I'm not excusing or justifying any actions here, but thinking from a 1946 perspective: the second world war had just ended and we all know about the horrible losses that happened there, both military and civilian. This new hugely destructive weapon has just been developed. The Soviet Union is also developing the weapon, with an unhinged paranoid madman as its absolute leader. Everyone can see the outline of an arms race developing (with the second world war very fresh in memory).

In that context, relocating 167 people to another island within the same country/cultural region barely registers.

Again, I'm not justifying anything, but if I had been around at the time, I'm not sure I would have cared either.