Under the Java Moon, page 37
Chapter 30
In celebration of the end of the war, Dutch internees began to cobble together any cloth they could of red, white, or blue, in order to stitch flags. Creating Dutch flags would boost morale and give the ailing prisoners new hope. Train loads of people began arriving at Tjideng Camp, with nowhere else to go since their homes had been taken over by Indonesians. Fortunately, more food was coming in, and the Red Cross was able to increase its presence (Tjideng Reunion, 396). Lieutenant Sakai approved space in his office for some of the Dutch women to work on updating the Tjideng Camp resident list so that families could work toward reunification (395). In addition, Sakai ordered the belongings of the internees to be returned to each of them (399). But when Sakai found out about the Dutch flags being made, he put a stop to it, so that the rebellion uprisings wouldn’t see flags flying above the camp (396).
Chapter 31
As the food supply to the camps increased after the war, the demand for firewood increased, and that was obtained by internees breaking down the gedek fencing (Tjideng Reunion, 401). The problem with this was that the broken fencing made the internees more exposed to the rebellion groups. Some women simply walked out of the camp, and no one stopped them. They decided that the risk on the outside was better than staying confined in the camp, endlessly waiting. During this time, Indos, who were a mix of Indonesian and European descent, so they hadn’t been interned, arrived at the camp, bringing gifts of food. Some of them sought out former employers or friends or relatives (ibid).
Marie Vischer told me about two of her father’s close friends, Eduard and Jacques Gouverneur. The Gouverneur brothers were Dutch, although their names were French. Both brothers were in the internment camp with George and both passed away from disease before the war ended. When Marie’s brother Erik was born in in 1948, he was named after his father and brother and the Gouverneur brothers: Erik George Eduard Jacques.
By September 1945, the Indonesian rebellion for independence had taken firm hold throughout Java. Europeans were warned to stay inside camps or travel with an armed escort if they had to go into the streets. The Allies had arrived at Tandjong Priok, but liberation would still take months of work (Tjideng Reunion, 417). The Japanese guards that had remained behind turned into the protectors of the Dutch, and they set to work cleaning up the camps as well, including cleaning out sewage ditches and clearing garbage from streets. A truck stocked with petroleum stoves was delivered to Tjideng Camp, and the women were then able to begin cooking for themselves (418).
On the night of September 18, 1945, a rebel group of Indonesian men and youth attached Tjideng Camp. They marched up Laan Trivelli, armed with goloks and rantjangs, waving their red and white flags, while screaming for independence. As they beat their tongtongs, they began to tear down the bamboo walls around the camp (419). One of the medical doctors asked to borrow Sakai’s revolver, and with a few threatening shots, the mob was dispersed (420).
During these weeks, Dutch men began arriving at Tjideng, seeking out their loved ones. Sometimes, the journey to the camp was more dangerous than the previous three years of being interned, as they were now at risk of being captured and tortured by the rebels (421).
Chapter 32
When British soldiers finally arrived to offer protection to the Dutch internees, they were still vastly outnumbered: it was a few dozen against thousands of rebel Indonesians. The solution was temporary at best. Protests were happening all over Java, and even the armed platoon of sailors from HMS Cumberland could only stand and watch. Security was precarious. Despite the arrival of Allied forces, camp cleanup, the additional food, and the reuniting of families, the dreams of being able to return to their island homes and resume their lives had vanished for the Dutch. They would have to be repatriated to another country (Tjideng Reunion, 420).
Details of the party on an American warship in Tandjong Priok harbor come from several sources, including my interviews with Marie (Rita). “I remember there being music and some swings and we were given candy,” she told me. “I know it was American as I heard the words Yanks, and Yankees, referring to the American sailors. We ran around the ship, crazily and so happy to be free.” The sailors provided lunch to the visitors of their ship and gave out rolls that weren’t as hard as rocks (Tjideng Reunion, 418).
Chapter 33
With Allied armies stretched thin across the globe, involved in rescue and humanitarian work, the British sent the Gurkhas and Seaforth Highlanders to Tandjong Priok. Since Java was effectively controlled by the nationalists, the Allied forces had a precarious job to extradite Dutch and European citizens from the islands (Tjideng Reunion, 422–23).
As described in the chapter, the Vischer family was able to get out on the first ship transporting Dutch citizens. Marie (Rita) Vischer told me, “My dad was able to get us on the first ship out and the Dutch authorities made him in charge of all the women and children on the ship Staffordshire. I remember getting on an army truck with canvas over the top with armed guards and hearing shooting with bullets flying everywhere. Again, I was petrified and did not think we would get to the ship alive. Occasionally I went to lie flat on the truck floor, as I was extremely scared and didn’t want to be shot. For some reason the truck dropped us off quite a long way from the ship. We had to run to the gangway and up the gangway away from the snipers while the guards had their guns ready.”
Concluding Historical Note
Who was Captain Kenichi Sonei? Boudewijn Van Oort explained that Kenichi Sonei was a captain in the Imperial Japanese army. He was born in Japan and served in China before arriving in Java as a member of the 16th Army. In September 1942, Sonei was assigned to oversee several prison camps in Batavia, and he soon became notorious for his brutal punishments and lunatic-type actions. In early 1944, Sonei was reassigned to take over the supervision of several women’s prison camps, which included Tjideng Camp, where his reign of terror continued. After the war, Captain Sonei was tried for war crimes in Batavia, and convicted on September 2, 1946, as a class B war criminal. He was executed December 7, 1946. An English transcript of the trial is available at https://www.boudewynvanoort.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11
/Sonei-Trial.pdf.
Boudewijn Van Oort, who translated the trial transcript and lived in Tjideng as a young boy, has written extensively on the camp and maintains a web site with more information about his and others’ experiences. It can be accessed at https://www.boudewynvanoort.com/.
Early in the war, Japan opposed the Indonesians gaining independence from the Dutch because it wanted to keep control over the mineral wealth of the archipelago. But in 1945 that changed when Japan realized they were about to lose the war to Western powers, and Japan supported the Indonesians in their declaration for independence from the Dutch.
By the end of 1945, the Dutch were in no position to maintain their stance in the Indies after nearly four years of living in concentration camps, because during this same time, their mother country was rebuilding after Nazi occupation.
After the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, the Japanese government capitulated, and Indonesia declared its independence from the Dutch. Yet, it still took the Netherlands four more years to realize they were fighting a losing battle in the newly established Indonesia. The Netherlands finally capitulated in 1949. “By 1948, the situation was seen as untenable and loud voices within the United States and the United Nations began to call for an end to Dutch involvement in Indonesia. In 1949, a final agreement was brokered between the Netherlands and the newly formed United States of Indonesia which transferred sovereignty to the Indonesian government and ceded the claims of the Dutch over the ceded territory” (“Dutch Disaster in Indonesia”).
Officers and crew of the Endeh who were killed in action:
Marine Steam Service (Msd) Officer Second Class, Lieutenant P. Hooft
Third Engineer Government Navy, Lieutenant Third Class G. M. Jules Eduard Van Wijnmalen
Recruit Quartermaster Jan Joost Ter Pelkwijk
Sailor First Class Cornelius Chatelain
Sailor First Class Jacobus Jens
Recruit Sailor Adelbert Wilhem August Pesch
Sailor Third Class Jacobus Franciscus Franken
Officers and crew of the Endeh who were kidnapped and killed in the Thousand Islands:
Lieutenant Commander Second Class Menno Jans Arnoldus
Second Officer Government Navy, Lieutenant Third Class Hendrik Rutgers
Third Officer Government Navy, Lieutenant Third Class Dirk Pieter Cornelis Feij
Recruit Sailor Ferdinand Christiaan Loeffen
List of contributors to The Defining Years of the Dutch East Indies, 1942–1949: Survivors’ Accounts of Japanese Invasion and Enslavement of Europeans and the Revolution That Created Free Indonesia:
Edited by Jan A. Krancher
Contributors: Frans J. Nicolaas Ponder, Willem Wanrooy, Arthur Stock, Anton Acherman, Johannes Vandenbroek, William H. Maaskamp, Denis Dutrieux, Mathilde Ponder-Van Kempen, Barend A. Van Nooten, Willy Riemersma-Philippi, Maria McFadden-Beek, Karel Senior, Hendrik B. Babtist, Pieter Groenevelt, Jan Vos, Feite Posthumus, K. A. Peter Van Berkum, Rita la Fontaine-de Clercq Zubli, Greta Kwik, Gerda Dikman-Van den Broek, J. Alexandra Humphrey-Spier, Amani J. Fliers-Hoeke, Joyce F. Kater-Hoeke
Selected Bibliography
Brouwers, Jeroen, and Adrienne Dixon. Sunken Red. New York City: New Amsterdam Books, 1992.
Krancher, Jan A., ed. The Defining Years of the Dutch East Indies, 1942–1949: Survivors’ Accounts of Japanese Invasion and Enslavement of Europeans and the Revolution That Created Free Indonesia. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003.
Layson, Annelex Hofstra and Herman J. Viola. Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese Prison Camp during World War II. National Geographic, 2008.
Ockerse, Ralph, and Evelijn Blaney. Our Childhood in the Former Colonial Dutch East Indies: Recollections before and during Our Wartime Internment by the Japanese. Xlibris, 2011.
Piper, Grant. “Dutch Disaster in Indonesia.” Medium, Exploring History, 12 September 2020, https://medium.com/exploring-history/dutch-disaster-in-indonesia-a5a59d9fe533.
Van Oort, Boudewijn. Tjideng Reunion: A Memoir of World War II on Java. Seaside Press, 2013.
Vischer, George. “Fight for Survival Against Japs in the Java Sea.” The Moth Magazine. March 1990, 1–5, https://www.moth.org.za/.
Vischer, George. “Fight for Survival Against Japs in the Java Sea.” The Moth Magazine. April 1990, 5–9, https://www.moth.org.za/.
Vischer, George. “Fight for Survival Against Japs in the Java Sea.” The Moth Magazine. May 1990, 9, https://www.moth.org.za/.
Zeeman, Maria. Dutch Girl from Jakarta: From Indonesian Concentration Camp to Freedom. Los Angeles: Los Nietos Press Downey, 2019.
Discussion Questions
1. Before reading this book, did you know about the Dutch experience during WWII on Java Island? If not, what surprised you?
2. Ironically, Japanese individuals were interned throughout the US during WWII, and Europeans were interned by Japan throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Why or why not is sequestering a specific race of people during a world war a good idea?
3. In both the Dutch and the Japanese, we see various characters, some who are extremists and others who have soft hearts no matter the situation. How do you think you’d act, or hope you’d act, if forced to experience destitution and the desperation that a war brings?
4. Even though Rita was quite young when she was interned with her family, war has a way of giving everyone a hard dose of reality. What sort of characteristics showed Rita’s maturity far beyond her years?
5. It seems typical for those who’ve experienced traumas such as a war-torn situation, to not speak about what they’ve gone through. This was the case for Rita’s mother and father after they returned to the Netherlands. Why do you think they didn’t want to share their experiences as Rita and Robbie got older or when they had more children?
6. Rita said that her brother Georgie rarely gave her mother, Mary, any trouble, and he was always bringing comfort to her. Why do you think this was Georgie’s personality, and why do you think some boys like Johan didn’t join the troublemakers in camp?
7. Since George Vischer was so isolated from his family during the war, and also went through a terrible experience on the Java Sea, why do you think he continued working for a shipping company that took him from his family for long stretches and put him back on the ocean?
8. Mary copes with her family’s internment by staying as busy as possible, as well as focusing on taking care of her children and mother. Can you relate to her insight here: “She’d become so used to illness, news of death, and other setbacks, that sometimes she felt numb to it all.”
9. At the end of the book, Johan and Rita agree to keep telling their stories. They don’t want to forget what happened to them. Do you think it’s sometimes better to forget an experience, or more important to share what you’ve gone through?
10. In Rita’s afterword, she said, “There are no winners in a war. We all face hard things in our lives, some of those things may feel insurmountable. In those moments, I’ve learned that happiness comes from within, it cannot be found elsewhere.” What helps you endure challenges and keep moving forward in life?
Acknowledgments
Writing the story of Marie Vischer Elliott and her family was an honor and an experience I’ll never forget. I’m grateful for Marie’s willingness to share her journey with me, for it makes my life’s journey all the richer. I’ve been able to meet one of Marie’s good friends, and her grandson, Hamish, as well. I hope to meet more of the family.
I’m grateful to my publisher for their support of my writing—it really does take a team to bring this book into your hands. Many thanks to Chris Schoebinger who spearheaded this project from day one to completion. There are many behind-the-scenes people who work on my behalf, and I’d like to especially thank Heidi Gordon, Lisa Mangum, Derk Koldewyn, Ilise Levine, Troy Butcher, Callie Hansen, Alison Palmer, and editor extraordinaire, Janna DeVore.
Presubmission, I consulted with Vilas Yang for details about Java Island. My niece Cassidy Clegg typed up my annotations from several research books. My sister Julianne Clegg and author Julie Wright read the first draft (sorry!) and gave excellent feedback. Although my sister did say she was “stressed the whole time.” My literary agent Ann Leslie Tuttle, who I’m grateful to have as a publishing associate, as always, sent along insightful comments. Thanks as well to Liz Hansen for sharing her experiences of living in Indonesia. Additional thanks go to author friends Jen Geigle Johnson and Rebecca Connolly for acting as daily sounding boards.
My family has been a major support of my writing career. Thank you to my parents, Kent and Gayle Brown, and my father-in-law, Lester Moore. And of course, thanks to my husband, Chris, our children, Kaelin, Kara, Dana, and Rose, and our grandson Ezra.
In addition to listing my research sources in the chapter notes and bibliography, I’d like to thank the men and women who courageously recorded their stories of survival: Ralph Ockerse, Evelijn Blaney, Jan A. Krancher and the many people he brought together in his compilation, Boudewijn Van Oort, Jeroen Brouwers, Annelex Hofstra Layson, Maria Zeeman, and of course George Vischer. I know there are many more stories to read, and my research will never truly be finished. Everyone’s story is unique and discovering the history of the war years in the Indonesian archipelago provides an even more complete picture of our pasts.
About the Author
Heather B. Moore is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than seventy publications, including The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, The Slow March of Light, and In the Shadow of a Queen. She’s lived on both the east and west coasts of the United States, including Hawaii, and attended school abroad including the Cairo American College in Egypt and the Anglican School of Jerusalem in Israel. She loves to learn about anything in history and, as an author, is passionate about historical research.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Historical Timeline
Character Chart
Prologue
Part One Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Part Two Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Aftermath
Afterword
Chapter Notes
Selected Bibliography
Discussion Questions
Acknowledgments
