 On 12 December 1941 , five days after Pearl Harbor and the day after Germany declared it was at war with the United States , Reich was arrested in his home at 2 a.m. by the FBI and taken to Ellis Island , where he was held for over three weeks . He identified himself at the time as the Associate Professor of Medical Psychology , Director of the Orgone Institute . He was at first left to sleep on the floor in a large hall , surrounded by members of the fascist German American Bund , who Reich feared might kill him , but when his psoriasis returned he was transferred to the hospital ward . He was questioned about several books the FBI found when they searched his home , including Hitler 's Mein Kampf , Trotsky 's My Life , a biography of Lenin and a Russian alphabet book for children . After threatening to go on hunger strike he was released , on 5 January , but his name remained on the " key figures list " of the Enemy Alien Control Unit , which meant he was placed under surveillance . 
