A poem dedicated to my mother and aunt and all the women who were in Japanese Prison Camp in the Dutch-East-Indies(Indonesia)

It's Friday February 25,2011.


This morning I got up, and it is snowing again.Done my shopping yesterday, so I do not have to go out. I don't like driving in the snow, but who does? I am always worried about my daughter in law, she has to drive to work every day for about an hour.Our children are always on our minds, no matter how old they are now, a mother always worry..I hope spring weather will be here soon.
Last night I tuned in on the news, and was sorry I did. What a mess in the world, fighting, earthquakes, floods, people dying.
Memories came flooding back, to a time so long ago.I feel for the people in LIBYA, who finally have had enough, and want to have a better life for their children.Freedom, a place to live, a place for happiness, a place for laughter, a place to work,a place for hope,a place to dream, a place to sit in a summers breeze.But as long as there are Fanatic's in Power, there will be this heavy blade. Young people have the right to live their life without a fight.How hard for a parent to tell their child "everything will be all right". They have the right to enjoy the beauty of the world.To see the sun come up every day. To see the sunsets every evening.

Rays of hope.

Why?

Many years have since past
But memories forever last.
Women, children in prison camps
Where nobody was able to give them a hand.
Put there by the Japanese regime
With soldiers who were so terrible mean.
Although it is so long ago
My mind goes back to 1944.
How our mothers shed their tears
In that hell for three and a halve years.
These Japanese were brutal and vicious
Cruel and heartless and twisted.
Endless roll calls just for fun
Everyday in the hot, hot sun

They screamed"KIOTSKAY!","KIRAY!",NOWRAY!"and waved their whips'
And our mothers knew better than to give them lip.
They kept their wits together
Because their children was all that matter.
When I am thinking about those years,
They come back with so much fear!
Swamped by misery, grief and pain,
They hoped God would hear his name.
They sang of his glory and begged to be heard,
They prayed and we pleaded, but never a word.
They reached for the last straw in despair,
And hoped somebody out there would care.
Why, oh why was it, no help came
They were pleading and called your name.
Why was it you let innocent children die?
My mother will never forget that you passed by.
There was thunder and lightning all around,
She was sure you would strike these Japs to the ground.
Our mothers were in so much agony, grief and pain,
They hoped for mercy, but it never came.
There in that horrible prison camp
"YOU" never offered a helping hand.
Most women lost their fate,
For thousands freedom came to late.
And when my time comes to face YOU,
I only have one question...WHY?????
Would YOU let innocent children die???

This poem written by: Tetske T. van der Wal. February 25, 2011.

"KIOTSKAY" (attention)"KIRAY"(bow)"NOWRAY"(stand up) The "NOWRAY" came usually after hours standing in the"KIRAY" position. When "NOWRAY" came it was hard to stand up strait.

The Japanese gorvernment and the Dutch government both have the moral and social responsibility to rectify the wrong doings of the Japanese Imperial Army.

It snowed again last night.My son, his wife and little girl went up north to the cottage. I hope they are not snowed in. It is a long weekend this week. Family weekend. The whole family is at the cottage. Hope they are having a good time.Just spoke to my brother in law Bert on skype. My mother in law is doing fine she is 95 years old.They live in Holland and my mother in law is in an old age home. She is very frail, but in good spirits.She loves her game of soccer on TV and her beer. At night she has a typical dutch drink, which is called an advocaatje( it is very thick eggnog with some alcohol in it and whip cream) She loves it with a small platter of a few pieces of cheese and sausage, and she will be all set for the evening. My sister in law Carla makes that for her every day, and it sits in the fridge for her.The nurse will give it to her at night, when she is ready to sit in front of the tube.This way she has her little party every evening.How good it is to have a positive attitude.She has lots of it. April 10 she is going to be 96 years old.Her life has not always be a path of roses,but her spirit is, and I admire her.We are going to see her in May.

 

She looks so good.

Wisdom will not automatically comes with old age. Nothing does except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place........Abigail van Buren. 1918-1978


I was going to write about history of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts, and about the Dutch Government that they too have a social and moral responsibility to redress the past and come to a final acknowledgment in paying the so called Back Pay to civil servants and military and the war damage resulting from political decisions made by the Dutch Government in exile in London, during world war2.The Dutch government, who did not consider the human rights aspects of the situation, the Dutch government had already reached a settlement on compensation under the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty. The Japanese government and the Dutch government both have the moral and social responsibility to rectify the wrong doings of the Japanese Imperial Army, and go further than settlements made in the 1951 treaty and the Yoshida-Stikker agreement later, which were inadequate.
One must take into account the effects the Japanese occupation had on the Dutch and in particular the physical and material losses resulting from this occupation. But also the way both governments have avoided the moral issues in this matter.All claims were settled with the Peace treaty of 1951 and dismissed the members claim. In view of the Stikker-Yoshida agreement which was concluded after the signing of the 1951 Peace Treaty, this conclusion was incorrect, but the Japanese High Court concluded that claims were dealt with in that Peace Treaty and so dismissed the case.This was a great disappointment. However it was the Dutch government who signed the Peace Treaty and waived the ground rights of its Dutch East Indies citizens. So we hope to prove that the Dutch government has in fact taken over the Japanese Liability.I do not propose to discuss the details of Japanese brutality. It is sufficient what the Dutch government knows about the crimes the Japanese army committed and are documented outside Japan, and are "appalling". The expert opinion of Dr. Hermans on the after effects of internment and in particular the brutal treatment by Japanese soldiers is from great importance.In modern times in modern democracies it is common practice to consider not only the legal sides of a conflict but also the moral issues. Considering the moral issues is evidence of a reliable nation in the international world of the United Nations that can play an active role in the international bodies.

Japan says that they, the second economic power of the world, want to play an important role in the international bodies and are advocating permanent membership of the Security Council of the United Nations. It should therefore consider very careful the moral aspects of it's past and in particular the brutal way in which the Imperial Army conducted the war. Contrary to Germany, Japan has adopted a policy of a strictly legal approach, avoiding any moral responsibility.The legality of its approach may be questioned also, as Japan's Imperial Army's acts against humanity still stands as proven war crimes which can not be overruled or absolved by an independent Peace Treaty.This Peace Treaty should be considered as a moral issue which was signed due to political reasons.
We hope therefore that the Japanese and Dutch governments ultimately will acknowledge that they have a moral duty towards the Dutch from Dutch East Indies. That the Japanese and Dutch government want to be recognized as nations fighting for peace and justice, who take their responsibilities in the international bodies seriously, playing significant roles in human rights, conflict mediation and peace keeping forces. We believe that in doing so, they must consider their past and rectify their wrong doings.
Each second Tuesday of the month the Foundation members demonstrate at the Japanese Embassy in the Hague.

In May I will be in Holland and will be at the demonstration in the Hague with my cousins who like me were in Japanese prison camps.We honor our parents who have suffered tremendously under these brutal Japanese Imperial Army.They are gone, but we are still here and we will ask for recognition and acknowledges of the plight of the Dutch from former Dutch-East Indies and acceptance of the moral obligation of the Japanese people to redress Japan's past.
We hope that the Dutch Government acknowledge that justice needs to been done and the people from Dutch-Indies are compensated for loss of income and health as a result of the Japanese occupation of Dutch East Indies.
Many studies show that the Dutch government has taken a view that they could not afford to help their countrymen from overseas and that they have done enough in accepting their return home. The discussion with the Dutch government is that they too have a social and moral responsibility to redress the past and come to a final acknowledgment in paying the so called Back Pay to civil servants and military and the war damage resulting from political decisions made by the Dutch Government in London.


Considering the history of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts one must conclude that we continue the fight for justice and redress on moral and social grounds. The legal issues are important and in particular as one consider the future. This symposium was organized by the Foundation in order to pay attention to the individual plight in getting compensation from belligerent parties and that those compensations can not be waived by special treaties and local interpretations by judges. This is an investment for the future, which we hope both Japan and the Netherlands take at heart.


On behalf of the board of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts.

J.F. van Wagtendonk. president

To honor our parents who suffered so tremendously under the occupation of the Japanese Army.Justification and recognition will come! Rest in Peace.

Things you never forget!

It is Saturday today. It is a bright sunny day, but some snow flurries are expected. I am so looking forward to spring, so I can work in my garden. I love gardening, it's good for the soul.My husband and I are looking forward to a trip to Holland to visit his mother who is going to be 96 on April 10, also looking forward to see the rest of the family. The most wonderful thing happened a week ago, when after a long search I found my cousin Toby, we had grown up together in Japanese prison Camp. She is my cousin, who I wrote about that we had not bowed for the Japanese commander who passed by and our mothers got a severe beating from him.We were only 3 and 4 years old and we waved and smiled to the Japanese commander, but little as we were, forgot to bow for him.Our mothers were told that they were not educating their daughters in a proper manner, and if this would happen again and their daughters did not bow, he would not only beat them but further actions would be taken,and he would set an example for all the women in camp,to make sure that all children would be taught how to bow.It was an insult to his emperor Hirohito if you did not bow for your superior.

 Later in life when we returned to the Netherlands from the east Indies and were living with her parents in Kolhorn a small town in the North of Holland, my mother overheard me telling my friends, that I loved it in this camp, because I did not have to bow for men in funny suits anymore and that in this camp we had more to eat, in the other camp the food was horrible. I showed them how you had to bow, and told them; if you do not bow deep enough, my mother would get spanked with the whip. My mother said that the kids looked at me as if I came from the moon.

It was so nice to hear from my cousin.I have written a book, which just came out in November.So sad in a way, because my cousins had some stories to tell, and I could have added some of their stories in my book. My cousin Toby has an older brother, who has never spoken about camp life. He told me that he will open up, and has some stories to tell. He has never been able to talk about it, but now he will. I hope he keeps his promise. I will see him in May.He said it will be very difficult for him.He was barely alive after the war was over.

My cousin Fop van Driel, he barely survived.

This is us, just back from Indonesian 1046. My cousin Toby on the left with her brother Fop and me on the right. We are wearing the clothes we received in Ataka,Egypt.

My cousin Toby on the right. How we talked and talked and cried and cried.

My cousin Toby and my aunt Eke, my Mom's sister. How they suffered during the Japanese occupancy.

Today I read a poem from the internet written by; Caitlin Moreby.

WAR

War is triumph
War is gain
War is heartache,
War is pain.

War is duty
War is creed
War is stupid
War is waste.

War is brother
War is Dad
War is mother crying
War is sad.

War is death
War is tears
Wars don't end
They last for years!

Did you know?

My mother and me, my Aunt Eke and her two children were living in the Dutch East Indies when World War2 broke out and the Netherlands declared war to Japan. The Japanese soon invaded the Dutch Indies. The year was 1942  March 8. We had house arrest.Our Indonesian friends did what they could to bring us food and stayed true friends with us. Until the Japs told them that if they were caught, helping the Blanda"s ( white people) they would be severely punished.One day we were called to register with the Japs, and our blood was registered. We were full blood European and we were given a card and a number. This number we had to wear, just as the Jewish people had to wear their stars. This also meant that we were going to be put in Prison Camps, because we were considered a danger to them. In October 1942 we had to assemble on the streets and were taken to the train station, with just one little suitcase each, where they pushed and shoved us in these trains like cattle, with no windows and fresh air, we were told that they took us to protected camps, where we were supposed to be save. From what? from who? from them?We were told that we belonged to Japan from now on,we belonged to the Emperor Hirohito, we owned no houses anymore and we had no country. We had to obey by their rules. We were not allowed to call it prison camps. We were the call it protection camps.But if that was so, why was it that they starved us to death and worked us to death, and tortured us?? If this is what they called protection camps. This was Hell!!!!!It's what my mother told me. I was only 1 1/2 year old at the time and we were in these camps for three and a half years years until the war was over. The Japanese did not tell us until the end of August. Thanks to the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,otherwise the Japs would have slaughtered us all and not a sole would have survived. The date to slaughter us all was set for August 26 1945. Liquidate all Blanda"s ( white people,) Is this not the same as what the Jewish people went through???We were in concentration camps and never in Dutch history is written about this. Why????These dutch women, children and men had to keep their mouths shut. Never did we hear how bad it had been there in that far away land. It was far from the beds of the Dutch. We only now find out what really happened, because our parents left notes and diaries behind for us to read. These diaries and notes were written in those prison camps and they were hidden, even when they arrived in The Netherlands they kept these hidden away for nobody to be seen. Why??Why did Holland never acknowledged that their country men had suffered so badly in the Dutch East Indies.They knew all about  what happened there. I have so many questions.Please Holland can you answer me?
Why was it, that my mother my aunt and all these women and men after world war2 was over, could not return to their houses??? I know.... but lots of people in Holland do not know. Because you are ashamed,it is a black page in your history, which you do not like to be reminded of. It is like opening a can of worms. Soon you will have your wish, because not many people our age and who were there will be alive anymore. Lots of them have passed away. My father died fighting for his country the Netherlands, my mother never received his salary. What did you do with it??? You played another war with the soldiers pay.You have kept that well hidden.I am so angry. My mother and aunt lives were never the same when they returned to the Netherlands. They were never able to talk about it, they had terrible nightmares their whole life.My mother was in hospital one year for an operation. The women on her ward asked if she had been in a camp. Because she got up all the time and told them that she had to try to get some food for the children, and every time the doctor came to see her, she got up and tried to get out of the bed, to bow for the doctor, terrified that she would get a beating. She believed she was back in Japanese camp.My cousin told told me that her mother had ripped up everything what had to do with the time in the Dutch East Indies, even her passport, because she had told my cousin that she had been terrified that she would be send back to Indonesia. She always told my mother we have to keep low profile, let nobody know what we have been through, never talk about it, keep low profile.It was easy, because nobody believed it any way. They had come from Paradise, what did they know about world war2.....? How they must have suffered....Mom, Aunt Eke and all the women , children and men who were there, and all those who had died in these horrible Japanese camps,  I would like you to know that your stories will be told.... we will seek recognition! So all of you can rest in Peace!!!!!

Japanese POWs and German POWs.

In a very detailed and unbelievable documentation, the book " Prisoners of the Japanese"," the author Gavan Daws" writes about this.The death toll in these Japanese Prison Camps was unbelievable high. Percentage wise 4% German Prisoners of war, against 33% of Japanese Prisoners of war.
My mother and I were in Japanese Prison camp in Moentilan and Banjoebiroe 10.We were taken to Banjoebiroe on the first of August 1945. When we arrived in this camp it was so full, 5300 women and children were taken here, to be liquidated,and she told me once that in this camp around 15 women or children died per day. They all died from starvation, torture, exhaustion, etc.The Japanese had plans to either poison, starve or shoot us.They were told not to leave any traces.

We are fighting for justice. After all these years we are tired of hearing about the poor Jewish people, yes it was terrible. But what about the poor Dutch people from the Dutch Indies?....they had to look out for themselves.
When it was apparent that injustice was done to the Jewish people and they got compensation, the Netherlands came up with "A GESTURE" this was for the difficult Dutch people from the Dutch Indies, and for once and for all they would hopefully shut up..... However there are only a few left, so it would not cost the Netherlands a lot....!!!!

The Netherlands recovered quickly after the war, thanks to the Marshall Plan.The Netherlands keeps very quiet about this. Studies about this subject have been put aside.

But never was and is thought about the fact that this fast rebuilding of the Netherlands after the Second World War had anything to do with the offers the Dutch People in the Dutch Indies had given.We lost everything, our houses, our furniture, our bank accounts,not a single photograph.Always the Dutch who were occupied by the Germans were talking about how they had suffered. But they were still in their own houses, slept in their own beds, eat from their own plates with their own knife and fork.The families were most at the time still all together.All the Dutch who had losses due to the occupancy of the Germans received compensations.In the Dutch Indies not one single family was complete. Fathers were taken away and put in Prison camps, mothers with their children were put in concentration camps and their 10 years old boys were taken away from them. They were considered men and a danger to the Japanese. Can you imagine that your 10 year old boy is taken away from you, because he is considered a man?. They were used for the Japanese war Industry. That they died as rats through systematically starvation, tropical sicknesses, torture, was not important. There were lots of replacements available for the Japanese Industry. They used these prisoners of war for their production lines. The blanda's(White people) were educated and were a welcome force for their production lines, because their own potential workforce was not available. In many cases these POWs were put to work for Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and 15 other concerns and  zaibatsu is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed for control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of World War two. They had to work day and night.
Millions of people died in the war in South Asia, fought by the Japanese.They were starved, worked to death and killed. They estimate that 20 up to 35 million were killed. In this estimate were 150.000 people with the Dutch Nationality, military,civilians, women and children from the formal Dutch Indies in the East. From which between 1942 and 1945 20% lost their lives.The capitulation which was forced on Japan by the Americans with the A-bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima should not have come on a later date, because the liquidation plans to murder all prisoners of war were ready.The date was set for August 26,1945. This percentage would then have been 100%. One of the biggest mass murders were the death marches from camp Sandakan in Borneo.Twenty five hundred men were send into the jungle in groups of five hundred. Sick or not sick. The men who stayed behind because they could not walk anymore were killed with one single bullet. In July 1945 the camp was empty. Five men had tried to escape, and one prisoner the Australian Owen Campbell survived. Otherwise nobody would have ever heard of the Sandakan murders.See the story on the website of Sado.
Gavan Daws would not have been able to write the book "Prisoners of the Japanese" if the war had not been stopped by the A-Bombs.

Lots of this information I am writing about is from the svjappenkampen organization/. from Lilian Sluyter, she is doing an phenomenal job.Thanks to all the people who working so hard to get justice:
chairman: Paul Horsman. Secretary: L. Sluyter, Treasurer: Ir. J.H. Tulner, admin. Greta Mosselman,a few more names, Peter van Vliet, Bart van der Woerd and webmaster: Rene Scholte. I hope I did not forget anybody.Thanks, and thanks again for all the hard work.
I will keep following your site and I will keep writing about this forgotten war.

To remember them is to honour them!

"To remember them is to honor them" that's the message Roger had.

Roger Mansell. Oct.8-1935-Oct.25-2010.

Rest in Peace, and thanks for everything.

His legacies in POW research and more. See the website: www.rogermansell.com

All things to nothingness descend,
Grow old and die and meet their end:
Man dies, iron rusts, wood goes decayed,
Towers fall, walls crumble, roses fade.
Nor long shall any name resound
Beyond the grave, unless 't be found
In some clerk's book; it is the pen
Gives immortality to men.

(written by Master Wace (born circa 1100)

University Research center on WW2  POWs.

Why I still keep writing about these misserable years.s!

George Santayana reminds us that the lessons of history are invaluable in determining the course of the future.:"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

A couple of years ago a Canadian soldier walked in my office in Jamaica to sign up for a dive.We owned a diving business in Jamaica.I got to talk to him. He told me that he was on vacation with his family at Club Ambiance and had to go back to Iraq the following day coming back from this vacation. He told me that he had become a soldier because he thought it was so cool. He was very young man. He told me it was not so cool, reality is so different. It was horrible what he had seen in the few month's he was a soldier. He told me that he hoped that he would come out of this war in one piece, if he lived. He loved diving and liked to dive everyday, but a soldiers salary is not that great. We told him that he could dive with us every day, if he liked. He had such a good time. He was able to forget for a few days that he had to go back.He said to me:" when you are young you have no idea what war is all about and as a young child you like to be an hero, just like the ones you see on TV." On television they all look like hero's and that is what he liked to be. He was terrified that he would not come back from that hell in Iraq.
Yes, a lot of young people of to-day have no idea about what a war is all about.
A war only causes bereavement. Everybody loses and in the end, there is no winner.

I met another diver in Jamaica who was in Vietnam. He wrote a book. His name is Steve Fehrenbach.We became very good friends and Steve and his wife Debbie came to dive with us every year. The title of his book:" A simple soldier". He came back a very confused man. I read his book and I think everybody should. We are still friends with him. We know him now at least for 18 years. He too wrote this book for his family to give them understanding what he had gone through. Every young man coming back from an experience of the likes of Steve will never be the same. A war is a horrible thing.We live in a very greedy world.Mankind never learns their lessons. Life is so short.Live it to the fullest.

It's always the innocent who suffer the most.