May 1945. Liberation. But Not For Everyone.

25 June 2019

We seem to have forgotten most of history and learned very very little.

After the Allied invasion of France, Germany was conquered by the Soviet Union from the east and the other Allies from the west, and capitulated in May 1945 ^[1]. Following euforie troughout Western Europe.

Ofcourse lots and lots and lots of other peoples didn’t have control over own their country’s at that time. Although in general the colonisation of the world by Europeans is not regarded as 'a war', it is a topic for another time. Still, the effects of century’s of killing, plundering and suppression on the America’s, Afrika and Asia is undeniable. It ìs also a war. Of sorts.

Japanse prisoners

For all Dutch and other citizens in the Asian region, World War II is not ended when Western Europe is libertated from the Germans. They are still under occupation of Japan, or prisoner - POW and civilian - in camps in several locations on Japanese occupied territory. Including many members of my family (Dutch).

Grandfather is on Kyushu in Fukuoka 8B in Japan working in the 'Yamano' colemine of Mitsui Mining Co (Mitsui Kozan). Several other Bastiaans where also held as POW on Kyushu in Fukuoka camps.

Robert and Henri Bastiaans are in Birma ^[2] working the railway, Michiel Bastiaans is POW in Changi (Singapore), Hein Raaphorst, Willy van Riet and Willy Tak in Tjimahi (Java).

Robert, Henri, Willy van Riet and Willy Tak didn’t survive the camps.

Independence of Indonesia

Days after V-J Day, on august 17 1945, Sukarno declares the 'Republic of Indonesia' with himself as president.

The exact date of the war’s end in Asia is not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945 (V-J Day), rather than the formal surrender of Japan, which was on 2 September 1945 that officially ended the war in Asia ^[3].

Nevertheless, the Japanese in Java and Sumatra start to disband the Peta/Giyugun and Heiho, dismantling command structures and membership in august.

'Buitenkampers'

Grandmother Elvir], 2 of her sisters ('Tien' and Nettie) and a friend (Annie Vleugels), mother and uncle, where living in Bandoeng most of 1945. In may they all lived together in the house of 'tante Tien', my grandmothers sister.

Tante 'Tien' is married to Hein Raaphorst. Other sister 'tante Nettie' is married to Willy van Riet. Annie is married to Jack Vleugels, who is a friend and KNIL-ML^[4] colleague of grandfather.

They all survived the war outside of the Japanese camps. Stories of the so called 'Buitenkampers' are mostly ignored and untold ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8].

Bersiap

August 17 1945 marks the start of 'Bersiap' ^[9]. Violence occurring during the increasing power vacuum left by the retreating Japanese occupational forces and rages on untill december 1946.

map year 1945 aug 22 indonesia

It was common for ethnic 'out-groups' — Dutch internees, Eurasians, Ambonese and Chinese — and anyone considered to be a spy, to be subjected to intimidation, kidnap, robbery, and sometimes murder, even organised massacres.

Early september 1945, shortly after the decleration if independance, brawls break out in Surabaya between Indonesian youths and -newly freed- Europeans. Father, mother and 2 brothers of my grandfather where killed in their house by Indonesians (See annex).

On september 19 1945, a pro-Republic rally of an estimated 200,000 people gathered by Tan Malaka is held in Jakarta in what is now known as Merdeka (Independence) Square.

Many of the Indonesian militia and some Japanese troops had no intention of allowing Indonesian disarmament, and in places like Bandung open conflict broke out.

Everybody living in the house of 'tante Tien' is forced to flee to a refugeecamp at the Wenckebachlaan in Bandoeng. Controversially the camp is being guarded by Japanese soldiers against the Indonesians.

On oktober 3 Japanese Military Police (Kenpeitai) massacre Republican pemuda in Pekalongan.
Oktober 10 Japanese troops push Republicans out of Bandung and a week later hand the city over to the British.
Japanese troops begin Oktober 14 to reclaim Semarang. Republicans retaliate by killing between 130 and 300 Japanese-held prisoners.
On oktober 20 Japanese have almost won Semarang but 500 Japanese and 2,000 Indonesians are killed. British troops arrive in Semarang.
On oktober 25 6,000 British Indian troops arrive to evacuate Indonesian-held internees. Within 3 days fighting begins; 20,000 Indonesian armed regulars and mobs of 70,000-140,000 kill much of the British force and are about to wipe out the entire force.
late October: The British attempt to evacuate Eurasians and Europeans from volatile inland central Java. British detachments are sent into Ambarawa and Magelang to evacuate 10,000 detainees (mostly women and children). Air strikes are used to counter Republican resistance.
November 10: At dawn, following Mallaby’s death the previous month, British troops begin a punitive sweep through Surabaya under the cover of naval and air bombardment, but meet fanatical resistance. The city is conquered in three days, but fighting continues for three weeks. At least 6,000 Indonesians die and thousands flee. 10 November is now commemorated in Indonesia as Heroes’ Day.

Some go, some stay

With the 'Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees' RAPWI (Dutch) program from Mountbatten some family was evacuated to Australia and reunited with husbands an fathers who where liberated from Japanese POW camps (Dutch).

Because they are married to KNIL-ML personnel, redeployed at NEI-PEP in Brisbane, grandmother, mother, uncle and Annie are evacuated to Australia by B-57 in the second half of november. Tante Tien and Nettie are staying on Java ^[10]. And with them, lots of others, are now under threat of Indonesians for the coming 4 years.
It doesn’t help that the Dutch deploy 2 'Politionele Acties' to regain what they think is theirs. It doesn’t help dat local born KNIL personnel fight their former neighbours. Conflicted, they are all forced to leave their country of birth when the colonial wars are lost.

Annex

Willy, Catrien, Benno en Johnnie Bastiaans murdered by indonesians

Ouders en 2 broers van mijn grootvader. In september 1945 in Soerabaja vermoord door Indonesiers tijdens Bersiap periode. Hun lichamen zijn nooit gevonden.

Nicolaas William

65 jaar oud

Catrien de Bell

61 jaar oud

Benno Bastiaans

15 jaar oud

Johnnie Bastiaans

14 jaar oud

Maps based on the work of

Ollie Bye (Youtube)

Table 1. Chronolist 1945
Date	year	what	relevant
19-02-45	1945	US troops land on Iwo Jima, Japan	-
03-03-45	1945	Manila liberated	-
01-04-45	1945	Okinawa (01Apr-21Jun)	US troops invade Okinawa
01-05-45	1945	First of 40 P51D arriving Australia ( mei en juni ). The rest between oktober 1945 and maart 1946	19 P51 (N3-600/618) delivered at Dutch Personnel and Equipment Pool te Brisbane.
13-05-45	1945	Australian troops occupy Wewak	Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea.
10-06-45	1945	Arrival of Dutch Forces in North Sumatra	Australian forces land in Brunei. Dutch forces land in North Sumatra.
06-08-45	1945	an atomic bomb was dropped by American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, detonating above Hiroshima, Japan.	Nearly 80,000 people are believed to have been killed immediately, with possibly another 60,000 survivors dying of injuries and radiation exposure by 1950
08-08-45	1945	Russia declares war on Japan	Soviet troops enter Manchuria (9/8)
09-08-45	1945	Val van de atoombom op Nagasaki. "Fat Man" was dropped from the B-29 bomber Bockscar	Fukuoka 8B is ongeveer 120 kilometer verwijderd. An estimated 39,000 people were killed outright by the bombing a further 25,000 were injured.
12-08-45	1945	Soviet troops enter Korea	-
15-08-45	1945	Capitulatie Japan	VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
17-08-45	1945	Bersiap start	Euphoria of revolution spreads across the country
17-08-45	1945	republic Indonesia proclamated	-
17-08-45	1945	The Japanese in Java and Sumatra disband the Peta/Giyugun and Heiho, dismantling command structures and membership.	17 to 25 August
18-08-45	1945	Grandmother + 2 sisters, mother and uncle in refugeecamp Wenckebachlaan	at the start of the war, they where forced to leave their house to Gedong Sebilan 13 in Bandoeng. They lived with other family’s. Around '43 the moved in the house of grandmothers sister at Jalan Juanda.
22-08-45	1945	The Japanese announce their surrender publicly across Indonesia.	-
28-08-45	1945	US troops enter Japanese main islands	-
30-08-45	1945	British troops re-occupy Hong Kong	-
01-09-45	1945	Brawls break out in Surabaya between Indonesian youths and newly freed Europeans.	september
02-09-45	1945	Formal Japanese surrender on deck of USS Missouri	-
12-09-45	1945	Opa Evacuatie Fukuoka 8B kamp	n Fukuoka 8b zitten op dat moment 573 gevangenen, waaronder 274 Nederlanders, 233 Britten en 66 Amerikanen. 25 gevangenen hebben hun internering niet overleefd. Hij woog 38 kg toen hij uit het kamp kwam.
14-09-45	1945	De KNIL luitenant Westerling wordt op 14 september 1945 met een team van 4 Nederlandse militairen boven het vliegveld van Medan gedropt.	Vrijwel in zijn eentje wist Westerling tientallen Nederlandse, Molukse en Chinese gezinnen van een wisse dood te redden. Hij vertrekt op 3 juli 1946 naar Batavia.
19-09-45	1945	Pro-Republic rally of an estimated 200,000 people gathered by Tan Malaka is held in Jakarta in what is now known as Merdeka (Independence) Square. Fearing violent confrontations with the Japanese, Sukarno manages to convince the crowd to disperse.	(empty)
21-09-45	1945	Grandfather 21 september liberated as POW (registrationlist)	In Manilla worden de ex-krijgsgevangenen heringedeeld bij de KNIL.
30-09-45	1945	Bundaberg arrival Grandfather	probably working at NEI-PEP
30-09-45	1945	By September 1945, Westerling and his KNIL unit controlled the restive island of North Sumatra	-
03-10-45	1945	Japanese Military Police (Kenpeitai) massacre Republican pemuda in Pekalongan.	-
10-10-45	1945	Japanese troops push Republicans out of Bandung and a week later hand the city over to the British.	-
14-10-45	1945	Japanese troops begin to reclaim Semarang. Republicans retaliate by killing between 130 and 300 Japanese-held prisoners.	-
15-10-45	1945	RAPWI vliegdienst vervoerde ML-KNIL en hun families , Grandmother, mother and uncle to from Bandoeng to Australia in a B-57
20-10-45	1945	Japanese have almost won Semarang but 500 Japanese and 2,000 Indonesians are killed. British troops arrive in Semarang.	-
25-10-45	1945	6,000 British Indian troops arrive to evacuate Indonesian-held internees. Within 3 days fighting begins; 20,000 Indonesian armed regulars and mobs of 70,000-140,000 kill much of the British force and are about to wipe out the entire force.	-
30-10-45	1945	late October: British attempt to evacuate Eurasians and Europeans from volatile inland central Java. British detachments are sent into Ambarawa and Magelang to evacuate 10,000 detainees (mostly women and children). Air strikes are used to counter Republican resistance.	-
		Sukarno and, Hatta and Amir Sjarifuddin are flown in by the British to negotiate and negotiate a ceasefire. Six hours later fighting breaks out again and British commander, Brigadier A.W.S. Mallaby is killed. In a subsequent lull in fighting, British reinforcements are brought in and the internees are evacuated.	-
10-11-45	1945	At dawn, following Mallaby’s death the previous month, British troops begin a punitive sweep through Surabaya under the cover of naval and air bombardment, but meet fanatical resistance. The city is conquered in three days, but fighting continues for three weeks. At least 6,000 Indonesians die and thousands flee. 10 November is now commemorated in Indonesia as Heroes� Day.	-
		Battle of Surabaya	fought between pro-independence Indonesian soldiers and militia against British and British Indian troops
15-11-45	1945	Arrival Grandmother, mother and uncle in a refugeecamp near Brisbane	Recuperation around ~ 1 week. Then for 2 weeks to other location.
30-11-45	1945	Arrival Grandmother, mother and uncle in Bundaberg	Staying ~ 10 maanden. Reunited with grandfather who worked at the nearby airfield as a KNIL-ML mechanic.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany

2. THE THAILAND-BURMA RAILWAY CENTRE http://www.tbrconline.com/index.htm

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

4. ML-KNIL: Militaire Luchtvaart afdeling van het Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger

5. 'Buitenkampers'. http://www.indischhistorisch.nl/tweede/oorlog-en-bersiap/world-war-ii-and-bersiap-period-1945-1949-buitenkampers-ignored-and-untold-stories/

6. Buitenkampers Film on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/nl-en/title/81014705

7. Buitenkampers op Max: (Youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_8q5V_YBvE

8. Indo World (Dutch) https://myindoworld.com/tag/buitenkampers/

9. Bersiap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bersiap

10. Reasons for staying in Bandoeng are unknown. Maybe because their husbands where in Tjimahi and/or new deployment (Hein) was elsewhere in Indonesia. In fact nobody knows what happened to them between november '45 and '50. Hein, Tien and daughter Henny (1947) went to Holland on the MS Oranje january 30 1950