Civilian POWs in Indonesia WWII

[Aleida]

I am not sure I am in the right forum for this... please forgive and redirect me if this is so. As you can see from the bio, i have a vested interest in learning more about the Japanese Civilian POWs because my mother was interned for 3 1/2 years as a young adolescent. She was captured on Sumatra and spent tme in three different camps including one in Glugor (sp?), Palemberg (sp?) and finally Aek Paminke (which I have seen spelled as Aek Pamienke as well). I see many books and personal accounts from those who were on Java, but so far nothing much on Sumatran camps, in particular I am interested in Aek Pamienke. Since mom was young, she is able to tell me only limited information from the point of view of a naive child. While she has been willing to share somewhat, the rest of her family, including her mom (now dead) and her twin sister do not wish to speak of those times. Perhaps it is because the dutch government largely ignores that part of their history not just wanting to put the past behind them. I would love to know and understand more. I think my mom is even willing to correspond with others now, who have shared her experience in Sumatra. Certainly I would love to hear from such people. THanks, Aleida

[George Eller]

I am not sure I am in the right forum for this... please forgive and redirect me if this is so. As you can see from the bio, i have a vested interest in learning more about the Japanese Civilian POWs because my mother was interned for 3 1/2 years as a young adolescent. She was captured on Sumatra and spent tme in three different camps including one in Glugor (sp?), Palemberg (sp?) and finally Aek Paminke (which I have seen spelled as Aek Pamienke as well). I see many books and personal accounts from those who were on Java, but so far nothing much on Sumatran camps, in particular I am interested in Aek Pamienke. Since mom was young, she is able to tell me only limited information from the point of view of a naive child. While she has been willing to share somewhat, the rest of her family, including her mom (now dead) and her twin sister do not wish to speak of those times. Perhaps it is because the dutch government largely ignores that part of their history not just wanting to put the past behind them. I would love to know and understand more. I think my mom is even willing to correspond with others now, who have shared her experience in Sumatra. Certainly I would love to hear from such people. THanks, Aleida
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Hi Aleida,

Looks like both our mothers had similar experiences during WWII. My mother was also very young when the Japanese invaded the Netherlands East Indies. She had just turned 9 years old when Java was invaded in March of 1942. Her family was living in Jokjakarta in southeastern Java. Her father was an Onderluitenant in the KNIL and was serving at GHQ in Bandung (west-central Java) when the Japanese invaded. He died at the Tjimahi POW camp on 24 Jan 1945 and is buried in the cemetery there (central Java). Mom and her family also spent time in concentration camps. Very unpleasant memories, especially losing her father at such a young age.

http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showpost.php?p=103500&postcount=33
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2936
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2936&page=2
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2936&page=3

Hope these will help:

You mentioned that your mother spent time in three camps on Sumatra. Here is some information that I found on the camps:
Gloegoer was in North Sumatra at the town of Medan,
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Gloegoer.htm

Aek Pamienke I, Aek Pamienke II & Aek Pamienke III were also in North Sumatra at the town of Rantau Prapat,
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Aek_Pamienke_I.htm
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Aek_Pamienke_II.htm
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Aek_Pamienke_III.htm

Palembang is actually a town in South Sumatra which had five camps:

Barakkenkamp
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Palembang%20Barakken.htm
Boekit Besar
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Boekit%20Besar.htm
Gevangenis
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Palembang%20Gevangenis.htm
Pladjoe
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Pladjoe.htm
Talang Semoet
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Talang%20Semoet.htm

Camps in the Dutch East Indies:

Japanse burgerkampen
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/index.htm

Kampen op Sumatra
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Sumatra-kampen.htm

Kampen op Java
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Java-kampen.htm

Kampen op Borneo
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Borneo-kampen.htm

Kampen op Celebes
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Celebes-kampen.htm

Kampen in Oostelijke Archipel
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Oostelijke%20Archipel-kampen.htm

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THE MAP ROOM
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/000_admin/006_maps.html

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES, 1935

Sumatra - 1935
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/sumarta.jpg

Java
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/java.jpg

Borneo
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/borneo.jpg

Celebes
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/celebes.jpg

The Moluccas
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/molukken.jpg

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Paradise Road (1997)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119859/
Paradise Road is based on the true story of women POWs in Sumatra during WWII. The film, for the most part, follows what really happened...

Paradise Road (From Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Road
Paradise Road is a 1997 film which tells the story of a group of women who are imprisoned in Sumatra during World War II. ...The story is based on the testimonies of Helen Coljin and Betty Jeffrey written in their books Song of Survival et White Coolies.

Paradise Road Movie (Amazon . com)
http://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Road-Glenn-Close/dp/B000056BSH/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-3073483-6269441?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1188952698&sr=1-1

Song of Survival: Women Interned Movie (Amazon . com)
http://www.amazon.com/Song-of-Survival/dp/B0002TSZMY/ref=pd_rhf_f_i_cs_2/103-3073483-6269441?ie=UTF8&qid=1188952977&sr=1-1
"Using historical footage, moving interviews, and absorbing narration, SONG OF SURVIVAL tells a little known human interest story.... Highly recommended." (The real women of Paradise Road)
They survived three-and-a-half years in a Japanese prison camp in Sumatra during World War II. But these courageous women had something special going for them: the great music of Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin. Having no instruments but the human voice, they recreated from memory the complex symphonic music they had loved. Here is their remarkable story, told by the survivors themselves, aided by rare archival footage. The Peninsula Women's Chorus of Palo Alto, California, once again sings the rapturous music that made life endurable in a remote prison camp in Sumatra.

Song of Survival: Women Interned (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/Song-Survival-Interned-Helen-Colijn/dp/1883991145/ref=pd_bxgy_d_text_b/103-3073483-6269441?ie=UTF8&qid=1188952698&sr=1-1
Helen Colijn was a 20-year-old Dutch woman living with her parents on a small island near Borneo when the Japanese invaded in 1941...

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Elizabeth van Kampen

Memories of my youth and the years of the Japanese occupation in the former Dutch East Indies during World War Two
http://www.dutch-east-indies.com/
http://www.dutch-east-indies.com/story/index.htm

Index
http://www.dutch-east-indies.com/story/index01.php

2. Sumatra;
My first years on one of the most beautiful islands in Indonesia.
My sister Henny was born.
http://www.dutch-east-indies.com/story/page02.php

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If Mom Had A Blog In 1942

http://1942blog.blogspot.com/

There are no family photographs, only memories. Memories of a five-year old imprisoned by Japanese soldiers. Memories of love, courage and most of all hope. Hope that there was a God who would walk through the valley of death, known as WWII, with her. And He did.

These are the first stories my mom (Helaene or, Laney) can remember as we try to put the pieces of her life all in order. Information of dates, times and places are still sketchy but I can feel it come together. She does want to make it clear that she harbors no anger against the Japanese or the Indonesian people. These are her earliest memories . . .

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ANTHEA'S WEB SITE

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/abeckett/index.html

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/abeckett/index.html#intro

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/abeckett/4gens.html

My web site is mainly about pre-war Shanghai and Indonesia. Many of the British who lived and worked in the Far East pre-1940 come from families whose links with Asia go back several generations. Asia moulded our lives and added a special dimension to our outlook.

My time was spent in Shanghai and Java, both of them places with sizeable British communities. Many books have been published about the British in China, India and Malaya but, apart from the brief period of Sir Stamford Raffles' governorship, few about the British in Indonesia. This is a pity, for many British businesses and families have long associations with Indonesia and interesting stories to tell.

Java Index
compiled from information by Anthea Beckett
http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Java_Index/

The Java Index is British & Commonwealth POWs held in Java1942-45 and is compiled from various published sources.

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Netherlands National Archives
http://www.en.nationaalarchief.nl/default.asp

http://www.en.nationaalarchief.nl/voorouders/over/
About our archives

The Nationaal Archief holds a range of archives which can be useful in genealogical research. First of all, those of the province of Zuid-Holland. Other collections cover the entire Netherlands, as well as the former Dutch colonies.

The following sources are of particular interest for those researching their family history:
civil registers;
church and civic registers; and,
other sources, including military lists.

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Alex Glendinning's Asian Pages
http://user.itl.net/~glen/asianintro.html

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KNIL (Royal Netherlands Indies Army)
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2936
With links to websites related to the Dutch East Indies.

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[Panzerknacker]

Moved.

[abi]

If you want to know about The dutch in indonedia during ww2
you can ask me
my grandfather was indondesian freedom fighter in that time
he answered the duty calls
he spent his time in the occupation times.
so i can ask him

well
when my country under the jap's occupation they promised a freedom to us
if we help the jap's to win the pasific war
the japs said "togather we can rule the asia pasific". In those time the japs establish a lot of POW camps for the dutch in java and soematra and borneo. The POW camps were not only for the dutch soldier but also for the civilian includeng cildren and women. Few of The japs did a brutality in the POW and did not treat them as the geneva convention said.

Soon after the japs lost the war
we (indonesian) proclamated our contry and take over the vacum of power.
in those time my grandfather found of some POW camps in java that have just been left by the japs. He found not only the military in that camps but also women and children

In 1945 after we proclamated our country
the allied came with the dutch which known as NICA (Netherlands Civil Administration). the allied said they came not to invade my country but to disarmed the japs. but the NICA came to my country for another reason.
They libearte the Dutch POW and armed them. Soon they began the provocation and made it became a confilct between Dutch-allied-and the indonesian
that was the part of the indonesian war of independence

[George Eller]

Ya, I be reading this post and I don't see anything written about how many of them POWS were black, so maybe you could do your reasearch and write it here cause I want to know no,so ok, I check back later to see what you put.
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Ya, but I'm not buying it guy. I don't believe that you're really black - sorry.

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[Rising Sun*]

Ya, I be reading this post and I don't see anything written about how many of them POWS were black, so maybe you could do your reasearch and write it here cause I want to know no,so ok, I check back later to see what you put.

How about you do some research and tell us what you've found out?

Your problem is that you're smart and it still comes through when you're trying to appear to be a dumb.

So stop jerking people around and either behave reasonably or piss off.

[abi]

Ya, I be reading this post and I don't see anything written about how many of them POWS were black, so maybe you could do your reasearch and write it here cause I want to know no,so ok, I check back later to see what you put.


I Think most of them were white and mixed (indonesian-dutch )
but some of the black KNIL Prisoner were from ambon and maluku. they were mostly black or darker than other indonesian.
but i'm not really sure about Black POW that you meant....i'll ask my grandfather for sure