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CELEBES, WORLD WAR II

“Personal Accounts of Japanese Prisoners of War of the Three PW Camps on the Isle of Celebes (Sulawesi) January 1942-September 1945.”

Dedicated to: Pim Seth Paul, my two brothers, and all those who did not survive the camp years.

Production:

Layout and printing: Piet and Ton Verheij.

Printing: CDP-Emmen.

Copyright: Nothing may be copied or printed without permission of the author.

Introduction.

This work was assembled from the memories and experiences of camp members during their captivity. Some accounts were written down immediately after being freed by the Allies, others were remembered years later.

The intent is to follow the events in chronological order as they happened in three different camps. Since several people described certain events in these camps, duplication became unavoidable but a different slant on these same experiences exposes the reader to various points of view.

This is not supposed to be a literary masterpiece, rather the text was written the way we received it. If the text needed clarification or correction, a footnote was placed between parentheses followed by the initials SP, TS, or OY, Seth Paul, Tineke Stolk, or Olly Young. Some difficulties were encountered due to several versions of names and places that were provided, making it necessary to make specific choices. Therefore we still do not know whether the names Pfeiffer and Buffaert are supposed to be Peifer or Buffart. Signed: Tineke Stolk and Pim Seth Paul.

Contributors: Ladies: J.A. Bartstra-de Koster, M.N. van Breugel-Honing, J. Chabot-Kortmann, O. van Driest-Young, A.Dijkstra-Advocaat, J.H. van Goor-Duut, M. Hofker-Rueter, Sister Jane Marie, T.V. Josten-Corten, A.H.Joustra, M.C. Kantor-Smulders, H.W.J. Koop-Noordink, C.A. van Lochem-Heidinga, J.L. Maurenbrecher-Brain, H. Muelder-Lindeboom, H. van Ravenhorst, M.F. Sorber-Kranendonk, C.A. Stolk, J.C. Valderpoort-Wierts van Coehoorn, L.A.G. van Veen-Schmidt, C.E.G. Voskuil-Limborgh, J.G.I.E. Wehrens, A. Welleman-Verijzer, F. Wendt.

Gentlemen: W.R. Badenbroek, Father Ch.C. Bedaux, Rev. A. Bikker, Rev. C.F. Booy, Rev. J. van Dillewijn, Fra. Geroldus-Smulders, J. de Goederen, D.A. ten Haaft, L. Lindeboom, J.T.K. Poll, Pim Seth Paul, Wiebe Seth Paul, C.H. Stolk, I. Volmer, J.A. Welleman.

Mrs. Chabot was the first one to entrust me with a complete diary in 1985 after my request for material for this book. I then received loosely written accounts, which I gathered and called this compilation “The Way it Happened”. Then Mrs. Joustra asked me to meet her and she gave me her diary as well as Mrs. Voskuil’s.

Several years after I had started to put this material together Pim Seth Paul appeared with his diary, after the death of Japan’s Emperor Hirohito. He offered to put everything in his computer. I welcomed his offer since I needed to have everything edited and nobody volunteered, while I did not own a computer. Finally things started rolling. I sent my typed diary selections to Pim who combined them with his diary in his computer. He also entered the accounts of “The Way it Happened”.(I translated the title to CELEBES, WORLD WAR II. O.Y.) Quite a job! Without his stimulating enthusiasm this book could have never been. Unfortunately, he did not live to see its this complete work; that’s why I decided to dedicate this book to him.

But how should I continue? After I asked several possible sources for help I received some offers of computer owners, but the angel who saved the day was Piet Verheij. He proceeded to lend me a computer, making it possible for me to do everything at once. Piet and his brother Ton took care of the printing and distribution.

In the meantime Piet and I visited the RIOD; the State Institute of war documents, to buy all the fotos Japanese journalists had made after the fire in Kampili. Also Pim’s son, Thad, had an enormous task to pick out the text from his Dad’s computer to make it fit in Piet’s system, because much needed to be added.

Through the RIOD we came in contact with Hans and Boy Veldhuis, stepsons of Kees Booy, who kept a diary of events in the military PW camp. This work consisted of 10 notebooks.

I still needed a diary of Pare-Pare to complete this book. At this time I would like to express my thanks to the author Rik Valkenburg, who wrote “Djoenkeng Owari - (freely translated: Roll call is Over). This book is out of print. But he allowed me to copy excerpts out of his book. I am very grateful to him, but I would not rewrite half his book. I continued my search with great determination and discovered a loose piece of paper written by Mr. Welleman titled “my diary...” I immediately contacted him and he sent me a copy of his diary right away. I was elated, I finally had what I wanted, the written events of the three POW camps: Makassar, Pare-Pare, and Kampili. I still needed to interview Wiebe Seth Paul and Wil Badenbroek and my notes would be complete. In the meantime I received the last part of Mrs. Valderpoort’s diary from Mrs. Bartstra.

This meant that, because of this added information, we could not present this book on a designated date of our yearly reunion. I did not want to present a shoddily printed book. Because of the enormity of these last contributions my wish to present the facts as complete as possible became reality. The cruelest events were deleted out of pity for the survivors. I was unwilling to share these memories with others. Also, I was not allowed to repeat some of the horror stories, and I was not free to publicize some articles. There was a 7-page report of an official complaint against the Japanese garrison in charge of the military PW camp in Makassar. These Japanese were eventually convicted. This report was submitted in Makassar on the 4^th of October 1945. It contained 29 of the worst cases of abuse and cruelty inflicted by Japanese guards on POWs in Makassar.

It is not impossible to expect a follow-up, judging the reaction of many who read this book. We shall see.

Mrs. Chabot already read the first part and offered her critique, Mrs. Bartstra, Juul Wehrens, and Jopie Stolk offered to read this book in its entirety and give their commentary.

Because of all the extra information we received, the book would become too big, therefore we decided to drop the story of Mrs. Deibler. She was the widow of an American missionary. We could not secure her permission, or the information of world events during that period of which we had no knowledge at that time. That information is interesting but it can be read in other publications.

I thank all the contributors of diaries, stories, poems, and drawings. Included is Chris Eweg, the artist who drew the food drop by shed number 12 after a pastel painting by Mrs. Krol, which we used for our cover.

Signed: TS.

Introduction.

Every first Saturday in October a reunion of former camp members of Kampili is held. In the beginning our mothers met, but over the years the younger generation attended, also the men and “boys of Pare-Pare, and an occasional former PW from Makassar.

Meanwhile I have gathered so much material that was not written about in my first book, that I could not ignore all that. Therefore I will do my utmost to remember as much as possible and with the available new information and possibly more interviews I can present a clear and lucid account of those war years.

I shall begin with my own story, because our family was divided into those three camps.

Signed: Tineke Stolk.

In the Beginning:

Stolk: Our family arrived in Makassar from Semarang, Java, right before the new school year started in August 1941. After we stayed in Pension Wynands we moved into a house opposite of the Pension, 10 General van Dalenweg.

We did not enjoy our stay in Makassar very long. After we became acquainted with the Club, the swimming pool, and “het Platje”, and just getting used to our new school, we left town.

On 7 December 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the American Naval base. At that time most of the Pacific Naval Forces were destroyed. On the 8^th of December governor-general Sir A.W.I. Tjarda van Starkenborg Stachouwer declared war on the Japanese at 6.30 Java time.

On the 9^th of December the army was mobilized. My Dad and eldest brother stayed at the Klapper laan in a military compound. My mother and I would bring them a few things. It was rather eerie to make these visits, we did not meet anyone and it was very dark and very quiet, except for the frogs who called out in the tropical night

.

Lindeboom: One could feel the threat of the approaching Japanese aggressors; children gathered aluminum objects that were destined for smelters in Japan to eventually build airplanes for the Netherlands Indian air force. How naive we were! The Japanese had required the same status as Europeans from the Dutch, and they held many honorable positions where they were trusted and honored. It was with great bitterness when we witnessed the Japanese bicycle repairman command a truck to send us to a camp, and that the nice Japanese photographer took possession of your house and kicked you out in the street. But we started to prepare ourselves for the war in our country, and how.

All the schoolchildren received an eraser with a hole in it through which a string was placed so the child could wear it around the neck. In case of a bombardment the child would place the eraser between its teeth to protect teeth and hearing against possible damage. In the square sharp bamboo sticks were placed in the hope that Japanese planes would drop their parachutist there.

Chabot: When war broke out my husband Henk was away on a business trip. That same day he returned. The following day when we were mobilized, Henk and all other Dutchmen and Indo-Europeans went into service. Henk had already served 4 months in military service. Only those who held top positions retained their office jobs while also being the town’s guardians. They did engage in military exercises during their time off work. Added to the town’s guard were Chinese and certain Indonesians, however they were not required to enter the military and in case of danger it was left up to them if they wanted to fight or not.

Besides the militarized civilians and the town’s guard there were a few hundred professional soldiers. These were natives from Java, Ambon, and Menado. Together there were about 2,500 soldiers.

A week later Henk and about 100 others were sent to the airfield, about 20 kilometers North of Makassar, to defend it to the death. This group consisted of schoolboys of 18 and also teachers of about 40. Nothing was prepared on the airfield: the anti aircraft gu7ns lacked ammunition, shelters that were dug in the rain by soldiers, were filled with dirt the following day, because the leaders feared that these could be used by the Japanese to hide in. Most of the rest of the defenders were sent to Tjamba, 70 kilometers NorthEast of Makassar in the mountains, an excellent place for defense.

The highest military officer came down with a case of arthritis after several weeks and was transferred to Java. His successor who had worked in Makassar was, although kindhearted, not a military man and did not feel that he wanted to defend Makassar. Instead he decided that in case of an attack he would withdraw with all his troops to Tjamba where food supplies were stored which could support the army for months.

In case war did come to Makassar women and children would be forced to evacuate to Malino, a place in the mountains. A road different from the one to Tjamba could reach it and there was no military protection.

Women without children, or with children older that 10, were required to join the Red Cross in Tjamba, the clinics in Makassar, or the central kitchens that were to provide food for anti-aircraft crews and others. There was a great deal of friction among the leaders; truly capable people were not available.

At the highest levels in Batavia (Jakarta), no decisions could be made to transport all the women and children to Java. From the outer regions of the Indies many did go. More than half of the Dutch women left Makassar, first by boat, and when this became too dangerous, by plane, often paying double with borrowed money. The men urged their wives to leave and many gave in to a dumb urge to flee, under the mistaken impression that the enemy would never occupy Java. In 1985 we wanted to do something special to commemorate the 40-year existence of this group. We asked everyone to bring a memento from the war years to our meeting. This show was a huge success. I always regretted that nothing had been written about the camps in Southern Celebes. At that time a book written by Mrs. Deibler Rose had not made the scene, and because my memory lagged considerably I requested that everyone would dig into their memory and send me stories, poems, drawings, etc. Most of all, I would have treasured complete diaries. It would then be possible to create a chronological account of the three groups that were held prisoner by the Japanese on the Isle of Celebes: the military in Makassar, the male civilians and boys 15 years and older in Pare-Pare, and the women and children in Kampili.

Thus it happened that those women assigned to clinics and central kitchens left so that food could not be cooked and the clinics were not properly manned. Only the women working for the Red Cross stayed.

Even former nurses without children whose husbands would have to fight, left by plane thinking that they would be safe in the mountain resorts of Java.

Stolk: On January 20, 1942 information was received that the Japanese fleet approached Makassar. It was feared that our town would be attacked and a decision was made to evacuate women and children to a mountain resort, Malino, under direction of a government official. We received instructions to pack a suitcase and be prepared to leave at 6.30 AM the following day. Malino was situated about 70 kilometers east of Makassar. We needed to take only the most basic necessities because we would be gone for just a few days. When the Japanese would be defeated we could return.

All private vehicles were in use by the armed forces but our chauffeur in our own car drove my mother and youngest brother to Malino where our car would be rendered inoperable. After the war we saw our maroon Dodge, which we had taken with us from Semarang, made into a pick-up.

Chabot: Before about 800 European women and children were forced to evacuate to Malino, the government had evacuated about 1500 Chinese nationals to a camp which was especially built for this purpose. It was located about 25 kilometers outside Makassar on the road to Malino. Supposedly, a concentration of the Chinese trade center might be of value to the Japanese, and most of this area needed to be destroyed.

The native women and children of Makassar had already returned to their families on the island. Native towns (kampongs) on the seashores were emptied and the remaining natives were free to do as they wished. Other people such as the Menadonese and Ambonese were dispersed among the nearby kampongs.

Our evacuation was a success. My old female cook (kokkie) cried when she had to say good-bye to my baby, and me she could still not believe that anything would happen.

In Malino I was assigned to a bungalow with people I had never seen before. Later I moved to a house with people I felt more comfortable with.

Stolk: I cannot remember anything about our trip to Malino. I believe that we had to come to a small hotel where we, eventually, were assigned. People who owned a bungalow in Malino could move into their property but were instructed to share their home with others, mostly acquaintances. Those who were left, including us, were finally placed in a building that originally was designed for children who would go on vacation. It was a one-story wide building that was located in a turn of the road just before the last incline to Malino.

This complex existed of the main building and two wings. Behind the main entrance was the dining room with long tables and benches behind which the kitchen was located. The wings contained a center and outer section. The wings contained an area, where my youngest brother, Adri, was assigned. Next were our sleeping quarters where my mother and I shared a bunk bed by a door leading outside. The center section of the left wing was made into an infirmary where Mrs. Hartmans was the assigned nurse.

Of all the people who occupied the left wing I remember Mr. and Mrs. de Hond with her children Arie, Joost, and Hermien. Mrs. van der Noen with Lena, Jan, and Henny van der Noen. Mrs. Prins, Ria van Breugel and her daughter Anneke. Mrs. Nol and her sons Eddy and Kees. Mrs. Benschop, Miel Pichel, Mrs. Hartmans and her children Els and Robbie. Toetie Smulders, Mrs. van Driest and her children Jan, Olly, Helga, and Peter. Mrs. Herdes and her daughters Ankie, Ineke, and Miep, Mrs. Ossenbruggen and children, and Willy Badenbroek.

Badenbroek: When we heard that the Japanese would attack Makassar soon, we were evacuated. Oddly enough, my sister and I were separated but fortunately we went to the same place: Malino in the mountains. My sister was moved into a bungalow with other wives of customs personnel. I moved into a Children’s Vacation building with many other kids. Malino was a delightful, beautiful little village with lots of fresh air and an excellent climate. Nothing reminded me of the war. Being a boy of 15 I felt at home. Now that I am trying to remember everything I realize the enormity of the responsibility of those who needed to arrange our stay in Malino. Being a child I only recognized the fun part. The leader of our building was Mr. Wijker whose assistant was Mrs. de Hond. Mrs. Hartmans took care of our health problems. Our own Maatje van Roon managed the kitchen very ably.

Frieda Wendt: The situation in Makassar became very tense. The Japs were close to our shores and women and children fled into the mountains in order to be “safe”. This resort became our haven. We thought that the Japs could not touch us there, what did we know!

The men stayed at their posts in Makassar. Originally I was to join a lady to go to Malino with the understanding that my mother would join me later. She did not want to leave my father. I did not like the idea, during this tense period I would have rather been with my mother. But at the last moment a different decision was made. My mother also did not like the idea to let me go by myself. This was a tremendous relief for me.

We were loaded onto trucks and after several hours of being jostled back and forth we arrived in Malino. Immediately we were put in a children’s vacation building. Normally children in poor health were taken there to heal of whatever illness they had. A few hundred people now occupied the building. In the beginning it was rather chaotic, everybody tried to find some space. There were large sleeping areas with bunk beds, allowing us little privacy. Food was served in the large dining hall where there was a lot of noise. Understandably so, with that many people.

So now and then my Dad, who stayed behind in Makassar, came to visit us, which made me very happy. He stayed a very short time and returned the following day. Saying good-bye was very difficult. Some women were envious of these visits and made disparaging remarks when I waved good-bye with tears in my eyes. Once one of those women snapped at me: “Why do you cry? At least you can see your father, but these children have not seen their Dad for quite a while. Your tears have no justification.” She was right, it was hard for the others, but they forgot that it was much more difficult to say good-bye over and over again, instead of accepting the situation and hope for the best. Besides, the situation became so critical that it was possible that my Dad could not visit us any more. The roads could be closed or the Japs could have landed.

That woman made me feel guilty, while I did not need to be. I did not dare to cry any more when my father would leave, it was very difficult.

Chabot: A battle raged in the Strait of Makassar and the fleet, which was destined for our shores, did not arrive. It was then that we realized the seriousness of this situation.

The governor-general held a speech, which was meant for the outer regions of the Indies. We heard his good-bye speech over the radio in Malino, it was not meant to encourage us. Java had already given up on the outer regions. The last thing the military planned was to make a ship available to take women and children to Java. One week before the Japs landed the government put up a proposal to the Dutch men, who were to defend the airfield and other positions of importance, and who had wives in Malino to make a decision if these women should be shipped to Java. Fishermen told how Dutch women the Japs raped and how mothers were separated from their children in Menado after it fell to the Japs. What this proposal meant for our men was clear. The result was that several women from Malino and those who stayed with their husbands in outlying regions came to Makassar. Until 10 o’clock at night these families waited for the ship with their sleeping children. It finally became clear that this ship would never arrive since the Japs had torpedoed it. Everybody was more or less relieved and went back to whence they came.

Wendt: One day my father came to get us in haste. We were to leave by plane for Java. We quickly gathered up some belongings and left in the car of a friend. But fate decided differently, which turned out to be a good thing. Mayor Brune, who worked with my Dad, warned us when we came to Makassar, that it was much too dangerous to leave for Java. That same evening he made his car and chauffeur available to us and told us to move into his bungalow. This was a very nice gesture and it saved us a lot of trouble. We rode all evening. It was very dark; the roads narrow and lined with deep ravines. But with the capable chauffeur, Sindring, at the wheel we were not worried. It was much more unsettling when we looked back and saw smoke and fire in the direction of Makassar. The town was on fire! Everything that was important was destroyed to prevent the Japs from capture them. People were inexperienced, panicky, and not prepared. It was scary to watch the fire at this distance.

Other families had already found a place in the mayor’s home, but they had already made space available for us.

Lindeboom: All of a sudden the situation became so threatening that several men decided to send their wives and children to “safe Java”. I too, together with my mother and sister, was waiting for one of the last planes that never came. This was a blessing in disguise, because we were spared the much greater misery that befell the Europeans and Indo-Europeans on Java. Women, children, and older men were taken to the mountain resort Malino to wait for the Americans and English to liberate us while we sought refuge in several European houses there. Saying good-bye to our fathers was a bit messy, somewhat despairing and yet heroic with a feeling of “keep your chin up”, it will last just a little while. That’s the way we left our house, I said good-bye to our dear maid and male servant who could make such a beautiful wooden slingshot, and my dear little dachshund, Floris. I never saw my dog again.

We were housed in the house of mayor Brune, and since Mrs. Brune, being the mayor’s wife, acted with authority, the adults had to adapt themselves in a way that became a very trying time. There were quarrels and intrigue, people who would not participate in the necessary tasks to keep the house going. Of course I favoured my mother in these disputes while observing and learning how to become an adult.

Booy: After war was declared our submarines acted with great courage and inflicted heavy damage on the Japs. The English and American naval forces did not help very much, considering the size of their navies. Almost all these ships were destroyed; the Exeter, Encounter, Pope, an American submarine and several other ships. The survivors were put in our camp.

Not much happened during the first few days of the war. It became very tense around the end of January since a small portion of the Jap fleet was seen in the Strait of Makassar after the fall of Menado and Tarakan.

On the 23^rd I was being ordered to Tjamba to guard the engineer’s archives, since a landing was imminent. This landing was not executed since the Japs suffered several losses. With certainty 28 ships were sent to the bottom, but in all probability about 50 cargo and naval ships shared the same fate. There still was much to do on Tjamba since it is here and on Bengo the troops will regroup in case of a large-scale landing.

Balikpapan was overrun after it had been totally destroyed. Kendari, on the isle of Celebes was also taken, this was one of the largest airfields in South East Asia. About 1,000,000 kilograms of airplane bombs were left behind, but the detonators were destroyed.

Van Dillewijn: I was part of a 20-men defense team at the Tello bridge north of Makassar. We were instructed to blow up the bridge when the Japs would actually be standing on it. It was expected that the Japs would move northwards after having taken Makassar. But they were smarter than our military leaders. They landed in Barombong, south of Mkassar, and made a large detour around Makassar, to attack the bridge from the north. They attacked us with machine guns and airplanes, all we had were rifles. It was a miracle that I survived, the sergeant had instructed me to stay with the bus to prevent the driver from fleeing. Ted Klay, who shared this duty, was not as fortunate. The remainder of our group was decimated. How ill equipped we were for the defense of our position came about when Lt. Col. Jaspers, with whom we had no radio contact, appeared to check on the condition of the bridge. He was welcomed “warmly” by the Japs but managed to survive. In short, what was known to be “allied Forces” proved to be a big farce.

With Paauwe at the Tello Bridge I became on of the first PWs and therefore I did not know what transpired north of Malino. Natives, who received two guilders and fifty cents per POW delivered Paauwe and me to the Japs, I think. The Japs, who manned a tank, came to a halt after several kilometers and ordered us off the vehicle. We all walked into the bushes. They argued among themselves then returned to the tank and we were delivered to a Jap encampment a little further down the road.

Several years later, when I was cutting grass at a Jap military compound, a Jap approached me. He asked me if I remembered him. He told me that he was a member of the tank crew that captured us. He had saved my life, because when that crew took us into the bushes they had wanted to kill us to be rid of us. He prevented this because I reminded him of his own son and he could not allow them to murder us. I was in awe! He also gave me a new undershirt. After having been taken prisoner between the Tello Bridge and Mandai in January 1942, I was placed in a jail in Makassar.

Seth Paul: On The 23^rd of January the airfield enemy planes attacked Mandai and the Tello bridge. Troops proceeded inland. On the 24^th of January a small naval battle occurred in the Strait of Makassar. In the meantime the hospital was transferred to Camba. Japan waltzed on and occupied Kendari. On the night of 30-31 January more than 5000 enemy infantry men and 750 marines landed on Ambon. On the 2^nd of February they controlled Ambon. During that battle the gunboat Van Lansbergen was sunk.

On the 7^th of February the Jap fleet regrouped in the area around the isle Salajar. On the 9^th of February we realized the seriousness of our situation, because on that day about 8000 enemy soldiers landed on Aengbatubatu, close to Barombong. The landing took place at 9 AM. There was no resistance because the town’s guard had already retreated to Camba. The enemy occupied soon partly destroyed Makassar.

I will use the names Makassar and Mandai in my text instead of Ujung Pandang and the airport Hasanuddin as they are presently known. Tjamba and the river Berang are now called Camba and Jeneberang.

Chabot: Our destruction earns a separate chapter. Batavia had prescribed a “scorched earth” policy for the outer regions. Not only were military targets and transport vehicles to be destroyed but also important parts of electricity and water plants were to be dismantled and brought to Malino for safekeeping. Under protest of businessmen dynamite was placed under the food storage. Several importers managed to move their grocery supplies inland and on Malino. It did not prevent the destruction of enormous quantities of milk, butter, and other food hat went up in smoke. This was accomplished by the VK, a group of Europeans who were turned down for military service, but who, under leadership of engineers, were taught how to apply explosives. This kind of rigorous destruction was very detrimental for the Jap forces, and the leader of this corps suffered a torturous death at the hands of the Japs once he was captured.

On the 7^th of February it became clear that the enemy fleet, approaching from the south, would reach Makassar.Sunday night, on the 8^th of February, the shopping center, the harbor, and other points of military importance went up in flames. The V.K., covered by the town’s guard, were the last ones to leave Makassar. The European police chiefs did not trust their men and fled. On Saturday the governor, his wife, and secretary fled by plane to a safer destination in his territory. Only the commissioner, several government officials, some hospital personnel, and private citizens stayed in town at their own risk to wait for the Japanese.

Seth Paul: Not destroyed by the destroyer’s corps were the ice producers Aurora and Kong Ek because ice production was impossible without water and electricity. Among the businesses that were set of fire were the grocery stores Sien Nam, abutting the billiards club and the kitchen of the local club De Harmonie at the Prins Hendrik path, and Toko Soerabaja next to the Grand Hotel at the Hogepad.

Many of us watched the red glow with tears of sadness from the small hotel in Malino.

Stolk: From Malino we watched the fire in Makassar, but we did not realize exactly what was happening. When I read how Father Geroldus-Smulders described the scene in Rik Valkenburg’s book: “Djoengkeng Owari- Roll call is over”, I was deeply touched by his description of how our national anthem was sung when the flames died down of our club “De Harmonie”. I asked Mr. Valkenburg if I could copy it for this book. Here it is.

Father Geroldus: So many times the radio did not report which areas were destroyed. Sunday night, on the 8^th of February, it was Makassar’s turn. After several days of tension, news that the governor, his family, and staff, would leave by plane spread like wildfire. They would leave by plane. It became clear to everyone that danger became reality. It still caught us by surprise when, at about 9.30 PM, several places in town went up in flames. Explosions occurred in the harbor area, and BPM and Socony refineries. The noise of crashing storage areas and buildings made every one realize that the dreaded moment had arrived.

The town was an eerie sight, members of the destroyer’s corps ran through the city stoking fires everywhere, destroying cars, shop contents, bikes, and even three wheelers which were used as public transportation. But the most tragic moment came when the electric lights died slowly. So slowly that it gave the illusion that part of a happier period had come to an end for everyone.

The army had left Makassar weeks before, leaving only a skeleton guard on our beach area.

But that same night both the beach guard and town guard moved into the mountains. However, the next morning uniforms and rifles of the town’s guard could be seen at the post office and at the gas plant. These guards had fled to their homes.

When the electric plant was rendered inoperable and therefore the unavailability of water, a lot of citizens were angry. General Bakker ordered this destruction, but we had to pay for it. That night the citizens had to wait for the coming events without guard and protection.

The fact remained that the men who conducted the destruction under command of lieutenant W. Paardekooper gave their life protecting the Dutch East Indies.

No one can sit in judgment of what happened, since everything needed to be done in haste under extreme nerve- wracking conditions. In most cases the destruction was complete, even if things did not happen as scheduled.

It was a pity that our club “De Harmonie” was torched unnecessarily. (I don’t think it was, because I remember that a dance performance was given right after our release.)-TS

Several club members stayed on the patio of the club until about 2 AM and, when it became clear that the future was unavoidable, they rounded the piano in the front of the club and sang and played “Wilhelmus”. This was an unforgettable moment.

That night no one slept very well. Most women and children had fled to Malino, which meant that the remaining Europeans were mostly men.

What would become of us? What would happen to our women and children? What happened to our mobilized fathers and sons? Indeed, hundreds of questions went through our minds and thus, after a night of unrest and praying, the morning of 9 February 1942, dawned, the Dies Irae.

On the 8^th of February the Japs started their offense and already, on the 9^th of February, Europeans found themselves behind iron bars of the police post. Several were caught in the outskirts of town and were immediately transported to Malino.

Chabot: The following I learned from a woman without children, who had refused to leave town: Together with her parents (her husband was a soldier) she had watched the western part of the town go up in flames on Sunday night. They spent the night in a comfortable shelter of their neighbors who had left town. Monday morning they enjoyed their usual cup of coffee and waited to see if the Japs really would land on the shore of South Celebes. Her djongos (male servant) had warned her that he had seen Japs forcing their way into houses and that they had come close. Some time later several Jap soldiers, holding rifles with bayonets, entered their yard through the gate and her father took position in the front door. Without talking their hands were tied on their backs and tied to each other. They were marched through the streets to the lawn in front of the governor’s house where they sat in the sun for hours while the natives watched.

Since, as a child, she had had polio for four years, and still walked with great difficulty, it was decided that she and her mother should go to the hospital. The other Europeans were interned in the police jails. She and her mother were put on a truck and, after many detours, finally reached the hospital. Among the many stops the truck stayed for a long time at a spot where many other Japanese trucks were being unloaded behind the house of a rich native who lived on the beach. The authorities knew that this person could not be trusted, but there were never any actions taken against him and many others like him. It seemed that everything was prepared beforehand and it was disturbing to watch the ease with which the trucks were transported by raft and driven up the shores. At the same time the following incident occurred. Unfortunately for him, a native albino passed by. The driver mistook him to be a European and he, too, was put on the truck and taken to the hospital where Japanese doctors realized who he was and he was freed immediately. However, they did not give him any papers to make sure that he would not be mistaken again. On his way home he probably would have been picked up several times.

Stolk: Because we were told that we would return after a few days, we left without saying goodbye to the men, and left our house and possessions. Who would have thought that it would take almost 4 years before we would see our house again, totally empty. We left our houses with ease, trusting our servants with its contents, just like we did when we left for a vacation. We expected to find everything intact after a few days. Later I heard, through Mrs. Chabot, what really happened.

Chabot: So angry were the Japanese with the destruction of our cars, warehouses, and other important targets, that they gave this as a reason for their systematic plunder of our houses. Nothing was left in the military buildings and mattresses, and mosquito protection were dragged out of houses to afford the Japs a good night’s sleep. Doors were not locked, and natives helped themselves to all that was of use. The next day the Japs proceeded with their plunder and took to punishing those natives they caught stealing. Each new wave of Japs helped themselves to whatever was to their liking, and truly valuable furniture was shipped back to Japan. Whatever was considered to be trash was burned.

Stolk: When we returned after the war we found our house at 10 Generaal van Dalenweg totally emptied except for a few pieces of furniture that did not belong to us. The only thing that was ours was a negative of a foto taken when we vacationed in Bandoeng. I still have it.

De Goederen: Sunday evening, the 8^th of February, we received word that the commissioner, his family, and staff had left his post by airplane. Although the government expected us to apply a “scorched earth” technique, we were not told what to do. It was my task to destroy the communications systems. I took care of that on Monday morning the see the partly burned notes. I added gasoline to the fire and managed to burn my hand. I needed to hurry because the Japs were already walking outside. I did not want them to see what I was doing.

I went outside and was taken to a tree at the side of the road where several others had been placed. In the afternoon a small bus took us to the police quarters. Several other Dutch men were already there. Since we never saw each other, except during certain festivities, this struck me as being rather odd. We spent the night on a bare floor, without water or electricity.

The following morning we were summoned to a large room at the same police quarters, where we met quite a few Japanese officers who were seated behind a table. We were told that they understood a scorched earth technique, but they did not understand why the access to water was made impossible. They really blamed us for that. The colonel, who was the spokesman, made it clear that in the interest of the people, he held us responsible and if the water system could not be repaired he would have to take strong measures against us. We realized that our lives were in danger. The director of the municipal electric plant went to the acting chief under his command and asked him about the whereabouts of the keys. They were in Malino, a summer resort in the mountains, where the women and children stayed. The assistant commissioner and the director of the municipal electric plant proceeded to Malino without Japanese escort. The chief of the water systems said that he had thrown the keys in a ravine and therefore were lost. Since our lives depended on the keys they went looking for the keys and found them. As we waited at the police quarters we watched the water taps. Late in the afternoon there was some movement. First one drip, then tic, and another, tic, tic, two more, until finally a full stream.

Remembering that event I still experience the tension and relief with tears in my eyes.

At that time different heads of government departments were summoned to brief the Japs who were to take over their duties. The harbormaster was called in to explain how to operate the harbor system. The Japanese military harbormaster took him to his office where they had lunch, dry rice with seaweed and salted fish; that was all. We, in our camp, had better food.

The head of the Telephone and Telegraph department also was summoned, but he refused. I had a chat with him:, “Man,” I said, “they’ll have your head, it doesn’t make sense to refuse.” Finally I convinced him to give the Japs information about the telephone cable to Soerabaja. The Jap bowed to me. That was the only time that that happened to me, I can laugh about it now.

I too was summoned and questioned by a Japanese officer who spoke English very well. He asked for the keys of the post office, especially those that opened the safe. I proceeded with fear in my heart; after all I had burned those bank notes. Entering the post office we found the safe wide open. There were duplicate keys on the table. I heaved a sigh of relief: it was now impossible to know the exact amount of money. Later it seemed that Miss Ongkiehong, the accountant who also had keys in her possession, was forced to turn them over to the Japs. The remaining money was thrown into a mailbag and taken away. This officer, who I knew very well, was the director of Mitsubishi Jusen Kaisha, a trade company. At times he had entered the post office. He had given me a beautiful porcelain pot for tobacco that was topped by a sailing vessel. He now was an officer and summoned me just to chat. It didn’t turn out too well. As a joke he asked me if I wanted to go to Manchuria to work in the mines there. This was ridiculous. His English was different, because usually they would speak Malay to humiliate you.

Booy: The attack on the Southwest part of Celebes took place on the 8^th of February and the troops retreated to Tjamba and Bengo. Mortars and machine guns gave the Japs further problems at Dajat or Dajah. Since we did not receive more military support from the infantry, we were forced to retreat even further. Bombs that were detonated deep under the ground destroyed the airfield Mandai, about 20 kilometers outside Makassar. However, two caterpillars and one steamroller stayed in tact. Parts of the electric plant were taken to Malino, the women’s evacuation camp. Electricity was restored after two days, however. The harbor storage buildings were destroyed, but many buildings were only partly destroyed because of the ineptitude of the amateur destroyer corps. The shipping wharves destroyed. Therefore, our “ hosts “ could use the harbor and storage areas right away.

Joustra: The police station for the native police was on the Goaweg. When the Japanese arrived they made it into an internment camp for the remaining Europeans and Indo-Europeans. At that time I worked as a Red Cross aide at the military hospital which was turned into a civilian hospital when the military retreated on the 23^rd of January 1942. The hospital was under command of Dr. Kundig. On the 11^th of February all European personnel was called together by the Japanese, who had occupied the hospital since the 9^th of February. They told us that we would be sent home since the Japs preferred their own and Menadonese personnel. We were taken by bus to the internment camp on the Goaweg. The camp was not empty. Behind the barred windows we saw European men watching us while holding on to the bars. It was horrible to see. There were also several women who were brought to the camp from the emergency hospital, and also women who were taken there from their homes.

What was going to happen to us? A young woman I did not know approached me and said, “Mrs. Joustra, you need to go to the Japanese, they need teachers”. A while later we three stood before two Japanese men. One of them, whom we called “Snorretje” {Small Mustache}, turned out to be the commander of the police quarters. The second one was the translator. I’ll refer to him as “Visser”. I learned later that, before the war, he was left in Menado, being ill with a heavy dose of malaria, on a Japanese fishing boat that entered the harbor. Nuns took care of him in their hospital, and since it took a while before his ship could pick him up again, he learned to speak some Malay.

Sister Rumolda and mother- superior Adeodata had come from Menado to Makassar and worked in the emergency hospital with three other nuns. The nuns from Menado recognized “Visser” and he also knew who they were. Many good things came from that particular relationship.

Let me return to our meeting with the two Japs where a chubby teacher and a pale teacher had joined us. They looked us over after which Snorretje climbed a small table and started to bark at us. We watched him quietly but did not understand him. Next it was “ Visser’s” turn, he told us in Malay, which we could understand pretty well, that we were nothing. We had no country, our government had fled, which meant that we had no government, Nippon had conquered Makassar, they were in control and we had to accept their orders unconditionally.

He asked the chubby teacher if she was a teacher and when she confirmed it he asked how big her pupils were. She showed that her children were of lower elementary grades. The pale teacher indicated that she taught a higher level of elementary grades. I was asked the same questions and I showed how my students were of High School level. Unexpectedly we were ordered to get lost: “Pigi.” Relieved we wanted to leave but I was stopped. I stood alone with the translator. Snorretje came down from his table and seemed to regard me with goodwill.

I wore a dress with two pockets, which I was ordered to empty. I had a billfold with 6 guilders in one and a pocketknife in the other which they took. I also had a small pocketbook in which names and addresses of my nearest relatives were noted as well as the number of my bank account and other important data. I needed to explain what all that meant to the translator. He did not consider this information of a threatening nature and returned my pocketbook to me. Then he said in Malay, “You are the supervisor, do you understand?” I replied, also in Malay, “Not yet, Sir.” He waved his arm towards the right side area where we stood. From a number of square buildings that were connected by a covered walkway, I could see how several Japanese tossed out mattresses, mosquito covers, plates, tumblers, and other indefinable objects.

The translator explained that the buildings were emptied to house the women there. I had to go to the headquarters to tell the people that I would be their supervisor. They had to stand in two rows and I was supposed to lead them to the now empty buildings.

He accompanied me to the headquarters where I informed everyone. Visser kept an eye on us and we proceeded, two by two, to our new quarters. All of a sudden I felt very lonely and lost now that the Japs had separated me from my compadres.

A garage close by had been filled with household goods out of European houses. From this supply we were handed tumblers. Several Indonesians, hired by the Japanese probably, approached with buckets filled with a chocolate liquid and bamboo trays with large balls of rice followed by trays with dried fish that was hard as rocks. We had to sit on the edge of the covered walkway with our feet in the gutter.

Everyone received a rice ball and some liquid in her tumbler. Most of us munched the rice and also the fish and swallowed the dirty liquid, which was supposed to be coffee, but it resembled dishwater and also tasted that way. Some of us gagged, and others removed the outside of the rice ball and only ate the inside.

After two days we had convinced “Snorretje” that we were capable of making our own coffee. Between the central kitchen and the last building was a well, our only source of water at that time. Because our men had destroyed the source of electricity were by we had no other way to get water and electric lights also did not work. As soon as the sun set and it became dark we went into our cages, but not before roll call. The wooden windows were closed and there we stayed in the dark.

Although it was the rainy season and the rain came down in buckets, inside the air was oppressive. Therefore we could not sleep very well; also the Japanese guards walked at different times through our area and checked us with their flashlights.

Towards the morning of the second day the Japs panicked. We heard the sound of airplanes and shortly thereafter several thuds. Our men were bombing Makassar and I thought: “Twice you were 24 hours too late, boys!” After all, the Japs had landed undisturbed two days ago. I shall never forget that second day. Everything happened. Visser ordered me to form several work groups. What was I to do and when and how? I remember how, when I studied to be a teacher, a physical education teacher would stand us in a row. She then chose two leaders who would pick a player for their team alternatively and finally they would draw which team would start. I decided to use this system. But first I needed to know how many jobs needed to be done. According to the Jap there were only two: keeping our quarters clean, and the surrounding terrain up to the covered bicycle rack which separated our area from the men’s quarters.

I asked if we could cook our own food. The answer was: “No.” I still considered the possibility, and a few days later Mrs. Prins-Gotz changed the Jap’s minds. I made up three work shifts while keeping in mind that we needed to have some time off too. I chose therefore four leaders. It was interesting to see how the women picked their teams. Three leaders made wise choices, but one of them chose her friends and this group did not work as well as the three others.

Visser felt that I could not handle everything and appointed Miss Gerda van der Noorda, principal of a school for native girls in Makassar, to be my assistant. She was indeed a big help to me.

During the first days we could not bathe or change our clothes, most of us were grabbed up and put in this camp. I was one of the few lucky ones who managed to have a bag with a few dresses and some toiletries.

In the meantime the Japs had emptied the residences and took their loot in trucks to police headquarters, where the women were ordered to unload. It was therefore possible to pick up a few items; one of the nuns had a knack for that sort of thing. She brought a couple of bottles of white wine, which the guards had given her. He had asked her what it was and she promptly told him that it was used for tummy aches. He gave her the bottle and she picked up a second one. At first we had no cutlery, but that changed, everyone received a spoon and a plate, we already had a tumbler. But there were no chairs or tables; we sat on the concrete floor with our legs in the gutter. Being the supervisor I received a small table and a chair that were placed between the first and second building. It became my workstation because many lists needed to be put together.

We also received armloads of dresses from the Japs, which were taken from the deserted houses. When water and electricity was brought into our quarters we felt like queens. To celebrate we opened the bottles of wine and everyone came by my table to receive a spoonful of wine. The same ceremony was replayed after roll call in the morning when several women became constipated and I gave them a spoonful of oil which I had received from the doctors in the men’s quarters.

We had roll call not only in the morning, but also at night before the sun went down. The Jap commandant and a guard checked each entrance and counted us while we were in our places. Morning roll call was different, we stood by the bicycle rack and were forbidden to look at the men. Our roll call was taken before the men had theirs taken. We stood two by two in a row, the commandant cycled in front of us and asked me how many were present and how many were inside because they were ill.

When the water service was restored and we could bathe and wash, we did not feel dirty anymore. It is no fun to be in the tropics for four days without being able to bathe and change clothes. Watches and jewelry were hidden under our clothing, because they could be taken away. One of the guards, Gap Gauw (Steal Fast), tried to steal one of our pans but was stopped by our kitchen princess, Mrs. Prins.

MALINO/Chabot: I shall continue my report with an account of how we reacted to the arrival of the Japs in Makassar in Malino on the 9^th of February.

In the morning we were told that, since the enemy had landed, we could exchange our paper money for sterling. In a few hours four thousand guilders were exchanged. After that the highest ranking government official, the assistant commissioner, burnt the paper and made up a report. This act caused him to suffer a severe beating from the Japs.

Soon there were rumors that enemy forces were on their way to Malino. The sixteen women in our house decided to stay together in the living room and act according to the circumstances. I could not imagine what a Japanese person would look like, so I waited as calmly as possible. Late that day, in the afternoon, we received word that the attackers had indeed started to move in our direction, but had returned after 20 kilometers. I must admit that I heaved a sigh of relief, anything was better than a hasty visit in a flush of victory to this unprotected camp.

For days airplanes had passed overhead. There was no protection from air attacks, only listening posts that rang the alarm when we could see the planes ourselves, then we would run to the ravine behind our house, or to the gutter in front of our house that was covered by a concrete walkway.

The following day Tuesday planes flew very low, obviously to scout the area. This did not bode very well for the next day. I myself was convinced that the stories from Manilla were pure propaganda and that Malino would not be strafed or bombed. My optimism was punished. The next morning, about 8 AM, we heard airplanes. I was bathing the baby but I managed to send Roek to the covered gutter, but realized that I could not make it. I hid under the bed with my baby. After several passes the planes began to strafe us, right above our heads. Twice we thought that they had left, but then it started again. It lasted about half an hour and it was worse than I imagined. From that moment on we took turns to listen for the planes so that we could warn the others in the house. When I rang the alarm about noon we had plenty of time to reach the gutter and the two bombs that were dropped did not affect us near as bad as the strafing did that same morning. That was the end. The purpose of the air raids was the destruction of the garage in the middle of Malino where privately owned cars had been stored. The most important parts had been removed, but the enemy feared a military ruse. They thought nothing of destroying a large, women’s camp that was unprotected.

A result of this raid was that the natives did not dare to take their wares to the local market.

The next day the commissioner arrived to retrieve the discarded parts of the electric plant in Makassar. Parts that were removed from the strafed cars also were retrieved and shortly the Japs drove around in our cars. Many of the cars were taken to Japan, for their own use or for the metal.

Exactly one week later the commissioner reappeared to have all the officers wives and their children plus about thirty men accompany him back to Makassar. There were about fifty men. The assistant commissioner chose twenty Dutchmen, two Germans, who were not interned, one Italian, and seven Armenians. He thought that he had to deliver thirty whites instead of thirty “Holandas”. This was also something that he was punished for later. I took one officer’s wife and her two young children to a truck. Her two oldest children were in Holland and she expected a baby in a few months, so sad.

These people were taken to the police quarters in Makassar and after one month they were returned to Malino.

Seth Paul: Japanese airplanes appeared regularly over Malino and the boys decided to form a warning system when they would beat on an iron triangle in case a plane would appear. There we were, in the shade of a spatudea tree.

The bridge by Sungguminasa had not been entirely destroyed so that the enemy could cross it by foot. Malino was strafed as well as bombed with 100-pound bombs that did little damage.

Badenbroek: The fact that we did not enjoy a vacation became apparent when we were given different tasks. Being boys we felt grown up, because we needed to “protect” the women and children. We formed a warning system that was manned by two men. We would go up the hill close to our house. In between the bushes and under the trees we scanned the skies. In one of the trees hung an iron triangle. When we spied an airplane we would sound the alarm. Everybody would run into the woods until we would signal:” All clear”.

Shortly thereafter two Japanese airplanes appeared. Everybody panicked! Two bombs were dropped on the cars. This was the first and last warning, fortunately.

Stolk: At the children’s Vacation Building we were given different tasks such as cleaning, running errands, washing the vegetables, cooking, etc.

We ate our meals at long tables seated on long benches. In the evening we set the tables and benches to the side and used the space for games. We would play blind man’s bluff and had a lot of fun. There were a lot of boys and girls in this building and to chase each other blindfolded was an exciting event at that age. During the day the little ones were kept busy in a kindergarten. In a corner of this hall a corner was made available for “nurse” Hartmans where she had her first aid station. I helped her in the morning, which meant that, among other things, I was busy boiling used bandages, drying them and rolling them up for future use. We needed to be conservative.

Behind our building was a deep ravine in which was a native village (kampong). Often some of us would take some money and an enameled plate down to the kampong and would buy some native cakes and cookies, made of rice flour, brown sugar, and coconut. Delicious! I was never allowed to eat “off the street” before, but I learned to appreciate these native goodies. We even had a first rate cook Maatje van Roon.

We were rather segregated from the rest of Malino. This was our own little world. Malino was situated up the hill, a real resort with an inn, many beautiful bungalows, and a swimming pool. The market was held on a regular basis and one team would climb up the steep path to get some groceries.

Us young folks would climb the hill every afternoon after our work was done to visit our friends.

If the weather was bad we amused ourselves in our sleeping quarters. We would gather on an upper bunk bed where Toetie would cut our hair and shape it, then apply some make-up. The result was usually amazing, it was just as if someone else would be there.

We usually had a good time together. Sometimes in the evening, we would all sit on our upper bunks, boys too. Eddy Nol would grab his guitar and sang songs like, “On a little bamboo bridge, at the waters of Kalua....” or “My blue heaven”. It was all very romantic. On such moments I thought I was in love with him. He never knew that, which was entirely unnecessary because it was a young girl’s puppy love. After all, I was sweet sixteen.

Time passed rather quietly. As long as the Japs weren’t there, and we were there of our own free will, we could come and go as we pleased. I remember that Toetie once went to Makassar by bus to pick up some clothes and her record player and some records. From then on we danced in the dining hall in the evening too. That is where I first learned to dance.

Whenever I hear songs like “In the Mood” or “Siboney” I remember those days.

We lived rather isolated from the women and children up the hill. They had access to radio broadcasts and they informed us about the fall of Makassar.

Starting 23 February we were occasionaly visited by the Japs and our voluntary stay became a forced internment. The Japs appreciated the situation so well that they would not let us go home. Although the following excerpts are in part copied, I would still like to have Lindeboom, Wendt, Seth Paul, and Chabot tell their version of the arrival of the Japs in Malino.

Lindeboom: Life in Malino went along smoothly. We still had the services of a maid for the washing (baboe), a male servant (djongos), and a boy to take care of the yard (kebon). When we went to market a young boy, we picked up in the street, offered his services for a few pennies to carry our purchases back to the house.

Slowly however, we needed to let go of these services because our cash flow became nonexistent and we, eventually, did everything ourselves. There was a Chinese shop that sold food products, but we visited it less and less. A cloister had a bakery where we bought our bread, but the bread was always underdone and sticky, which surprised me as a child. Then the Japs came on that unfortunate day. With their small seaplanes, and their hoarse sounding engines they threw a bomb here and there, which resulted in the raising of a white flag.

On the 23^rd of February they entered Malino triumphantly and visited each house. They quickly taught us how to bow.

When Mrs. Brune wanted to say something a Jap hit her. She was the first one in our house and I remember very well how upset I was. These were barbarians!

We were forced to give them all our money, but even although we had secreted some, our situation became even more haphazard. Still, the natives did not jeer or molest us. On the contrary, many natives helped smuggle several items, and I shall always remember “Bassera” with gratitude. All that happened while the Japs stood guard.

Wendt: We lived a life of relative luxury in Malino, we did not want for anything, and we could still visit the market. But the Japs did not make us wait very long. All of a sudden there were trucks loaded full with “gentlemen” in Malino. The small inn was turned into their headquarters immediately.

During my stay at the children’s vacation building I came down with diphtheria; I needed to go into the hospital. It almost became a family reunion because my father, who suffered with ulcers, also was put in the hospital. My mother had taken a Red Cross course in Makassar and, because of these dire circumstances, attended several surgical procedures. She asked to be allowed to be a substitute nurse during the night in that small hospital. But she wanted to do it by herself. There were hardly any patients, several mothers-to-be and a few children. Her request was granted. It made my father more comfortable, because there were not that many people to talk to.

But later on, when my mother would leave for the hospital, leaving me alone in our house, I would feel very uncomfortable. Nobody paid much attention to me. I listened to all the stories about the war and illnesses, it scared me so much that I would pull the blanket over my head and kept as quiet as a mouse. The following day I heard one of the ladies tell my mother: “She behaved very well, we did not hear her at all”. I was glad to have my mother back. When my mother was gone I would just amuse myself.

Seth Paul: On the 23^rd of February part of the Jap army appeared in Malino, about 2000 men. This impressive event is not easily forgotten. At that moment I played with my little sister, Mary in the swimming pool. I placed Mary on my neck and ran home. We lived opposite the inn. On the way I encountered several troops and Mary stared at them, not understanding the situation. She became heavier and heavier. Light and heavy tanks, Toyota trucks with helmeted soldiers, all carrying the hated flag with the rising sun crossed Malino. Soldiers forced their way into houses and grabbed all the radios. Other than that they behaved, at least in our area. We had no more access to reliable news, from now on we had to rely on the propaganda of the Japs.

I visited Makassar once more. After the required bow to the Jap guard I was allowed to enter the barbed wire compound where the military POW’s were housed. I received a list of names of those who were there. My mother and her sister Bea, who had visited the camp, made up the list and the leaders had asked to compile a list. When we came back to Malino this list caused not only happiness for some, but also great sadness and insecurity for those who had been widowed or become fatherless.

Chabot: Meanwhile, it took two weeks since the attack on Makassar before we saw the first Japs. On the 23^rd of February we heard the sound of engines early in the day. This time no planes were sighted but tanks followed by three groups of trucks loaded with Jap soldiers and a few natives, and finally several Red Cross wagons. The objective of this procession was clear: Tjamba. Since they could not use the usual road because so many bridges had been blown up, they had taken a detour across Celebes. This took a lot of time. On Monday they passed here, but it was not until Friday that they attacked Tjamba. From our house we watched the Japs approach our men up the hill. The children did not realize what was happening and waved to these soldiers. The sight of a real tank awed them. Part of this army remained in Malino for a few hours, they promised the natives that they would not bomb or machine gun them any more, so that the natives could sell their wares in the market. The Japs took with them quite a bit of money; they searched the houses and maintained some leadership, because they did not leave a garrison.

I was busy washing clothes outside when two Japs, bayonet on their rifles, entered the garden. I approached them and they asked me something about “belanda”. The interpretation was too obvious for me to respond. Later it appeared that they wanted to know if we were Dutch or German, like our neighbors. The first thing they did when they entered the house was to demand any firearm. They were ecstatic when one was delivered. She had taken it with her to protect herself against natives and was loath to part with it. Afterwards, there were many moments that she regretted not having it.

Then they took away all radios, then they rifled our suitcases and closets, stuck their bayonets into our mattresses, and took a wad of money worth about 100 guilders from one of us. In the meantime four more “gentlemen” joined the first ones, and expressed themselves much calmer, doing nothing more than stroking the heads of our children. Roek, who had asked me that same morning what a Jap looked like, if they were human, and who was very susceptible to a kind gesture, became friends forever.

Their visit to the German neighbors became a bit more sensational: a fat, middle-aged German was told to make a swastika flag. While she was working on the flag a bayonet was pointed at her side. Our clever neighbor recognized a former shop salesman among the Japs, showed him her German passport, and asked to keep her radio, which was temporarily allowed. To us she bragged that her husband had been in the Indies more than 30 years.

Makassar/Booy: The area around Tjamba was actively patrolled by troops that were commanded by an enthusiastic, young officer, Lt. Blume. They were quite successful within a 50-kilometer distance. The Japs, however, did not approach from Makassar, but from the opposite direction along Oedjoeng Lamoeroe.

The main attack occurred on the 26^th of February but the die was cast on the 28^th at about 9 AM. Being part of the military engineers, we were promoted to be the protectors of Tjamba and were ordered to take cover behind a hedge, with a pistol in our hands, to catch the Japs who had broken through. This did not take very long, just until we were ordered to get ready to retreat under the territorial commander colonel Van Vooren. On the morning of the 28^th I went to Bengo to fetch Boetonesian coolies, who were employed by me, to be carriers for our staff. When I arrived in Bengo our fate had been decided because Tjamba was in flames. All my possessions were destroyed including my foto’s, my pride and joy. Since the commander in Bengo forbade me to return I went into the mountains by myself. Fortunately I had my backpack with me, and I needed to contact my staff. The trip back was rather disorderly. Those who belonged to the former destroyer’s corps their uniforms off and threw them away, even rifles were tossed. With three others, Dr. van Waveren, adjutant Den Hamer, and Sgt. Wijnands we lost our way, very likely because of faulty directions given by a native guide. Totally wornout, and after we lost adjutant Den Hamer, and Dr. van Waveren had hacked a path through the jungle with the only bolo knife we had, we found our way. After having walked all night long we caught up with our troops.

On the second day of March most of us arrived in kampong Tondongkoera. The city guard, which had not seen any action, plus the army and their army reservists, demanded a total surrender from the territorial commander. Of course this was unacceptable to the commander. Since there was not enough food for the about 800 men, the commander made the following proposal. Everyone who was not physically able to trek through rough terrain for about 300 km, could form oneunit under the commander of the city guard, captain Mabeson, who obviously wanted to call it quits, and surrender to the Japs. This was followed by an enormous uproar. The result was that about seven eighths of the troops were ready to surrender to the enemy. The desire to fight was gone. The others divided into two troops and continued on after two days. This became a fateful decision. Colonel Van Vooren headed the first troop, the second by major Jaspers. We would try to reach Enrekang where lieutenant colonel Gortmans, better know as Jan Oorlog (John War), still commanded several troops. Since we assumed that the bridges to our destination had not been repaired, we chose a more difficult route. Later it appeared that those bridges had been repaired two days earlier.

The natives showed us a lot of hostility. I first was part of the colonel’s troop, but later I joined major Jasper’s troop. This saved my life. On the 6^th of March we met our end. The colonel advanced with a small group while we progressed slowly through rough terrain with horses that carried our provisions. On this day we left at 2 AM and arrived in a small native village in the afternoon. That day we crossed a river 16 times. The village was deserted and it started to rain hard. We occupied a very sorry house and our morale was below zero. At about 3 PM a native ran into our camp and warned us that several hundred Japs were about 2 km away. Major Jaspers held council with the highest-ranking officers to decide the best course of action. Only captain Wasch wanted to continue fighting, the rest decided to surrender since our troop consisted mostly of non-combatants. A military captain took a photo of his wife and children out of his pocket and said: “This weighs very much on my mind. If this decision represents the spirit of the officers, what about the enlisted personnel?” Sergeant major De Haas, who was stationed on the opposite side of the river, took action immediately. When he saw that white flags were being readied he disappeared into the mountains before they could reach him.

Three of us were sent to the Japs and after a while they returned with a message ordering us to place our weapons in a pile. Shortly after they entered our kampong with 4 machine guns. The surrender was very orderly and their treatment was very good. The Jap commander was a captain and he was introduced to the Dutch captains. We were allowed to keep our field gear; and rings and watches, that were taken earlier, were returned in the evening after inspection. The next day we left for Rala on a main road, when we surrendered we were only 15 km away from Rala. When we arrived we heard that the Territorial Commander was taken prisoner after heavy fighting, that left several Europeans dead. It seemed that all enlisted personnel had disappeared. I felt very lucky.

We were loaded into cars and transported to Tjamba. Natives from several kampongs stood alongside the road and threw rocks at us while shouting to slit our throats and other niceties. On this day we realized how their hate went against their white oppressors. The Boeginese and the Makassar natives were the worst. They will always back the strongest.

On Tjamba our possessions were inspected and the bags for our gear were taken away. We needed to wrap our things in sheets or mosquito netting. Then we were photographed and put on a truck like cattle to Makassar.

Joustra: One day we were ordered to clean out the unoccupied rooms. One of the guards, a nice fellow, walked back and forth and acted as if he were carrying a suitcase. We surmised that other people were to join us. We were correct, because the following day several women and children and merchant marines were brought in. These were passengers and crews of several ships with fugitives from Java on their way to Australia. The Japs had intercepted them. The fugitives brought us news about Java. We heard that there had been a naval battle in the Sea of Java and our navy had been destroyed. This was confirmed because survivors of that battle were taken to Makassar. The mood in our camp was not very hopeful. This worsened when a second wave of prisoners arrived. That was during the night of the 5^th to the 6^th of March 1942. We put the newcomers with the others in the already occupied rooms and the next day we reassigned everybody to another sleeping compartment. If I remember well, we now were more than 200 women and children. This time the newcomers were only men and women, including all the Red Cross personnel from Tjamba, who were stationed at that military installation. Their arrival proved that our troops were defeated. We were told that small army factions had refused to surrender and had fled into the jungles in an effort to reach our last stronghold in Enrekang under Gortmans, John War-Jan Oorlog. But any one with a bit of sense would realize that we had lost.

MALINO/Chabot: Just one week after we saw the Japanese tanks a group of about 40 Japanese came to occupy Malino. These men did not accept the inn, we had kept it unoccupied; but the inhabitants of the largest house were ousted. They preferred those accommodations and stayed for about a week. They had come into possession of parts for the private cars and set to repair them for their own use. This occupation caused us a lot of trouble. The inhabitants of some houses caused day and night visits. We were visited on the first day when we had to shake hands with an officer. Several Japs became known to force people to hand over watches and gold rings, but soon those items were put away. The alcohol supply of the Chinese store was sold out to individuals who could afford to do so to prevent drunkenness. Most women did not dare to go into the streets, but fortunately there were some of us who showed the natives that they were not afraid and continued going to the market. Once, when I passed a Jap guard, I was told to bow, but this was the only incident I experienced.

After a week the whole group left taking most of the cars with them.

At the beginning of the week the assistant-commissioner was taken to Makassar and after a fierce beating and jail time he was being interned. The native government official stayed on and, as far as we knew, he remained in charge. The natives became unruly and we continued hearing about robberies. On one of the first days after the Japanese invasion, a native gang murdered the deputy commissioner of Sindjai who lived on the South coast, together with his wife and two Dutch men. The woman had been viciously raped before being killed. Part of this gang was caught by our soldiers in Tjamba and hung. There was even one caught in Malino and, when I went to the market one afternoon, I was treated to a necktie party. The robber had been taken to the government building that stood by the market. Being manacled he received some rough treatment before he was being sentenced by the tower at the back entrance to the market, which was covered with cloth for this occasion. (SP). After that smaller robberies occurred, arson and robbery of Europeans who lived alone. Even in the Red Cross hospital natives forced their way in and the head of the hospital needed to shoot. It was after the Japs had left us with the natives that we regretted not having a firearm.

In the meantime natives in Malino told us about the surrender in Tjamba. About the middle of March this was confirmed by an Italian and a German, who were sent to Makassar to be interned, but were let go and returned here. Several days later all the officer’s wives returned with all the Red Cross nurses from Tjamba. The stories from Tjamba pointed to a military disgrace. When it became clear that the Japs were coming and that a fight was inevitable, the soldiers took positions in the mountains around Tjamba. Several groups did fight and paid with their lives. On the opposite side were several professional military individuals who scouted the area around Tjamba on arrival, in order to find a way out. The colonel and his staff went into the mountains when it became certain that a fight was imminent, and doing so he virtually surrendered Tjamba. The goal of his trek through the mountains was Enrekang, a place deeper into the interior, where several hundred men would try to hold off the enemy after Tjamba had fallen, and carry on a guerrilla war. The enemy’s showed their contempt for our sorry military tactics, when we blew up a bridge but did not stay to defend it. They would not allow the Red Cross to remove our wounded. One of the reasons they gave was the bombardment of Japanese hospital ships by the allies. What made it worse was that the Japs also did not pick up their wounded, so that only survivors and those missing in action remained. The head of the Red Cross hospital, which was situated between the troops and a short distance behind the war zone, was tied to a tree and viciously tortured. Other doctors were forced to repair the roads and only one surgeon was allowed to operate at night assisted by three flashlights.

After two days most of the military had surrendered, others had fled into the mountains but reached Makassar after many detours to surrender, either on their own or because they were turned in by natives who received 15 guilders for each soldier. Rumor had it that a small band managed to hide in the interior. We wanted this to be true since several of our acquaintances were among the missing.

Henk and 15 others managed to make it to Enrekang and joined the guerrillas there. He is not that much of a military person to have wanted to do this on his own, but after a short and real fight in Tjamba he had but one wish to not surrender but spend the war far into the interior in freedom. Because of different circumstances they still came to Enrekang, this took them nine days. They traveled mostly by night, sometimes marching, sometimes using bikes, dogcarts, three-wheelers, horses, an finally a car which was provided by a loyal Ambonese. The only things they had in their possession were arms to defend themselves against the natives, everything else was left behind. In Enrekang they were left in peace for a short while. Their commander was lieutenant colonel Gortmans, a very old military man who fought the Atjeh war of 1895. He was a thoroughly military man and married a native woman of that region so that he had many loyal followers. But when these natives realized that the Dutch were on the losing side, they deserted sometimes twenty men at a time, taking all their weapons with them. When the guard would be changed in the morning only a military uniform was found. A native sarong was quickly available; therefore it was relatively easy to hide among the natives. Many young native men avoided being PW’s this way and remained free. A pity that we could not expect more of them!

MAKASSAR/Joustra: Thus we neared the day when we would be taken to Malino, although we did not know that yet. Our thirty-day stay in the police barracks came to an end. Each day and night we wondered what would happen next. When I went to sleep I was thankful that the day went by without incidents, and in the morning I was glad that the night passed peacefully.

One evening, on about the 9^th of March, I was called to meet with “Ivan II” together with the head of the men’s camp. It was already dark and everyone slept in his or her compartment. Ivan met us in front of one of the garages; he stood on a doorsill. When a Jap had something to say he would choose a higher spot than those who had to listen. He kept us waiting for some time before he spoke to us. He told us that the war would end soon. The Governor-General had asked for a pardon and fighting had ceased. We returned to our barracks and told the others what we were told.

On the day that we left for Malino, the 13^th of March, we were allowed to say good-bye to the men. We became messengers for their wives and children. We took as much as we could out of our quarters, everything was loaded onto trucks. I thought that there were 6 trucks. I boarded the last truck and being the last person I sat on a lumpy parcel. We all agreed that we would look very cheerful to show the natives that our experiences with the Japs had not gotten us down. We drove in the direction of Soenggoeminasa, along an open field on the right side of the road. I thought that it might have been the old golf course, but it was covered by several radio antennas that the destroyer’s corps had taken care of. The public stood motionless and quiet along the side of the road, while we were cheerfully looking forward to see family and friends in Malino. The spectators did not stay quiet, they started to greet us and asked us about others and, to our amazement, some started to cry. The Japs became angry and started to beat them to chase them away. When our caravan stopped on the road, natives would come out of their villages and tried to give us bananas and other fruit, and even drinks, but again they were chased off.

We continued on our 70- km trip. We passed several kampongs (villages), but we mostly passed through uninhabited, dry terrain. I had passed this way several times before but never noticed how beautiful this region was. The trucks had no roofs so that we could see everything. The view was splendid. To the right of us, far below, we saw the river Berang. The volcanoes Bawa Karaeng and Lompobatang, and the lower area in between were very visible against a clear blue sky. During our stay in Malino I would often enjoy this magnificent mountain scenery that formed the water border between West and East Celebes.

Finally we saw the first houses in Malino, the Duiventil (Pigeon coop), a wooden chalet built according to Swiss houses and a little higher a large white villa which belonged to a Chinese family. The first building we passed was the children’s vacation quarters, right in the middle of a hairpin curve. A little while later we saw three women on a small hill along side the road. We started to cheer and wave. But they turned away and started to cry. We did not realize how pitiful and shabby we looked after having spent 30 days in the barracks.

Our caravan halted on the Swaab Boulevard. The luggage was put on the side of the road. I stayed there until we knew where we were going to stay. We had experienced so much already that we knew never to leave anything unattended in case someone would “find” it. While I stood guarding the luggage something happened that I will never forget. I don’t know if those were the trucks that we came in or others, but suddenly several trucks approached at a high speed. On top stood half-naked European men, we knew that they were European because of their tanned upper bodies. Suddenly I saw Tjaak Muns, a 19-year old high school student. The men looked bewildered. My throat squeezed shut; to show my empathy all I could think of was to stick up my thumb and nod with a smile. Later we heard that these men had fled the surrender at Tjamba and gone into the jungles. They were chased by the Japs and were finally captured. The natives had not dared to help them, fearing Japanese reprisals. These young men were punished severely and, after having spent some time in jail in Makassar, were moved to the military POW camp there.

MALINO/Stolk: On the 13^th of March our market shift returned from Malino with the news that an army truck holding European men was seen. The name Tjaak Muns was mentioned. He was a class- mate of my brother Kees. Maybe Kees was also there. The whole group of girls ran to the street. We climbed a large rock in a turn of the road. The winding road was much longer than the steep path we used. That’s why we were in time to see the truck come by. What an experience! Later we learned where those men had come from. Earlier that day trucks holding the women from the police barracks had passed by, one of the women in the truck was Mrs. Joustra.

MAKASSAR/Volmer: Some data and information from the PW period in Makassar. Ivo Volmer, who was a military infantry soldier. Captured in Pangkadjene on the 5^th of March 1942. First 3 weeks in jail, then to the Royal Netherlands Military barracks Celebes and Menado.

My father was police inspector P. Volmer, captured in Enrekang on the 27^th of March 1942. His commander was lieutenant colonel Gortmans or Jan Oorlog.

I could read and transfer several pieces from my father’s diary with great difficulty. These names were mentioned: Benjamin, Kees Stolk, Laverman, Tjaak Muns, Robijn and Rijnders (police inspector). This diary had been buried and was exposed to moisture -TS).

This group went to kampong Oedjoeng and wanted to continue that evening. Suddenly they were machine-gunned from three sides. They were literally bowled over by about 40 Japs. Only one man was killed: inspector Rijnders. Muns and Stolk watched him fall. He as hit in the throat and chest; he fell forward, then tumbled twice and slid into a ravine. This happened while he was shooting at the Japs from atop a rock. Laverman fell backwards and rolled into a ravine, thus saving himself like Robijn, Stolk, Muns, and Benjamin.

Seth Paul: The reactions of the natives were mixed. Some of them showed the enemy where to go. The military detachment in Ujung Lamuru caught the first attack on Camba, which was carried out by the troops who traveled through Malino and Sinjai.

The major attack on Camba was carried out on the 27^th of February and this station would soon fall in the hands of the enemy.

My uncle, Guus Robijn of the military police, escaped the fight in Camba. After six days, and traveling through the jungle, he reached the others among who were Tjaak Muns and Mr. Laverman who were bone tired and had lost a lot of weight. They surrendered in Malino. I watched them exit the woods opposite the inn on the 13^th of March. They were immediately transported to Makassar.

Stolk: Kees related the following; From Makassar his detachment rode via the Tello bridge and along the airfield to the village of Mario. They stayed there several days to guard a weak spot by a river crossing. They were under the command of lt. G.A. Blume. From camp Mario the lieutenant and several of the soldiers, including Tjaak and Kees, left in the direction of the enemy to check their position and progress.

At a later date they left for Tjamba. After the skirmish at Tjamba Tjaak and Kees left that evening for a camp that was walled in by clay fortifications. Messengers kept them in touch with other camps. Vreeken was killed during one of those trips.

Many troops were assembled in this camp. When evening fell it was decided that assorted groups would take off in different directions. The patrol group of Tjaak and Kees, about 30 men, under command of sergeant Tarenskeen, would try to reach Pare-Pare via a detour. After having marched several days they arrived in a kampong where they had somethinmg to eat. Kees did not believe that the kampong was Oedjoeng Lamoeroe.

Suddenly they were attacked. Inspector Rijnders was killed because he returned fire and in so doing made his position known to the Japs.

. Most of the men were taken prisoner, but several managed to escape. The small house where Tjaak and Kees stayed was located at the edge of the village against a hedge. The men who were there managed to jump over the hedge and flee into the ravine. They lost track of each other and Robijn, Tjaak, Benjamin, and Laverman arrived in Malino after days of roaming the countryside. Kees stayed in the ravine with a German. The attack took place at twilight. The men who could not flee were driven together and disarmed. When it became pitch dark they could hear the Japs enter the ravine with their prisoners, who passed close by and disappeared. Kees and the German stayed hidden in the ravine. When it dawned, at about 5 o’clock, wild boars dug up the earth around them. They kept very still until the pigs left, then they started to look for the path where the Japs had carried off the prisoners. Down in the ravine was a small stream and they approached a small bridge. It seemed that the Japs had made a stop there to inspect their loot, for they found a pile of empty wallets. Kees found the foto of his girl in that pile. They returned to the kampong where the attack took place and on the way they saw a body, probably inspector Rijnders.

They decided that the best thing they could do was to surrender, because they had no map or compass in their possession. When they arrived in the kampong they asked the natives how to get to the main road. The natives were quite rude. Their chief sent one of the natives with them to show them the way, but the native disappeared before long. They walked several days and nights until they arrived at the main road where they came across a truck loaded with Japs who were buying fowl, eggs, fruit, etc. from the natives. They tied a white shirt to a stick and surrendered. The Japanese officer spoke Dutch fluently. He had been a photographer in Makassar. Kees explained that he attended high school and that he had just entered military service. Later this officer saved Kees’s life. The Japs took them to a neighbourhood camp where they joined the POWs who were capture at the battle of Tjamba. On about the 10^th of March everyone was transferred to the main prison in Makassar.

Makassar/Booy: After we were taken prisoner at Tjamba we were taken by truck to Makassar. We were transported to the jail and were received with kicks and fists. Our courage disappeared and rings and watches were taken from some of us. Our group of 14 men was put in a cell that was supposed to hold only 4 men. There was no water or a receptacle in which we could relieve ourselves. All night we squatted next to each other before we were released the next morning at about 11 AM for 15 minutes to relieve ourselves. We were about to burst. It was then that we received our first food, a small bun that ordinarily would have cost 2 ½ cents. The next day we were transferred to a 14-men cell for 45 men. Half of us slept on boards while the rest slept on a concrete floor without protection against thousands of mosquitoes. The garbage was thrown into open pits, which attracted millions of flies, which made our lives even more miserable. Our breakfasts consisted of a small bun, and in the afternoon we had a bit of dry rice with a small piece of dried fish. A native who sprayed water from a fire hose over the backs of 20 men at a time administered our bath. After two weeks our lot improved a bit when a bit of kangkong, a kind of spinach, was added to the rice. This prevented us from getting beriberi, a vitamin deficiency disease. Eventually we were allowed to stay out of our cell for a longer period of time and so now and then we cleaned up rubble or carried coal to our camp. We pilfered whatever we could and smuggled everything into our camp. However, many of us came down with dysentery. After 3 weeks the most seriously ill were taken to the “Op ten Noort” hospital ship. Barrels filled with feces in our cells were the cause of this situation. A choking stench permeated the air and flies were attracted to the odor. There were about 1,200 men in this jail of which about 150 were Americans and English. I shall refer to them at a later date. Several hundreds were navy personnel who were picked out of the Java Sea. Several hundreds were native soldiers, and 23 Europeans were in the Army. The rest of the POW’s were already in the POW camp, and our colonel did everything possible to transfer us to this camp, and have the natives moved to a different jail.

Stolk: During this period the Japs started to intern the civilian men in Makassar and the women in Malino. We shall let several people relate how the Japs transported them. The people in question were missionaries and government officials.

The Reverend Bikker was a missionary for the Toradja people, natives living in the hills of SW Celebes. Mr. Welleman and Mr. Maurenbrecher were District Officers for Palopo and Masamba respectively.

The Reverend Bikker was mentioned in the book “Djoenkeng Owari”, by Rik Valkenburg) With the occupation of Makassar the Japs began to intern all the Dutch in that city and assembled them in the field police quarters at the Goa Road. Gradually they took measures to intern those Dutch living outside Makassar. That is why we received a message from Polewali that we needed to report there the next day to, we were going to be interned. That happened on the 16^th of March in Mamasa. Shortly before then Mamasa was home to very few Dutch families, Mr. Maurenbrecher’s and mine. But during the last few months our population grew by many more, because people from Makassar evacuated to Mamasa when it became clear that the Japs would occupy Makassar.

Early in the morning, on the 17^th of March, we left, occupying all available cars from Mamasa and Polewali. Thirty men total, women, men, and children. Via Pare-Pare, Pangkadjene, and Maros we arrived in Makassar and were housed in the police quarters on the Goa Road. These were “regal” quarters. Women and children were housed in a large barn on one side and men and older boys were placed in similar housing on the other side.

Welleman: (from a letter to his wife). When you left on the night of the 25^th of March, I saw the back light of your car that disappeared fast in the direction of Enrekang. With a feeling of great loss I returned to the little house where you lived. While you started the most miserable trip of your life I sat on the porch and drank a cup of coffee. The next day I had my belongings taken to the inn where I spent the rest of my time. Together we spent the time at the inn in Makale doing nothing, talking and drinking left over booze.

The next day we left for Enrekang and watched the Japs arrive. We had to report to the Jap authorities in the government office which was decorated with Jap flags, and left for Makassar with POW’s, although we rode in our own car.

In Pare-Pare we stopped for a moment and saw the cars that had taken the people from Masala and Polewali. We continued to our concentration camp in Makassar. In Maros we had some bread and tea and arrived at the military quarters at about 8.30 PM and after waiting for several hours we were finally taken to the police quarters. By then it was midnight and completely dark. We had to listen to a speech by Jap commandant who said that we had to be very thankful that we received food from them because the Dutch had burned everything. In the dark of the night the city of Makassar left an eerie impression under the light of an occasional lantern. We, the people from Enrekang as we were called, were given one of the last cubby holes, two persons per space. We took our luggage to our new quarters. Courtois and I had rented a small van that we had loaded to the gills. Nothing was checked and I was sorry that I did not take our radio. Vonk was the leader of our group and was assigned a small bedroom with a tiny porch. I shared his quarters that were nicer than the cubbyholes that had been assigned to the others. We did not have any electricity so we lit candles. We put our mosquito netting up (klamboe) and put our mattresses underneath. Being dead tired we fell asleep right away.

The following morning we realized that we were brought to an area that was totally unkempt. Dirt and weeds were everywhere, no tables, no chairs were to be seen. Each cubbyhole contained two boards to sleep on which were put on wooden supports. These took up all the available space. The rear quarters were occupied by native policemen who transferred to the Japanese occupation forces.

I was fortunate to find a rattan chair in the middle of a weed patch and it became my possession immediately. After the AM roll call all the interned had to line up on the abutting soccer field. We then were told to clean the cubbyholes to make them livable. In between we met those who had arrived there before us and we reacquainted ourselves with those we already knew. Almost immediately after our arrival in the middle of the night, I had spoken to Teun de Rijk who peered through the jail bars of the main building. He told me that he was very hungry and I shoved a few cans I had taken with me from Palopo in his hands. I also remember that while we were moving our things to our quarters, the Japanese major and his interpreter, who accompanied us to Makassar, wished us “Good evening” in Dutch, something he did with a hint of malicious pleasure. I returned this greeting to these gentlemen. They had visited us officially in Palopo a few days before and therefore knew how we lived there. However, they did not know that we were convinced that their reign would be of short duration.

From the first day on it became clear that not all was well between the older inhabitants in the first few quarters of our compound and that not everyone was friendly toward each other. As far as our living quarters were concerned, we, from Enrekang, did not have the worst place to live in. True enough, we were cramped for space but we enjoyed decent bathing arrangements, although toilet facilities left something to be desired. But we had access to a roomy kitchen. After a few days we had gathered sufficient furniture such as benches, chairs, and tables and we also had electricity. Food from the main kitchen was bad, which resulted in Mr. Westerveld to become the head chef. We were assessed seven guilders and fifty cents per person per month, which was a moderate price for those days. Every day a market was held in our compound and it was possible to buy all kinds of things.

There were specific times for chores and during the first few weeks we needed to work hard to clean up the incredible mess in our compound. But when everything was done and we got used to our quarters, work slacked off. Food from our own kitchen was excellent; we even enjoyed a good cup of coffee. During our free time we read or played chess, in the afternoon we played sports, and after the evening roll call, when the commandant of the guard did the rounds, we played cards. In the beginning no one bowed to the Japs. I don’t know if this was required but this changed when captain Ota entered one evening and slapped people around for not showing more respect. After that everyone bowed with diligence.

It was strange to do our own chores such as cleaning our quarters twice a week, wash and repair our own clothes, in short, anything that needed to be done for our wellbeing we did instead of the native servants doing it for us.

After having slept on a cot for the first few nights, I spied a beautiful steel spring mattress in one of the storage places. Gone was the cot, replaced by the mattress with a few ammunitions boxes as supports.

MALINO/ Maurenbrecher-Brain: All Europeans were called together in Enrekang with our private transportation. We said good-bye to our husbands. Then we were taken to Malino in our own cars. On the way natives watched and the younger ones signaled throat cutting. It was not a pleasant sight.

In Malino we were housed in several bungalows and houses. I had a high fever and lay down on a sofa in a veranda. Both my daughters went to explore the neighbourhood.

The next day Dr. Goedbloed, a female doctor, gave me a shot for malaria, which made me feel better right away. I was then placed in the bungalow for the gascompany, which was headed by Mrs. Klay. The cool air made us all feel better.

We took turns cooking on a wood fire. We had assembled all our finances and we bought the necessary groceries on the market. Everything was available such as red rice, coffee, meat, and all kinds of vegetables. Once a week native boys arrived from Makassar on their bike and offered us items that had belonged to us for sale. Some of them took letters for husbands with them. They played a daring game.

In the beginning we enjoyed a campfire in the evening. I shared my room with my daughters and another lady. Entry into our room was gained through a low window since a bed was placed against the door. This turned out to be a fortunate situation since the Jap always missed our room when they came to inspect our house. We also felt safe since I had hidden a pistol in the drawer of my sewing machine. The house was surrounded by a roomy garden and several ladies grew some flowers. The bushes around the garden needed to be pruned, but since we lacked the equipment, the director of the jail, who was a friend of Nurdin?, allowed the inmates to do this for us. In return I gave him fermented rice (tapeh), a delicacy. At first a female teacher taught the children, and later nuns took over. A native paper supplied us with news that was translated by a lady who knew the language.

Chabot: A few weeks after the fall of Tjamba the old lieutenant colonel Gortmans was visited by a native from Padang who worked for the Japs who wanted to make a deal with him. He refused it disdainfully. After a few days a high Jap official arrived, but still Gortmans refused to make a deal but he went to meet him anyway. The Jap officer stayed on one side of the river and Gortmans on the other. Apparently the Japs overestimated the amount of men under Gortmans by a great deal. The Jap told Gortmans that if he and his men would not surrender peacefully that the women and children in Malino would be maltreated. Gortmans then invited the Jap to join him on the other side of the river for further talks. Gortmans then stated his terms; virtually all of these were complied with. The most important one was that all women south of Enrekang would be taken to Malino in private vehicles and they would be allowed to take all necessary clothing and other necessities. Since many of these 200 women were pregnant a special sterilized delivery vehicle would accompany the 5-kilometer long procession. The military would be treated honorably and Gortmans would be allowed to keep his dagger. The Japs were given ten days to comply during which time there would not be any surrender.

Since there was a mistaken understanding that there was hunger in Malino Gortmans saw to it that part of the military provisions would go to Malino. Henk was the driver for these supplies and one evening they arrived in Malino. For a little while the war did not exist. Henk and about twenty others appeared in their uniforms full of daring-do and the five Japs who accompanied then melted away against all this Dutch bravado.

When they returned the next day they took a water buffalo with them which they had ordered the day before. They did not want to start their POW days on an empty stomach. At that time they did not realize what it would mean to live behind barbed wire and work on a road gang in hot temperatures in Makassar. Henk told us how they took the Dutch flag down and how Gortmans had put it in his backpack. After that the Japs offered the highest officers a dinner. One of the younger soldiers was told to get champagne but when the butler was notified during these festivities, he could not find any so that water was drunk instead. But when Henk and the others appeared champagne had been brought in and everyone enjoyed a glass. The Japs did not appreciate this joke.

Stolk: One day we received a message at our building that a convoy with food had arrived at the inn. Presumably my father was one of the military drivers. We quickly went up to the inn and spoke to my dad, we asked him about our eldest brother but he knew nothing about him. Oddly enough I don’t remember much about this meeting and it seemed that the facts did not jibe. Later on I asked several people who were present at this event about my father. Mr. Bob Grijs told me that my dad was part of the entourage that took the women and children from Enrekang to Malino with Japanese drivers under supervision of the Dutch military. About 40 or 50 cars preceded the food convoy.

Joustra: Coming from the military compound in Makassar our arrival in Malino was a rebirth. No Japanese guards; the old Netherlands-Indonesian administration, i.e. the native part ruled. The first administration official we met was a certain Tjatjo. He was the go-between who gave us Japanese orders and in turn he gave them our complaints and needs.

Before I expand on this situation I would like to tell you something about house no. 11. Originally this house belonged to a firm whose employees could vacation there. Didi van Dolder, who had been in Makassar with me, happened to be the wife of one of the firm’s members. Because of this fact several house members regarded her as the hostess of the house. Fortunately she did not agree and considered herself one of us. The house was situated on a small hill on the Swaab Boulevard, on the corner of the lowest cross road. It had a closed in front porch that abutted a living area. Behind this space was a large bedroom in which Mrs. Steensma and her three daughters, Gre, Mien, and Harry, and her son, Sjoerd slept. Behind the living room there was another bedroom in which there were first five ladies and then four, Didi van Dolder, her friend Ina Bruggeman, Stien Lekkerkerker, and Boudien van Witsenburg. Behind this rather small bedroom was the bathroom and indoor toilet. Oddly, I do not remember a kitchen. We lit a fire under an overhang. Left to the house and slightly to the back was a large garage in which To Appelman shared a full bed with her12-year old son Tammeau.

. Bets Franken and I slept on bamboo couches, and Toet Vundering slept on a cot at the foot of our bamboo couches. There was such little room between the couches and the cot that we could not go to bed or rise up in the morning at the same time.

In another bedroom a family named Marcar, Oma, her son Thaddy, his wife Lieke, and their son Douglas stayed. They were Armenian and as such were not enemies of the Japs. They moved back to Makassar and Mrs. Smit-Sibinga moved in with her three children. Chores were divided among the women. Bringing in firewood was included with shopping at the market. Each person had enough free time left except for Janny Companje, who worked in the hospital, house no. 10, and I. I was given the task of housing expert, I was to receive Japs and relay their messages to the women in Malino. We did not have a steady Japanese guard; they came and went at irregular intervals. Some of them considered Malino a vacation spot and sometimes stayed for several days or several weeks in some of the most beautiful houses, which they had reserved for themselves.

Because Janny and I did not share in the regular chores we offered to do the dishes. This was not an easy job since the soot of the wooden fires was hard to remove from the inside and outside of the pans, and sometimes food had burned. Cleaning agents were very primitive or hard to get; we usually used sand and ash. Our nails looked far from perfect because of that.

On the day that we arrived the Japs decided that there should be some kind of government. Three men were appointed who were to be assisted by several ladies of their choice.

The men were A. Wyers, Dutch language teacher, Th. Seth Paul, an Armenian merchant, and Biermann, a German merchant who, because of ill health, had been dismissed from the internment camp the Dutch had set up for the Germans at the beginning of the German-Dutch conflict. With his wife he occupied a comfortable house in Malino. Next to his house stood the residence of his son in law, doctor van Gogh. This house had been made available to the interned and Mrs. van Gogh-Biermann and her two children moved in with Mom and Dad. This house was the only one, except for the houses that the Japs occupied, that showed a small Japanese flag. The three men rule did not last very long. Seth Paul and several other Armenians moved back to Makassar, Biermann disappeared and wanted to have nothing to do with anything, after the Japs slapped him around for whatever reason. Wyers was assisted by Mrs. van Goor-Duut and me. I forgot to mention a native boy, Said, who was a gofer for Wyers. I never knew his true heritage, and although he was open and helpful and I had no reason to suspect him, I was very careful in his presence. Frankly, I showed this attitude to everyone. I did not trust anybody, I would ask for advice if I did not know enough about certain matters, but in the end I made my own decisions.

Mr. Wyers was the leader assisted by Zus van Goor and me. We needed to keep the older boys busy while also taking care of housing assignments. Ten ladies assisted us: Toos van der Sanden took care of the shopping together with Annetje Hemsing. Ans Herdes was aleader in Lombasang, a small housing area south of Malino; Jo den Hond was the leader of the Children’s Vacation Building; Tine Klay was the leader of the gas company building where many people lived. Originally it was a vacation home for employees of the gas and electricity firms. Annemarie Halewijn, and possibly Truus Dekkers, and someone else took care of other matters. I am not sure if I named these persons correctly. I think that Gerda van der Noordaa was also one of these women. Also I am not sure of the division of tasks, all that I remember was that the supply and distribution of food was the most urgent task.

Every Tuesday the market was open. Chinese and Ambonese people, and everyone else who could move around freely, came to Malino to offer merchandise or pretended that they did. News, notes, and money were given to us. This market event became our contact with the men in the police quarters and the POW camp. One time the Japs intercepted several notes. The women to whom these notes were written spent about a week in jail. We don’t know what happened to the senders and those who carried the notes, but it was sure that these men were severely punished.

These people were unbelievably careless. I once met an Ambonese woman who gave me all kinds of news, which I did not solicit. She also told me that the young people in Makassar carried notes in the hollow of their bicycle handles to take them to Malino. I advised her to be very careful and not to trust just anyone. I never told anyone, but I heard a lot.

One day Toos Hoogeveen, daughter of the governor of the eastern part of the Dutch East Indies, told me that the men had organized a regular courier service. She was to be the agent in Malino. I pointed out the dangers of such service, but she would not be swayed. We made the following plans. As soon as Toos would receive the notes in the Tuesday market from a trusted Chinese man, she would go home crossing the racetrack. When she would come to the ravine she would turn right from the path and withdraw in the bushes to wait for me. I would then cross the road with a load of garbage to take it to the dump in the ravine. I would then cross a stream, stepping on stones in the water, looking for Toos. She would give me the news thath I would keep to myself.

That same day she would give the news to two other trusted persons. I did not want to know who they were, and they in turn would tell two others, and so on. During the short time that this service existed it worked quite well. It stands to reason that the original message became grossly twisted in the end, but many rumors went around Malino those days.

Wendt: My mother suffered from asthma, she could not tolerate the mountain air. One day she had very bad attack, so bad that she could not walk being choked up. She needed to go to the hospital urgently, but the shortest way was through the ravine that was impossible. A decision needed to be made and an Indonesian who was grazing his horse was contacted to see if he would loan his horse. He agreed and my mother was put on the horse. Since a detour was made the trip lasted hours but we arrived and my mother was treated right away. Friends offered a space in a their house close to the hospital so that my mother could get medical assistance if it was needed. My Dad and I returned to our home. The difficult trip to the hospital had caused a lot of anxiety. The horse owner in front leading the horse, my Dad following with a bag in his hands and me next to him. It was a sad journey. An encouraging word or gesture would have been sufficient to raise my spirits, but none was coming. I was twelve and I felt lost. That feeling lasted throughout the time of our internment: always alone without any one lending support.

The Japs felt that there were too many men in Malino, some had to be removed. Every day my father and I would visit my mother, but when we heard that the Japs were looking for every man we became careful. We took small paths and inroads to reach my mother’s place and returned after dark.

All of a sudden both my parents landed in the hospital, my mother because of her asthma and my dad because he had never recovered. My mom then decided that I would be best of with the nuns in their cloister. She knew them well and thought that there wouldn’t be any problems. She was wrong. The cloister also was overpopulated, but a solution was found. A bamboo couch was placed in the hall where the nuns slept. I had no mosquito netting, but I was provided with half a piece of netting, enough to cover 4 bamboo sticks that were wrapped in cotton and rags. Two of them by my head and two more about half way down my cot. That way the netting covered my head and upper body, and the sheets covered my legs. It was as if I was put in a showcase. But when I turned around in my bed the sticks moved and the netting fell on my face. The cotton and rags were supposed to protect the netting, but eventually holes did develop. A rather senseless attempt but nothing else could be done.

I missed my parents, especially since my father was still with us. I wanted to see him more but the nuns kept a rigid schedule. No extra time to see my parents was allowed by the nuns. Eventually I started to cry uncontrollably. Nobody understood why I cried and when I finally sobbed why I cried; the nun’s response was that my parents needed to rest and things remained the same.

Once, when I returned a bit later from the hospital, which had never happened before, the reception was less that friendly. A tall, skinny woman with thinly pursed lips stood by the dining table with a pan in front of her. She was obviously busy clearing the table. When she saw me she growled: ”Children who are late will find the dog in the pot. You must be on time.” Of course I had my dinner but it was nice to be treated that way. She probably assumed that I was playing outside. I felt as if I had done something wrong.

MAKASSAR/Booy: Our Colonel did everything he could to have us transferred from the jail to the prison camp. [On the Oranje Boulevard?] T.S. It finally happened on the 3^rd of April, it was Good Friday. We arrived in the infantry camp while singing patriotic songs.

Our condition improved remarkably since we were allowed much more freedom of movement. There was plenty of food although the quality needed improvement. Therefore a lot was smuggled over barbed wires. This was done mainly between Indonesian boys and the English, and the Americans. The boys managed to sell items for twice or three times the going price. The punishment for anyone who was caught smuggling was horrible. A beating of about 40 or 50 strokes was administered with a rope that was about 3 inches in diameter that was wetted down. It is awful to watch. Our officers did everything to abolish this kind of punishment but the Japs considered this very normal since they themselves administered this kind of punishment to their own people.

Once three natives had run off to spend the night with their wives. They were caught and returned. First they were made to climb several coconut trees, which is rather difficult if you had never done it. Then they were told to lie flat on the ground for an hour and a half, then they walked around for an hour with a container filled with water on their head. After all that they received sixty strokes and they were put in jail for 14 days.

The day before yesterday a China man was allowed to sell tobacco, soap, and other useful items in our camp. That was an improvement.

There were about 2,500 men in our camp not counting the natives. It was built for 600 men. There were men who had been part of the Dutch Army on the isle of Celebes; 885 Englishmen, and 85 Americans also had been captured. The others were members of our Navy. The Japs had picked up most of them when they were on their way to Australia on evacuation ships. Several hundreds were lost on the “Java” and the “De Ruyter”. Our Army lost 200 men and, according to the Japs, the natives killed about 600 of our men.

The Japs never talk about Japan but Nippon; we call them “Pietersen” to warn each other when one of them came near.

It is very difficult to get reliable information and many rumors fly around. I shall write them down to verify them at a later date.

I found my friend, Van Duuren, from Watampone. I also struck a friendship with two Englishmen, Robby Roberts and Allan Dodds. They were on the “Exeter” which sank in the Javas Sea.

The diary I had started on May 10, 1940 went up in flames in Tjamba. Since I didn’t have access to paper before now I started this diary recently.

Rumor has it that a prince was born.

Van Dillewijn: On April the 3^rd, 1942, we were taken to the military quarters in Makassar. The Dutch with lower rank were assembled in barracks no. 7. A customs agent, Jos Richter, was in charge. He was a powerful man who kept the morale high, especially when he addressed them at about 7 in the evening to inform them of important items. That way he stayed in contact with the men. Each person was assigned a space of about 70cm.and small groups were formed. Daily contact between these groups was not necessary since the most important factor of every day life was the disbursemnet of food, and we kept in touch with the groups at mealtime. We also maintained contact with those who had the duty; we had to go into Makassar to perform coolie work and build concrete bunkers.

A certain sergeant Booy of the engineers managed the repair department for our camp during the time that we were there. He gained the trust of the Japs without being a collaborator and was able to do a lot for us. He also kept a diary.

Koop-Noordink: How did it begin for us? We belonged to the small group of people from New Guinea, from Manokwari in the North and to Hollandia in the South. Of course those people that had connections with the government and the police departments were aware of what was happening outside our area. That was why a small group of women and children were evacuated to Ransiki a short time before the Japs landed on New Guinea, which was a Japanese business center, where Japs were interned (Presumably when the Dutch declared war on the Japanese. OY). Pastor Guikers was in charge, as requested by the government, to oversee the food supply.

Mrs. Sydow and Mrs. Koop taught the children school. We thought that we were safer there but when our condition became precarious, because of the approaching Jap force, we preferred to join our men, and Guikers felt that he could not handle the added responsibility. Thus we went on to Manokwari.

One early April morning in 1942 the Japanese fleet entered the Doreh bay and started to bombard us, presumably to scare us. When things calmed down we returned to our homes and, sure enough, there they came and we were ordered to report to the parsonage. This building had been searched for weapons so things were rather chaotic. In the afternoon we were told to line up, men on one side and women on the other. In broken Malay we were ordered to listen carefully, no to protest, don’t try to flee, etc. To enforce their threats the Japs started to hit the men so hard around their faces and heads that an old missionary, Uncle Jan Wetstein, fell backwards on a thorny bush. The children started to scream and cried softly holding their heads close to us. This was our first cruel experience from the Japs. Yet Uncle Jan possessed enough humor that night to say: “Let’s find the softest tile, good night”.

The first few days passed like a dream. The food supply of the pastors was being cooked for us, First the chickens and then the ducks. That was a job to pluck a duck with all those down feathers.

Every rectory had wine for church services, and the men felt that wine should not be givens to the Japs. A bowl of wine and canned fruit was created, and one by one we received a bit of wine. This was done secretly so that the Japs would not know about it.

Meanwhile a missing couple had arrived from the Bovenweg in Manokwari, Mr. and Mrs. Fuhrie. He was the captain of a small government boat, the “Kapal Anna”. He usually sailed the sea north of New Guinea. He was ordered by the Naval Commander in Batavia to scuttle his boat, and had fled into the jungle with his wife and two loaded guns. They were supposed to commit suicide when the Japs found them. Alas, things went different. On their way to their hiding place the Japs intercepted them and they were taken to Manokwari.

On the fourth day the interrogations started. After the assistant commissioner Linck it was Mr. Hartman’s turn, and finally the police commissioner Koop. The interrogations seemed to last forever - in our opinion. These were held outside the camp.

Why the others were interrogated we did not find out, because they did not say much when they returned. My husband told me that the Japs were mostly interested in the location of Captain Geeroms and his men, because they had decided to continue fighting. My husband was treated favorably because a Japanese woman was present at his interrogation. When the Japanese were being interned by my husband, he did not have her join her countryman, but saw to it that she was taken to a local inn since she seemed close to delivery. Violet Ellis looked her after.

The fourth to be interrogated was Hans Fuhrie. We feared for him the most. In those days we had an abusive Korean guard who continually pointed at Hans and then moved his hand across his throat as if he would cut it. Hans never returned, after having been tied to a tree for one day and one night he was beheaded.

A few days later the Japs came with a small bible that had belonged to Pastor Guikers and we were told that he too had been beheaded. The reason they gave was that the Ransiki pier had been demolished by the military, but Pastor Guikers was being blamed.

We were terrified. The Jap marines executed this reign of terror, but they received orders to move elsewhere and we were put under civilian rule.

We were allowed to return home to pick up some clothes, mattresses, and other possessions. The damage we found was unbelievable. It would take too much time to describe it, but one thing I shall never forget.

I owned a beautiful flock of chickens, Barnevelders, good looking, big, brown animals, very tame. A small jungle fowl, called Petite, was also part of my flock. She also was very tame. I had not seen Petite for several weeks. When we arrived at our house I could have cried, chicken heads were left all over, I am sure that the rest was eaten. But while we were talking about the chickens, guess who came walking out of a bamboo clump? Petite, she had a row of baby chicks in tow. It was very touching and it signaled a message to me that somewhere there would be a new beginning.

Towards the end of April we had to leave Manokwari, the parsonage had become cramped since people from the North coast had joined us. One early morning we were told to assemble and only take with us those items that we could carry. We boarded a minesweeper and had to find a place below decks between the metal bars. That trip was horrible because we were not allowed to go on deck. Oh yes, once, on the 29^th of April we had to bow to the North in honour of the birthday of the Japanese emperor. But we decided that we did it for Juliana, because her birthday fell on the 30^th of April.

Thus we arrived in Ambon, and we were housed in a school. Our men were still with us, but they stayed only several more months, then we were separated.

Ten Haaft: It all happened so long ago, but sometimes things come to mind suddenly. Everything becomes clear again. There we were, in Seroei (New Guinea), Between the Japanese soldiers. Their bayonets glistened in the sun light that morning. The Bay of Seroei was filled with their ships, and their trucks and motorbikes thundered over the much too narrow roads. Bridges and smaller bridges creaked under the loads they were not designed to bear and collapsed. Table leaves were dragged out of Chinese stores to repair the roads, but that was only temporary.

We were not given the chance to finish our corn porridge for breakfast. Oddly enough, we were not very hungry that morning. We were moved aimlessly from one place to another. Under the threats of bayonets we put our hands over our heads and were driven to the beach. But that had been an obvious mistake. The Japs roared a few orders that we could not understand and we were returned to where we had come from.

“Are we going to be beheaded?” asked one of our three children. They understood that something was very wrong that morning.

First we went to the police quarters, after that we went home to get some clothes. But our house had been so thoroughly searched and looted that there was little left for us. A bunch of Japanese soldiers stood around a jar of sugar in the children’s room. Our last bit of sugar was carefully saved up, because we never knew when we might get some more.

We went on to a government office. A portrait of the queen still hung on the wall. Outside the building Jap soldiers were apparently making fun of antique hunting rifles which had been turned in some time ago. Did they feel that these were the weapons we would use for selfdefense? Another hearing took place in the office. My name had been mistakenly mixed up with the name of a former colleague. This person had written a few children’s books and in one of those he had sea captain say several unflattering things about the men from Nippon.This man had been in Seroei before I arrived and I pointed out that I did not live there before 1039. It was believed but that was not the end. This hearing had been organized to be a publicity stunt. Reporters and cameramen were present. Some time later I heard that one of our government people had not fared as well. He too was slapped around several times.

We had entered another world that, until now, had been unknown and far away to us. Our new masters were determined to teach us the new rules as fast as they could.

A day or so later we boarded a troop ship, after having been shown off to an endless stream of real and, in our opinion, unreal men with swords. I shall never forget the handshake of the chief of the kampong Seroei-Laoet (Seroei at the sea) Abraham Bonay. In spite of the roaring and yelling of the “victors” he walked with us until we had to get into a small landing craft, which was waiting for us. Our small group, 15 alltogether, adults and children, were housed in an enclosed part of the gangway on the troop ship. We were not totally deserted, for we were shown a bathroom and we also received some food. There was even a friendly hand that handed us something through the porthole. Another Jap handed me a shaving apparatus. But since there were no shaving blades included my beard, which had not been shorn since the days of our capture, stayed unshaven.

We took a zig- zag course to the West. One Saturday evening we had little rest. The soldiers were treated to sake, which left them under the influence. The officers who occupied a deck above ours tried to hit empty bottles with other empty bottles. Since they were not very successful the bottles continued to fall down and shattered on our railing. Fortunately a canvas from the outside protected us. But even although we were not hurt, we did not get any rest that night. One officer on duty had a guard placed at our place. This was greatly appreciated by us.

We realized that we had been taken to Ambon when we entered the Bay of Ambon. Our boat was moored at the pier where coal boats unloaded usually. After a few minutes we stood on the pier with our few belongings where we were loaded onto a truck. An Ambonese who wanted to help us was chased off. The truck took us to the residence of the former commissioner that was now occupied by the Japanese commander. I remember the signs on the houses along the road when we were taken to our “camp”. They read “Rumah Indonesia”, meaning Indonesian House, to protect the inhabitants and the contents of the house against the more than casual interest of the Japs. Did it help?

I remember how our first meal was handed to us through the barbed wire by old acquaintances that had arrived before we did. The “School for Education of Indonesian Teachers” became our home. There was no camp. This was our future home for many months but we were not allowed to enter it yet. We had to wait.

We were the first ones who arrived from New Guinea. So we brought the latest news to our acquaintances that had been here since the end of January.

Finally we were allowed to enter the school. We were assigned a space in a schoolroom. The tiled floor made it easy. Our family of two adults and three children occupied a space that was 8 tiles wide and 15 tiles long. We shared the room with 30 people, kids and adults. It was interesting that it was always possible to find space for a few more.

MAKASSAR/Welleman: About 3 weeks after we arrived at the police station, people from Boeton and Moena arrived (19/4/42 - TS), with them came Mrs. Van den Broek, Mrs. Veen, and Mrs. Ohlenroth.

There isn’t much to tell about our life here. Morale was high and too optimistic which led some people to be rather careless with their finances.

I managed to get kicked in the leg during a soccer game against a team of policemen; this forced me to stay in bed for a week. But otherwise I fared well. These kinds of games were usually organized by one of our Jap guards, nicknamed the “Round One”. He always handed out prices, but was disappointed when he realized that we always won against Indonesia.

Booy: 4/22/42 It was very quiet yesterday; we were warned that the Japs were in a bad mood since the largest cities in Japan had been bombed.

Basketball, which had been played on a regular basis, was forbidden as well as shopping privileges, which had been a Godsend for us.

Since two weeks ago I worked outside the camp erecting a wire fence around the former mess hall. It would apparently become an emergency hospital. The seriously ill were taken care of on our hospital ship “Op ten Noort”. The labour was done together with native soldiers.

4/23/42. Singing was also forbidden. The only time that we were allowed to sing .was on Sunday from 1 PM to 7 PM. 120 men now occupied a corridor that had been used to be an area for outpatients. We slept on mats on a tile floor. I was the proud owner of a straw mattress, which was shared by two more if it was placed crossways. That way it reached to our waist and the area below, hips and legs, were on the mats. The other two who shared my mattress were a military writer for the engineers, and an older man named De Keizer. He was caught only four days after he was called up to duty. The three of us formed a club. Anything we needed was bought together as long as we had money. We had no additional monetary income.

4/24/42.Yesterday afternoon about 200 Europeans were brought into our camp from Menado. They made the trip with a Japanese minesweeper. It seemed that there had been quite a fight and many were beheaded, most of them belonged to the demolition forces.

A brigadier general named Bosman, who had always acted strangely, had his head shorn and had become an Indonesian. He was free; the Japs freed all natives.

Today and tomorrow the Japs remember their fallen comrades; it behooves us to be very calm. Usually there are about 1,000 men on one ship, which indicates that quite a few of them died.

4/25/42.This morning we stood at attention for one minute to remember the dead.

4/26/42. Sunday, and I have been to church. Minister Brokken had come from the male civilian compound, which was the police station. A service is held every Sunday, but our hosts did not allow us to sing. Just before the service started they took 250 men to work on the pier. This happens every day; we are now the Emperor’s Coolies.

Today the toko (shop) is open. The tobacco we smoke is Boeginese, it is sold in bamboo containers which are about three feet long. The man who was sent to buy for our hall had lost all the money, a note of 25 guilders. Since he did not own any money we could not get it back. Mozes van Berg had bought enough for the three of us so that we could smoke this week.

4/27/42. The natives were freed on the birthday of the Mikado. The Americans and the Europeans are the only ones doing labour now.

4/28/42.Today was busy, the camp was divided in three parts. We are segregated into an American, a British, and a Dutch camp. The Dutch occupied about 2/3 of the camp.

A new Jap arrived; he seemed to be the manager. His name is Yoshida. He must maintain peace and he beats us. He knows that I know how to build houses and he continually calls on me.

4/29/42.To day is the birthday of the Mikado and we had to stand at attention facing the North for 1 minute and salute. The Jap guard was present in its entirety and they bowed deeply. No work was done in Makassar, but a lot of moving was done inside the camp. I now live in the Army hall no. 13. Our hall leader is a Jew, Richter; he reigns with a lot of bravado. All the high ranking civilian residents of Makassar came here; they fight a lot among themselves.

4/30/42. Today we remember the birthday of our crown princess; this is done very quietly. One of the gentlemen gave a speech before breakfast and another cited the 1^st and 3^rd verse of our anthem, Wilhelmus van Nassauwe. When Yoshida picked me up to get some tools I wore an orange ribbon. They did not realize its meaning. Yesterday we had a “banquet” at noon, no rice but a handful of brown beans, a piece of cucumber, and a banana. For dinner we had six unpeeled potatoes, a small piece of meat, a piece of cucumber, and a banana. Now you can understand why we had to buy extra food, so we would not starve.

MALINO/Badenbroek: The Japs came to visit us in the KVK. For the first time they showed up with caps that had flaps attached to them, They also wore keds. We were made to bow. BOW! How many times thereafter: in Malino, in the internment camp, in the field, on the street, all the time, bow.

Seth Paul: the Japs often visited us. One of them spoke English fluently. He had studied in Cambridge. He abhorred war and therefore was not an officer. Another recognized my mother from the tennis field in Makassar. No, they did not cause any problems, except once; we had moved to a house close to the inn. On one evening a drunken officer forced his way into our house. He ordered everyone out with his samurai sword. We, the children, had to dig a hole for our father who was to be beheaded ritually. My poor father was in a dither as were we children. Fortunately my mother was more resolute. She promised the drunken officer that his superiors would know about this incident, and when she started for the main building of the inn the drunk took off with the sword between his legs. I will never forget this event for as long as I’ll live.

Maurenbrecher-Brain: I once received a letter from my husband in a predetermined code which stated that the husband of Mrs. Klay was dying on the hospital ship in the harbor of Makassar. I didn’t know what to tell her, but decided to tell. To my consternation she said that she wanted to see him and nothing would deter her. She donned her volunteer uniform, belt, soldier’s boots and backpack plus a bamboo hat. Out she went, accompanied by Annemarie Halewijn and myself to make sure that the guards would not detain her. The guards were native policemen who let us pass and greeted us in a cordial manner. After having walked about half an hour Annemarie and I returned.

Mrs. Klay continued; she spent the night at a mission and rode on the back of a bike with several native boys to a point near Makassar. There she was taken to a Japanese commandant. He asked her how she had managed to come all the way from Malino. When she answered that she had walked they started to laugh, pinched her legs, looked at her shoes, and asked why she had come. She wanted to see her ill husband on the ship, she responded. They became very angry and wanted to know how she knew about her husband’s condition. It so happened that a high-ranking officer had been in Malino who had brought greetings from husbands to their wives. She named him, because it was the least risky thing she could do. We never saw him again.

They took her to a jail, but she saw her husband twice. Those visits were enough to renew her hope. After several weeks she returned to Malino with several women and children who had been taken from surrounding islands near Celebes.

Seth Paul: On the 9^th of May a guerrilla group under command of Lieutenant De Jong, who resisted in Mid Celebes, had radio contact with Port Darwin. Because of this group’s actions they unwittingly caused many problems for my mother Saartje and her sister Bea de Graaff. Later they underwent a severe interrogation by the Kempetai, the Jap intelligence.

AMBON/Ten Haaft: An air raid occurred on the 10^th of May. Our buildings were not targeted but the ships in the Bay of Ambon were hit. The airplanes were “ours”. A Jap tanker burned for days, and a cargo ship was beached. The attacks were repeated but the outcome was not what we had hoped for. Yet we heard people say that it would not last long, but it did, and eventually the attacks stopped.

MAKASSAR/BOOY: 5/1/42. A small building had been made into a tool shed; I kept the key. No tools were allowed in the halls anymore, and moving the tools into the shed kept me busy all day. This meant that I did not have to work outside.

5/2. The Japanese soldiers that were housed inside this compound had their quarters moved outside the camp.

. I, too, was moved and now share a former recovery room with 25 others. We live close to the gate, which means that we witness punishments too often. The amenities are far from here and we are not allowed to make a fire in our quarters so that we can cook afew things for ourselves.

5/3.It was a quiet day, we didn’t have to work. About 4 or 5 men kept the most important things going, such as taking care of running water and other daily chores.

.5/5. The Japs have moved our former wire barricades and brought them to our camp to have us roll them up into bales.

5/6 At 3 PM we have to fall in all dressed up because a nephew of the emperor, Prince Nietsiboe, or whatever his name is, was to visit our camp. He did not enter but drove along the side of our camp while we stood at attention.

5/8.For 50 cents I became the owner of 10 chicken eggs yesterday evening. Van Berg fried them for breakfast, a welcome change. Enormous amounts of groceries came over the fence. We paid fl. 7.50 for a can of butter, but it turned out to be margarine; all 1,700 grams (almost 4 pounds-OY). A bar of shaving soap fetches fl.2.50 instead of 50 cents. They caught a smuggler this morning; punishment was administered with the familiar stick.

5/9.Our hosts are in a bad mood today. I tried to count the Japanese coolies in the camp on the other side. There were about 2,000 of them, rumor has it that they are from Formosa and Korea. They cleaned up the destruction we caused at the beginning of the war. All books in the camp have to be turned in; Pietersen wants to look for derogatory text.

5/10 Today it has been 2 years since our motherland was invaded; I hope that the Dutch will be freed soon. Yesterday I witnessed the most horrible beating. A boy received 80 strokes with a cane on top of other abuse. They broke his wrist and bruised several ribs. Nine others were mishandled too. These ten victims needed to go to the hospital ship for treatment. Just hearing about such things makes your flesh crawl. It will take a long time before I could ever get used to this.

5/11. An evening church service was held in hall no. 13 to commemorate the 10^th of May. Of course this was done in secrecy, as are the classes for the boys, and other things that are done clandestinely. Sometimes we get caught.

5/12.The colonel and several staff officers live outside the camp in a former NCO house. Today we put up a wire fence around their quarters.

5/14.Today “Pietersen” gave us each a bar of Lux bath soap, a toothbrush, .a small sweat towel, and 5 packs of native cigarettes with Zanzibar cloves. During peace time 7 packs would have cost 1 cent.

5/15.A Japanese paper disclosed that the British now occupy Madagascar. It seems that a battle was fought in the Solomon Islands. The Japs claimed a great victory there.

5/16.Yoshida gave us enough firewood for three months. We are allowed to brew our coffee for the time being. The most peculiar thing is that smuggling is forbidden; yet the cooking of extra food is condoned.

The imagined new prince was given the names of Willem Edward Aschwin Oranje Boven! He must be an allied prince with all those names.

5/17.The minister did not come today. “Pietersen” did not allow any contact with the outside. This morning we stood at attention while we were supposed to make a list of our private affairs such as how much money we had in our possession. We were given a number and have to show it prominently. There were three different kinds of numbers, one kind for the Army, another for the Americans, and the English had the 3^rd kind. My number is L208; I will remember that as well as 40191. Fortunately we were not branded.

5/18.All the books out of the military library were removed. Rumor has it that they will be replaced by proper reading material. I hope so.

5/19.Today several POWs were beaten because they contacted their wives in the city. They were not allowed to tell anyone about Jap victories. According to a Javanese legend Java would be ruled from the rice harvest to the corn harvest, after which the Indonesians would rule their own government.

5/21.Our little group worked hard, time flew by and one always learned something. The Army was not allowed to work outside, even the unloading of three trash vehicles was done by the British and the Navy. We don’t know what causes so much optimism, but it is generally believed that we will be freed this year.

5/24.A rumor is going around that the allies have occupied Menado. We don’t know how, of course. And the climax: The Yanks landed on Java, almost everywhere, but Makassar was forgotten. This was another rumor, again.

5/25. A football field was built just outside our camp. We were busy enclosing it with a low wire fence.

5/26.The enclosure was finished; the goal studs were removed from the old military field. We will probably have our first game tomorrow.

5/27.No work today, some victory in China was being remembered.

5/28.This morning two more victims were added to our camp: a military doctor and a career sergeant. They heard that 800,000 Yanks had arrived in England, maybe they were planning an invasion. It’s about time!

5/30 More work has been added; it is time to expand. We have been able to enjoy the last few evenings outside with a full moon.

Today the following was brought to our attention. Announcement: All enemy POWs will comply with the following:

1. If you meet a Japanese officer and recognize him you will stand at attention and salute him.

2. If he talks to you, you are to respond thus: a. English: Yes, Sir, b. Dutch: Ja, Mijnheer, c. Malay: Saja, Toean.

3. When these orders are ignored severe corporal punishment will be the result.

Makassar, May 29 1942. Japanese Headquarters signed:Mori.

5/31.This morning a member of the Navy died at the emergency hospital. The Japs took his body to our cemetery in an ambulance. There were many wreaths including four from our “hosts”. The casket was covered with a Dutch flag. All the camp members lined the road.

MALINO/Seth Paul: It was June. Even in Malino temperatures can rise, even though the water in the swimming pool stays icy cold. You would think twice before taking a dive and swim among the water beetles. On the way home you could walk through a fog. The clouds from Mount Lompobatang come down like a snow slide and cover the piny woods, the streets, and the ever-murmuring stream along the road. The spatudea trees are in bloom and the tall trees in the ravine along the road make an imposing impression with their moss beards. Japanese officers come and go to and from the inn where they stay. You could talk with their bald drivers, ordinary soldiers who showed pictures from home and taught you to count in Japanese: itji, ni san, si, go, roku, sitji, hatji, ku, dju. Mizu is water, watakusi is I, and anata means thee.

Chabot: There was little variation in our lives. We were visited twice by several officers who explained that we needed to work and proposed to take us with them to work in the hotels in Makassar “to service their officers”. When we asked what we should do with our children they responded that they were looking for women without children only. They also asked us if we had any further wishes in the nicest way, a very bad omen for our side.

At a later date an Indonesian lady came to recruit native girls as barmaids. She did not succeed. Yet we learned from Ambonese traders who sold their wares here, that there were five dance clubs in Makassar who employed twenty of the best looking native girls each. The standards were: one girl per officer, one for soldiers, one for Japanese civilians, who arrived in increasing numbers to start a trade route, and one girl for young Indonesian men. By using the term Indonesian they are trying to court the natives and those with mixed blood.

Of late the visits have become less friendly and it has become extremely hazardous to smuggle letters to the POWs. We used the native traders for this purpose and in the beginning this was condoned, just like the importation of foods. This was halted when there was an outbreak of dysentery. The Americans and the English especially enjoyed native cookies. But our doctors used drastic measures, as ordered by our “hosts”, who are deathly afraid of communicable diseases.

Maurenbrecher-Brain: Jeanne came down with chicken pox in our house. She looked horrible; her face covered with pox and medicated powder. Japanese soldiers came to our door one evening and we let her welcome them. They disappeared in a hurry!

One afternoon the small white poodle belonging to Toussia was taking a nap with Miss Kloprogge and Mrs. Mess when, all of a sudden, the curtain in front of the door flew open and a Jap officer entered. While the ladies pulled the sheets up to their chins the barking dog approached the officer. I was warned that there was an officer in the house and when I moved the curtain rather roughly, my hand touched the seat of the Jap inadvertently while he bent over to pet the dog. He shot up, and when I asked him what he was doing here, he left without saying anything.

We heard that we were to receive officers, but no soldiers. One night a few military pushed our door in, when we investigated all that noise we were commanded to play cards with them. When we pretended not to know how to play they left, disappointed at our stupidity.

Seth Paul: We did not attend school but, so now and then, we were given lessons in the garage of the “Paul Home” by our teacher Lode van Dijk. The garage was located opposite of the Inn. When she thought that one of us had farted, she would assign one of us to smell our rear ends in order to find the guilty party.

This teacher smoked like a chimney, but cigarettes were scarce. Well known brands such as Davros, Mascotte, and Golden Eggs, gradually disappeared from the market. That’s why my brother and I decided to make cigarettes with tobacco and paper that we purchased on the market. This turned out to be a lucrative field. With the money we made we bought fighting roosters and laying hens.

When my dad “nationalized” our enterprise he decided to turn our gain over to the wives of career military men, who had no income or other reserves. My brother quit our business, but the rest of the family continued.

MAKASSAR/Welleman: The first person of the group that came from Enrekang, named Steller, suffered a severe beating by the Japs. He had resisted a native policeman who had been hired by the Japs. He needed to stay in bed for several days. Since we had never witnessed a similar case of brutality we were horrified when we saw someone treated that way.

Otherwise these native policemen really were not that bad, they helped as much as they could by smuggling certain things, such as cans of food and alcoholic beverages that, we suspected, were probably ill gotten. Their chief however, was a pretty rotten individual who treated some of the interned pretty rough. He was the former commandant of the police quarters. On the other hand these policemen kept busy by spreading good news. One of them even told us that the commissioner who visited Malino from time to time, had accompanied the Japs to Pare-Pare to negotiate with the Americans who had supposedly landed there. Several of us had such a rosy outlook for the future that they risked a beating by not believing the bad news that was purposely spread throughout our camp by the Japs and the native policemen.

On about the 23^rd of June 1942, we were taken to the former school for native sailors on the Strand weg. It all happened very suddenly. We were playing ball in the afternoon at 5 o’clock when we were informed that we had to report and take all our possessions with us, except our delapidated furniture, to march to our new quarters. We learned later that they had really wanted us to move right there and then, but those orders were modified. That gave us more time to assemble our things. This order was meant for the district officers and commanders only. Nobody knew why. Most of us liked being moved since it provided us with a change of scenery. After we had packed our belongings we had a “farewell party” with those who had come from Enrekang and we finished off the remaining alcoholic beverages.

The following morning we stood at attention while the commissioner gave a speech. He feared the worst for us, but we marched to our new “home”. Our luggage followed on a truck. We arrived at a military building and were assigned to the former offices of the army commander and his staff. A totally different environment! We quickly moved in all directions to talk to old acquaintances, but we were ordered to stay away from the other POWs. The Americans and the English lived in separate areas that were fenced off with barbed wire. The Dutch occupied a larger, more widespread area, and the officers lived in the former NCO quarters. These groups were not allowed to come in contact with each other and the Jap commandant Yoshida, nicknamed the “Butcher”, strictly enforced this rule.

It didn’t take us long to get used to our new surroundings. Fortunately I was able to hold on to my army cot, although I could not hold on to my mattress, and nightstands were not yet available. The Japs promised to treat us like officers, it meant that we did not need to work and had mess boys assigned to us who saw to it that we did not have to worry about the slightest necessities. Again, we were top dog.

The food was acceptable and it did not cost us anything. On Sundays we could buy sundries on the market such as tobacco, cigarette paper, notebooks, clogs, playing cards, shoe laces, keds, and what ever.

We formed a certain corporation through which our finances were well regulated. I don’t remember the specifics. There was a central bookkeeping system that took care of those who had less; all in all we could live on five guilders a month for a year. However, this all changed when the commissioners and assistant commissioners were moved into our camp. They refused to share in our system and preferred to stay financially independent. We deeply regretted their move, especially since the commissioner had promised to participate in our plan shortly after he arrived in our camp. This plan should benefit all of us. We ran into trouble with our cooks too. Instead of buying provisions for everyone on an equal basis they used a food source that was provided by a colonel; the Japs allowed this. This meant that we had no access to items that would have made our food more palatable. Several assistant commissioners were in possession of two or three chairs; they refused to share those with some of us who did not own one. The commissioner did not lift a finger to help us out and even scolded one of us for not returning a chair immediately after he had borrowed it. This all happened long ago, but I needed to mention it because events such as these influenced our relationship with our cooks to such an extent that it had made a lasting impression for the rest of our captivity. Not all of them exposed these traits but they formed one group against ours. We tried to live amicably, without rank or seniority, but they wished to remain in a superior position.

Discipline was strictly enforced with many beatings and much kicking, but, for the time being, we were not bothered. We did not have to attend reveille, we could get up and go to bed whenever we wished, and our time was spent reading, playing cards, and chatting.

Booy: 6/1/42. It is 9 o’clock in the evening and singing is heard everywhere in spite of a ban to sing. If “Pietersen” did not beat anyone for several days, the mood in the camp improves considerably.

6/2 Again it’s evening and all the men of hall no. 13 stand at attention, about 150 of them. They had formed a Christian men’s choir and the Japs felt that they made too much noise.

Today the five of us received a toothbrush and a bar of bath soap from Yoshida, true luxury.

Yoshida was given many names, the Dutch call him Uncle, the Butcher, and Fientje; the English named him Goldy, or Goldteeth because of his gold teeth; and the Americans have dubbed him Mad Monk after the book of Rasputin: The Mad Monk of the Little Man.

6/5 Our new soccer field is being used extensively; the English play a good game but the Americans only play softball, a kind of baseball.

We need to gargle every day with an antiseptic solution because a sailor died of diphtheria and symptoms of this disease appeared elsewhere.

Today there was a thorough inspection, everything was carried outside and nothing was to remain in our quarters. Several searches were conducted; they were presumably looking for weapons. A former military attache from Batavia, Captain Ota, gave a speech in hall no. 13 where he informed us that the Japs were in complete control, and that they could kill us any time if they wanted to. Therefore we had to be grateful. They also removed 70 pounds of butter and several bottles of real whiskey from hall no. 13. We felt very lucky because nothing was taken away from us.

6/7.Yesterday all tools had to be turned in and sharp tools were not to be handed out any more, however, the key stays in my possession, a POW.

In spite of the fact that it was Sunday today we worked almost all day. France was invaded, according to the latest rumor, again.

6/9.Seemingly there was some truth to the French invasion; it was a hit and run event.

Today the Japs raided a native village that supplied us with goods across barbed wire. Fourteen men were caught. About two days ago fifteen men were caught trading. I was in no mood to write about their punishment although some of it was humorous. They had to hit each other with eggs that were smuggled into our camp. They were covered all over with egg and after that they walked around the camp with a fried banana in their mouths while their hands were held over their heads, also filled with bananas. Smuggling will take a back seat for a while.

6/16 Rumor has it that Germany has fallen; or at least the largest cities suffered huge bombing raids. But the most important thing was that we had a few good soccer games in the late afternoon.

It is clear that, after the fall of Java, the Japs have not had a major victory. We are now waiting for a counter offensive action.

This morning our camp commander, lieutenant commander Gortmans, told us that the NCO’s would be allowed to make tables and benches. While we were working on these that afternoon, Yoshida roared his disapproval and for a minute I thought that he was going to attack me, but I succeeded in making him understand that it was Gortmans who had given us that order.

Soccer competitions were stopped also, heaven knows what’s wrong with that guy.

6/19.The morale in our camp is very high. We are all convinced that we are going to win.

Yesterday evening hall no. 13 was inspected again and many items were confiscated.

An enormous amount of barbed wire arrived in our camp, and this morning 45 men were assigned to roll it up under my directions.

6/23.This morning 27 district officers arrived from the civilian internment camp. Van Berg became their mess boy. Since they get the same food as the officers, enough is left over so that I get something extra to eat too.

6/23.Many rumors are doing the rounds today, some of them are so wonderful that I was ready to pack my things. We were given more books a few days ago; we now have almost 10,000 books in our library. The English and the Americans have their own library.

There was a riot in the coolie camp on the other side of the road. About 60 Japs arrived with machine guns and every one was to stay where they were. Several of them were tied up and taken away. Nobody knows what happened, but it seems that there was some kind of sabotage.

6/30.Yesterday and the day before about 10 Japs arrived with movie cameras to film our area, presumably for propaganda purposes. Yesterday evening there was a black out. I don’t know if it was for real or practice.

MALINO/Chabot: Very harsh measures were taken against the military when they were caught sending notes to their wives in Malino. They were subjected to severe beatings. All this happened to prevent the spread of political information. Although we knew that it was against international law to abuse POWs we also realized the reasons for this kind of treatment.

Yet it was difficult to gauge our situation without having access to outside news via radio. During the last few weeks we noticed increased airplane activity. We rely on the Ambonese, who continue to ride their bikes from Makassar to Malino, to sell their wares to us. They refuse to collaborate with the enemy and inform us of the most incredible events. Many feel the need to believe this kind of exaggerated news, because they want to continue life the way it was before this nightmare came about; they want to be back in their homes with husband and family. Women in several homes conducted spiritual seances to see what the immediate future would bring.

Still I feel that the worst is yet to come and that this kind of fancy internment will come to an end. We share our house with 19 people, soon there will be 20, for one of us is expecting her first baby next month. These ten adults form a varied group, and the division of chores has become an urgent problem. The Japs have decided that only one male or one female servant may be kept for four families. They can work in the garden and help us to clean the house on the inside. Because of a lack of additional income we already had fewer servants and this new regulation posed an extra hardship on our servants and us. Especially for the faithful Javanese and other natives who had held their positions for years with the same families. They only worked for food and a place to stay. Even my boy, who had worked for me for three years, was forced to return to his place of birth, about 6 miles from here.

There are now two men who work for 8 families doing yardwork and washing the dishes, something we all were loath to do. They also kill chickens and perform other chores.

Each of us does her own laundry and every three days two of us take care of the cooking. Since kerosene has not been available for months, cooking has become an elaborate affair. Gas was never used and electricity is used at night only. So we make a wood fire to cook with. The same persons who do the cooking clean up the house the following day and then they are free on the third. Although we put up with several women who won’t work, this kind of division of chores is manageable for us. To me this kind of house keeping is a new experience and I hope it will be short lived.

How do we handle our finances? The amount of money, with which each one of us arrived 6 months ago, varies very much. Those who arrived 2 months later from the interior had a lot more since they knew what to expect. We support those women who depleted their money supply with 20 cents a day per person. We spend about 25 cents a day for all 19 of us, seven guilders and 50 cents a month, That is almost the amount a native spends on living. Our meals are simple; breakfast consists of porridge made of rice, corn, or sago. Lunch consists of water-buffalo meat (30 cents a kilo), and potatoes, or 2 chickens (25 cents per chicken), and some vegetables. Our evening meal is made of sajoer, that is a vegetable soup, rice, and a piece of dried fish or an egg. Most of our 25 cents a day is spent on fruit. Flour for baking has not been available for some time. White sugar has been replaced with brown. Besides 3 times seven guilders and fifty cents a month which I need to spend for my family, there are costs for personal items such as sarongs to make clothes with, yarn for knitting, and a cup of coffee that is available in a café on the market. This café was set up by a Javanese couple that also sells snacks like delicious yellow rice wrapped in a banana leaf, and other delicacies.

More and more the Ambonese and other native boys arrive on market days with wares that apparently escaped the fires, articles from stores in the interior, and especially items that were stolen from European houses. Several people bought their own shoes back.

It is too bad that many women buy unnecessary items, thereby lowering the spending capacity for the 1,200 of us who are interned here. This is in view of the fact that we might have to hand over our money to the enemy, something the Japs implied when they talked to a European spokesman, who was allowed to stay here for health reasons.

Shortly after we were occupied we had to fill in papers to report our monetary worth. Three months later we did the same. On July 1 we were ordered to have only 500 guilders per family while the rest had to be turned over to a Japanese bank in Makassar. We could have only 50 guilders in silver coins for every 500 guilders.

We are allowed to come and go as we please, the only thing that is absolutely forbidden is to leave Malino, which is always possible to do on horse back or walking. There is no specific border and we frequently take a walk in the surrounding area. Most of us don’t go any farther than the boulevard, each afternoon we walk on the two main roads. When we meet each other we chat, and return home with some news. Little use is made of the beautiful swimming pool. Instead of 50 cents per person the cost now is 10 cents, and 5 cents per child. The caretaker of the pool can now take a swim with his friends too. Therefore most Dutch will not use the pool.

Our recreational area is the market with its Javanese café “Chez Osman”. Prices fit our present standard of living and on Tuesday afternoon people from far away in the mountains come to visit the market.

A mother and her five children hold Sunday’s Church services in one of the biggest houses; this family belongs to the Reformed church. The mother studied theology and volunteered to do this since she wished to become a minister.

In the yard of this house, a very capable person teaches lessons in gymnastics. Twice a week there are bridge lessons, and also lessons in English. These are very enjoyable activities.

However, children were not encouraged to go to school by the Japs, they apparently don’t value further education for women and children. There are several teachers in certain houses who take care of small groups of children. There is a great need for textbooks. Fortunately a kindergarten teacher decided courageously to “play” with younger children. She owned a lot of teaching material and deserves a medal for doing this.

Stolk: We lived our own lives in the KVK. Later on we were given lessons in a house located in Malino by several teachers who owned several textbooks. Sometimes we visited the swimming pool, and I even received horseriding instructions from a lady who lived in her bungalow; she owned a horse. It was clear to me that higher up the elite lived in beautiful villas and enjoyed relative luxury, while down here, in the KVK, ordinary people shared sleeping accommodations designed to benefit many, and we shared our meals sitting at long tables and on benches.

At least that’s the way I felt. I really knew little about life in Malino, but I realized that their “luxury” life was only imagined, when I learned about the cramped living areas in their houses.

Of course we had to put up with rumormongers and troublemakers but after a while we knew who they were. All in all morale was OK.

I even gained several kilos within half a year; I could not gain an ounce before and I had to drink more milk and eat more porridge on advice of a physician in order to gain weight. Not having to put up with the strain of going to school I became more relaxed and I started to look better.

Maurenbrecher-Brain: Celebes is well know for its horses, and the natives love to see them race. Very often young boys were placed on the horses to race bareback; the children were often deathly afraid and held on to the horse’s mane.

When the Japs landed many horse owners hid their beautiful horses in the mountains, this also happened in Malino. Since I loved to ride horses I took advantage of this situation and often rode past the native guards far away from our camp. Those were wonderful times.

MAKASSAR/Booy: 7/1/42. According to the regular news items in the Jap paper 5 Australian bombers were shot down above Kendari.

7/5.On the evening of the 1^st of July we had another blackout, this time it only lasted two hours. A Jap told us that the Germans captured Alexandria, but we hear all kinds of things. The last few days have been peaceful in our camp. If the food would improve our life would be bearable. Usually 600 men work outside, but his amount varies. Our library consists of about 4,000 books from the Celebes Printer; some books came from private sources. Some of these are magnificent.

7/7.This day is an important date for the Chinese; that’s when the war started with the Japs.

The same crew cleans rifles every day. When they returned home today each one was given ten lashes because they had bought food, presumably without permission. Later on it appeared that they had been allowed to buy food, but by then it was too late. This is a normal procedure by the Japs, punish the men before they’re found innocent.

7/8.Our neighbours across the street, the Japanese coolies, were taken to the harbour by car. Coolies are continually picked up with their luggage every 15 minutes. They cheer when they leave. The arrival of many Jap women and civilians has been noticed.

Rumor has it that Kendari was bombed twice; that resulted in 160 dead and 216 wounded. Maybe the coolies were sent to Kendari.

7/10 General or Admiral Mori came to visit this afternoon. He is the highest-ranking military man on Celebes. They sped through the camp with 6 cars and were gone in a minute.

The last few days I directed 30 men to construct several garbage receptacles and we made repairs on a cart. Usually the five of us are free on Sundays, but Yoshida wanted us to start making watering cans. We need to be Jacks of all trades; now we have become plumbers.

7/13.This afternoon two new “guests” arrived. They were: the military army commandant from Menado, Major Schillmoller, and a doctor. They related the following: some time ago several Americans had landed on an island just North of Menado. When the Japs arrived they shot one officer and two of his men. The Japs then killed all the Yanks and several prisoners. Apparently there are still two brigades who are fighting in the Minahasa.

7/16.All technicians needed to register yesterday, recruits only. Today a car loaded with nipah palm leaves arrived. Brooms are to be made of the nerves in the leaves.

7/18.Today I was in Makassar, something that usually never happens. Yoshida and I took the lawnmowers to be repaired. I rode through town in a three-wheel carriage. Finally we arrived at a common repair shop which took care of the mowers. Yoshida needed to pick up a letter from another office and cautioned me not to speak to any one. The head of the repair shop was Menadonese, he said that they worked for half wages, they had also lost most of their possessions. According to this source the Japs had lost about 4,000 men at Tjamba. Of course this number was greatly exaggerated but since it does not hurt us we would not deny it. I observed that things were normal in Makassar with one exception, there were many more bordellos. It seems that each navy unit has several whorehouses at its disposition.

7/19.Today something exciting happened. About 20 victims arrived from the lesser Soenda islands. Several of them were on the “Piet Hein”, some were with the Army and the Navy, and others were government officials. There were two American airmen, a pilot and a mechanic. Most of them were taken prisoner in May. Several Army members were shot by their own troops and taken prisoner. The natives are just as bad off as everybody else. Fear for the Japs had been drilled into them before the Japs arrived. After the war we will need the Americans to help build a new Army with a much greater concentration of Dutch nationals. A priest told us that all prisoners in Balikpapan had been driven into the sea and then killed by machine gun fire.

7/20.Today the Jap commandant discovered that high school classes were held. I mentioned this in the beginning. They put a stop to it in the usual way, with a stick. The teachers Coenraad and Mabesonne were hit in the face and received 13 lashes each, while the students Tjaak Muns, Sieb de Graaf, Kees Lekkerkerker, Joop van Dillewijn, Kees Stolk, and Simon Wijnberg got 10 lashes each. Yoshida kicked them all out of their classroom and put them in a cell without mat and mosquito netting.

During the last few days quite a few beatings had been administered. It is amazing that so much can happen in this camp. Major Schillemoller was taken away, presumably to force his troops to surrender that were still in the Paloppo area. Commissioner Burgers was also taken away

7/23.A completely new fence is being erected along the outside of the camp. The materials for this fence are Japanese white wood and very old, thin sheet metal. Construction was started today. It is built around our soccer field, which means that we will still have access to the field. The high school students were freed today.

7/24 Today Yoshida allowed me to pick a book from a selection of books which was taken from those who had come from the lesser Soenda islands. He added that I must pick a book with a library number such as those in our library. You can’t fool them.

7/27.The new fence is coming along nicely. Today Lieutenant Colonel Gortmans told me that the quality of our food will improve, starting next month. So far a China man had taken care of the food preparation but then the Japs will take over those duties.

7/28.New ovens are added to our kitchen, much has been improvised. The fence is finished.

7/31.Today I traded a papaya for making a bookcase. An American named Straus wanted the bookcase. He had worked with us for some time and one will do a lot in exchange for fruit.

Today several prisoners came in. They are native boys who came from Australia. It is a riddle how they got here. They were put in a cell.

AMBON/Van Lochem: On the 13^th of August we were transported from Ternate to Ambon on a small boat. We slept on the deck and were given raw fish to eat; the Japs themselves love it. We didn’t appreciate it. The following day it was Anneke’s 3^rd birthday. One of the Japs gave her a pineapple. When we were still on shore we had plucked several papayas from the trees.

When we arrived in Ambon we were taken to the fort and locked up in a shed. There were three men at the other end of the shed, they were Dutch, and we could not speak to them. One of them was called Nieuwenhuizen. As soon as the Japs left we started to talk to them, it seemed that they had been here for several weeks and they were going to be on trial and sentenced. Later we heard that all three of them had been beheaded.

Our luggage was searched thoroughly outside our shed. All papers were taken, even books, bibles, etc.

At the end of the day we were taken to a building which had been designated to educate native clergy. We then realized that about 500 people already occupied this building. All of them were men, women, and children from Ambon, New Guinea, and other islands in the Moluccas. The original inhabitants of Ternate were here too. Our arrival made whatever little space they had for themselves even smaller, because there really was no more room. The floorcovering of the classrooms and adjoining structures consisted of large tiles, the size of sidewalk tiles. Each person had a space that measured two tiles wide and 7 tiles long. The men, women, and children formed their own families, and if you had a bed sheet each family unit could have some privacy by hanging it over a string. Otherwise you were part of a huge ward. Fortunately I had taken some small curtains with me; I put them to use. If a neighbour dropped a chamberpot that had been used for one of the children, the contents would flow underneath the curtains and pandemonium resulted. Showers and toilets were available outside but because of the crowds one had to wait endlessly in line.

We were assigned to a part of the building where Zus van de Groot stayed with her husband and children. One room was the designated hospital.

It happened often that food was brought in, but there was no cooking fuel. We then used wooden sandals, parts of the roof, etc. for fuel, as long as the Japs did not see it. At other times we did receive wood but by then food had remained outside so long that it had started to spoil.

Several men made wooden pallets and frames for people who could not lie on the concrete floor, and several women managed to smuggle wooden boards into our building through the windows with the help of some Jap guards. Later the windows were covered with screens.

The schoolrooms formed a U around an open field; the open end faced the Bay of Ambon. Behind the school the hills rose gradually. Ambon has no mountains but it is hilly. We could see warships anchored in the bay, and behind us in the hills was a radio station. Americans apparently knew about our location. Whenever they made a bombing raid they would first hit the radio station, then they flew over our building and unload their bombs in the harboar.

We held church services on the field and also gathered there to sing. Among us were a Salvation Army soldier and his wife. They had lived in Ambon, Mr. and Mrs. Gerth. They taught us all kinds of songs like “Count your blessings one by one, etc”. It was an appropriate song under these conditions.

A mysterious illness broke out which claimed the lives of several older children in a few days. The dead were taken out of the camp and buried in Ambon.

I came down with a good case of tonsillitis and was put in the hospital where Anneke had been taken because she had dysentery. During this period all men and boys 15 and older were taken to another camp just outside Ambon, the camp was called Tan Toey.

Just when I had recovered we were moved to Tan Toey too, but we were not housed with the men. We moved into smaller quarters next to the men’s. Next to our shed, which was the smaller one, there was a road, and on the other side of the road was a huge warehouse filled with bombs. They were stored on skids, and were ready to be moved. At first we could see them clearly, but later that side of our quarters was covered. However, we could make holes in the covers so that we could see what was going on.

While we were in the smaller quarters Anneke and I could sleep on pallets since we still were pretty weak.

There was no tap water in our camp; it was available in the men’s camp only. The camp was fenced off with barbed wire. We could see and talk with them but we could not visit them any more. Once a day we put a small bucket by the fence and the men would fill it with water. This bucket provided us with water to bathe with and do our laundry. Since this was not enough water several women went down to the bay to do their laundry. One side of our area bordered the sea. Anton did the same thing and within a short while his clothes had become stiff because of the salt water. When we left Ternate we had also taken a large white hospital bucket with us. It looked just like those in the hospital of Tan Toey. Those buckets were filled twice a day before all other buckets were. Since those buckets held twice as much water I benefited greatly by owning one. Instead of soap the nuns used ash to wash clothes, which meant that they cleaned them well but the ash was very hard on the fibers.

Our camp leader was Mrs. Valderpoort, she ruled us with an iron hand. This was a necessary measure when 350 women and children shared such a small space. There were certain hours for getting up, having our meals, and going to bed. A special time for rest in the afternoon was put aside when every body, even the children, needed to be quiet. There were no chores except for keeping your living area clean. Cooking was done in the men’s camp, and the food was taken to our side.

The center of our quarters was screened off, and on the other side of the screen was the hospital. Anneke was still suffering from dysentery and, since I was still weak from anemia, I also contacted dysentery; so both of us were moved to the hospital on the other side of the screen.

There were tall watchtowers at the edge of our camp that bordered the seaside. Jap soldiers always manned these. Whenever we wanted to wash our clothes in the sea we first had to put down everything when we passed those towers. Facing the guard we were made to bow towards him before we could continue. Because I always kept some water in the bucket I did not need to go down to the sea that often, but when you needed to go to the rest rooms you had to bow. Once Zus van de Groot had not bowed deep enough and was ordered to climb up the hill and she was beaten. When she came back down she bowed very deeply and went on to the rest room.

MALINO/Maurenbrecher-Brain: Ino headed the Kempetei and we always feared his arrival here, because whenever he suspected women of smuggling letters he called them in and hit them very hard in the face at times breaking several teeth.

Suddenly he ordered several women and their children to move from Malino to a native village further down for punishment. They could only take whatever they could carry. Mrs. Klay who visited her ill husband in Makassar and had walked to get there, was one of them. About 20 of them were housed in native houses under very primitive conditions.

Chabot: On the 13^th of August about 20 women and children had to report very unexpectedly to the Jap office at the inn to leave for Makassar. A bus stood ready. After having driven about 100 meters the bus was stopped and every one was ordered to return to the inn where their luggage was searched thoroughly. Several letters to POWs were discovered and removed. Several women were searched, but the Japs helped pack the luggage without further ado. In the meantime a Jap commander had been telephoned, he allowed every one to go back home, but they had to report to him the next day at 8 AM to leave for Lombasang, a native village about 20 minutes away from Malino. Once there the women moved into 3 European houses and a house that belonged to a Chinese person.

Not knowing the reason for their move, the women and children walked toward Lombasang in good spirits. They were forbidden to go to Malino except to go to market. People in Malino were not allowed to contact these women either. The biggest problems were caused by the non-existence of running water and electricity. Since kerosene had not been available for some time, candles and native lights were used; ground candlenuts were used as fuel. Later the women learned from the Chinese man that lived there, that he was told the day before they came to live in his house, that he had to make room for several Dutch women. The show with the bus apparently was a scare tactic. It still was not clear why these women were chosen although several of them owned houses, but other than that there was no explanation.

This puzzle was cleared up several days later when a Jap of high rank took the trouble to walk down to Lombasang from Malino to tell them in broken Dutch that, although they had showed good will towards his compatriots, they had maligned the Japs behind their backs. He would teach them a lesson by having them bow to him at a 45-degree angle. They would have to continue doing so whenever they met a Jap officer and they should not wait for the officer to greet them first, because Jap rule dictated that women should bow to men first.

Spies who frequented the café on the market undoubtedly betrayed these women. Shortly before, a doctor had celebrated his birthday there and many patriotic songs were sung, also someone shouted: ”Long live the Queen”. Several who attended this party were victimized, including the doctor, his wife, and child. Several days later he was taken to the POW camp in Makassar while another Dutch man was sent to take his place here.

Seth Paul: The troops of Lieutenants De Jong and Van Daalen were conquered. On the 25^th of August both lieutenants and their men were decapitated.

MAKASSAR/BOOY: 8/2/42. Indeed, the food has improved. Despite the fact that it is Sunday we worked all day to make an overhang by the kitchen. We were able to expand the area next to our work shed with an additional 9 by 9-meter area. There was enough wood left over from the new fence to do this with.

8/6 Rumor has it that 11 landings were executed in Europe, the Allies used 3 million men for this purpose. Losses amounted to 14,000. Even if it is not true it is an uplifting fabrication.

It is now forbidden for different nationalities to mingle on the wards. In our group we work together, but that is allowed.

We disassembled an old truck and mounted 2 new carts on the old chassis. Our new workplace is finished.

This afternoon I biked into the city with Yosh. The radio stations we had destroyed in the beginning needed to be dismantled further. We start tomorrow. It seems to be very quiet in the city. I also visited the jail that is completely empty except for the three men who had arrived from Australia. They had moved them from our camp to the jail. They are to be taken to Java. The jail looks very somber and I am glad that I don’t live there anymore.

8/8 I was not present for the demolition yesterday, Yosh administered a lot of beatings. They want everything done right away and don’t seem to understand anything. Today I went with the crew and was to take the lead. I came to an agreement with Yosh that if I were to head the crew he was not to intervene with beatings. He agreed and read a book while we did our job nicely. He even allowed some native boys to receive packages from their wives. The best thing that happened that afternoon was when two Jap officers appeared and told us to leave the least damaged part of the radio station standing. We had already removed the top. I had always thought that they changed their minds quite a bit, but I have never experienced anything as stupid as this.

8/12 Yosh was in a good mood today. We were allowed to buy bananas, 970 to be exact, for 2 guilders and 25 cents. I think I ate 40. We also were allowed to receive packages, and I received one from an old acquaintance. A few days ago we moved again, this time we share a small, separate room with 8 men. It is wonderfully peaceful and we have enough to eat because we get food for the eight of us.

8/13 Today was as bad a day as it was a good day yesterday. A lot of navy people worked with us; Yosh does not seem to like them. Yet they work well.

8/16.Yesterday the radio station demolition was stopped. We went 40 km. up the road with Yosh to Malino to pick up palm leaves to make brooms. It was a nice day and I drove, I even tried to give driving lessons to Yosh. He almost drove into a ravine and I needed to take the wheel again. I had something to eat at a native road stand. Back in the camp the necessary beatings were delivered because Yosh had discovered several grains of rice at a wash stand. He cannot live without beating some one.

Today is Sunday and we had the day off, I studied Schopenhauer. I picked about 300 books; if I read two a week I will have enough to read for three years.

8/17.We worked outside and demolished a radio station. All the metal was taken to our camp for later use. When we returned to camp we were searched. One of the men carried 3 small pieces of soap. He said that they belonged to someone else. Since we are forbidden to have contact with the outside world both of them received 10 lashes each. I hope not to go out side any more, for when women are seen standing along the road you get to run double time.

8/21.We received 1,205 hoes, 150 shovels, 100 axes, and 12 planers. We now need to attach handles to them. Everything was scrounged from a burned up storage facility, not much to look at. Thirty-five carpenters have been added to our work force to accomplish this task. They are two Americans, fifteen English men, five from the army and ten from our navy. Several facilities were added to our work place: one blacksmith shop, two anvils, three vises, and six forgers from our navy. We are now able to fabricate anything we want, such as knives and chisels.

8/30 One hundred and thirty-five men had to run double time last week because they had given rice to the English. A bugler received a beating because he stole the commission on the sale of three watches. He stayed hidden all day, but was caught in the evening.

Things are looking up; today I received an armband with Jap letters to show the other “Pietersens” that I am head of a department.

There seems to have been another invasion in Europe, how many at this time? The allies entered Paris, Rotterdam, and Limburg. We hear the wildest rumors. Yosh claims to be leaving for Japan in a few days. It probably is not true because he is a worse liar than Gobbels; that should tell you something.

Yesterday we finished up 103 handles, which is a record. There were 278 shovels delivered out of a burned out warehouse. Despite the fact that it is Sunday we worked all afternoon, a tree had to be removed from our former tennis field.

Two boxing matches were held today, Yosh gave out prices.

8/31 Today is the queen’s birthday. At roll call our lieutenant gave a short speech and we observed one minute of silence. All the Dutch showed an orange ribbon. The buglers first blew the French reveille instead of the Jap version, then ours. When they were ready to play our anthem the Jap vice commandant came running so they finished up with the Jap reveille. They then had to stand at attention and were hit five times in the face. Lieutenant Colonel Gortmans gave them one guilder per slap each, since he was the one who had ordered them to do so. We worked as usual.

MALINO/Chabot: 9/12/42. My male servant, who had left early in May to go to his place of birth 300 km. from here, suddenly appeared two weeks ago. He had gone to Makassar a month ago and went through a lot of trouble to see Henk, but had no success. A galvanized fence had surrounded the POW camp. I don’t know if there is a connection between the fence and the escaped POWs. I could not hire my faithful man since we have a guard who helps with everything, and we also have a capable garden boy. We are not allowed to have more than one servant per 8 people. He chose the road of least resistance and said that he would start working for the Japs in Makassar. I had no way to prevent him from doing so and broke the last tie with the past. As far as I know there are not many natives who voiced a preference for either the Japs or us. They are used to follow orders. If we had taught them self-rule at an earlier time things might have been different now.

The latest strong emotions the Japs evoked in us was the arrival here of more than 100 women and children from the lesser Soenda islands, except for Timor. Could it be that they had not conquered that island? This group had been housed in the police barracks in Makassar for two months and we had already heard that they would come here. When they finally arrived on Sunday everyone was so happy to see new faces that even church services were canceled.

9/20/42 In spite of having increased our physical labour the Japs have announced that we must work harder. Three days ago we were visited unexpectedly by two of these gentlemen. In very bad Malay they asked questions such as what we expected to do when our money ran out, to which we responded that this would have to depend on the Nipponese. We needed to think about that because, if they would supply us with food it surely would not be sufficient, and they could not return us to Holland since it was occupied by the Germans. So we would have to go to work. In Holland women grow vegetables just like the women in Japan, and then we could sell whatever crop we would raise. The Japs would teach us how to raise vegetables and find buyers. Since the climate in Malino was too dry and infertile we would have to move elsewhere. POWs would also have to work in the fields, but without technical help. They would get better jobs. It must be understood that as long as there is a war going on men and women must remain separate. Their visit lasted 2 hours. They lolled lazily in chairs and dropped cigarette ashes on the rug. They asked for nail clippers and the oldest Jap started to cut his nails.

Since a month ago heavily laden trucks passed our house on their way higher up into the mountains. According to the natives the Japs are building warehouses about one hour’s walk from here. We assume that we would start an agricultural program over there within the foreseeable future.

Personally I do not object to working the land in a cool climate and it would be a welcome change of all the cooking and cleaning days.

Talk about added work; I started giving math lessons to 3 different groups of kids above the age of 12 a month ago. Several of them owned textbooks and they were happy to use their brains again. Another lady teaches French, and a third one English. Since the Japs forbade us to teach the children we are warned when they enter the yard and the kids jump out the window into the backyard.

MAKASSAR/Welleman: It was about mid September ’42 when one morning, during roll call, three men were missing. A navy officer De Haan, Sergeant Pelletier, and a sailor named Entrop; Entrop sailed from Holland to the Indies in a small boat several years ago. Immediately 30 hostages were taken, several of them were navy officers. The fugitives had scaled the fence during the night but during the day they were picked up in the area of Makassar with the help of the Radja (king) of Goa who entered the compound in a car and the manacled escapees rode in a truck. They looked terribly upset and were hauled down from the truck and kicked into a waiting room where they were terribly abused during an interrogation. Everybody had to stand at attention while a group of Japs, with weapons drawn, ransacked every ward, apparently looking for weapons All of us were searched, several knives were taken away and officers who had been allowed to keep native daggers had to turn those in too.

Although the escaped had been captured the hostages stayed in prison. Their heads and beards were shaved off and the Japs saw to it that this new rule was strictly enforced as far as the hostages were concerned.

Several days later, while we stood at attention, Captain Ota pronounced the death sentence for the escapees and the hostages remained jailed for an unspecified time. At sunset the three unfortunate ones, and three others, including civil engineer Hees, who had been taken prisoner in the neighbourhood of Masamba, were taken away on a truck and executed.

These events left a deep impression on our camp life for a long time.

BOOY: 9/1/42. Today we had bacon for lunch and for our evening meal brown beans and bacon. On some days the food was really good.

Today an evening fair is held in Makassar, from 4PM to 8PM. A curfew begins at 8PM.

People who worked outside yesterday said that they saw Chinese girls wearing orange ribbons and they even had red, white, and blue sewn to the bottom of their dresses. They’re provoking the Japanese.

9/6.The Japs asked for technicians and 83 Englishmen, 35 Americans and several hundreds in the army and navy had been registered. Nobody knows what their destination is, but they will go by ship. Fortunately builders were not required.

A large crew of English men and native boys were taken to Mandai to stay there permanently. I also came along to supervise the making of a fence. I understand that Mandai had been a police barrack. We take 200 hoes and 200 pickaxes with us. We left this morning in 5 trucks, 3 vehicles carried supplies and 100 native with boys were taken in 2 trucks; 100 English came later. Mandai is about 2 km. from the airfield, there is no water, it needs to be brought in. The fence has been completed. Today I put 180 men from the army on a new list. There are no technicians this time. It looks like they want to decentralize our camp; there are now fewer than 3,000 men in our camp.

9/8.All the native boys have been returned from Mandai, they had too much contact with the original natives and the British were replaced them.

9/9.Today we experienced a very sensational day. This is what happened. Early this morning it became known that 3 Dutchmen had escaped. Navy Lt. De Haan, infantry sergeant Pelletier, and sailor Nico Entrop, the same one who, with his brother, sailed from Holland to the Indies several years ago. These three had disappeared, that caused quite a sensation. All kinds of stories were told and many guesses were made. Some say that they were seen with navigation instruments. But no one knew anything about the escape plans. The outcome of this adventure was bad. At 3 PM all the Dutch had to have their heads shaved, I am now bald.

At 3.45 PM roll call was held and when everybody stood at attention 4 Jap brigades, heavily armed, entered our camp. I must confess that my heart beat faster, something everyone admitted later on. When ordered to do so the Jap soldiers attached bayonets to their rifles; this evoked all kinds of unpleasant emotions in us. We thought about reprisals, we didn’t know what to think. Then they approached us on the run and started to search us, probably looking for weapons. All the wards were searched thoroughly and bread knives were confiscated, there was nothing else, but at this time the knives were returned to us. During this inspection the most sensational thing happened, a car carrying 20 heavily armed Japs and the three tightly bound escapees entered the camp. A second car followed with the Radja of Goa. The escapees were hit in the face with a whip and were thrown in a cell where Jap translators interrogated them. Thirty men who slept closest to them were jailed as hostages. We could not tell the outcome but a Jap guard told us in broken Malay that they would be beheaded. After all this show seems to have been staged for our benefit, because Yosh told us at 1 PM that the men were caught. It was well orchestrated. No, I will never forget this day, I only hope that they will live.

9/10 Many Yanks had their heads shaved too out of sympathy with us; they called us “square heads”.

9/12 We have to give the Japs an account about our financial situation. It seems that we must have had a lot of money.

The English and the Americans must get their hair cut and nobody can grow a beard any more. There were a lot of them who did.

Ten-watt lamps are placed at our fence, not much light. Every hole in the fence must be plugged.

We had to turn over all our money, a total of 53,000 guilders. Vicious tongues declared that at least twice that amount was held back. One story tells of an officer who came to get the money on a certain ward.

Someone asked: “ How much do I need to turn in?” The lieutenant answered: “Five guilders.” The man took out a bill of 25 guilders and asked for change. In spite of our circumstances we do not lack a sense of humor.

It seems that Lieutenant Colonel Gortmans, our camp commandant, keeps all our money. We get a few guilders a week. Shopping privileges are still allowed.

9/14 Today was a very sad day for us POWs. At 3 PM each nationality had to stand at attention by their own quarters. At 4 PM the Jap captain Ota read the death sentence for the three escapees. We were very quiet. The 21 hostages (30 was wrong) were freed since they had no knowledge of the escape. However, they were given an unspecified jail sentence. Why?

The three victims, who were severely beaten in their cell every night, were taken away this evening and put to death.

After an announcement it became known who would leave for other destinations. After their names were called out they had to line up to be inspected by Jap doctors. There is a total of 731 men, 206 from the army, 425 from the navy, and about 100 Americans and English men that are slated to leave. Our camp is considerably emptier. From our room there are 2 men, Van der Schuit, and my friend Van Berg. My Watampone friend is also leaving. It is evening and it is very quiet, everyone’s thoughts are with the three victims, may they rest in peace.

There was also a death in our camp. An English man died of malaria, it had moved to his brains. This morning we lined the road and said good bye to our camp member. The coffin was covered with wreaths and was accompanied to the cemetery by our camp commandant, an English officer, 6 sailors, and a British padre who also lives in this camp.

9/16 Another 60 men are told to leave, I am not one of them. You know what you’ve got, but you won’t know what you’ll get, I’mm referring to my position here. The Japs told us that the 4 men who came from Australia have been transferred to Java. I hope it’s true.

The latest news is a speech from Lieutenant Governor-General Van Mook. He claims that the Indies will have a new form of government, better than the people’s council, because the natives have helped the Dutch so well. Does that mean that this applies to all of the Indies except for Celebes, Timor, the Minahasa, and other places from where the Dutch were taken? It sounds believable since it resembles something we heard before.

9/18 Today I received 2 guilders of my money, next week it will be 1 guilder. They figured that you can make do with 1 guilder and 50 cents a week.

It was a very busy day today; ward no. 13 was emptied and made into part of the hospital. We needed to screen it off. The Americans also moved, their quarters are also made into a hospital. According to Yosh everything on the hospital ship “Op ten Noort” will be moved to the camp. Because of debts owe by the Dutch the ship will be taken over by the Japs.

An enormous amount of green native wood, measuring 10 cm. by 10 cm., arrived today together with 40 chisels. We quickly needed to make handles for the chisels. A new warehouse needs to be built. Yosh wants me to supervise, but since a first lieutenant, who is an engineer, and 2 chief inspectors were added to my crew, I would let them do the honors. It is difficult to comprehend this: we are adding a new building and shortly 1,000 men will leave us.

9/25.Onehundred and fifty wooden beds, including mattresses, arrived for the new hospital. Rumor has it that everybody in the civilian camp will arrive. The new barracks are coming along nicely; the roof frame has been attached.

9/27.Today we rested on Sunday. I spent the morning repairing a bike. Then Lt. Col. Gortmans came with a broken record player that also was fixed. At 3 PM we had to stand at attention because a general or admiral was going to visit our camp. We waited for an hour and the visit lasted 3 minutes.

9/30 One thousand hoes and shovels were sent elsewhere. If Yosh wants to know how many tools there are he asks me because I keep records of everything. He does not keep any records. If you hand him the information on a piece of paper today, he would ask for it 2 days later because he would lose the paper.

Five men from our room joined a crew of 40 to dismantle old storehouses in the harbour. Why don’t they wait a while, when the Americans in the sky will do it for them.

This evening I became the proud owner of a real manila cigar, I am still enjoying it.

MALINO/Lindeboom: It was a dreadful day for the mothers of 12- year old boys (I thought it was 16 years old - TS). We had to report to the market place and all the boys older than 12 were transported to Pare-Pare. It became a heart rending spectacle when screaming mothers who tried to hold on to their crying sons were hit by aggressive Japs who tore the boys away and threw them into trucks.

Chabot: 10/20/42. Tuesday already, and the native boys who bring their wares up from Makassar to our market bring bad news. About 1,000 men of the 3,000 or so POWs were taken away on a large Jap boat. They said that the boat returned after a day but stayed outside the harbor. The reason for the return was that the route was too dangerous. It has been a month since rumors started circulating that POWs would leave. They were subjected to a very demanding physical exam, and the boys thought that they might be taken to work in the nickel mines located in mid Celebes. Most of the informants favor Borneo to be the final destination, but the Japs say Japan.

Of course I have no way of knowing whether Henk is included in the group of 1,000, but because of his age and general health I feel that he probably will be. It has been 5 months since I last heard from him and the Japs don’t seem to think that his leaving this island should be an exceptional reason for a letter.

The spirit of many women is not improving and many move to other houses. Even last week 2 women hit each other in the face and yelled so loud that the natives came running. Other women find more creative outlets for their frustrations by wearing crazy hats that they make of ordinary 10-cent straw hats and adorn them with all kinds of decorations such as ribbons. Dutch girls choose friends among the native boys who come up here to sell their wares. Since Dutch boys older than 15 were taken away to Pare-Pare there are almost no boys any more. Other women are engaged in a feverish sewing fit to make clothes for themselves and their husbands; for the “come back” as the end of the war is called.

Another strange physical phenomena appeared. It is a result of living so close together, there are cases of allergic illnesses such as asthma and impetigo. For people who are prone to get these diseases the climate is indeed very bad.

When the Japs visited us the last time they asked the oldest member of our household if there were any affairs between men and women in Malino. She answered that that was impossible because there were no men. However, several weeks later women who were suspected of carrying on with natives were called into the Jap office and interrogated by the Japs.

AMBON/Ten Haaft: In October ’42 the men were ordered to move to a separate camp Women and children stayed behind, they suffered an extra hardship, especially since there was not enough food. We, the men, moved to the former military barracks. The military had been moved first.

After several weeks we were ordered to make room for more people, it seemed that the women and children would be joining us.

MAKASSAR/Booy: 10/1/42 October is here already, the months fly by. The new barrack has been completed. At first three barracks were supposed to be built, but since those plans were scrapped the left over lumber and galvanized roofing have been taken here.

The patients of the hospital ship “Op ten Noort” still have not arrived, and I have put a crew of painters to work to paint the wall white. There are 200 new beds, mattresses, sheets, and mosquito netting. It looks like a real hospital; there is even a room for surgery.

10/2 All the civilian internees have been transferred to the police quarters in Pare-Pare.

This afternoon clothing arrived for those 800 or so men who are leaving. Uniform jackets that were supposed to be for KPM personnel (KPM = a Dutch shipping line, OY). Each person received 2 blankets, 2 T-shirts, 2 pairs of underwear, 1 set of coveralls, which used to be worn by KPM coolies, 1 pair of socks, and, for those who did not own a pair of shoes, a pair of tennis shoes. However, they were not allowed to use any of these yet.

These 800 men are subjected to Japanese exercise programs, and they can be seen marching and engaging in other exercises for half a day. Nobody knows where they’re going.

They are also learning to understand Japanese orders; they are not to use Dutch, English, or American orders.

10/10 About half of the 100-men crew I put to work each day are basket weavers. Hundreds of baskets are needed, primarily for the work crews, but also for bread, rice, etc. Then there are carpenters, specialists, and those men whose services are used for any number of tasks. Another 1,000 hoes were recovered from burned out warehouses, which meant a lot more work.

Presently life in our camp is not so bad, beatings occur rarely, the food is bearable, and the library provides a lot of pleasurable diversion.

It is exactly a month ago that the Japs took 21 hostages. These prisoners now are allowed to stay out on the exercise field all day. The camp is gouped in parties of ten of which the oldest one is the leader. If someone escapes or makes an attempt to leave the whole group will be beheaded.

The group of 1,000 is now complete, 799 men left, while 100 British men, and 121 airplane technicians from our navy are added to our crews.

10/14 We had a big day today, 1,000 men left today, headed by officers dressed in sharp white uniforms. The enlisted were dressed in their KPM coveralls. Robbie called out “We look just like convicts” and he was right, with their shaved heads they did resemble convicts. Quiet settled over the camp, all my friends are gone.

Yosh has been quite vicious towards me of late, I feel that he is picking on me; everyone gets his turn.

10/17.The new hospital finally has been completed. It doesn’t look bad, considering the circumstances. Suddenly he felt that a lot needed to be changed, that’s the way it goes. The patients from the “Op ten Noort” started arriving a little before 10 AM, several of them are seriously ill. A few saw the camp for the first time. Medications and a surgery table have not arrived yet.

10/18 This afternoon Yosh discovered a pile of firewood by the Americans that had come from our pile. In a rage he summoned me and asked if I had given the wood to them, of course I had not. He then subjected the guilty to a horrible beating and I had to fetch their commandant, Mr. Donovan, on my bike. I gave him the use my bike and that I arrived 5 minutes later than he did. The Yanks already stood at attention outside their barracks. When I came upon the scene Yosh started to rage against me and ordered me to beat the Yanks. I refused and said: “If you want to beat, go ahead.” He wouldn’t do it and he went outside to order Donovan to do the same. Donovcan also refused. Then I had to tell the Americans that they needed permission to ask for what they needed, and so on. Yosh then insisted that they take all their homemade furniture such as, benches, tables and sleeping pallets to the work place, since they had not asked for them in the first place. I then told Yosh that they had those items in their possession for some time and reminded him that he had Okayed it earlier. The furniture stayed. In the meantime Yosh pulled all the pictures off the wall and kept on telling me that I had to tell them something else; then he would yell: “Omong, omong!” That is Malay for talk. I would start saying something nonsensical and Yosh would agree by saying: ”Yes, I understand it”. This farce went and on and on. Finally Yosh calmed down and the Americans were allowed to keep everything except the stolen firewood. When I returned to my room the Lt.Col. thanked me in the name of Mr. Donovan for having been the interpreter and the fact that I had prevented something worse from happening. We can laugh now that it’s over, but at the time that all this happened it was not so funny.

10/24.You cannot imagine how the weeks fly by, the reason is because we are very busy during the day and at night we enjoy good literature.

The hospital looks better and better, cupboards have arrived and we attached shelves on the walls. The surgery ward is complete except for an operation table.

I just finished reading a book about German POWs in Russia during WWI, 1814-1918. Compared to them this place isn’t so bad.

Next Monday some admiral will visit us. Everybody was pulling grass and we cleaned up our work area.

10/25 A bad thing happened today. Officers had placed 12 chairs on a shopping list. The Jap vice commandant had Okayed it and this morning those 12 chairs came. When Yosh saw this he became furious. He summoned the officers that had made up the list, the lieutenants Vrede and Cohen, Cohen was 65. Lt. Vrede was hit 42 times with a stick, Cohen received 3 hits, but then Vrede became so angry that he took the stick away from Yosh. He was thrown to the ground and kicked like a dog. When Lt. Col. Gortmans wanted to intervene he was thrown against the wall. The officers were then thrown in a cell, but released a little while ago.

If Yosh were not here, this camp would not be so bad. The other Japs cause no problems.

10/29 Two cars arrived loaded with palm leaves to make brooms with. Twice a day all paths in the camp must be swept. The brooms are put together by people who are assigned to do light work. Primarily those with wounded feet.

Today I talked to the champion “hits” receiver. He is an American with 238 lashess. The most he received at one time were 60 lashes. Next in line is a native boy who got 73 lashes. I am curious to see if I will ever be a recipient, I don’t believe that I will go scot-free.

This afternoon all of us were inoculated against typhus, cholera, etc., a very good thing.

The 3^rd of November is celebrated by the Japs. The menu has been posted, chicken and cake, and for the officers steak and fried potatoes.

According to the Japs a big battle was fought by the Solomon Islands, they claim to have downed 500 American planes.

On the third many Japs were promoted. Yosh became a NCO.

MALINO/Chabot: 11/18/42. The main subject of conversation is the departure of the POWs. Two weeks ago an officer’s wife received a letter from her husband in which he had mentioned 30 names of husbands who had left and whose wives are in Malino. Henk’s name was not among them, I assume that he still would be in Makassar. Three husbands of women who share my house are among those who have left. The wives are taking it very well. Officially the Japs made it known that they arrived in good shape, some say in Pare-Pare, others in Manila, and the Malay paper, that is issued by the Japs, mentioned Formosa as a destination. We will learn the truth in due time. It is always possible that those who are still in Makassar also will leave. Everything is uncertain, especially our own future. Four Japs visited us today, and again they asked how much money we have and how much money we spend a day. They also asked if we wanted to work, and how many water buffaloes and horses we own. (It seems that live stock is being preferred over agriculture). Also, do we own a sewing machine? It is clear that they have plans for us now that our finances are being depleted, but they still don’t know what to do with us. One time they told our representative that we could not stay in our beautiful homes, but that we will have to live in bamboo barracks, today they left the impression that we are to stay where we are.

Sometimes this feeling of uncertainty is overwhelming: they can do anything with us they want! Especially, when over a period of time, we won’t have access to monetary sources, not even a loan. The situation seems very difficult to imagine. But we have not come to that point yet, and the news about the war is not bad. It is hard not to know about how the war is going. We seem to be in totally isolated without papers, radios, telephones, and movies. Month after month, time goes by without changing anything; what books have been published in America, and what will we look like in our old dresses when we enter life the way it used to be?

I had a pleasant conversation with Mrs. Joustra, she takes care of housing problems and shares the decision making process with a male representative. The reason for our conversation was a very unpleasant confrontation we had with our German neighbours, whose daughter is married to a Dutch physician. They own our house. She had pointed out how stupid it was of me not to be nicer to them since their political clout with the Japs could have very dangerous results for me if I would not show more deferance to them.

When journalists arrive to interview women they never fail to ask why there is no school here. Our answer is always the same: “Nippon does not allow it”. Even children are interrogated unexpectedly and searched for notebooks and textbooks. In view of my neighbour’s attitude I have decided not to have math lessons at my house any more.

MAKASSAR/Booy: 11/2/42. There will be a lot of festivities tomorrow; many games have been planned. Everybody hopes that the hostages will be freed then.

11/3 The day went by and, I must admit that it was a success. This morning we had to fall in while wearing our best clothes, and after having bowed to the North we were dismissed.

We then held sport games including some very nice soccer matches. Everyone had to sweep the roads since a high Jap official was expected. After having stood at attention for half an hour we were dismissed, the visit was canceled.

Considering the circumstances, the food was very good. We laughed a lot but it had been better if we had cried in a corner, because the Japs celebrated the fact that the Jap emperor had opened the borders of Japan in 1860 to allow Western influences to enter his country. We now experience the results of the change that came over Japan at that time physically, those results literally boomeranged on us. It is odd that the Japs consider this event worthy of a celebration, this indicates that they favoured this part of their history.

11/4 I forgot to note that the most important thing that happened yesterday was that the hostages were freed at 8 o’clock in the morning. Many of us congratulated them.

Some more news, we started building a pigsty for 50 pigs. It is being built on the soccer field, right behind our work place.

All officers and civilians have to report for exercises every morning from 10 AM to 10.30 AM on the soccer field. Now we know how many goof-offs there are in our camp.

811/. Today is Sunday. I installed an antenna this afternoon, it was an ordinary home antenna, it worked real well. For the first time in months I heard a good piece of music. I never thought that it could move me so much, tears welled up in my eyes. I tried to find a news channel, but all I could find was music, of course.

11/10.Yesterday 250 men were put to work, carpenters, welders, basket weavers, broom makers, and a crew for the pig sty. Quite some responsibility, especially since Yosh was in a bad mood. Lt. Col. Gortmans had done something that was wrong and he cashed in 5 lashes. Finally I received that what so many had experienced already, my first beating, from Yosh, of course. Later on it seemed to have been a misunderstanding. Yosh said that he had made a mistake. All together I received 2 hits with a bamboo stick on my calves, 14 hits with fists in my face, and 17 with the handle of a pick ax on my rear end. It really was a bad experience but, thank goodness, I did not utter one sound. He had been looking for an occasion like this, it is par for the course.

Eighty-five Americans, who worked in the city, had discovered wine kegs that they put to good use. When they got back in the camp each man was hit 15 times, this added up to 1,275 lashes.

11/11 I did not sleep very well last night. The result of the beating was just too painful. I never saw this many colours in one instance; I would love to have a colour photo of this.

Big naval battles are rumored to have happened around the Bismarck Archipelago. Also, a big offensive was launched against the Burma Road.

The Jap paper announces that American troops attacked Oman, Algiers, and Tunis. It was written in a comical fashion: “They came like they did in Dakar, like rampaging thugs on a clear day over a large road.”

Fifty piglets have arrived; they are still very small.

11/15 Good heavens, news items are persistent. Now the Allies have occupied New Guinea and, supposedly, 142 Jap airplanes were destroyed.

This morning the before mentioned Captain Ota of the Jap staff said good bye to the different commanders. He will soon leave for Japan. He disclosed that the Americans suffered tremendous losses. The American commander dryly commented: “If we had to add up all those losses we would not have any ships left.” To which Ota answered in a huff: “Don’t forget that you keep on building more.”

11/16 Those Dutch who have wives in Malino are allowed to write 5 sentences to them.

11/18 The pigsty is ready. It has been divided into 8 separate pens and some pens allow the pigs to grub in the dirt.

Yesterday there was an accident in the harbour where old buildings were being demolished. An American named Gilbert was buried under part of a wall. He was taken immediately to our hospital. He had suffered a broken spine, 2 crushed ribs of which one had pierced his lung, a hole in his head, and one of his little fingers was torn off. He died yesterday afternoon and was buried this morning at 10.30. I visited him and hardly recognized him. Everything was carefully planned. The Japs sent fruit and vegetables. A large American flag was put together to cover the casket. There were a lot of wreaths and several Jap officers gave their condolences to Mr. Donovan. Gilbert was a 22-year old bachelor. The funeral service was very touching.

11/22.This Sunday I worked in my small garden, it measures 3.50 x .50 meters and contains a variety of plants. “Pietersen” does not allow us to grow flowers; several places in our camp display flower beds which make a cheerful impression. There are several papaya trees in front of our room but I hope that we won’t stay long enough to eat the fruits of those trees.

So far we made 1,764 brooms and 850 baskets, some of these are taken to different Jap departments.

It is a sure thing that the Solomon Islands have fallen in allied hands. Losses on both sides were enormous.

Huge amounts of aged wood are brought into our camp daily; they are taken from the demolished harbour buildings. Much of it can be used for carpentry.

11/23 It is “jasmie” again. “Jasmie” is the Japanese word for rest, but it has been used so often that everyone talks about “jasmie”. It is a religious holiday for our hosts. We don’t mind it at all.

Insistent rumors disclose that new battles are waged around the Solomon Islands, which seem to be the gateway to Australia.

11/28.Loads of wood continue pouring into our camp, we now have a sizable supply.

Today we witnessed another case of sadism. While Sergeant Smit was doing his work, a Jap approached him to critisize his work. Being polite Smit stood up with a chisel in his hand. The Nip accused Smit of threatening him with the chisel. Smit was then forced to hold a push-up positio, he was beaten 37 times with a stick. When he came home that afternoon the accuser repeated his story to Yoshida who flew into a rage and gave Smits 50 more strokes. That was 87 strokes together and since there were several hours in between the beatings, everything had started to swell up, Smit’s pants were dripping with blood and he was hospitalized right away. You can see that my experience was not that bad, I hardly feel the effects anymore.

11/29 I’s Sunday again, one week closer to freedom, which must be in our near future. I have enlarged my garden to twice its size. Everything grows well in this heat; it takes 3 days for seedlings to appear.

11/30 November is just about gone. We had set our hopes on being home for Christmas, but have given up on that idea.

MALINO/Joustra: To keep our children busy we started teaching them and we also formed several small clubs. The older boys were to meet at specific times to help with moving, carrying firewood, etc. under the leadership of Zus van Goor. Anyone who felt that they wanted to teach gathered a few kids together and taught them in a designated house. If there were Japs present or if they came to visit, the lessons were stopped, or if lessons were already in session the children would leave one by one so as not to attract any attention.

Chabot: When the last guards were dismissed at the end of November, a native who was put in charge of maintaining order. He was called a djaksa, but he told the Japanese command that he could not be responsible for our safety any more. The guards would walk around at night only. The djaksa resigned since he felt that he could not remain on friendly terms with both the Dutch women and the Japs. A friendly, older man who was powerless to halt the many thefts replaced him. Very often three houses were broken into in one night, most often with great success. It seemed that some kind of numbing powder was being blown into the rooms at night, which lefts the victims dead to the world. Suitcases were dragged outside, and handbags were taken from underneath pillows. A storage room back of our house also was ransacked. One of our inhabitants woke to find a man standing on a chair in front of a closet. This constant threat was nerve wrecking for some of us.

Early in December our German neighbours gave notice that we had to leave our house as soon as possible. They said that we were destroying the furniture and were not keeping up the inside of the house. The truth was that a Dutch traitor for the Japs, who worked about 5 km. outside Malino was going to move in and would pay them rent.

The housing commission, Wyers and Joustra, pulled their hair out. How could they put 21 more people in already overcrowded houses? It was impossible to move them into an empty house that was owned by a Chinese national, because rent was expected. This was was virtually impossible because of lack of available funds. Most houses did not require any rent since the people who already lived there owned them, or the government owned them. Many of the interned also asked to be moved, because of existing tensions in the house where they lived.

After 2 weeks the commission managed to find a solution and 3 of us moved on the Monday before Christmas. The rest would follow the next day. We were assigned to different houses. All provisions were divided, suitcases stood ready in the yard to be carried off by coolies we had managed to hire. Then Mr. Wyers arrived Tuesday morning to tell us that the Nipponese had come the night before to say: “Tungu dula, kita mau urus.” (“Wait we shall take care of everything”.) One hour later the Japs in question came to ask us a few questions; they evaluated the situation and continued on to the neighbours. They accused them of causing us unnecessary problems for the move and displayed a less than friendly attitude towards them. The 3 house members who had left the day before were not allowed to return, but the 5 of us celebrated Christmas around a tree, which I had hauled out of the forest myself, and we enjoyed a bottle of rice wine.

When I got the tree with the forest manager’s permission the day before Christmas, I had a pleasant talk with him. It felt good to taste a cup of coffee in a real Makassar home. He complained about the extra work the Japs had forced on him. All the things that the forest conservator would take care of before, had become his responsibility. When he was busy processing one order from the Japs, they would saddle him with the next. It drove him crazy. He asked if we could manage financially for a while and offered me a two and a half silver piece in exchange for a piece of paper that held the same value. There was a great shortage of change.

On the 29^th of December the Minseibu, the civilian Japanese government body that managed us, gave order that 9 houses needed to be vacated. The inhabitants had to move into 4 Chinese houses (I never found out who financed the rent), or they were dispersed over several other houses. They reassigned us by name. Together with the inhabitants of another house we were moved into a large Chinese complex. The only thing our representative managed to do was to delay the move of three people until the next day and see to it that they would get better lodgings than the straw building on the market that they were supposed to live in. They were moved out of one of the best private homes together with 12 others; they were, for the most part, elderly women without children whose husbands were senior high ranking government officials.

In retrospect this kind of harassment could not have been planned by the Japs but rather, we suspect that someone in Malino felt that these elderly women were living high on the hog. This same person allowed friends and those of the same religion to stay together.

That day more than 200 people were moved, many did so without the help of coolies. We now share a house with 40, 18 adults and 22 children. Women without children refused to share in chores saying openly that they would have less to do for themselves.

In addition to our existing problems we are in the middle of the monsoon season which means that we have firewood that is dripping wet. It would be better if our energies were directed toward the problems of finding wood to cook our monotonous meals for 30. Clothing takes 6 days to dry, which makes edgy mothers complain when their kids dirty their clothes. The sick children are bored when they have to stay in one room, and mothers lack the time to look after their brood. During these last days I thought: “Our evacuation is for real now.” I share a spacious room with a friend who also has two children. There are no tables or chairs. Each person lives on a bed. Almost none of the houses have sitting rooms any more; this is what the Japs intended. When I think of the possibilty that we might have been moved into a bamboo shed, I am grateful for living in this well built house.

During our move the Japs ordered the natives to remove all books except bibles, religious literature, and cook books. The native manager, who had been chided by the Japs for not showing enough deferences, returned all the children’s books to us. It is a shame that 2 libraries have been totally dismantled, we now have a shortage of literature. The native boys who are still able to sell at the local market are now forbidden to sell books.

The Japs told Mr. Wyers that since we do nothing more than eat and sleep and still display good humor, we will be deprived of books. The 3^rd measure that was taken that day was that boys who are 15 instead of 16 will move to the male camp in Pare-Pare. At the same time a roster was prepared to list the names of all 13-year old boys, they would be the next to go to Pare.

We learn from letters that reach us from the POWs that the Japs keep them informed about the harassment we suffer such as forced moves, no books, etc.

One of the native market boys told us that Americans strafed the Makassar harbour last week. It probably was the same plane that flew very low over Malino, but we could not see it because of the clouds. It was most likely commandeered by one of our compatriots. Even although this is by no means a direct end to our predicament it is cause for renewed hope. The Jap paper mentioned that the allies attacked Merauke, this makes us believe that it must be in our hands.

Stolk: In our building we were not aware of the problems in Malino. The Japs who taught us how to bow visited us. The building was also searched. The first confrontation was a strange experience. Here comes a bunch of little men dressed in green with bowed legs and toes showing through their shoes, wearing caps with attached neck cloth on their bald pates, and slanted eyes. Then they bark their command to bow to them. Very strange, but fortunately we did not seen them too often.

From what we hear about life in Malino, people living in smaller houses have a rough time. At least we don’t need to climb over someone to get in our beds, thanks to the space in this building. In front of our building is a large area where children can play and the dining hall also affords room for pleasurable activities.

We celebrated the Old and New Year festivities there. I believe that we saw a Punch and Judy show, and I made up an ABC song to an existing tune. We sang while someone played a guitar. I can’t remember much else. There must have been treats from the native villages.

AMBON/Ten Haaft: At the end of December women and children came to our camp. We surreptitiously overcame an order not to kiss our wives - without punishment! Women and children tried to find their own niches. Their food was cooked in our camp while we also took care of several other chores.

MAKASSAR/Welleman: Towards the end of 1942 thousands of POWs were taken to Japan, the quality of our food became less, and we lost our “aides” which meant that we had to do everything ourselves. Exciting soccer games were no more because the younger generation was taken away and we were required to do more work. Our health began to suffer. In the meantime our colleagues from Timor and their staff, chief officials, merchant marine officers, etc. who had lived in the police quarters together with our colleagues from Bali and Lombok, came to live with us, which increased the presence of civilians significantly.

Booy: 12/3/42. “Pietersen” designated the 8^th of December a holiday. Sutadjo, the Japanese commandant, owned 2 horses that got a stall on the soccer field built by us. I am curiously awaiting the arrival of the first cows.

Yesterday evening I had to make a lock for a cell which was to house an officer who had told a few natives that they did not need to bow. These natives in turn told a Jap officer in Makassar who started the ball rolling. Another officer, Lt. Krol, was lashed 30 times for a similar offence.

This morning, before work, we had to fall in on the soccer field to learn how to bow and familiarize ourselves with orders in Japanese. During attendance, at 7.30 AM, the hall leader has to bow when the Japs appear. They never show up at our place, we must live too far away.

We now have to exercise at 5.30 AM for 15 minutes as the Jap commands; today or tomorrow we will be assigned to the Jap Army!

12/5 It’s St Nicholas eve. Yoshida happened to bring 16 packs of cigarettes, nice Saint, eh? The rod is part of him.

12/6 Despite the fact that it is Sunday we worked because we can look forward to a few holidays.

This afternoon at roll call we were told to catch mosquitoes for a malaria check. Just now we heard 3 hurrahs come from somewhere else because 3 mosquitoes were caught.

12/8 Yosh took the latest paper to the Lt. Col. It seems that a 4^th battle was waged around the Solomon Islands, and fighting continues in the Philippines. It is a year ago that this damned war broke out.

Yesterday morning a certain Sgt. Robberts was found dead in his bed. I knew him well from Bandoeng. It so happened that we worked together yesterday, and we reminisced about the past.

We are celebrating “jasmie” for three days. The Japs celebrate memorial holidays in an elaborate way.

12/9 Robberts was buried yesterday afternoon. His wife was brought here and she was allowed to see him. After the funeral a Japanese officer from Headquarters told the POWs that the Mikado had decreed 3 holidays to his empire and we were temporarily included.

12/11.Well, three days have past. How peaceful it was! This afternoon fruit and bacon were delivered to our camp, a surplus of holiday fare. We are building a new shed for the storage of wood and the basket weavers who need a roof in case of rain.

12/13.Although it is Sunday we work as usual. Several anti aircraft guns are being installed outside Makassar. Do they feel it is necessary after they demolished everything?

12/15 Except for the undersigned the whole crew worked outside the city yesterday. Together with 50 Americans they built anti aircraft stations surrounded by barbed wire. Today they were at it again and finished the job.

12/20.Everyone who is able to works outside, only on Sunday people can be seen in their rooms. No news enters our compound anymore; everything else is gleaned from the Jap paper, which is not very often. It is Sunday again and a lot of beatings have taken place of late. Yesterday evening at 10.30 PM a Japanese guard discovered a few navy officers who were enjoying some booze. He warned them twice but they did not take him serious, when he returned a third time they were slapped hard, naturally. This morning the whole incident was repeated and all navy officers had to hit each other, which they did. And those were officers. After that they had to run around the camp ten times. The guilty ones were locked up, and these gents dare to blame the lower ranks for mishaps.

12/12 Christmas is just around the corner. A lieutenant gave us 4 packs of cigarettes each, 3 packs of cigarette paper; and for the eight of us 2 bamboo containers with tobacco in honor of the coming holidays. This was indeed a nice gesture for which we are truly thankful.

Our daily 15-minute exercises are coming along nicely in the morning. Attention: kiotske, to the right: migi noare, fall in: atsumare, dismissed: wakare, to the right: migimuke migi, and so on. Work crews who are to work outside are expected to know these commands shortly.

When all the patients of the “Op ten Noort” were moved here the doctors and nurses sailed with the ship. The native crew was retained in part, and the rest was moved to this camp. They first were put in isolation because they were supposed to go to Java. Since they now share the chores in this camp with us, we assume that their trip to Java fell through.

12/24 We have the day off in the morning, everything got a thorough cleaning. The stable has been enlarged for 4 horses. A wood storage place has been put close to the kitchen.

12/25 The first day of Christmas has passed. I had saved a few cans of food and we savoured the contents today.

The Yanks celebrated Christmas yesterday evening, they usually observe Christmas the night before. I went over to wish them a “Merry Christmas.” They had a lot to eat and even had some booze. Will we be free next Christmas? I fear not.

12/27 Despite the fact that it is Sunday everyone worked as usual, just like yesterday. “Goldtooth” reasoned that that we will have 3 days off on Old and New Year. We are now building a platform that measures 25m x 25 m. and stands 3 feet off the ground. We must be able to take it apart so that it can be used for other purposes. Several programs are created for the holidays. The West monsoon season is a miserable factor we need to put up with.

12/13 Yesterday afternoon everyone had some time off to wash their clothes, but we never knew it. This morning 8 Americans joined me in putting up the stage. We worked, and ignored the lunch signal, so we could finish the job before the afternoon. I had not finished eating when the Japs came to get me. With 7 others we decorated the Jap quarters. We planted small trees in front of the entrances to their houses that were decorated with mystical tokens. Above each entrance we hung origami articles and a lime which was attached to a twig. We also hung rope fibers that were adorned with dried fish and meat and “padistro”(?). We had to hang the same decorations above the entrance to the camp. Then we built an altar in one of the houses; on the wall we saw the image of a Japanese goddess, at least that’s what I thought. In front of the altar they had placed a samurai sword well wrapped in a plaid piece of cloth, and more origami ornaments with 8 ears of corn. They seem to adhere to their heathen beliefs.

2 crates of Heinekens beer and the necessary bottles of sake manifested the only Western influence.

63. KAMPDRAWINGS by P. Volmer

The following drawings were made by Mr. P. Volmer in the POW camp in Makassar and his son Mr. Ivo Volmer, I was allowed to use them for this book, but most of these drawings deteriorated after having been buried underground for a year and a half.

Information about the drawings:

1. Plan of the camp. This was the former infantry camp of the garrison battalion Celebes and Menado the way they were towards the end of 1942.

2. In the beginning work was done inside the camp only. When it became known that work also was to be done outside the camp, one of the Dutch POWs declared that it was not necessary to work for the Japs. They, the Japs, knew what to do about that. When the Pow started to lose consciousness during a beating he was revived with a bucket of water. This continued until he realized that he had to change his ways. No one ever refused to work again.

3. This was the way workcrews left the camp in the morning; they were segregated by nationality.

4. The road to the kitchen behind barbed wire by the English department.

5. The side of the kitchen.

6. Mess time, the most important event of this existence.

7. A self-explanatory story as seen in the first few months, later on 2m-high fences were added so that nothing could be seen.

1943.

MALINO/Chabot: The start of 1943 and tomorrow it will be a year since we were evacuated.

On a Tuesday at the end of January, when the market boys passed on the most favourable news items, we heard the sound of many cars in the afternoon during our siesta. House members called out: “A truck filled with mattresses, a bus full of women!” For a moment we thought that Makassar was going to be attacked and Japanese women who worked there in great numbers in offices and bars, were taken here for their safety.

However, about 50 Indonesian women and children were told in the morning that they had 2 hours to get ready to move to Malino. They were suspected of sympathizing with the Dutch and this was their punishment. They moved into an empty house next to us and we soon discovered that 4 women, who were given permission to move in with their grandmother in Makassar in July, were among the 50. They told us that they had been threatened repeatedly by the Japs thet they were going to be interned in Malino, because they waved at the POWs, one of which was their brother. They had two hours to pack under the watchful eyes of the Japs. They were allowed to take three kinds of each piece of clothing. The oldest daughter wore 5 panties and the youngest one 2 dresses. They brought 1 mattress for the four of them. A great deal of attention was given to the fact that their 13-year old son would not take any tools with him in case he would assemble a radio. Their fear for radios owned by us was great.

Their old grandmother, a Buginese woman, was allowed to take a small suitcase and move in with an acquaintance in Makassar.

Both daughters, aged 28 and 18, had a lot of contact with Japanese soldiers. The youngest had tried to find some office work but was not successful. The Japs did try to make her a “flower” in the Empress hotel but she refused.

A Japanese bride who worked with the police and who secretly visited them - Nippon was not to know about this- had explained to them that it did not matter when they waved to the American POWs. But when they waved at their own husbands and brothers it caused heartaches for the Jap guards. They themselves had left Nippon 5 years ago and when they said good bye they said that they would return in a coffin. They first fought in China; their war education began there, and they came here soon after.

They would become so angry when the women waved that they would stop the truck and beat up the POWs in front of the women.

This attitude also explains why they deem it unnecessary to exchange letters between our men and us.

Another order that afternoon was that all Armenians and other men who lived here, because of illness or old age, would have to be interned in Makassar. The ones who stayed were Mr. Wyers, our representative, a doctor, an Indonesian who took care of the electricity, our German neighbour, whose books had been removed, and a sick person who had been in the hospital for weeks.

Finally we were ordered to assemble on a large field in the morning without our children, they were to stay home. All the natives, Chinese, and people of other nationalities had to show up too.

We decided that of the 18 adults in our house 4 would stay, 3 were not well and the 4^th had a sick child. It would be irresponsible to leave the house and children alone while so many thefts occurred. Despite the presence of these 4 women and 22 children a thief still managed to steal a coat which hung from a nail close to a window.

After having waited half an hour 3 cars arrived carrying 5 Japs and an interpreter. Natives brought 2 tables, because these small men probably felt that they had to look up at a wall of tall women.

Number 1 gave a speech in Japanese, which was badly translated. We were told that we were not to work for ourselves but for Nippon. Also they told us how much they had sacrificed on their way to Australia, and even if the war would last a hundred years Japan would keep on fighting!

Number two stood on a table and announced in sing-song Japanese the truth of the matter: we were to hand over our money before noon and would receive a daily allowance of 15 cents per person regardless of age. Natives will be forbidden to sell anything to us and severe punishments would follow if authorities were disobeyed.

The 3^rd one who stood on a table, while the interpreter sood on a second one, found it necessary to tell us that we were not allowed to leave Malino. We were not to write or receive any letters, and natives who were caught as go-betweens would be killed. They also told us that POWs who were caught with letters would also be severely punished and that we would also suffer greatly.

After all this, roll call was taken to see who was missing. A native official was sent to check out the sick. In the afternoon our 3 house members crawled in their beds for 5 minutes to placate this very young Indonesian. A woman who failed to show up without valid reason was ordered to come forward and she was hit hard in the face.

Even after roll call was over we were not allowed to leave, and soon we suspected that the Japs took advantage of this situation to search the houses. I had not expected this and spent a very uncomfortable hour on the field. When we finally returned we found that nothing had happened at our house yet. Everyone looked for their money and went to the inn via the market to turn it in. I would have loved to buy a few things but I was too late, the Japs had closed the market. The natives ran home with their wares and refused to sell anything fearing the Jap beatings. I threw a guilder to a little old woman and received a few bananas and mangoes. A rebellious gesture to spend some money for the last time.

Twelve hundred women and several Chinese had turned in a total of 38,000 guilders. Mr. Wyers is in charge of the shopping, and needs to disperse 1,200 x 15 cents a day. Although the shopping is done centrally, which keeps prices down, we visit the market every morning to get varying amounts of rice, brown sugar, vegetables, fruit, onions, chiles, coconuts, eggs, and meat.

Joustra: Because of the Jap’s intervention an immediate halt was put to Wyer’s support system which gave people with less than 50 guilders a person, a specific amount each week out of this fund. People who had more than 50 guilders gave a certain amount each week to be put into this fund.

AMBON/Ten Haaft: In January 1943 we witness aerial attacks. Not by two engine planes but by four engine planes. The sound of their engines is entirely different. We heard a siren in Ambon, and the noise of anti aircraft guns is also heard. The Jap ships in the harbour also return fire. Yet the bombs hit Ambon and the ships. Each successive attack brings the bombs closer and closer to our camp.

MAKASSAR/Welleman: After the New Year in 1943 money matters were redirected, this time our fellow prisoners from Bali, Lombok, and Timor were also involved. From now on we are allowed to spend 3 guilders and 50 cents a month. Executives from the government, the KPM, and JCJL, as well as commissioners and assistant commissioners, and anyone else who would not contribute to the well being of our group as a whole, was excluded. Their refusal to share spawned a kind of boycott against them. Already we could afford nothing more than tobacco, paper, fruit, notebooks, brown sugar, and other small items.

Around the end of 1942 we became more and more involved doing chores that needed to be done in our camp. Those who were younger than 35 needed to cut sod to cover the area inside the camp, also wood needed to be cut and rice gathered. Some time later we also were to care for the houses and yards of the Jap guards; when we would be hit or beaten very often. A crew of Mr. Luring received a beating because 3 flowers were broken during a job in the garden of the commandant of the guards.

We also are expected to dig air raid shelters in and outside the camp, and keep the grass on the soccer field trimmed, etc. All in all, we still had enough free time to read which meant even more since we had access to an excellent library which also contained a lot of scientific projects, mostly printed by the Celebes printer. Thus I was able to read about quite a few popular subjects such as philosophy, history, literature, astronomy, and so on.

Several courses were taught secretly in our camp; some of the teachers were Van Baal, Coomans, de Ruyter, Stutterheim, and others. The Japs condoned religious services on Sundays and certain holidays.

Sometimes boxing matches were held while the Americans entertained us by playing baseball.

Booy: 1/1/43. THE year has started. We were always told: “It will happen in 1943”, and I sincerely hope so. Yesterday we went to bed at the usual time, no bubbly, and no fire works. We had a small roll with our breakfast; this has become a delicacy because we often are given rice instead of bread.

At 8 AM we had to stand at attention and bow to the NorthEast, the direction of Japan.

Of course it rained all day. We were not able to see the cabaret perform on our new stage, but it took place in our usual daytime hall. It lasted three-and-a-half hours and it was deemed to be a huge success. There was a nice orchestra and several other musical instruments. Enthusiasm reached new heights. Lt. Col. Gortmans gave a speech that set our hearts aglow because it came from the bottom of his heart. I cannot name all of the acts, but this event will never be forgotten.

Our food was excellent today; each of us received 2 packs of cigarettes and an extra piece of laundry soap. We have to admit that our “hosts” saw to our well being. What a difference with 10 months ago when we were put in that damned jail!

Late in the afternoon 80 native sailors were brought into our camp, they were housed with the guards and remained very much isolated. The 66 men of the hospital ship “Op ten Noort” were also housed there. They were supposed to have been shipped to Java, but that was canceled. Aided by a few Yanks, because they don’t know any Malay words, we erected a galvanized iron fence to screen their washing facilities, and to prevent any contact of the newcomers with the rest of the camp.

1.2. The first beating of the year has been delivered. Yoshida came to get us because about 15 meters of fencing had been blown down on the soccer field during a storm. We needed a small bench and Yoshida walked to the fence of the hospital and called a nurse who kept on walking. Nobody responded for 5 minutes. Yoshida became enraged and had all the nurses stand at attention. He asked for the one who had ignored him and when the guilty one came forward he was the first one to feel the whip. The doctor on duty approached and Yosh called out “Lieutenant Colonel” meaning that the doctor had to go get him. The doctor did not understand it and also was beaten. The result was that the doctor received 10 lashes and the nurse 40.

After all this we received a 18-liter can of coffee because we were soaked. These are unpleasant contrasts that make you sick.

It is raining night and day, which makes it impossible to hold any sporting events.

1.4 We are busy again. We are building a warm water bath next to the former women’s quarters, which will be used to benefit patients with scurvy and wounded feet. Scurvy happens quite often and it is not malignant; it has nothing to do with the lack of hygiene.

1/9.Two days ago 200 Englishmen were told to get ready to leave. Except for 12 all of them are officers. Their destination is a puzzle. It is very probable that we might have to leave too; I wonder if it would be better to burn my diary if that happens.

According to the Jap paper, Merauke on Dutch New Guinea has been bombed. Could there still be a piece of Dutch soil left where our flag stands?

The English were told today that their trip has been canceled.

1/12.The “hosts” have been in a foul humor the last few days, they have their moods. We need to be extra careful, beatings are a daily occurrence, here and in town. A reservist 1^st Lt. Dijkstra was given 26 lashes on his rear end because he was caught talking during the “holy rounds”.

Rumor has it today that all of us will be sent away. It seems improbable because we were told today to improve the kitchen area. You never know what’s coming next.

1/15 A new victim is brought in. He is a government controller from on of the Lesser Sunda Islands. He has nothing new to tell and he remained free until now because he is the son or grandson of a Jap and his mother is German. He looks a lot like a Jap, but he could still be loyal to the Dutch.

1/16 The paper mentions that America should not brag so much because they have had a few small successes. There must be something in the wind.

The 200 Englishmen had a physical exam that was done by a Jap doctor, they are to leave tomorrow.

1/17 Today was an important day. This morning at 7 AM the English left. Except for 12 enlisted personnel they were all officers. They were dressed neatly but did not get any shoes; most of them wore clogs.

The second most important thing that happened was that an American plane finally has discovered us. No bombs were dropped, but shots were fired at the plane, even rifle shots. The plane flew over Makassar and disappeared. I hope that the pilot will not forget this discovery. It is the talk of the day.

1/20.The Jap paper mentioned the American plane and that this would probably be the last one.

Yesterday 25 American and I went to Sunguminassa to rebuild a few fortifications that were started some time ago. It rained almost all day; but we did a lot of work. We continued today. These structures are situated on a small hill between the airfield and Makassar.

1/23 Yesterday we worked on the fortifications again. In the morning 50 Dutch men cut sod that was carried uphill in baskets, it is very hard work. Today we finished the job, 30 more Dutch men were added in the morning and this afternoon we finished up. Hopefully we will have the day off tomorrow, Sunday.

1/25. This morning we went to Sunguminassa again to erect a small bridge and to make holes in the gun emplacements. As usual, Yoshida was present and was agitated. We returned early.

Crews on their way to work returned. An air raid alarm was given, but nothing happened.

1/27. Twenty new guests arrived yesterday, they are Americans. They were isolated as usual, and will be taken to the civilian camp Pare-Pare.

Last evening young boys came in and this morning they were put on a bus with the Americans and taken to Pare-Pare.

1/30.No one received a beating with a stick for the last 14 days, but slaps in the face are being given freely.

Yesterday at noon a 4 engine Jap seaplane arrived. It was fired on from different directions; the crew didn’t seem to be very nervous. Yesterday and the day before a Jap colonel from Java came to visit. He talked to several navy officers for hours and said, among other things, that only the military are prisoners and prices are four times higher than what they were before the war.

1/31 Today is the birthday of Princess Beatrix, 5 years ago we had quite a party on Batavia.

MALINO/Chabot: February 1943. This is what we received at our first food distribution: plenty of rice, not enough vegetables and fruit because of a lack of transportation. The natives have been scared off and they are staying in the mountains. But we have a lot of meat and only one egg per 5 persons. Coconut oil for cooking and soap need to be delivered from Makassar through Nippon. Milk for babies has not been available yet.

One indirect result of the newly imposed rules is that the boys who came from Makassar to sell us their wares have stopped coming and thus we lost a valuable contact with the outside world. Also, It is an odd sensation that it is not possible to buy a necessary item at a specific time any more, like a pencil for Roek, a spool of thread. Furthermore we miss the diversion the spending of money gave us, though it was a small amount. Because of all this, life has become intensely drab.

Today Japs arrived to inspect the food distribution. Rumor has it that they felt that it was still too sumptuous; they felt that we should have rice with a bit of fish only, without meat or eggs.

Yet I feel that we are doing with as little food as we can in order to stay in good health physically and mentally. And now we feel the repercussion of our happy moods we had the few last weeks. If this is going to take longer than a few more months, what then? Will we be able to see this through? Another diversion through sensational rumors: our clothing will be inspected and anyone owning more than 3 items of the same type will have to relinquish it to someone who does not have enough. One bad thing about these rumors is that although they start now, they come true several months later.

On the 7^th of February, one year after the beginning of our internment, when we stood in line to receive our food distribution, we heard the approach of a low flying airplane. We started to cheer and left our place in the food line, until we realized that it was a Jap plane that apparently thought it necessary to remind us of their power over us. The impression the cheering left on the native population was tragic: we were so tense that the very thought of anything else but an American plane was unbearable.

Stolk: It was a traumatic event when boys above 15 were taken. Adri was 16 on the 5^th of December. The civilians from the police quarters in Makassar, together with the men and boys who were taken from Malino earlier, left for a military post in Pare-Pare, 150 km. north of Makassar on the coast on the 28^th of September, 1942.

From our building, the KVK, these young men were taken to Pare: A. den Hond, E. Wijker, Willy Badenbroek, Jan van Driest, Lex Emont, Alfons Grillet, Robbie Hartmans, Jan van der Noen, Eddy Nol, Albert van Roon, Wim Wijker, and Adri Stolk. Adri was very small and slight for his age, still very much a child. I now understand what it meant for my mother to watch her youngest leave so alone. At least I stayed with her, and my eldest brother was in the same camp with his Dad, but the youngest had to manage by him self in a men’s world where he did not belong.

My Dad managed to speak to Adri when their truck stopped in Makassar. Kees was allowed to watch from a distance. (Booy, 1/27). This happened on my mother’s birthday.

The writer H.L. Heffelaar wrote in his book “The Japanese Government Pays to the Bearer - the War Which Would not Go Away”, about how it affected him when he had to part from his mother. He imagined her to be the omnipotent parent who could have prevented this from happening, and he held her responsible for this traumatic experience.

The women bore these hardships courageously. First they had to leave precious possessions, and now they had to let go of their sons. But I believe that their courage stemmed in part from the fact they all suffered together. They were all in the same boat and therefore supported each other mutually.

I believe that the adults and the older boys from the KVK left on an earlier transport.

Badenbroek: And so it went, week after week, month after month. Until we received orders that boys over 15 had to leave. We experienced it once before in the KVK.

The day before I was to leave I said good bye to my sister. She gave me a rosary. It was not easy to say good bye. I had made friends during those few months. One of my girl friends gave me a white handkerchief with a lace border as a souvenir. Together with the rosary I kept it in a box for the duration of the war. I saw her again after the war. She had turned into a young lady. And I, I had remained a boy. I kept the kerchief as a precious memory.

When we arrived at the inn, the trucks were waiting. We were assigned to a truck and left. We left Malino and everyone who was dear to us. What awaited us? Nobody knew. We went on to Pare-Pare, the men’s camp.

AMBON/Ten Haaft: 2/15/43. A colleague and I were fishing on the seashore, just inside the camp, after we had worked several hours outside the camp. The rain forced us inside after we said the magic word “malaria” to the Jap guard. The alarm sounded in Ambon. Then we heard the more familiar humming of airplane engines. My colleague ran up the hill to our barracks, about 20 meters above sea level. In the meantime the airplanes continued in the direction of the camp. Suddenly bombs were dropped - on our camp! Also on the garage on the other side of the road where the Japs had stored a number of bombs just before Christmas. These were also the quarters of Australians. We often listened to their religious services and stood at attention when they sang “God save the King” after the service.

It did not take very long; the allied planes left. I went up the hill too and met my wife and both sons halfway. They are looking for a good place below. My youngest is missing, my wife asked me to look for her. I found her a short time later, (how much later?), hiding behind a banana tree, watching the burning garage across the road where the bombs are stored. The garage is on fire too.

Then I see the Australian soldiers trying to put the fire out. But without water there is no way to put it out. Our youngest was already running towards her mother down below. Finally there still are a few who are walking around the barracks. Then all is gone, everything lies on the slope of the hill, and the garage still burns.

Later on no one knew how long it took. But suddenly the bombs exploded at the same time. A dirty black mushroom cloud rose and we press ourselves closer into the hill and look for something to hold over our heads. Suddenly the sea behind us is boiling; shrapnel flew over us and landed in the sea far away.

It was over and we could start counting the dead and the wounded. Every one is wounded. Dead people are found in different positions. A severed hand was found. The barracks have been flattened and are starting to burn. And still a bomb explodes so now and then, but the danger is not as great now since a huge crater was formed at the original site of the bomb storage place. We dare to do more and start looking for our possessions among the rubble. It is not simple since the collapse of the barracks makes the search virtually impossible. I found a suitcase with clothing.

Doctors came and the victims are being helped. Then there was a Japanese soldier who held a large can of iodine and a large brush. Everyone who wants it gets a swipe with the brush, which is virtually everybody. We are familiar with the infectious diseases in the tropics.

In the evening we are ordered to go to Ambon. The men are separated again. We arrive at the church of the 7^th Day Adventists. For some it is a revelation since they have never seen a similar building on the inside. Among them are the brothers who founded a baptismal font in the floor behind the preacher’s chair.

What did we eat that evening? We had a ball of rice with a red fruit in the middle. Did we have a mattress? No way! If someone wants one they get two palm leaves. Our wives and children find housing in a Protestant church not too far away. They too get a rice ball and a red fruit. .

The wounded are taken to a hospital. Men are ordered to take care of the food. We prepare it and we are allowed to deliver it too. We see opportunities and use them. We did it so that we can see our wives and children. They are in a difficult position because the bombing of Ambon continues and there is no shelter for them. We dig air raid shelters behind our church where we hold our services, and we are ready to put them to use if the need arises.

Stolk: The following is an account of Mrs. Van Lochem about the same bombardment.

Van Lochem: February 1943. One day, another air raid alarm. As usual, everyone dives flat on the floor and, if possible, under a bed, if you happen to have one. In the hospital Anneke and I hide under the bed. You don’t realize what is going on until, all of a sudden, two walls have disappeared. Immediately thereafter there is another explosion. In the meantime the nurses had taken Anneke from underneath the bed to get her to a safer place. Again an explosion and shrapnel flew around us. Anneke hunkered down with her head in between her shoulders, being scared out of her wits. A piece of shrapnel flew between her chin and chest. She still has the scar. Nobody noticed it.

Suddenly a few men ran into the hospital; Anton was one of them, they dragged us out of there and ran away from the camp. They had removed the barbed wire, because they realized the danger of being so close to the bomb storage next to us.

The first bomb had fallen right outside our big warehouse and it had hit the Jap guard tower squarely so that nothing was left standing. The women who had seen it happen cheered because it could not have happened to a better person. But shortly thereafter bombs started to hit our buildings.

While Anton, with Anneke in his arms and me in tow, ran off, the thing that they feared happened. The bomb storage, all 70 tons, blew up at once. We were thrown off the road, down the hill toward the sea. I did not see Anneke and Anton anymore before I realized that I was still alive, but I thought that my back was gone where I had a burning sensation. I felt my back carefully and it was still there although my pajamas were hanging in shreds, but there was no blood. Fifteen minutes later I found Anton and Anneke, unhurt.

Next to our camp was a camp for Australian POWs. Now that all fences were gone, everybody suddenly tried to help, also the Australians. First I was given a handful of safety pins to hold my rags together, because I was virtually naked. Anneke’s clothing stood stiff with blood, which made me think that she was badly wounded, which was not the case. The wound by her throat did not even bleed that much. The concussion must have thrown her where there must have been a lot of blood. She looked awful!

The dead and wounded were everywhere, Arms, legs, and parts of people were hanging on the barbed wire. Sister de Vries said later: “The one thing that I blame myself for the most was the fact that the shock of it all disabled me; therefore I couldn’t to help.” And yet, she spent several hours doing nothing else than carrying off the wounded with the doctors. She too looked awful.

The mother of Zus had a large head wound and Zus took her carefully to a first aid station. It was then that they discovered that the lower part of Zus’s abdomen had been torn open, and she hadn’t even noticed. She was one of those who had been critically wounded and the Jap doctors sewed her up that same day, but no antiseptics were used. A day later she developed a high fever in the hospital, and a native doctor opened her up again and removed 60 small pieces of shrapnel. Nobody knows how she survived.

Mrs. Van Leeuwen lost part of a foot, but she spent all day looking for her son Bram who was found unhurt. She developed a tetanus infection but because she had been inoculated, because of an accident she had a few years before, she survived.

Everyone who occupied the area around my berth had been wounded seriously. We survived because we had been moved to the hospital several days before. Jeannet Ploeger was among those who was missing during roll call after the bombardment. Because the explosions were still going on we had to delay our search for the missing until the following day. Anton even found his suitcase. Everything that belonged to Anneke and me was gone, because there was a direct hit in that area. But now we could wear a shirt and a pair of pants of Anton’s and we also had a towel. The wounded were taken to a hospital in Ambon, and women and children were taken to one church and men to another.

When the search was resumed the next day Jeannet was found, 35 were dead and many more were wounded.

Anneke and I plus about 350 other women and children, who were taken to a church, had to share a toilet facility in a house next door which belonged to the preacher. This, of course, was impossible. Since there was a small ravine with a stream next to the church, our only solution was to run back and forth from the church to the stream and back. Our clothes were also washed higher up in the same stream.

The dysentery made Anneke and I run to the stream many times on our first night, and our camp leader realized that this was very difficult for us. Worse, the threat of infection was great, and thus we were taken to the hospital. The situation there was indescribable. All clothing that was saved in the camp was divided among us so that Anneke had a clean set of rompers for the first time since the bombing, and I received a skirt and a blouse. The nuns also worked in the hospital, but without habits or veils. The mother superior walked around in a hip dress and curls in her hair. Apropos, while the nuns had their heads shaved every year, the mother superior had forbidden the nuns to shave at the beginning of the war, because if they were forced to flee into the jungle unexpectedly their bald heads would have stuck out like sore thumbs. That is why some of them, those from New Guinea and Ambon, sported curls.

Anneke and I were to sleep on the floor in a bare room, but we didn’t mind, we were used to that. In the corner of that room was a bed that was occupied by a typhus patient from Ambon. The next day he was taken elsewhere.

There was a shortage of bandages and we spend an endless amount of time rolling up the washed bandages. In the beginning there was only one towel being used for the wounded when they were bathed. There also were Australians with third degree burns. Several weeks later they were moved elsewhere, or maybe they had died, I don’t remember.

At the same time the bombings continued and we had to go into the shelters, but there were some that could not be moved and they had to stay in their beds. You can imagine what kind of hell these patients went through.

The only life saving thing that Anneke and I experienced was that an Ambonese doctor gave us 5 anti dysentery shots which finally rid us of those amoebas.

The hospital was located in the middle of Ambon and our room was at the back of the building. One evening someone called softly: “Nonja, nonja.” (Madam, madam). I went to the fence and on the other side of the fence, while it was pitch dark, a man threw a bundle over the fence without saying anything. The bundle contained, among other things, a light blue vest that I wore until the end of the war.

When Anneke and I were cured we returned to the church. The men had dug air raid shelters that we used on a daily basis during the day.

Anneke and I used a church pew because we could not stay on the floor. There also was an old “klamboe”, mosquito netting, that Anton had given to us, it had a lot of holes, but it was better than nothing. The church had only one exit but a lot of windows without glass, which was usual in the Indies. Zus van der Groot and I had shoved my pew underneath one of the windows under which some wood had been assembled outside. It was understood that if the alarm sounded at night we would climb out through the window. If we ever had experienced a night raid we would have survived because of this plan. It would be unthinkable to imagine the panic if everyone would use that one exit in the church.

MAKASSAR/Booy: 2/5/43. No more news, the creator must be ill. A big feast will be held shortly, the empire has existed for 260 years. At the same time the landing on Celebes must be remembered. The paper is shown in the publicity office on the 3^rd. It shows that the Yanks experienced a 2^nd Pearl Harbor, however this time it happened by the Solomon Islands. At the same time we read about the losses of the Allied Navies. If you want to believe it, a new fleet must be built before they can continue the war.

Tomorrow 5 of our 8 men will be added to the crew of 50 to build a monument on the European cemetery in honor of the Dutch who have fallen. A few officers will join them also so that all ranks will have participated. It will be built of bricks and finished with plaster. It wasn’t much. It will be initiated on the 9^th when it will have been a year ago that Makassar fell without a fight.

2/11.This feast day is a good one for us POWs. At 9 AM we bowed splendidly to the northeast and in return we received a good meal. The menu consisted out of: breakfast: bread, a banana, coffee with real white sugar; a hot lunch: rice with a good vegetable dish (sajoer), and coffee and cake for dessert. For dinner we ate: rice with brown bean soup, and bacon. Not bad at all. In comparison with the jail this is paradise. We also received cigarettes and enjoyed several soccer matches.

2/20.Today the first pig was butchered, there are still 42 out of the 50. Half the pig belongs to Yosh and his cronies; a quarter is for the colonel and the remainder for the Lt. Colonel.

During the last few days the rain has really come down. I spend most of the time making cigarette pipes. Yosh is very quiet because the Lt. Col.suffered a relapse and must rest. It is beginning to get monotonous, is there really a war going on?

2/28. Here it’s Sunday again, it’s quiet. It is a year ago that heavy fighting broke out around Tjamba and we retreated into the mountains.

The Lt. Col. is better, but must take it easy.

MALINO/Chabot: 3/4/43. It has been some time since we started living within the norms of the central food distribution. The personal care Mrs. Joustra takes to see to it that the distribution goes smoothly is touching. On Sunday the children received peanuts and brown sugar. The amounts are barely sufficient: this is war. Boudewijn shows a rice belly, just like the native children. I eat many dishes of rice, but am hungry an hour later. Yesterday someone with 1,100 guilders, whose child had a birthday, bought a lot of canned food. I ate bread with cheese and corned beef yesterday, and the feeling in my stomach was distinctly different from when I ate rice only.

Since our money was taken it is forbidden for us to use servants and we carry wood to our houses ourselves. This must be the nastiest job. The natives watched us and many of them found it painful to see u haul wood in the beginning, but our smiling faces helped them get over any feelings of pity toward us. In the old days a native would earn 2 or 2 and ½ cent per load to carry. The strongest of them could carry ten loads, the strongest of us only 3 loads.

Ino, the Jap commandant of our camp, found it necessary to jail 27 women for three days because they wrote notes to their husbands in Pare-Pare. The story goes that a missionary was so much in a Christmas mood that he wrote his wife that she and others could write a note to their husbands. The carrier would take those back to Pare-Pare. Several women took him up on it, but the carrier gave the notes to a spy who promptly took the notes to the Japs. The first woman who was interrogated refused to name anyone and she was beaten terribly, then her eyes were covered. The notes were not signed but the Japs seemed to know who the writers were and they were interrogated later; they confessed right away. Punishment was 3 days in jail here, thank goodness not in Makassar. Actually the Malino jail is an oddity, it is close to the market and is usually occupied by about 25 natives. The objective of Ino was that these natives should occupy the same space in jail as these 27 women. Each one had a large, wooden bench. The women were not allowed to take a mattress or a mat, only a blanket. One of them had a three-month old baby with her that was allowed to stay with its mother. Although the food was very bad the women returned as if they had been at a fair. They looked rested and laughed a lot, although they were rather stiff from having slept on hard wooden benches. The guard and the jailer had done everything to make the women’s stay bearable. The jailed natives were taken to cells or stayed outside for the night and at night the women missed looking at the thugs from Makassar. The guard brought a package of candles and the jailer made a hot relish (sambal) to make the rice more palatable, he even brought a pot of coffee. Early in the morning the criminals were allowed to bathe and then were told to clean the bathing facilities well since the women had to use the bathrooms. Someone deserved a star for this later on.

AMBON/Van Lochem: March 1943. We were told that we would leave for Makassar; that made everyone happy, because living standards on Ambon had become impossible. We boarded Jap troop transports in the evening, which was a good thing because usually no bombardments took place between sundown and sunup. We were taken below deck; usually the military occupied these spaces. Everything was Japanese, mats on the floor and low tables If you wanted to eat off the tables you had to sit on the floor. The mats provided pleasant sleeping facilities except for one fact that we discovered when we disembarked: we were covered with lice.

The men were put in the bow of the ship; they also were isolated from the outside world, just like us. We only met them on top of the deck when the dishes needed to be washed.

Well, we went to sleep and discovered the following morning that we were still anchored in the Bay of Ambon. We all panicked because air raids could happen any time and being on board of a Jap ship made us much more vulnerable.

We had hardly cleared the Bay of Ambon when the alarm sounded. We were locked away behind doors and over our heads orders were yelled to get the anti aircraft guns ready, etc.

You can imagine how we felt, no one thought that we would survive. The Japs would leave us to die if something had happened. But as luck had it, it apparently was a reconnaissance plane and nothing happened. Some time later, when I was on Morotai in an American camp, I saw foto’s which were made during this flight, and our ship in the Bay of Ambon was clearly visible.

The nuns had devised a way to continue praying during this trip. They took turns sleeping while the others prayed, this way we always had someone praying for us. I am glad that I am at the end of the Ambon saga because it upsets me whenever I think about that time. During that trip I cannot remember anything that we could have laughed about, it was pure hell.

Ten Haaft: At last the rumors started again. We shall be taken to Makassar by ship. Women and children will be put in a separate camp. We greet each other on the pier in Makassar.

We said good-bye on the pier of Makassar

Good-bye to my children.

But what about your wife?

Well, she was there too with God’s

Promise to comfort us.

This is the end of March 1943; it will be mid September 1945 before we shall see each other again.

Stolk: I received a diary from Mr. H. de Jong Swemer which was written by Father Charles C. Bedaux, Ph.D, D.D.: missionary of “The Sacred Heart”. He was taken to Ambon and survived the bombing raid, and this is how he described the trip to Makassar. The Japanese had promised us that we would be taken to another camp as soon as possible. The Japanese had promised us that we would be taken to another camp as soon as possible. We were trying to find out what ship we would be leaving on and because a big freighter, the Rio Janeiro Maru, arrived at that time, some thought that we might be taken to another island. The Japanese told us that the ship would take us to a better place.

We left on the evening of March 19^th. Several times during the voyage there were alarms. Immediately the watertight doors in the holds were locked. Should anything happen to the ship we had no chance to survive. When the alarm was given the automatic gun-firing system went to work and the elevators brought the shells up to the guns. Fortunately nothing happened, and the ship traveled on a zigzag course during the entire time.

On March the 22^nd we arrived at Makassar. The women and children were taken to a camp in the hills near Makassar. We men were taken to the military barracks where the POW’s were interned. We were put in separate barracks and any contact with the soldiers was forbidden. Many from each side tried to make contact for information, but when some were caught, only the soldiers were beaten while we had to look on.

The next day we saw the Rio de Janeiro Maru leave the harbor. When the ship was not far out we heard an explosion and saw the ship had been torpedoed. The ship disappeared under the waves.

After the war in Australia I heard the complete story. While visiting the Dutch Club in Melbourne a Navy officer approached me. He was from my hometown in Holland. He said: “Father, I hear that you were in Ambon during the war. Were you perhaps on the Rio de Janeiro Maru when that ship took civilian prisoners from Ambon to Makassar?” When I said I was, he told me he was the Commander of the K 18, a Dutch submarine. The sub waited near the entrance to the harbor of Ambon to get the big ship that was heavily armed. Before she sailed they got a message from someone spying in Ambon that 1,100 prisoners would be on board. The K 18 thereupon followed that particular auxiliary cruiser to Makassar. When the ship left the harbor they torpedoed it. It had been a narrow escape for us.

Bartstra-de Koster: We arrived in Makassar after several days in the hold of a Jap war ship. We were elated that we had survived the trip because we had some anxious moments. The alarm sounded quite often, and when that happened we were locked up in the dark. The nuns, who were placed in the middle of the hold underneath the locked doors, would start to pray. We stayed very quiet; even the little children did not cry anymore, they sensed the tension.

It seemed that the ammo elevators ran right outside our walls, because we could hear them work at full speed. Shouting loudly the Japs would take their positions. It was a relief to hear the “all clear” signal after each alarm. The ship had taken a zig zag course during the entire trip to evade possible submarines.

No matter how happy we were while we came to a stop at the Makassar pier, the long hot day, filled with uncertainties, was not an easy one.

Finally we left by truck. What was our destination? Nobody knew. It turned out to be Kampili, a former sanitarium. This complex consisted of a main building, a clinic, and several smaller houses for bedridden patients. A small house held two rooms for 1 person each, and one long room for 2 sofas. The bathroom facilities were placed behind the house. This size house was now made available to 16 adults or 20 women and children. Beds with a mat were placed above each other. I don’t remember what we had to eat that day of our arrival. The following morning we found rice in half an oil drum sitting over a hole on a concrete platform that was in the central kitchen of the main building. The fire under the drum was stoked with bamboo. With a few other women we cooked our morning rice porridge extra early because we were hungry.

When the Japs took us to Kampili natives put us under guard. I told their commandant that I wanted to be called up at 4.30 AM the following morning in house no. 4A. I don’t remember how I slept.

“Bangun, bangun” (Wake up, wake up). I did not need a lot of time to get dressed. Because after the raid in Ambon we had nothing left. While it was still pitch dark I walked with him to the kitchen and woke the other ladies at the same time.

Suddenly the guard asked me: “Did you ever live on Sibolga?” “Yes”, I answered. He then said, “I served under the tuan” (Sir), meaning my husband.

When we came to the kitchen the fires were burning and the water boiled; the rinsed rice was added and stirred. The porridge was ready extra early.

Van Lochem: When we arrived in Makassar the men were loaded on trucks and taken to Pare-Pare. We did not see them again until the war was over. Women and children were taken to Kampili; a few hours drive south of Makassar. Originally Kampili was a TB sanitarium with a main building and about 5 duplexes, divided in 2 small houses under one roof. There also was a building for the doctor who was the director of this sanitarium.

When we got there all the houses were empty. The Japs had placed two bamboo bunk beds in one room. The kitchens housed empty drums to cook rice in, some firewood and some kitchen utensils. There was nothing more. We received pretty good food from the Jap kitchens; the next day food was carried in from somewhere else and after that we had to look out for ourselves.

A Jap commandant moved into the doctor’s quarters. We also had two female doctors and a male physician because several wounded men from Ambon were moved to our camp until they had healed, then they also had to go to Pare-Pare. The male doctor, Dr. Marseille, stayed in our camp until the men had left.

PARE-PARE/ Badenbroek: The boys were divided into groups in the camp. I belonged to the Malino group. Later the Ambon group joined us, and then the “free boys”, those boys were picked up later by the Japs.

We were scattered all over; I was assigned to a barrack with other boys from Malino. We also shared these accommodations with 2 policemen, inspector Kettenis and chief agent Potger. The latter was enormously active and, thanks to him, some boys were in real good condition. We rose early and before we had roll call we would have done a series of gymnastic exercises. Mr. Kettenis was the boss of the sand crew. I had a lot of respect for him; he had an athletic build and had a lot of authority. Across from us was another corner that housed 2 more policemen: Mr. Van der Pol, the police commissioner, and Mr. Cozijn. There also were a couple of highranking government officials. It struck me that these men showed no respect for each other. We were all equals, dressed only in a pair of shorts. Clothes make the man?

Camp life was no punishment for me. All right, we were not free to come and go as we pleased, but we, the boys, were pretty well taken care off. In the beginning there was no shortage of food, and in the evening we could get an extra helping. We usually got in after 7.30 PM. There were plenty of eggs, and to make a cup of coffee tastier I added a well-beaten egg and sugar. There also was a lot of diversion. I learned to play bridge; my steady partner was Albert van Roon. Behind our barrack was a green spot, it was our sport field. There was a sandy area to practice distance jumping, poles for high jumping, and a field for hand ball games.

I won’t forget certain boys Jan and Kobus den Hamer, because of their length. There was an Aussie, short, hairy, and very strong. If he threw a ball it became a projectile. He also could sing, and how! Especially when the moon was out he could stir me from being happy to melancholy. I heard “Waltzing Matilda” for the first time when he sang it. He couldn’t pronounce my name so Willy became Bill.

We formed small groups in the camp and we would gather after we had finished our chores. As far as I can remember my group consisted of the following: Rob Hartmans, Adri Stolk, Albert van Roon, Jan van Driest, and Frits Kroger. Did we earn anything extra? Oh, yes! Rice, eggs, and brown sugar could still be bought. Rice in a bucket, soaked in water for a night, drained in a cloth, stamp it down until it becomes flour, then mix it with molten brown sugar, water, and a bit of salt to make a batter. Then these delicacies were fried in coconut oil and sold. This was a very good business. Everybody joined in.

You were assigned to a work crew depending on your physical condition. Most of the time I worked under Mr. Kettenis our crew boss. We had to break up rocky ground and we also would haul things like rice, salt, salted fish, etc. to the ships. Of course several items got caught on our clothing. We also took turns taking slop to the pigs. The job was not a dirty one.

There also was a boy called Herman Zevering. He was about 6 years old and was in the camp with his father. We used a three-wheel carriage to carry the slop. Off we went, 2 boys, 2 or 3 garbage cans and Herman. We would go outside the camp and pick up garbage from the well-to-do natives. Herman was real good at getting cans. Next to the can with slop was a can for clean food and a lot of real good food was thrown into that can. The problem was how to reenter the camp with all that. The guard always searched us. Fortunately, he did not search very hard.

I am a Roman Catholic and masses were held regularly. I was an altar boy together with Johan van der Haar, a tall blond boy. We must have made an odd sight. Johan was 1 m. and 70 cm.tall; and I 1 m. 52 cm. One of my other leaders was Father van Vliet. We would meet so now and then. He tried to teach me the facts of life. In those days homosexuality was not ever mentioned. I didn’t know what it was all about. Father explained it very clearly and cautioned me about one of the Jap guards “Mietje”.

I also did chores with the wood crew; the leader was a young priest. This crew would not return for lunch, they stayed where they worked and brought the lunch with them, it was prepared on the spot. Morale was good, even the police guard was pleasant, and so now and then we were allowed to buy a thing or two.

We were forced to unload the Jap ships or load them with salt, flour, salted fish, rice, etc. It meant that we had to lift bags weighing anywhere from 25 to 50 kilo, or more, each.

Stolk: Adri too had worked for the wood crew. When he heard the story of Wil Badenbroek he remembered suddenly that once he was beaten underneath his feet so badly that it was nigh impossible to walk. He was allowed to hang on the backside of the cart so that his feet would clear the ground. The others steadied the front part of the cart. Just so the Japs wouldn’t notice.

Ten Haaft: After saying good-bye to my wife and children we were taken to the military barracks in Makassar. We had to livbe in buildings that were already filled to capacity. For those who had been there for a while, our arrival provided a pleasant break. The Morse code of our group told them about our experiences in Ambon. It was news for them. We benefited from this relationship because they replenished our tattered clothing.

After a few days we were told that we would be taken to Pare-Pare. Trucks came and there we went. On the way school children and their teachers jeered us, but for those who wanted it, there was a chance to buy tobacco.

When we arrived in Pare-Pare there was a head count; I don’t remember how often they did that. Then we were marched to the military barracks, they were not as large as the one in Makassar but there was room for us.

Then we were fed, and how! Father Goossen, who was the temporary camp commander, because the original one was jailed somewhere else, apologized for the food. Our first meal was rice, vegetables, a meatball, fried fish, and sambal (hot relish). We pointed this out to each other: “Don’t fool yourself but this is meat, and this is fish.”

They had even taken care of sleeping places, although they had expected Ambonese men, because the cots were a bit too short for European men.

Here too, no one knew what had happened in Ambon and the Japs had threatened to kill us if we’d tell. But it was not that bad, and we told everything. Often the comment was made: “Imagine, to have planes fly over like that”. Well, much later they did come, and that was considered to be dangerous too.

MAKASSAR/Booy: 3/2/43. Today 20 men had to make a funeral pyre, and at the same time 4 trucks brought a load of wood in.

3/7 It was a year ago when we arrived in Makassar and were jailed; that was a miserable month.

All kinds of things are made secretly, things that are important to POW’s, such as tobacco pipes, lighters, buckets, cigarette cases, etc. The work is pleasant now that all is quiet.

I just returned from the hospital with Yosh. Someone had an appendectomy and he wanted to watch the whole operation. The patient was locally anaesthetized. This was also a first for me. Yosh himself suffers from chronic appendicitis but won’t let a Jap doc touch him. He would like to have the operation done by Dr. Smits, our surgeon, but that is not allowed. It would be a slap in the face of his compatriots. (I wonder if that patient was my father, J. Ph. van Driest, because he underwent an appendectomy in that camp. OY)

3/13 We are busy putting a platform together of 2m by 2.1/2m dimensions. It is constructed in the camp opposite of ours where natives will be trained. To what purpose, they themselves don’t know.

Five minutes ago army sergeant Stoupe received a beating for an innocuous thing. You could feel it coming; Yosh was being very unpleasant.

The camp commandant visited all day. One of his 3 horses needed a new bit. He now wants to ride the horses with a bridle bit.

All of a sudden our hosts fear incendiary bombs; everyone who owns a bucket must keep it filled with water, and shovels are given to all the barracks.

3/14 Today we had our first fire drill. When the alarm was sounded Yosh yelled: “Booy, rumah, Booy rumah!” (Booy’s house, Booy’s house). As a result hundreds of men stormed towards my quarters and doused water against the walls and partly through the windows. Are our friends (the allies) making trouble for the Japs?

3/19 We are getting another vegetable garden, outside the camp, next to the tennis field that is behind the fence of the hospital. With men and might the ground is split and fertilizer is applied to our newest acquisition. The tennis field is cleaned up and lines are drawn. Rumor has it that the officers will be allowed to play in the future.

Yesterday 3 pigs were slaughtered and today we had brown beans and bacon. In one word, delicious!

So now and then pigs are sold to different groups in the camp. They are allowed to fix them in the kitchen. Sometimes it seems to be a vacation spot here.

We put a door in the fence behind the tennis field so that there is access from the field to the vegetable garden.

3/21 Yesterday evening the Japanese camp commandant, Sutadjo, attended the evening reveille for the first time. The result was that the Yanks got another building since their place was too small. Of course a barbed wire fence needed to be put up; that took all of my Sunday free time.

A crew of 100 men works daily to lay sod and work in the new garden.

3/24Today 150 civilian prisoners from Ambon arrived. They were very much isolated; nobody could exchange a word. Following is the story that we were not allowed to hear: on the 27^th of January Ambon was bombarded for the first time. Gone are the rumors that Ambon was being bombarded for a year. Five days before they left, Ambon was attacked by flying fortresses and destroyed. A bomb hit the munitions dump next to the women’s quarters. There were 24 Dutch victims. The destruction was enormous. They had to work very hard before the bombing raid and after that they lived very well. They had to pay 1,500 guilders for their trip to Celebes. Dutch and Australian POW’s were carried off earlier. A small boy, 5 or 6 years old, was with them; he had lost his mother. The ladies were taken to another camp.

3/28 The most popular punishment that is administered on a whole scale basis now is running. Sometimes entire groups can be seen running through the camp. It is better than being beaten.

It is Sunday again, and that means laundry, shaving, chess and reading. It seems that the harbour is full of ships.

3/31.A corn field has been made in front of the stables. The corn is for the horses. The sport field remained clear for games.

According to the paper 7 Ambonese have been beheaded because they plotted against the “state”. Most of them were older military men. One of them had even been decorated; he really was faithful to the death.

MAKINO/Chabot: 4/8/43. Tension is great and having a peacefull moment to write does not come easy. For hours on end we hear airplanes in the distance. People who can see the sea when the weather is clear notice a lot of ships coming and going. Last week several truckloads with heavily armed Japs, with helmets and drawn bayonets on their rifles, drove around and left again. It is still not clear why they were here. The most believable rumor that came from above was that 5 Ambonese were slowly (14 days) tortured to death for sympathizing with the enemy. Others who confessed right away had to dig their own grave and kneel down and they were killed with the bayonet.

Other than that, more and more Japs are arriving in Makassar and food for the natives is getting scarce. Coupons for several days for rice are distributed. Coconuts have not been available for some time. The scarcity of food has resulted in higher prices for food here. Last month we could still fill 8 baskets, now we must do with 4 or 5. Then we had 2 bananas a day per person, now there even is not one for the babies. While the amount of rice has not been lessened the shortage of other items is very noticeable, especially fruit.

Last week a Japanese civilian, who is in charge of us, called on us to give clothing to Dutch people who had arrived in Makassar a short while ago; they had only one set of clothing. The response was so generous that the car of this Jap was too small to take it all. This Jap was so touched by all this that he asked our representative and 3 female commission members to join him for dinner. These Dutch families seem to have come from Ambon and Menado. A ship from Menado, which also had Jap soldiers on board, was torpedoed. They seem to fare very badly. While all food supplies in Ambon were destroyed just like here, Ambon’s main food source was sago. There seems to have been a great shortage of food and many Dutch, including the highest- ranking government officials, died. On top of all that, the camp where these people were housed was bombed during a raid of the harbour of Ambon. It is a riddle why these people were not taken here. Maybe their numbers are too great for this place, or maybe they can tell us too much.

Tensions increase. Outbursts between women and natives, for instance the drinking of rice wine in the swimming pool by natives who are officials, are becoming more frequent. Then the women object to the native’s obnoxious behavior.

PARE- PARE/Ten Haaft: “When Father Jansen rings the bell to begin a new day at 7 o’clock in the morning,” this is the start of one of our camp songs. To wake up at seven o’clock in the morning sounds nice enough, and nobody objects, for the kitchen crew has been busy long before then to fix our breakfast in the military barracks of Pare, we even have fried rice for breakfast! But 7 o’clock here was really Tokyo time with a difference of 1 ½ hour. But the food was great and that was the most important thing.

After breakfast the wood crew started to assemble. The cart with automobile wheels was readied and a salute was given; and the wood crew was on its way into the mountains.

Four men were needed to steer the cart and the others pulled on ropes to get the vehicle up into the hills One man sat in the cart. He was the cook and cleaned the vegetables that we took with us. In a while we will enjoy his culinary efforts. We did not doubt that the meal could become a disaster because he was an excellent cook and he also enjoyed the freedom we had in the woods. We did not have a Jap guard but several native policemen who were friendly towards us accompanied us. They didn’t join us when we went higher up into the mountains, they stayed down and we would wake them when we return. They didn’t bother us and we didn’t bother them.

It was indeed a hard job to get the cart up the steep mountainsides. The cook had to get out of the cart but he didn’t complain, after all, he was one of us. The trees were inspected, and different crews were assignedto do different jobs. The tree fell with many groans, the saws were cleaned and the tree was cut in manageable pieces. Two men worked on each side of the tree so that four pulled the saw back and forth. Soon the ax could be used.

Of course we had some rest periods. The boss took care of that and the cook took care of the coffee. Sometimes there was something to eat, we could buy food along the road and at times Buginese brought us some food. When I think of it I can still taste the banana steamed in rice meal and packaged in a banana leaf. It did not cost a lot either.

The sun would point to noontime, the cook would have readied our lunch. Just a little while more and we could eat. After lunch we went into the surrounding area one by one.

We hunted monkeys and looked for fruit. The monkeys were too fast for us and the fruit we found was put in the cart; then we bought a few things. One of the things we bought were raw coffee beans; those were put in the cart too. Slowly we went back to work, this time we needed to stack the wood on the cart. Not just any one could do it, for the smuggled items needed to be stowed in the center in such a way that nobody could become suspicious. Also, the wood needed to be fastened securely, because the descent to the road below was not an easy one. This time the 4 persons that steered the cart when we went up the mountain were put in front. The rope was fastened so that it ran underneath the cart and the rest of the crew held on to the end of the rope to brake the cart. Once we reached the road to Pare-Pare we relaxed.

Our guards, who were supposed to look after us, were wakened, and after they had straightened out their clothing and appearance, we continued to our camp. Occasionally one of those who pulled had to leave but returned right away after he took care of a necessary body function. The cooperation between the members of the wood crew was excellent. Pull and brake, sometimes panting, we went down to Pare-Pare.

Once we had come down we took a much-earned rest before we pulled into our camp. A Jap stood at the gate; we stopped and delivered a neatly executed hypocritical bow that they demanded of us. Then came the critical point: would the Jap join us or not? If he did, we all needed to go to the bathroom. We pulled the cart up to the kitchen and disappeared. The Jap waited until he got tired and then returned to his post. This time he didn’t join us, which happened quite often. We felt no need to go to the bathroom anymore and unloaded the cart taking extra care of the smuggled coffee, and congratulated ourselves on a job well done.

MAKASSAR/Booy: 4/3/43. Today it is a year ago that we arrived here from the jail. We aren’t doing too badly, so long as this kind of life will not take years more.

Over the last two weeks 50 Englishmen came back from Mandai, seriously ill with malaria. They looked dirty and miserable, apparently things weren’t too clean there. Yesterday and today another 100 Englishmen left for Mandai. Dutch men are not allowed to work there lest they have contact with the natives.

We are building 8 pigsties, this business is growing. Today a very large pig was slaughtered. Navy officers and 18 civilians bought the pig. Mr. Hips, a government controller, prepared the pig. He is a good friend and took very good care of us. We dined like kings.

Today we have a free day, I think it is the birthday of the first Jap emperor.

4/5 And this is my third note book which I will mess up with all kinds of unimportant events which an outsider would not understand. (Not really-TS) How much more would I have to add?

This morning a new order was issued: all mistakes that take place in the city will be punished in the camp too. Also, all Jap officers must be saluted when we march through the city. The whole camp will be held responsible for the mistake of one person.

We received 19 piglets plus….. yes, really, a crocodile! He is presently tied up and occupies an empty room.

4/9.We made a cage for the newest acquisition with a small basin in which he or she can lie down; it is 1m 75cm long. The last few days it rained cats and dogs.

This afternoon we had to stand at attention at 6 PM because a Jap admiral came to visit. Such a visit takes only 5 minutes because they take that much time to drive through.

4/12 This afternoon the Japs attacked our commandant, Lt. Col. Gortmans. They took all his papers. The same happened to another officer and a soldier; they took 2 maps of Russia. Apparently they were looking for a possible source of contact with the outside world.

4/13 There is a noticeable change here; all officers who lived next to the barbed wire were moved. This means that all navy officers and half of the army officers have to live in separate rooms in the barracks. I had 70 men help me to construct the new enclosures. We are far from finished today.

4/14 We now have to make new fencing for the hospital. The fear for communication contact is real. More punishments were handed out this evening: 15 men had stolen cigarettes and they had already been beaten in Makassar yesterday. But apparently Yoshida heard about it today and repeated the beatings. The crew boss received 40 lashes, and the poor man knew nothing.

I suspect that nothing was found at Gortmans’ place, otherwise they would have hauled him away.

4/15. All enclosures are finished, altogether we made 6 doors. I am curious to see if we have to put locks on them.

We received a tremendous amount of red stones. According to Yoshida they are needed to build a trash burner. It seems that there will come a time that no one can go outside any more. A truck and 4 carts delivered loads of sheet metal for buckets destined for the fire department.

4/18. Sunday passed, that means playing bridge, chess, and passing a few pleasant hours with Couperus. The doors leading to no-man’s land had indeed put locks on them.

Yesterday we had another fire drill. The moon is almost full. It rained hard the last few days. Last year around this time it had stopped raining.

4/19. Our officers and civilians worked on road crews today. A lot of concrete pieces were left over from the building of the sties and they were used to improve the roads. All officers and civilians had to haul a road roller over the roadbed. Every day about 15 to 20 officers and civilians must cut wood which comes of the trees that are taken down inside the camp. Then there are about 5 or 6 men who pound rice to make flour out of rice that was declared unfit for ordinary consumption. Right now 5 men are assigned to wash and ferment tobacco. The tobacco has been furnished several times but it is impossible to smoke. We don’t get too much in the way of smoking materials. Last week we got a package of 15 very old pre-war cigarettes. We all smoke Buginese tobacco, which we would not touch otherwise.

And so time passes. I entertain myself, even in this camp, because life itself is beautiful. It is difficult to explain, but I believe that I was born under a lucky star.

4/20 Yesterday evening I was called to the Lt. Col.’s quarters. This happens almost every day because Yosh is there and I need to clarify certain issues that he wants to take care of for the following day. When I arrived I was asked to take a seat and a bottle of port was opened. There were five of us, the captain, adjutant, Yoshida, the Japanese subordinate commandant, and I. Yoshida had already had too much but he still shared his portion. It was delicious. Later on that evening I sat outside with my room companion Mook, when Yoshida joined us after having left the Lt.Col. He wanted to discuss the garbage incinerator again. The moon was almost full on a very clear night. Yoshida told us that the cherry trees would be in full bloom now, it would be very beautiful to see. In return we said that when the war would be over, we would love to visit Japan. However, he said “Saja tida pergi kombali”. (I will never return). And we asked “Why not?” He anwered “Amerika bikin susah”. (America makes a lot of trouble). So we said “Yes, but we have had no problems here; and if bombs are dropped we will crawl in the gutter”. He grumbled some things, got on his bike and said “Ambon tida bagoes”. (Ambon is not beautiful).

We already knew that but it seemed to affect their nerves badly. Apparently a lot more is happening than we suspect or know. A few months ago they talked differently. They don’t seem to feel so safe anymore.

This afternoon at 1 PM I was called to his home to inspect a closet. There was nothing wrong and it did not take a minute. He gave me 6 large bananas and half a bottle of sake. This never happened before. Was he very ill in broad daylight? He said that in a few days nobody could work outside anymore.

This morning the camp was inspected. A high ranking Italian navy officer accompanied the inspection team. I don’t think that he would feel at ease in the Far East.

4/21. Yesterday evening all our Dutch currency was exchanged for Japanese money. It seems that our money is being taken out of circulation. I wonder what the “Pietersen” intends to do with it.

Some more news: Yoshida acquired a pair of bellows that necessitates the making of a concrete fireplace right away.

4/24. The crocodile has been here for about 14 days but has not eaten anything. I wonder how long he can last.

Tomorrow is Easter. Next week, on the 29^th, we will celebrate the Mikado’s birthday again. I heard that there is going to be another cabaret show and extra food. We like that.

Ten minutes ago we had to run to fall in. When we stood at attention a Japanese colonel, who belonged to the staff, appeared with a translator to say good-bye because tomorrow he would leave for Japan. His translator spoke such bad Malay that all we could understand was that he hoped that the war would soon be over and that we would be free. Also, we needed to take care of our bodies and stay healthy.

4/27. The day before yesterday we had to fall in because it seemed that a few people had paid with Dutch money in the canteen. These persons had to step forward. Yoshida said that there would still be time to turn in Dutch currency, and nothing would happen to those who did. A total of 24,000 guilders were turned in at this time while a lot more had been turned in previously. This is on top of all the Japanese currency that is already in the camp.

We had to work on Sunday because the cooking areas in the kitchen had to be rebuilt before the 29^th.

Yesterday evening we had a black out period for more than an hour, but nothing happened.

Today it was announced that if the guard’s lights blink off and on, all lights must be out and everyone has to stay inside. But if bombs would come down we would be allowed to dive into the gutters.

4/28. Today is clean-up day, 35 extra men have been added to clear everything out and clean up. Our home made smithy is ready and is in excellent working condition. This place resembles a bee hive today, everybody has a question and things need to be made right now, such as 4 mouth pieces for musical instruments which were delivered this morning for the big party tomorrow. We can make them but it is questionable whether they can be used. The stage we made for the New Year celebration will be used for the first time tomorrow. We still need to attach a 4-meter high screen to shade the actors. We will get 2 free days that we really deserve. There has been a lot of work done these last few days.

4/29. The birthday of the Mikado is today. The food was all right and we had a nice show in the afternoon.

4/30. We had the day off today, It was a day of prayer for the Nips and for us it was the birthday of Princess Juliana. May she soon be in Holland.

MALINO/ Chabot: May 1, 1943. A lot of excitement! An hour ago the news came that we were to leave for Kampili on the day after tomorrow. It is a compound that is located about 20 km. from Makassar. From Barombong one can walk there in half an hour. About 5 years ago the Dutch Government built a sanitarium there for about 100 patients with lung diseases. The Japs seem to have built bamboo barracks about 2 km from the sanitarium where the women from Ambon and Menado are housed. For months rumors circulated that this place would be our destination. Personally I never believed it but others were so upset that they packed luggage weeks ago, and were ready to go at the drop of a hat. On the other hand is seems debatable that we will be allowed to take our suitcases. The “gentlemen” prefer that we carry our things wrapped in cloth. It is not known how much we may take with us and that remains to be an important factor. It is also rumored that women without children will have to walk this distance of 50 km. on foot.

There will be plenty of problems such as the lack of electricity and running water. The water is carried from a canal in front of the camp and must be boiled prior to consumption. A second consideration is that the health of the women who are already there is bad because of dysentery.

We will have less freedom (no more schooling?) and will have to put up with constant Jap supervision; not to mention the hot weather.

On the other hand we will have a change of scenery and meet other people. If this move is politically motivated maybe we will be free soon.

The money that we had to turn in earlier, and which supplied us with 15 cents a day, would be gone in three months. If we will go to an organized camp it would solve this dilemma. The delivery of food is assigned to the Rajah of Goa, a very old inhabitant of Makassar, who has access to agricultural products.

As far as we know the quality of the food is reasonable. Then we compare the inequity between the 50 women in Lombasang, the penal colony, and us. They were the ones who were forbidden to have contact with us for the last 8 months. They had no electricity during all that time. Besides, it was never clear why they were being punished.

Maurenbrecher- Brain: Rumor has it that we are going to be moved from Malino to a camp of barracks in the plains. Suddenly the move is here and we must ready ourselves to leave.

The women in the penal colony are the first to go, but they are still unaware of the impending move. That night Annemarie Halewijn and I, accompanied by two native boys, pass through a ravine and walk over a hill to inform them. It rained and we don’t know the way, but the boys do. We slide more than walk, but we reach the houses quietly. Everything is dark. We knock softly and tell the women of the move that will take place the next day. Intense activities follow and we return to Malino after having been thanked profusely. Imagine the surprise of the Japanese to find the women ready and waiting.

Stolk: We all get sick at times. Suddenly I was diagnosed with jaundice and had to follow a diet, no fat especially. What a pity to lose those pounds, they disappeared fast and left me feeling weak. We had not seen much of the Japs, but at this time they seemed to shorten the reins and started to organize matters. In Malino we lived at a distance from each other making it difficult for them to keep an eye on us. Now that the men and the older boys were taken away we, too, would be transported elsewhere.

Seth Paul: Who doesn’t remember Malino? The smooth unpaved steps into the ravine next to the first aid station, which ended at a small unsteady bridge crossing a mountain brook, to continue upwards with fir trees to the left and a jungle to the right. Once you passed through the woods you reached an open field that needed to be crossed, just like the paved road a bit further down. We went this way in order to reach the market to do the daily shopping for rice, brown sugar, egg plant, fruit, and a native fern which grows on the river banks for the vegetable stew. And who doesn’t remember the beautiful Mount Lompobatang and Mount Bawakaraengt that are usually hidden from view by the low hanging clouds?

In this peaceful place the brutalities of war were not real.

KAMPILI/Joustra: On the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th of May transports left for Kampili. Not all people went because, from time to time, some people were released such as the German women who married a Dutch man, and some others who had struck certain friendships with the Japs. Some of them were taken to Kampili at a later date.

Wyers - I shall refer to him as the head leader in Malino- asked me to go with the first transport while he would join the last one. Each transport consisted of about 400 people. We were allowed to carry one small suitcase per person that was to be put down in front of the house of departure. I put mine on the street in front of the KVK. This complex was vacated on the first day and someone would see to it that it would reach its destination. And that was the way it was done. Others were not as fortunate, because the impatient Japs simply left some luggage in the streets. Most of the time some kindly soul would load it on the next transport, which did not mean that they arrived at their destination and some pieces changed ownership.

There were no problems with the first transport. Like before, I occupied the last truck. We were preceded by a private car with “Mama Koen”, a nickname of the Japanese officer who drove. With him in the car were Tieltje Noll, nee Seth Paul, and her two small children who could get carsick. The caravan ended with a truck full of military personnel. People did not get out of the houses as we passed, but so now and then we would see a hand or a thumb in a window opening. Sometimes someone would just stick up a thumb and at other times a V sign was given. All of a sudden our truck broke down. To make repairs would take too much time, so we were loaded into the military truck behind us. It was very crowded. Although some of the soldiers remained with the broken down truck, we still had to share the space with others.

Mama Koen also stopped, and before we continued on he had bought a bunch of bananas and treated us with a pleasant, rather inane smile on his face.

I never heard this man utter any sounds other than Japanese. The only different words were Mama Koen and Mama Eddie, whence his nickname. I was told that he was slightly retarded, but attained his officer’s rank because he was related to nobility, which meant that he could still exert some influence. We profited from his presence.

Stolk: I don’t remember much about the trip to Kampili, just that I had jaundice and that we were crowded, or maybe we stood up during the trip.

I seem to know that, because I was ill. Others, who were ill also, could sit on a mattress. I don’t remember anything else of this trip, but Mrs. Joustra described it since she was with our group. Late in the afternoon we drove along a canal with brown water and turned right across a bridge and through a large gate to the place of our new home. There were grassy areas at either side of the driveway that led to the main building where our luggage was unloaded.

There were women and children in the camp who welcomed us. They lived in the small houses to the right of the main building. To the left were two units of 6 long bamboo barracks each. The walls were made of split bamboo matting (bilik) and the roofs were covered with dried palm leaves (atap). Since we belonged to the first group we were assigned to the first barracks. The nuns and we from the KVK occupied shed no. 3. Each shed contained sleeping spaces for about 100 people. Of course on the first day things were very new, strange, and messy. And we were tired. The people from Ambon, who lived here already, had cooked for us, but of course there was no diet for me. I remember very well that, on that first day, I ate rice with forbidden side dishes. It tasted wonderful! I had not eaten that well since a long time ago and I declared myself cured from then on.

Joustra: We continued our trip after the very welcome banana treat. We did not succeed in joining the rest of the caravan. Suddenly the truck veered off onto a bumpy grassy shoulder that was covered with deep tire ruts. There was a canal to the right and to the left, way down, there was a small stream and then a plain covered with rice paddies stretched behind it. We jostled and bumped into each other until we turned right and crossed a bridge over the canal onto the grounds of Kampili. I had visited this place once before the war. Then it was a sanitarium for people with lung problems like tb.

We arrived in a large cloud of dust and hobbled to where the other trucks had stopped. The people and their luggage had already been unloaded and the women stood around in small groups next to their possessions. In the background we saw a long line of women and children. These were the people who had come from Ambon and the other islands. Later on we heard that they had been transported to Kampili several weeks ago after the Tan Toey camp on Ambon had been heavily damaged by air raids. While in Malino the Japs had requested clothing for them from us. We had no idea where the clothes would go.

When I got off the truck the Japanese took me to meet a statuesque lady with beautiful gray hair. They introduced her as “Kepala Ambon”, the head of Ambon. This was Mrs. J.C. Valderpoort-Wierts van Coehoorn, the leader of the Ambon contingent. The Japanese kept the other women and children at a distance. I was told that the Ambon kitchen had prepared meals for us and they would continue to do so for another 3 days and then we would have to cook ourselves.

For these first few days, I assigned the nuns to shed no. 1, the KVK to shed no. 3, and I chose shed no. 6 with a few others, because it was at the end of, what was called later, complex A.

Seth Paul: And there we went! Down the hill, past the nun’s house where I had sometimes picked a few pears off the trees. Then a sharp right hand turn along the coffee plantation of Abdul Rahman and then along a large bend in the road in front of the KVK. Several kilometers further we passed the entry to Benteng Tinggi on the right, where English and American missionaries used to be. After coming down 93 curves we came to Lebong, a native village {kampong}, by the silver suspension bridge which crosses the Malino river, and where it is joined by the Jeneberang river, which carries the birth fluids from the ever pregnant Mount Lompobatang. Then we continue uphill and see eerily shaped hills to the right. At several points we have a gorgeous view of the Jeneberang River, which holds a lot of river stones way down in the river valley to the left of us.

Already, the temperature begins to rise, you could feel it in Pakato, a village along the road which is hidden among the many langsep trees which produces the yellow fruit with a bitter pit if you’re stupid enough to bite it. I can remember that very well. You grimace because the glassy flesh of the fruit is sour, but not like the ganderia or the sour blimbing. {Both of them are very sour fruits that are used in the Indonesian kitchens}. Next to me was Normiek Galstaun, actually we didn’t sit. In every turn we tottered like drunks. Normiek held on to a chicken that was ready to lay an egg any minute. He checked the egg’s progress by inserting a finger into the behind of the uncomfortable bird and would call out every time: “Almost!” He placed his hand strategically so that he would catch the egg. I’ve never known a chicken to lay an egg under those circumstances; at least, as far as I know.

Chabot: We had been divided into 3 groups of women and children to go to Kampili and it took 3 days for us to reach our destination. We rode in military trucks without seats or roofs. On the first day 35 people were put on a truck, the luggage was carried in another vehicle. Because of inept stowing methods some luggage was lost. During the following days the Japs took things in hand and tied the luggage down properly. Since there were also more vehicles, it meant that there were only 26 persons per truck on the 3^rd day. Nobody obeyed the rule of only one suitcase per family; everything was taken with us. Mattresses were the only things that could not be loaded. Ino himself inspected everything on the first two days, and on the second day he apparently hit someone for trying to take a mattress. Experiences such as these made me cut my mattress into four pieces; I then put them in pillowcases. This way Boudewijn and I could sleep on a relatively comfortable surface. Roek used a mat under which I placed a plaid blanket. Several people can sleep on a thin mattress, but most sleep on a thin mat. The hard surface of a bamboo cot is bearable. A separate truck was used to carry animals like chickens, goats, ducks, and even a pig. Dogs were absolutely forbidden. Still, one of us managed to smuggle a tiny poodle with her and three times a day she would take him outside in his basket to exercise him. He never barked; an odd trait for a dog. However, he did not survive this kind of life very long; three weeks later he died.

The native population along the road did not appear to be obnoxious like they were when the Dutch were transported from Enrekang to Malino. But with encouragement from the Japs they would shout: Belandaka!” (“You Dutch!”). I rode through “our” Kampong and several girls recognized me.

While in this area I met a boy who lived with us in our house for months, we helped him get an office job and I spent many hours teaching him the Dutch language. We shook hands but he appeared to be very timid, he asked about Roek and I asked him about his wife. Apparently he delivers meat daily, which means that he works for the rajah who is responsible for food delivery to our camp. I imagine that he profits a great deal from this arrangement because we get considerably less for our 15 cents than we did in Malino.

We arrived here on the 5^th of May at 3 PM. The Japs had unloaded the trucks and had left the luggage lying around. Since I could not put all my clothing in my suitcase I wore the thickest garments: a pair of pants, a long sleeved blouse covered by a vest, a sports coat, and a raincoat, which I kept on because I had stuffed several items in the pockets.

Fortunately a friend had reserved a nice space for me in barrack no. 8, but after a few days I was moved to barrack no. 11 because no. 8 had been reserved for foreigners: Indonesians, Americans, Iranian Jews, Chinese, etc.

A Jap took us to our barracks but anyone who wanted to, could move elsewhere to be with friends or whatever. Then we had to drag our luggage to our destination. This was an inhuman task after having traveled standing up in this heat. For the first time in my life I felt that there was a limit to my strength and I faced the problem that I could not expect anyone to pick me up if I would collapse, because everybody was burdened the same way I was.

There were some of us who had not taken enough drinking water and promptly started to drink the well water. The Ambon camp people cooked the first three meals for us. A lot can be told about these 300 people from Ambon; as little as we have seen of the war, they can relate plenty.

Maurenbrecher-Brain: The government body of Malino had seen to it that food supplies were stored in a large barrack on the market in Malino. Annemarie Halewijn and I were assigned to transport the food to Kampili, but we didn’t have a truck. Annemarie had approached Ino, who was in charge of our move, and at her request to make a truck available for the food supplies he replied: “When everything is placed alongside the road you will get a truck”.

Since all the women had left already I went to the jail where I had given the jailer my pistol for safe keeping. I asked him if he and the prisoners could help me with my task. Yes, he could do that, but we had to stay out of the way. After an hour everything was placed neatly at the side of the road, the storage shed had been cleared of sacks of rice, brown sugar, beans, flour, etc. In the meantime I had bought several baskets of tapeh (fermented rice, a native delicacy), and saw to it that the prisoners got them. Ino kept his promise and trucks appeared. We had to sit on top of everything and had to hold on to a rope. We also took 2 dogs on our laps because the Japs wanted to take them. It was an anxious trip because the trucks were loaded very high and at every curve we leaned this way or that way. But our driver seemed to know me; he had been the chauffeur for Commissioner Ter Laag. He said softly: “Don’t be afraid, I shall drive carefully”. A Jap sat next to him and, so now and then, cast a look through the small window to see if they had not lost us.

In Kampili they were glad to see the food supplies. When I got off the truck I realized that my clothes were sticky in the back. I had sat on a sack of brown sugar that had melted!

Seth Paul: I really can’t remember if this trip had been tiring. Everything went smoothly, given the circumstances. The heat took some getting used to after having lived in the cool climate of Malino.The trip went via Sungguminasa, the bridge over the Jeneberang river, in the direction of Takalar, then we turned left onto a dusty road with an irrigation canal to the right.

When we arrived we were greeted warmly by the people from Ambon. After a good meal we were housed in shed no. 8, the foreigner barrack, because my Dad had been a native of Persia.

The same barrack housed the American Mrs. Deibler who became our leader. After the war she became Mrs. Rose. Also there were English missionaries: Miss Marsh, Mrs. Woodward, Mrs. Snaith and her daughter Emerald. We belonged to theArmenians, other Armenians were the families Paul, Galstaun, Galestin, and Marcar. Then members of the Chinese Consulate: Wang, Lie, and Yu, and others. The children spoke foreign languages and one learns to say foreign cuss words; the words could be translated in exchange for a few marbles.

It was difficult to sleep without a mattress that first night. But we got used to it. It also took some taking used to sleep in the company of rats that crawled over the bamboo rafters or your body at night.

Wendt: There were always rumors, where they came from remains a riddle, but they always held a grain of truth. Thus we heard that we would have to leave for a camp where electricity and running water were absent. It sounded ominous but it became reality. We were to leave in three groups to a camp that was named Kampili. I quickly ran to the hospital to find out if my parents knew about the move. They would move with the third group when all the sick people would go together.

With what little I had I sat in a very crowded truck with many others. The trip did not last very long, but it was tiring.

The arrival in the camp was very depressing. There was tall grass everywhere and in the distance were the sheds. There were other people in the camp that had come from Ambon and were taken to Kampili. We were put in different barracks, and I landed in barrack no. 1. There were 12 sheds all together. On the inside the sheds looked drab, no light came in from the outside, and one bamboo bunkbed after another. In between the barracks were wells from which we had to get our water. I was looking forward to the day that my parents would arrive. They finally came and, being very happy to be reunited with them, I started to run towards them but was restrained, because we were not allowed to talk to those who had just arrived. Even telling them that my parents were on the truck did not help.

My mother was assigned to shed no. 6; I still had not been able to talk to her. Every evening I would run to her with my evening meal, I would eat quickly because I had to be back in my barrack for roll call. Thank goodness, this situation did not last long. My mother asked if she could join me in shed no. 1 and it was Okayed. What a relief!

In the meantime my father had been taken to one of the stone houses with 5 other ill or wounded men. They did not stay very long in Kampili, they were moved to another camp. The good bye was very emotional. After all, he was ill, how would he fare in the other camp? Soon thereafter my mother came down with pneumonia, and in her weakened state she was hospitalized.

Joustra: On the afternoon after our arrival I walked through the camp with Mrs. Valderpoort and Mrs. Van Diejen who was in charge of the division of chores for the women in Ambon. Soon it became apparent that her ideas about different assignments were vastly different from mine. Later it turned out that Mrs. Valderpoort too, had different ideas about essential points and organization of the camp. The Ambon people felt that since they were here first we had to submit to their rules and regulations. It was unacceptable, especially since they lived in stone houses and we in bamboo barracks. Then there were only 300 of them, while we numbered more that 1,200. Also, they had money and we had hardly any.

It was a difficult beginning. Since Mr. Wyers and I had had a difference of opinion - he felt that I had overstepped my authority - I had told him that I would withdraw from a leadership position. The move to Kampili provided me with that decision. When he arrived on the 5^th of May with the last transport, the housing and the work assignments had been taken care of. I did not assign myself to take on any tasks.

Because the Japanese regarded Kampili as 2 camps, 1 from Ambon under Mrs Valderpoort, and 1 from Malino under Mr. Wyers, I had been able to use the same proven methods that were applied in Malino to organize our group.

Several days later, I’m not sure of the exact date, a Japanese camp commandant named Jamadji was appointed to be our commandant. Wyers told me exitedly that he was a remarkable man. He wanted to place a cemetery in the middle of the camp where several children from Ambon had been buried. Jamadji always retained his interest for this cemetery.

This seems to be a fitting moment to describe Kampili. Along the North border runs an irrigation canal that was diverted from the Djeneberang River, several kilometers north from here. There is a bridge across the canal that provides access into our camp. Several meters from the canal a barbed wire fence runs all along the perimeter of the camp. If my memory serves me well, the North gate could not be closed off. To the right of the gate a wooden board displays a series of Japanese characters, which we could not read. The road into the camp is about 50 meters long from the turnoff into the camp to the residence of the Japanese commandant. To the left of the road stood a large building, our “gudang” (storage place). This is where our provisions were stored and distributed. To the right was a bumpy sandy field where several beautiful large trees grew. This field was made into a meadow for cows, for no matter how much we tried to pull up the “alang-alang” (wild grass), ordinary grass would not grow. Wherever trees are felled alang-alang will grow, making it impossible for real grass to take hold.

The drive into Kampili ended in front of the house of the commandant, we called it “the Post”. On either side of the Post, connected by a covered walkway, were rectangular stone buildings. The one of the left was made into a woman’s hospital ward, the other one became a pediatric ward. Next to the pediatric ward were about 10 small houses, the Ambon houses. Each one contained two small rooms, a kitchenette, a bathroom and a toilet. I think that the toilets were the kind that one needd to squat on.

Next to the women’s ward were another 2 small houses, no.’s 11 and 12. An unpaved road ran in front of all these buildings. After some time the road became smooth because of all the foot traffic, and the commandant had stones and broken concrete applied to harden the surface somewhat. Along this road and also along our barracks the commandant had coolies dig gutters to carry off the rainwater. We constructed bamboo bridges over these gutters ourselves. There also were 3 other concrete buildings. One of them became the place of the central kitchen where all the food was prepared. It was located behind the Post and was also connected with a covered walkway from the Post. Halfway between the Post and the kitchen was a large, deep well, which was made of concrete. Opposite the well was a kind of water reservoir that was placed on an elevated structure. From here running water was provided for the Post and both hospital wards. At first the other stone houses were connected to the main water line, but later on they were disconnected. The water needed to be pumped out of the well; this was quite a job.

Across the women’s ward were the first aid clinic and the sewing rooms with 200 manual sewing machine. Everything from underwear to raincoats was being sewed for the Jap forces, and the seamstresses also took care of womens and children’s wear.

Originally, Kampili was designed to house patients with lung diseases. During those days the command post, first aid station, and sewing complex were the living quarters for doctors, nurses, and other personnel. The patients occupied both wards and the small houses. All of the terrain was covered with beautiful trees. When the war started the work at the sanatorium was halted and it stood empty for more than a year. Apparently the Japs thought that it would make a fine internment camp. They cut down most of the trees and built 12 sheds on the empty spaces. In between the sheds 3 more bamboo buildings were erected, the middle one held the well where 150 women and children did their laundry and took their baths. The outer two were storage areas, but since they could not be guarded or locked they were unsuitable to be “gudangs”. We used them for classrooms, children’s playing area for pre schoolers, and much later as meeting place for the older boys and girls.

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