FOTM invites visitors to explore the website’s educational resources, its calendar of public events, and ongoing preservation projects, such as “Topaz Stories,” a website and exhibition featuring the Topaz survivors and their descendants, curated and led by Ruth Sasaki of Berkeley.

On April 22, the FOTM co-sponsored a reception in Utah for the “Topaz Stories” exhibit, featuring the stories of 31 Topaz survivors, which is on display in the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City until Dec. 31.

The Friends of Topaz Museum is a group of predominantly Japanese American descendants of World War II Topaz incarcerees living in the San Francisco Bay Area. FOTM supports the museum’s ongoing work to preserve Topaz stories and to educate the greater public about this tragic chapter of American history, including the devastating impact the concentration camps had on its Japanese American survivors.

For those interested in getting involved, the organization is actively recruiting volunteers to join their efforts to support the Topaz Museum board and its mission of preserving the Topaz site and its World War II history; to interpret the impact of Topaz on the prisoners, their families, and the residents of Millard County; and to educate the public in order to prevent a recurrence of a similar denial of American civil rights.

For more information about the Friends of Topaz Museum, send an email to [email protected].

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