REPRESENTATIVE SARA HANNAN
(907) 465-4766 | State Capitol Building, Room 204 | WEBSITE
Statement PDF | Sponsor's BILL Listing
Statement
An Act relating to the Funter Bay marine park unit of the state park system; relating to protection of the social and historical significance of the Unangax cemetery located in Funter Bay and providing for the amendment of the management plan for the Funter Bay marine park unit; and providing for an effective date.
HB 10 will transfer the parcel of land that includes the Unangax cemetery in Funter Bay
from the Department of Natural Resources Division of Land Mining and Water to the
Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Recreation. The parcel will be
added to the Funter Bay Marine park unit of the state park system for land management.
HB 10 will preserve the cemetery and ensure its protection so that we may remember
those who died and recognize the social and historical significance of the site.
When the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands during WWII, the Unangax people were
forcibly removed from the Pribilof Islands and interned in Southeast Alaska. Some were
sent to Killisnoo near Angoon, others were sent to Burnett Inlet, some were sent to other
Southeast locations and the rest were sent to Funter Bay near Juneau. They were given little
notice and the villagers could take only what they could carry. It was hasty and traumatic.
The Unangax were abandoned in old cannery bunk houses not meant to house so many
people and not built for protection from winter’s harshness. Entire families were sheltered
in small cubicles that were separated sometimes only by blankets. The living conditions
were unsanitary and there was inadequate food supply, no medical care, and no facilities
for bathing, cooking or using the bathroom.
Less than 30 miles away in Excursion Inlet, 700 Nazi Afrika Korps officers were
imprisoned at a POW camp. The Nazis, sworn enemies of the United States and allies,
were treated far better than the Unangax because their conditions were guaranteed by
international law. The 700 German prisoners all returned home after the war without a
single one dying during their imprisonment.
Back on the Pribilofs, the homes of the Unangax were occupied by the U.S. military and
looted, vandalized and some were even burned down. The Unangax men were forced back
to the Pribilofs to harvest seal during the summer months because the revenue was a source
of income for the U.S. government. The men did not want to leave their families but were
told that they would not be permitted to return to their homes after the war if they did not
help harvest seal. This is a disturbing parallel to when the Russians enslaved the Unangax
nearly two centuries earlier and forced them to harvest seal on the then uninhabited
Pribilofs.
The Unangax were left in the camp almost two years after it was considered safe to return
home. The deadly conditions of the camp left the Unangax people to suffer needlessly. As
a direct result of this policy, many Unangax interned in Southeast died and some are buried
in a cemetery in Funter Bay. The descendants of those who were lost have maintained the
grave sites for 75 years.
This bill will protect the cemetery and surrounding area for future generations without any
additional cost to the state.
