大象传媒

General, congratulations! You must be so pleased that the invasion of the Dutch East Indies was successful. As you know I am hoping one day to write a biography about your exalted life, so I hope that you will answer some questions.
Thank you, wonderful. And you will allow me to take notes? Thank you again.
I would like to know first of all about your plans for the islands. You are going to separate the men and the women? Yes, that sounds a good idea. After all, we do not want that population to grow any more, and of course they might find comfort in each other's company if they stay together. We both know the value of psychological warfare. No, no, of course, no restrictions for our own men. They must have all their creature comforts seen to.
And then you will reduce the amount of food they get - for the time being? Oh I see. Yes, you may well find that simpler in the end.
Until that time you will not allow any education. Stands to reason.
General, thank you so much. I am sure that your name will still be revered among our honoured dead, even in the next century.

. . . . .

We know exactly when and where the Germans came up with the final solution for the Jewish problem. Eichmann's "Besprechungsprotokoll" of the conference in the beautiful villa in Berlin, nr 56/58 Am Grossen Wannsee, has been kept and you may even have seen the film on the 大象传媒 with Kenneth Branagh amongst others.
I am not sure if we know anything about the Japanese preparations for war. Laurens van der Post mentions somewhere that he saw documents with plans to turn the internment camps on Java and on the other islands into extermination camps, but that sounded vague to me.

What I do know, is the outcome.

In 1982 J.H.W. Veenstra and others published their account of what had happened to the British and Dutch soldiers who were transported to the Flores Islands.

It is called "Als krijgsgevangene naar de Molukken en Flores" and was published by Martinus Nijhoff in the Hague.
It may even have been translated into English?
The contributors wanted to write down their stories before it was too late.
After the introduction the book opens with
a chronological trip round the islands. In the first week, this is what happened on Amahei, on Haroekoe, in Liang; and so on.
Then there are appendices. First, poetry written by the prisoners. Then a list of movements, transport from Java and later, back to Java or other places. Then the lists of the dead, again island by island and chronologically.

My father died on Haruku. Starting from the date, I worked my way back to the week in which he died. Believe me, you would not want to read such a description of the death of someone you love. I am too cowardly to read the book again, but I remember that the prisoners on Haruku were especially unlucky, since the Japs in command did not really believe in feeding them, while on the other hand they were expected to do very heavy slavelabour, building an airfield. And there was an epidemic of dysentry. They died appallingly.

We fared better on Java, certainly in the first camp in Bandoeng: Tjihapit. But in Kampong Makassar, near Batavia, things went from bad to worse. One day, the women plucked up enough courage to complain of the lack of food. Result: the food was destroyed and we had nothing for at least two days. Anak-bandung has written about this episode. The story I heard was slightly more diabolical and puts the blame squarely where it belongs.

I will try to give an impression of that meeting in another fictitious, slightly modernized monologue.

Represetatives from all the baracks have to present themselves.

"Good morning ladies, so good of you to come. I am happy to see you show proper respect for our divine Emperor. Now, we had a discussion before about the running of the camp and believe me, I do appreciate your input. After all, we are in this together, for the duration as it were. It has come to my ears that you are not satisfied with the amount of food we supply and I am happy to announce this morning that I have come up with the perfect solution. For a day or three, you will not get any food. Then, generous as we are, we may reasssume distribution. By that time, rest assured, you will have realized that the amount of food provided was quite adequate.
Thank you, that was all. You madam, might want to practise that ninety-degree bow a bit more. It was lacking about 3 degrees I think. If you do not believe me, I will send someone with measuring sticks tomorrow.
Goodbye.

. . . . . .

When we were finally liberated, foodparcels were dropped on the camp. I especially remember the sugar-coated cereal. Heavenly.

One woman died, it was rumoured, because a parcel fell on top of her. I do not know if this is true. It would be the final irony.

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