...that one crazy Danish diplomat who risked his life to slap a Japanese guard and tell them to stop being nasty to their prisoners because the war was over. It took me a bit of research but I finally found out who this man was who I possibly owe my life to, (in)directly.
Thankyou for posting this fascinating story. The diplomat's actions took a lot of real bravery.
He was the Danish vice consul, a Dutchman by the name of Cornelis Dirk Van Vliet. This thread was for him. A few years ago I felt I had to make sure his family knew what this men meant to me and so many others and started looking for his descendents.
The family did indeed not know about his heroic act and were excited to hear the story, it now has become part of their family history they'll share with their children.
S; Here's a good website on Camps in the Dutch East Indies if you want to read more; indischekamparchieven.nl Another site (Dutch); japanseburgerkampen.nl And this is where I got a few of the illustrations from, you can find more there; geheugen.delpher.nl/en/geheugen/...
A bit on the Bersiap period; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bersiap And on the Japanese camps; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilia...
Adding these great pictures; A Gurkha swinging his khukri. Recipients of the Victoria Cross, Gurkha, and Indian. Gurkha & Sikh soldier inspecting a khukuri. I wish I had an original 1940s Khukuri knife.
Did you see "VJ Day 80: We Were There" on BBC Two last Wednesday? A good watch. I didn't know about the Chindits...
Het kost een paar centen, maar dan heb je ook wat. thevaultmilitaria.com/product/ww2-...
I was stationed with Gurkha units with the UN. They still carry khukris, though I've never heard of one for sale.
Knowing that you owe your life to so many strangers from so many different backgrounds is very humbling. I think knowing and realising this made me a better person, more grateful. Eternal gratitude to all tho then fought for our freedom & lives.
A fascinating retelling of awful times. Thank you for sharing your family's story with us.
Thank you, Jo. I've had Dutch-Indo friends nearly my entire life. Our family still enjoys foods we learned from them.
What an amazing story, featuring some astonishing bravery and kindness. Thank you for sharing
Thanks Jo, what an interesting stort, and what amazing drawings. It's always fascinating to hear about these unfamiliar corners of History.
Wow. Powerful and moving accounting. I'm *so* sorry your family experienced that and as someone who believes in + experiences generational trauma, my ❤️ goes out to u. Heard a similar story by someone who was in a camp in Philippines. When she + family were liberated no one wanted to hear their
story or knew how to respond. As a result they stopped talking abt it. Never forgot that. So glad you found the diplomat and were able to tell the story to his family. Growing up I experienced too many traumatic events. So many ppl along the way helped me survive and move on until I got the help
I needed. Didn't recognize it at the time but sure do now. It's humbling to realize I didn't survive all by myself. It took "a village". 1 person in particular I've tried to find to say thank you, but can't find him. Others have passed. I'm humbly grateful to them all. Can so relate to you. TY. ❤️
It's awful but everyone back then had to deal with PTSD, so I can't really blame one group not understanding or listening to another group, they had their own traumas. To make things worse the next generation, beatniks/hippies, didn't care at all or were too confrontational & accusatory.