Karl Bendetsen

Who was Karl Bendetsen?

Karl Robin Bendetsen was born in Aberdeen, Washington. His parents, Albert M. and Anna Bendetson, were first-generation American citizens, and his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Karl changed the spelling of his last name during early 1942, and would later make written claims to descent from Danish lumbermen who had come to America as early as 1670.

Bendetsen is remembered primarily for his role as architect of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.