Our monthly demonstration in the Hague, the Netherlands.

FOUNDATION OF JAPANESE HONORARY DEBTS
                                      NGO, STATUS ROSTER




His Excellency Yoshihiko Noda
Prime minister of Japan


The Hague, December 10,2012
Petition 217
Subject: acknowledge moral responsibility


Excellency,

Recently an interesting discovery was made in Denver, the United States. According to the Japan Times:" letters arriving from Japanese-Americans internment camps during World War Two were discovered during renovations." Internees sent letters and postcards to a Denver pharmacy owned by Japanese-Americans requesting them to send bath powder, cold creams or cough drops. About 110,0000 Japanese-Americans were interned during the war. The camps were overcrowded and provided poor living conditions. However the internees were able to correspond with the outside world requesting "luxuries". The conditions in the Dutch camps during World War Two were far worse. In fact these were concentration camps run by the Japanese military in occupied Dutch East Indies. The Dutch people were held in these concentration camps with sole purpose to destroy the Dutch influence in the Dutch East Indies. They were terrorized, denied medicines and provided with poor food. Many died. The survivors were left with traumas, poor futures and as a result of the captivity lost but all.

Prime Minister

The Japanese-Americans received a formal apology from President Reagan and a redress payment of US$ 20,000 each to the surviving internees in 1988. Similarly in the same year the Canadian government issued formal apologies to Japanese Canadians survivors, who were each paid Can$ 19,000. The value of these individual payments nowadays would be around 80,000 Euro. Very much like the Dutch situation when the Japanese Supreme Court dismissed the case for reparations to the Dutch held in concentration camps, so did the Supreme Court of the United States rule in favor of the U.S government.Crucially however, the U.S. Congress did subsequently pass legislation to award the formal payments. In fact, the American politicians accepted the moral obligation for an unjust internment.

Prime Minister,

The generous gesture by the U.S Congress to accept the moral obligation, to apologize and redress the sufferings of these Japanese-Americans puts again in question Japan's position in denying her moral obligation to the Dutch. Japan should follow the American political example, accept its moral obligation and must reconsider its position.

We wish you and the people of Japan, in these testing times, all the best in the New Year.


On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts.


J.F.Wagtendonk
President.

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Memories which will never go away, through the eyes of a child. Mothers living the rest of their lives with traumas so unbearable.One can never forget, the atrocities the Japanese military inflicted on them, during that horrible time in World War Two, in the Dutch East Indies as prisoners of the Japanese.

Over crowded.

This little boy is looking for some thing to eat.

Mothers doing whatever they could do to feed their children.

Trying to keep clean, with whatever water was available.

Japan keeps denying the war atrocities. They keep denying that it ever happened.
Japan it's time to come to grips with your past, know your history. Japanese people are not really aware of anything about their own country. Their own perception of their own country is very fragmented and fuzzy. Japanese people are aware that their military past did something very horrible, but they don't quite know what it is....because they've never been properly taught about their own past. Japan not knowing their own history harms Japan more than anybody else.They have never really properly dealt with the past like the Germans have.. The only option they therefor have is....denial. And of course, to play the victim.Their was a big reason for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Your emperor Hirohito sacrificed his own people.
Take responsibility for the crimes and atrocities committed to innocent women and children by your military during the World War Two.
The rest of the world is looking at Japan and is furious at Japan's lack of responsibility to confront their own history.
Japan has the time to March 2013 to come forward with suggestions which might bridge the gap between the comments made diplomatically by the UN delegates and the initial responses by the Japanese delegation.
The Human Rights Council of the United Nations, condemns Japan's war time record on human rights, in particular the enforced sexual slavery and other atrocities committed by the Japanese military. Japan you have a moral obligation to settle all issues under the various treaties.

A Recipe for Christmas All Year Long!

For many of us Christmas comes with memories. Memories of joy and memories of sadness.We lost my husbands dear mother this year and we lost a dear friend. We will forever cherish them in our hearts and remember them forever, they will be missed.


Recipe for Christmas All Year long;

Take a heap of child-like wonder
That opens up your eyes
To the unexpected gifts in life-
Each day a sweet surprise.

Mix in fond appreciation
For the people whom we know;
Like festive Christmas candles,
Each one has a special glow.

Add some giggles and some laughter,
A dash of Christmas food,
(Amazing how a piece of pie
Improves our attitude!)

Stir it all with human kindness;
Wrap it up in love and peace,
Decorate with optimism,and
Our joy will never cease.

If we use this healthy recipe,
We know we will remember
To be in the Christmas spirit,
Even when it's not December.


written by: Joanna Fuchs


My memory goes back a long time, when Christmas was just a little tree with real candles. A bucket of water always on hand, just in case.One year we were celebrating Christmas at my mothers sisters house with my cousins and suddenly the Christmas Tree was on fire. My aunt was living on the second floor and we had to open the window and had to throw the tree two floors down to the ground. You can imagine when the neighbors saw this tree in full flames pass their  window. 
We were thankful for the nice simple dinner my mother prepared and played games the whole day. We would sit around the table and play monopoly or cards. I remember the laughter and the snacks my mother prepared. 
I will forever cherish these memories.


Merry Christmas to all of you, may Happiness and Health comes through your doors. 

My mother, my best friend. My Valentine.

January 9, 1919-February 14, 2003

Tomorrow Valentines day it will be 13 years ago that we had to say goodbye to you. How we miss you. I think about you every day.                                   .
Sadly you were taken away from us 13 years ago on Valentine's day, February 14, 2003. Your broken heart gave finally out.
You were my strength and protector. This time 'remember' if you just wait, I will be there meeting you at the gate.I have so much to tell you. On January 18 2016 we became great grand parents. Your little great grandchild Saska became mother of a healthy adorable baby girl Freya.It seems such a little while ago that you had your great grand daughter in your arms, and now this little girl has a daughter of her own. Life continues but you are always in our hearts.

My mom with her great granddaughter

Mom, here is your great granddaughter with her little girl.

It's sometimes hard to look at the world, it takes effort, that makes my brain hurt, trying to reject what the senses tell me.
Terrified and wondering if we ever learn from the mistakes our forefathers made.Memories from Japanese prison camp which could never be erased. Memories of our family and childhood are what shapes our personality, and who we are. Whether we like it or not.Our personalities are formed by our parents, brothers and sisters, and the environment we grew up in. Our past continues to affect us. You can only grow as people when you choose to confront your past. Only then can we move forward in our lives.It sometimes terrifies me to think about what the future will be like for my grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Our mother went through life with a heavy burden to carry it was a terrible tragedy, that never went away, even for us and the next generation, it will always be there.So many years and years of difficulties, misunderstandings. Silence when there should have been opportunities to speak. Everybody in Holland seemed to be caught up worrying about their own experiences.
The past continues to affect me, a past my mother tried so hard to erase from my mind.This past which always shows up in my dreams. It's like a candle in the wind, which clings to stay on when the rain and wind sets in.It's like the song from Elton John. \

It seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
And pain was the price you paid
Even when you died.
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain sets in
But I like to keep your candle burning
Like a candle in the wind.

You gave us life, full of blessings with your inner spirit of courage, your unconditional love and laughter. We hold you deep in our hearts now and forever here after. We will pass on your legacy to those who are dear.
Our memories will never fade.We hold you close, and we will forever be thankful for all you  taught us. We specially remember the beautiful woman we owe our lives to.It was hard for us to let you go, but somewhere up there they needed a gentle soul, now peaceful and free as a bird in the sky.

One will never know the price they paid
Suffering themselves, a sacrifice they made,
When all was lost, didn't give in
Often lost hope and couldn't win,
They gave of themselves, desperate to survive,
A frantic effort to keep their mates alive, (the women in Japanese camps did everything to keep their children alive)
What finer glory could they achieve?
Their courage against adversity, we must honor and believe,
What is faith in those, for those that despaired
The gentle strength of those who cared,
Love has no equal one man for another
They are entwined brother for brother.

This poem written by Win Rainer, A former POW's wife.

December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy.

Friday December 7,1941 the day that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu.

December 7 will not pass without pausing to remember the attack on Pearl Harbor. For me the day could also not pass without remembering how our lives changed that day.
After attacking Pearl Harbor Japan added to its empire, Burma, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, the vast East Indies (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Celebes), Timor, New Guinea, the Indian and Pacific islands, and parts of the Aleutian Islands.

The East Indies or Netherlands Indies (Indonesia) where I was born on the island of Java. This populous region of the East Indies suffered grievously from the policies and actions of the Japanese occupiers.Massacres took place on Java. A preferred way for Japanese to rid themselves of burial details near any coast was to take prisoners out to sea for execution.The Japanese decapitated Dutch POWs and dumped their bodies into the ocean.
In 1942 they forced the nurses and patients from a military hospital and killed them along with civilian women and children. In 1945 as the Allies advanced more large-scale murders took place.
When the Japanese launched the war against the West in 1941 they informed the Dutch who ran the oil fields that they must turn them over without damage or all Europeans would be killed.The Dutch set the oil fields on fire on orders from their government. In retaliation, the Japanese killed over a hundred Dutch, who were driven into the sea and shot. There were those whom the Japanese dispatched for their defiance by having their arms and legs lopped off by sword-swinging officers.The women were not killed, but all were raped several times with the Japanese commanding officers looking on.The population suffered the loss of lives in the millions from the Japanese forced labor brutality.

That's why it is time that the Japanese fully come to terms with their World War 2 past.

December 7, 1941 , the day that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

December 11, 1941, the day Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

We will forever remember and honor the heroes who surrendered their lives..... so that we could have our tomorrows.

Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona memorial monument.The monument is build right over the wreck of the ship.

Written by a service Man .. Writer unknown.

I lived awhile on corregidor Isle
That sun baked God cursed land
Where bomb and shell made life a hell
With death on every hand.

I got the first there, of the cursed
With no water ot be had
I heard men scream in hellish dreams
And watched my friends go mad.

And when our bones blend with the stones
You'll hear the parrots cry
The men who owned these splintered bones
Were not afraid to die.

                                                  Lest we Forget!


Did you know that the attack on Pearl Harbor was intended as a prevention action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in South East Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States?
Did you know that Germany and Italy were allied with Japan?

The two fascist powers, both being militarist, were greatly nationalistic and had the ability to annex other nations. Germany and Japan were committed to colonizing other countries.
The Third Reich, realizing Imperial Japan's strength, formed an alliance with her.
The deal was that Nazi Germany would take over the Western side, while the Japanese Empire would take over the Eastern side. By doing this the two countries would have a sort of power-sharing agreement and would have jurisdiction over the entire globe.
They came very,very close to conquer the world.

I read this poem from Harry Riley;

Remember me (The voice of the dead) I thought I share this with you,


Remember me:

Duty called and I went to war
Though I'd never fired a gun before
I paid the price for a new day
As all my dreams were blown away.

Remember me:
We all stood true as whistles blew
And faced the shell and stench of hell
Now battle's done, there is no sound
Our bones decay beneath the ground,
We cannot see, or smell, or hear
There is no death, or hope or fear.

Remember me:
Once we, like you, would laugh and talk
And run and walk and do the things that you all do
But now we lie in rows so neat
Beneath the soil, beneath your feet.

Remember me:
In mud and gore and the blood of war
We fought and fell and move no more
Remember me, I am not dead,
I'm just a voice within your head.

JES-activities in Geneva. Switzerland.

In our petition number 216, handed to His Excellency Yoshihiko Noda we reminded  Japan that the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, A/HRC/WG.6/14/L.12, condemns Japan's war time record on human rights, in particular sexual slavery and other atrocities committed by Japanese military. The education curricula disguise the facts and the reference that all issues are legally settled under the various treaties does not dismiss Japan from its moral obligations.
Japan has the time up to March 2013 to come forward with suggestions which might bridge the gap between the comments made diplomatically by the UN delegates and the initial responses by the Japanese delegation.

In June 2012 the twentieth session of the Human Rights Council was held in Geneva.
Because our Foundation JES the NGO, a non-governmental Organization in consultative  status (Roster) with ECOSOC.,we have the right to present 'Written Statements' to the United Nations in Geneva.
With these written statements the affiliated countries are made aware, of the Human Rights violations of Japan.

This year the Foundations statement was about the young boys who were abducted by the Japanese military from their mother's at the young age of 10 and were taken to a separate concentration camp where they were used for slave labor and where they had to  take care of themselves.

Our member of the board, with international  relations, Brigitte van Halder, was in Geneva and handed out the statement to the UN. These statements were handed to the Chinese and Korean delegation, who like us strive for recognition from Japan for their crimes during the Japanese occupation of Asia. They were very interested.

Here follows the text from our statement.

Human Rights Council
20th Session
Economic and Social Council
June 2012


Written statement by the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts, a non-governmental organization in consultative status (Roster) with ECOSOC.


Title: Japan must accept its responsibilities in violating the Human Rights of young boys in concentration camps in the Dutch East Indies.

The Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts in The Netherlands represents Dutch ex prisoners of war, civilian internees (men, women and children) and those Dutch who were left outside the Japanese concentration camps during World War Two, now 67 years ago. About 100.000 of the 300.000 Dutch who lived in the Dutch East Indies during that period are registered with the Foundation.


One group that the foundation represents is the group of the so-called 'Comfort Women' young girls and women, sexually abused by the Japanese military and their agents. Many of them have died over the years, but those who are still alive are suffering from a trauma that will never go away.

In this statement however the Foundation wants to draw your attention to another group of highly traumatized victims.

One of the cruelest measures by the Japanese military during the occupation of the Dutch East Indies was the abduction of Dutch boys as young as 10 years old into separate concentration camps. They were separated from their mothers and locked up. They had to find their own way under the most difficult circumstances. Against all war conventions they were put to work under harsh and often sordid conditions. In fact the Japanese military kidnapped these children and abused them. They were starved, lacked normal medical guidance and left without any medicine. Medicine provided for by the Red Cross was used by the Japanese military for their own use!

The abducted Dutch boys were forcibly taken from their mothers, who protested vehemently, but to no avail. Many of the boys died; those who returned lost their youth and had difficulties in adjusting to normal life.For those boys, if still alive they would be well into their eighties now, the time has gone. Their experience is not forgotten and remains cruel to this day.

The physical and psychological damage to all the individual victims of the Japanese occupation was considerable and still, after 67 years, continues to haunt the surviving victims.

The horrors inside and outside the Japanese concentration camps in the Dutch East Indies during World War Two are engraved in their memories. The nights are the most terrifying moments. The older one gets, the more the memory is focused on these moments one wants to forget.

The Foundation of Japanese Honorary debts, together with its sister organizations in China, Korea and other East Asian countries occupied by the Japanese military during World War Two requests, once again, the help of the Human Rights Council to ensure that after 67 years Japan recognizes its past and rectifies its violation of human rights during World War Two by acknowledging the facts and subsequently settling the damage done to victims.

The Heiho flogged with well aimed lashes
Ten year old boys behind an army truck
By incomprehensible decree they were declared a man- and men.
Don't belong with their mothers anymore.
He was in line with in his one hand his teddy bear.
Clenched around the one paw left.

In the other hand a bag with in it
The find bit of sugar and some malaria pills,
His mother put in at last
He forced back his tears
After all, he was a man now.
His mother prayed and intensely hoped
To once see him again.
At his birth she had
thought of such a nice name for him
She...she died of malnutrition and malaria.
Lacked the pills that saved his life.

He ended up in a Dutch contract boarding house
Cold, wet, uncomfortable and not so nice either
The hunger winter was more important in conversations.
Than his story of his-cruel-departure.
About good and evil he always thought differently
All his relations broke down
Booze and drugs sometimes helped,
For a moment avoiding reality.
His career failed over and over
The only thing he missed, was his old one armed, soft teddy bear.

written by; Govert Huyser.

Fragments, memories of a camp boy.

General b.d. GL.J.Huyser (Soerabaya 1931) stayed during the war in the Japanese internment camps 'DARMO' in Soerabya 'Karangpanas' in Semarang and in the boys camp 'Bangkong' in Semarang.