On Thursday I photographed German-born Mathias Borniger, 91, in his Wichita living room for the Lawrence Journal-World. Borninger, who immigrated to the United States with this family in 1935, was detained in an internment camp for more than two years during World War II. Though he had been cleared for citizenship before his detainment, he had yet to receive his official papers verifying his status. As a result, he was classified as an "enemy alien." He lost several friends and his first wife divorced him during his imprisonment. "It was the saddest part of my life, really," he said.
Mathias Borniger studies his family history – including a portrait of his uncle, also named Mathias, center, who brought the Borniger family to the U.S. – that is displayed in his living room in his Wichita home. Borniger remarried the year he was released from an Oklahoma internment camp and returned to Wichita to continue his career as a portrait photographer.
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