Between The Fences

There is now a guard standing at our gate--all day and all night. Maybe there are more soldiers around our property. It's hard to tell. I guess we are amongst the lucky families. Our house is very nice, so I don't mind being locked up and I'm with my family. I will miss the garden. I will miss going to Sunday School.

Are we going to run out of food? Maybe the guard will let us pick fruit from our trees. Yes, the jackfruit will feed us all.

Mammie did something very dangerous tonight. I think my brother helped her but I'm not sure. Our neighbors next door are Chinese. They are still free. It looks like the Japanese will leave them alone. They own a rijst pellerij (rice factory). Somehow they flattened out a 100-kilo-bag of rice (125lbs), dug a hole under our fence and left it there for Mammie to get whenever it was safe. Those big burlap bags make good pillow cases.

Mammie says our neighbors will give the children treats. Can you imagine the delight when she gave us bean bak pao? More than a treat for me.

The House And Garden

I remember when Pappie and Opa were still with us. Oma was with us too. Supper with the whole family was very fun. There were nine of us and we all fit around our djati wooden table in the middle of our dining room. We had so much food that I would never have guessed we would ever go hungry. I loved having everyone living together. Oh, and did I tell you that our marble floor was a very good place for sliding? Well, it was and still is.

Pappie is a very rich man. I don't know how we are rich but it has something to do with electricity. And Opa's brother owns a brick factory. It seems that our family is very blessed. Pappie and Mammie bought all of us children a house. Mine was purchased when I was born. Maybe I will have a garden like we have now.

Our garden has many trees. We have four different kinds of mangoes: Madu, Golak, Gandeng (which grows in pairs like cherries), and Aromanis. Also growing all over our plantation is semanka (papaya), pisang (banana) and assam (tamarind) trees. But it is our Jackfruit tree that will be our main source of food now that the war has started. They are bearing lots of fruit which weigh up to 40 lbs. and grow closest to the house. The villagers are welcome to take what they need. We must share the wealth.

Kampong (The Village)

I think I should tell you about the brave people in the kampong behind our house. It is true, I believe, that my family and I would certainly be dead if not for their courage. There is a very rough trail through the jungle of jack fruit trees, banana trees, and those star fruit trees.

We follow this trail behind the huts, through the forest, to church. All the people in the kampong live in little huts made from bamboo poles and bamboo mats are used for walls. The people are very poor. But like I said they are very brave and kind to us. I pray they will make it through this war alive.

They let us hide behind their huts. The Japanese soldiers never find us and the villagers never tell them that we are there. Maybe the jungle looks too scary for the soldiers. In any case our hike through the forest is always a safe one even though I can still hear the bombs falling in the distant.

I thank the Lord Jesus for all the nice people that make our lives quite livable. Soon I will tell you of a few individuals who risk their lives to save ours. For now, it is safer that I don't talk about them yet.

Capitulation 1942

(Left) Japanese bombs destroy ammo stacks in Soerabaja.

KNIL (Dutch) soldiers surrender.

Pictures from Java Gallery.

A Path To Church

March: All over Java women and children are prisoners inside their own homes. All the men, and boys 12 and older, have been taken away. I don't know where Papa and Opa are. It's probably better that way.

Mamma fears for our lives every day. Early each morning she prays to our Jesus in Heaven. We are only half Indonesian and half Dutch. This is not a good thing apparently. I will try to find out why later.

Our friends next door are Chinese. They are still free and Mamma says they will help us as much as they can. Rumor has it that when we run out of food the Japanese will not allow us to get anymore. We will need our friends to help get food for us. Mamma is good at rationing what we have, but it's probably only enough for a week.

My older siblings, Greta and Frederick, have been going to church on their own. But Mamma says it's very important that we all go together now. I know it in my heart that Jesus will help us through this awful time. Every night I kneel by my bed, fold my hands, and talk to Him and He always makes me feel less scared. Sometimes He takes my fear completely away. I wish I could feel like that all the time.

It will take us fifteen minutes to walk to church and we will have to be very careful. We will stay in the shadows of our trees and sneak through the village behind our property. The villagers are very good people. They will help us.

Gunfire is all around us. Do they see us? Are they shooting at us? Don't scream. Run. Keep running. Don't scream. Bullets sound like the rushing wind. We keep running. The villagers show us the way to safety. For now, we are safe.

War Comes Home

These are the first stories my mom can remember as we try to put the pieces of her life all in order. Information of dates, times and places are still sketchy but I can feel it come together. She does want to make it clear that she harbors no anger against the Japanese or the Indonesian people. These are her earliest memories . . .


March 1942:

Japanese soldiers came today. They took my Pappie and Opa away. Mom won’t tell us where they’ve been taken, only that we will see them again. She’s a good Christian woman but today she told a lie—maybe even two. I don’t think we’ll see Pappie and Opa again, for one, and she also said that my older brother was only ten years old. He’s really twelve. Though I do think that God will forgive her because that lie allowed us to keep our brother home, it was still a lie. I don’t like what this war has done to all of us.

The Japanese soldier in charge said that we were not to leave our house. If we did they had the right to shoot us. I’m not quite sure who gave them that right but I believe they really will shoot us and without one feeling of guilt. So we are under house arrest, I think that’s what adults call it.

Most of the Dutch soldiers left before the Japanese soldiers came to Soerabaja. We could have used their help. Some of them stayed. Unfortunately most of them were captured and killed. I don’t understand all this killing. What is it we have done to make them so mad?

I learned in Sunday school that we are to love our enemies. This is hard to do for me, but I know I must try. Furthermore, it seems that if we are to get back to Sunday school we will have to break the new law—all Indonesian people must stay inside their homes. Like most kids, I thought it would be exciting to be known as a criminal, but it really isn’t fun at all. Let me explain.

A few days locked up in our house was enough to drive a normal person a little crazy, especially when you have to share everything with your sister and brothers. Mammie announced that this was the night we were going to leave the house for a few hours. “We’re going to church,” she said.

We were very happy, indeed, but we were ill prepared for what was coming.