World War Two in the Dutch East Indies
My sixteenth birthday
Since the moment my
father had to leave us, I often went to the Kampung , the Indonesian village
from Sumber Sewu. Karto and his wife always welcomed me into their home.
There were several Indonesian men playing guitar and others were singing.
I felt happy when I was with them and I liked their music very much.
Karto and his wife understood that I missed my father as I always went
walking with him on the plantation, and now all of a sudden this had stopped.
I had tried walking all by myself but I found it even worse than just
staying at home.
We had several more
cards from my father, he missed us terribly but otherwise everything was
okay. In March 1942 my mother went to Malang to visit my father, she brought
him fruit and several goodies made by Rasmina. My mother was allowed to
visit my father inside the camp so that she could see how lived and they
could talk together…in Dutch. It was not really wonderful she told
us, when she came back home, but it wasn’t too bad either.
She told me that in April she would take me with her since the 16th of
April was my sixteenth birthday. I was more than happy with this good
news, now I had something wonderful to look forward to, and after all
your sixteenth birthday is very important.
My big day had arrived,
my mother and I went by dokar (buggy) to Dampit from where we took the
train to Malang. We met mrs.Hoebregts, she lived not far from us, she
was going to visit her husband in Malang. The train was crowded, it was
difficult to find a place. At last my mother and Mrs. Hoebregts found
a seat, I had to stand and since it was still a long way to go my mother
felt sorry for me. An old Indonesian man looked at my mother and said
with a sarcastic smile on his face: “Ya njonja, dulu lain sekarang”.
Which means something like; “Yes madam, things have changed”.
Before my mother could say a word I started laughing, the old man laughed
with me, he arranged a place for me.
We also had Japanese control on the train. Mrs. Hoebregts made the mistake
to talk in Dutch to my mother while a Japanese soldier stood not far away
from us. He walked up to her and slapped her in the face; “You have
to speak Malay or Japanese” he told her.
At last we arrived
in Malang, I was happy to see my old town again. My mother called a buggy
and we went to my father’s camp. My mother said that she would wait
outside so that I could speak all alone with my dad since it was my birthday,
that was really very sweet of her. My mother told the Indonesian guard
that we were the wife and daughter from Mr.van Kampen. And there he came,
I was so very happy to see my father again, I had missed him so much.
My father asked the guard if I could come through the gate, it was my
birthday he said. The guard asked my father my age and so it happened
that I was not allowed to come inside the camp, because I was a woman.
With the iron gate closed, my father had to stand one meter from the gate
and I had to stand one meter on the outside of the gate. We were allowed
to speak for ten minutes in Malay with the guard standing next to us.
My father looked very sad, I started talking about Sumber Sewu, told him
that every thing was fine and so the ten minutes passed far too quickly.
My mother was allowed to go inside,
I could not hear them but I could see them talking together until it was
time for the visitors to leave the camp. I waved my father a last goodbye
and called; “Until next time!”
Luckily I didn’t know but after that day, my 16th birthday, I would never see my dad again.
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| One of my fathers, card |
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| One of my fathers, card |