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Eight Prison Camps: A Dutch Family in Japanese Java
Eldest daughter of eight children, the author grew up in Surakarta, Java, in what is now Indonesia. In the months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, however, Dutch nationals were rounded up by Japanese soldiers and put in internment camps. Her father and brother were sent to separate men’s camps, leaving the author, her mother, and the five younger children in the wome
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Although she is continuously optimistic, this is probably a pretty reliable report of what life was like for the many Dutch (and other nationalities) prisoners in Japanese prison camps during WWII in Indonesia. Since my mother was a prisoner herself, I was very interested to read this book; it gave me an idea of what my mother's experiences might have been like. She never talked about it.
I'm biased, as Dieuwke Wendelaar Bonga is my mother-in-law, but the book truly is the extraordinary story of ordinary people caught up in a terrible time and place. It's a terrific read, even if you don't have a particularly strong interest in World War II or southeast Asia.
The author says she wrote the book because the story of the Dutch imprisoned by the Japanese during WW II has not been told. Well, it has, by numerous people. My favorite so far has been "The Flamboya Tree." Nonetheless, this is a gripping story, well told.
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