大象传媒

LOUISE TRIGG

In the beginning of 1938, whilst living in Holland, my mother received a letter from her brother, who was the chief engineer of a sugar plantation and factory in Java, warning her that there was certain to be a war in Europe and advising her to avoid it by moving to Java. So in Summer of 1938 we said goodbye to Holland and set sail for the Dutch East Indies.

As my uncle had forecast, war broke out in May 1940 whilst I was in the middle of my final high school examinations, Holland was overrun by German people.

And so we arrive at 8 December 1941, when during breakfast the radio broadcast the terrible news about Pearl Harbour, followed by the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies announcement that, in solidarity with our allies, we too had declared war on the Japanese. I joined the woman鈥檚 Voluntary Automobile Corps and greatly enjoyed myself driving lorries and busses for the army.

Our fighting war did not last long, and in 1942 we had to capitulate and the East Indies became an occupied country. In June of this year the Japanese started rounding up and interning all Dutch Males over the age of 15, and in December they started on the women and children.

Initially, my mother, my 9 year old sister and I ended up in Semarang. Then to our dismay, the Japanese discovered that we had lived in Japan for some time, and that my mother and I could speak Japanese. We never found out who told them, but we knew this would mean we would be made interpreters, and we feared that this would separate us.

All three of us were allowed to stay together and were transferred to Moentilan. I was ordered to become the camp interpreter and so became part of the camp committee. We were moved into a convent which had been built for 600 monk boys, however we were there with 4,000 women and children. This made it a bit crowded as you can imagine.

At 12:00pm all the block leaders had to report to the camp office to listen to the Japanese Commodores office for the day which had to interpret and of course I was on call for 24 hours a day. Besides this I had to interpret the speeches of the visiting senior officers who came regularly to the camp on tours of inspection, and attend any interrogation or punishment sessions. I remember feelings of fear, humiliation and helpless rage, but I quickly learned to put on a completely blank face and an expressionless voice as a means of self protection.

My main memory of two and a half years as an internee was that of the courage and determination not to give in and despair, but to survive no matter how hard it might be, all the women young or old!

This story was submitted to the 鈥淧eoples War Site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Mrs Louise Trigg and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

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