March 2020 AanspraakAfdeling Verzetsdeelnemers en Oorlogsgetroffenen

Eva Weyl gives talks at schools about her first-hand experiences of camp Westerbork Contents

Page 4 Speaking for your benefit.

Page 5 Announcement by the Board of Directors of the SVB: Ruud van Es bids farewell to V&O and introducing Coen van de Louw.

Page 6-9 As a survivor I feel like a fortunate person. Eva Weyl gives talks at schools about her first-hand experiences of camp Westerbork.

Page 10-13 The war has still a grip on me. Japanese internment camp survivor Gerard Pauw rescued his mother from the line of fire.

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 2 Page 14-16 Jack of all trades, master of most. Ed Waisvisz recounts his time in the Dutch East Indies and the effect it has had on his life.

Page 17 Questions and answers.

No rights may be derived from this text. Translation: SVB, Amstelveen.

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 3 Speaking for your benefit

This year, 2020, marks the 75th anniversary of the painful and burdensome an experience may be, end of the Second World War. Consequently, all we have the freedom to choose how we react.’ manner of activities are being undertaken to com- memorate three quarters of a century of freedom. ‘There is a choice: you can free yourself from your In addition to the customary remembrance ceremo- trauma and choose freedom.’ This view triggered a nies and special municipal activities, survivors and major breakthrough for Edith Eger. She completed surviving relatives are reliving the liberation through her degree in psychology, obtained a doctorate, newspaper and television interviews, often invoking and decided, through working as an experiential deep emotions. One thing I’ve noticed about the expert and professional therapist, to help others way people perceive living in freedom is that, aside process their traumas – not just the traumas suffered from a small dose of luck, personal choices can be by veterans, for instance, but also traumas resulting key in equipping them to cope with the misery of from other profound experiences. Edith Eger’s story war and process it after the fact. This is something is testament to the importance of sharing personal I’ve also observed in the interviews in Aanspraak experiences, as well as realising that there is always magazine, and personal accounts in books. a choice, and that one’s own attitude matters. This is what these 75 years of freedom are all about – the One book I was very touched by was ‘The Choice: connection between the war and its ripple effect, Embrace the Possible’, written by the Hungarian- now and in the future. That information and aware- Jewish authoress Edith Eva Eger. It’s an impressive ness will remain part of the emotional baggage of story. Known as the ‘Ballerina of Auschwitz’ because the young and of future generations. she would be sent for to dance for Dr Jozef Mengele at Auschwitz, as a sixteen-year-old girl Edith miracu- Someone who understands that setbacks are a part lously and admirably survived both Auschwitz and of life, and that how we deal with those setbacks is Mauthausen. After she and her younger sister were key, is my fellow Sociale Verzekeringsbank columnist, liberated, Edith spent many years feeling trapped Ruud van Es. Despite having been struck down by in a secret world of her wartime experiences, in her a serious illness that eventually forced him to with- feelings of guilt for having survived while others draw from his position, Ruud has managed to remain hadn’t, and by the conviction that she shouldn’t bur- positive. This is something I have tremendous respect den her children and other people with her ‘trauma’. for. You can read more about this elsewhere in She carried this heavy burden until she became this magazine. inspired by the story of another Auschwitz survivor, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, whose philosophy led her to confront these issues head-on: ‘Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any Dineke Mulock Houwer given set of circumstances (...) however frustrating, Chair of the Pension and Benefit Board

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 4 Announcement by the Board of Directors of the SVB

Ruud van Es bids farewell to V&O Introducing Coen van de Louw

From 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2019, Coen van de Louw (1963) became a member of Ruud van Es was responsible for the administra- the Board of Directors of the Sociale Verzekerings- tion of the Department for Former Members of bank (SVB) in 2015, and has been officially reap- the Resistance and Victims of War (V&O) as part pointed as from 12 April 2020. His portfolio as from of his SVB portfolio. In his SVB career as Director 1 January 2020 includes the care and responsibility of one of the regional offices, Director of Client for members of the resistance and war victims. Service Operations, and finally as a Member of the Board of Directors, Ruud van Es was closely Coen van de Louw looks ahead to his new role connected to the provision of services for members ‘I am delighted to be able to work for the SVB for of the resistance and victims of war. Unfortunately, another five years, and this special portfolio will also ill health has now forced him to lay down his tasks give me the opportunity of occasionally Speaking and pass responsibility for the V&O department for your benefit. to his successor and fellow board member, Coen van de Louw. ‘It is clear to me that everyone in the V&O department is very dedicated to supporting their Ruud van Es looks back on his time with V&O clients as far as they can within the limits of the law. ‘In the many years that I have been involved in As a director, I am confident that they will continue the application and administration of the war to do their job well and improve it where possible. victims’ schemes, I have always shared the sense of passion and pride in the way the Department ‘I will also be representing the SVB at commemo- for Former Members of the Resistance and Victims ration ceremonies such as the recent National of War carries out its work. It is evident from our Holocaust Commemoration, where I witnessed the customer satisfaction surveys that this has also been apologies offered by Prime Minister Mark Rutte on recognised and appreciated by our clients. behalf of the government for the past actions of the Dutch state. ‘For me personally, it was an honour and pleasure to be able to meet representatives of the different ‘During the war, my grandfather was arrested by target groups in person, and to hear how our the Germans in Brabant, but he never spoke about services were received and where improvements, it. In the same way, my wife’s family refuse to talk however small, could still be made. We have also about their experience of the Japanese camps. had a good working relationship with the Pension I respect their position, of course, but I also have and Benefit Board, and with the Dutch Ministry of a lot of admiration for those who have found the Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) that carries ultimate courage to bear witness to their experiences in responsibility for the V&O schemes. In the past few this magazine. I believe it is essential that we can months, I have been able to properly prepare my continue to share their stories in this way in successor for this special task and I now feel that the future.’ I can say goodbye with confidence.’

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 5 As a survivor I feel like a fortunate person Eva Weyl gives talks at schools about her first-hand experiences of camp Westerbork.

Recently, on 26 January 2020, Eva Weyl gave a awarded the Iron Cross for their bravery as German speech at the Auschwitz Commemoration in the soldiers in the First World War. As honorary citizens, Wertheimpark in Amsterdam. “My name is not one they thought nothing could happen to them. My of the 102,000 on the list read out in Westerbork father’s sister was anything but convinced and of Jewish, Sinti and Roma people murdered in the emigrated to America in 1938. I first became aware German camps. I lived to tell the tale.” She contin- of the imminent danger after Kristallnacht in 1938, ues to tell her story at schools to warn pupils of when both of my grandfathers moved in with us and the dangers of intolerance and discrimination. there were discussions about the “krauts”. I loved my grandfather Wolff. His wife had died from an As a six-year-old German-Jewish girl, Eva illness in 1928. My grandmother Sophie Weyl had Weyl arrived at the transit camp Westerbork in passed away in hospital in Germany because, as a January 1942 together with her parents. She and Jewish woman, she didn’t receive timely treatment.’ her parents survived the war. As a guest speaker at Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre, she gives Call-up for Arbeitseinsatz in Westerbork talks at Dutch and German schools every year. ‘In January 1942, we were called up by the Jewish This is Eva’s story. Council to report for forced labour in Camp Westerbork. A year later, my grandfathers were German-Jewish family also called up. My father received an offer of hiding ‘In 1934, my parents, Hans Adalbert Weyl (1907) places from the resistance, but that would have and Margot Weyl-Wolff (1907), left Germany, where meant our family being split up, and my parents they had lived in Cleves, because Hitler had come wanted to remain together. For this reason, they to power and Jews were already being persecuted. obeyed the order. Everyone was allowed to bring Father’s family owned the first large department just one suitcase with them, and I took my doll. store in Cleves, where he had learned the trade. Shortly before we left, my mother replaced the He had a Jewish upbringing. My mother’s family buttons on my woolen winter coat with fabric was the opposite: they were what was referred to buttons, in which she hid rough diamonds – an as “assimilated”, which meant my mother had an investment at the time. She also sewed loops onto upbringing in which the Jewish faith did not play my coat so I could fasten it. I didn’t find out about a role. I was born on 7 June 1935 in Arnhem, where the diamonds until after the war. Fortunately, they I had a secular upbringing. My parents initially were never discovered, because we were searched spoke German, but learnt Dutch quickly because for gold and valuables upon our arrival.’ they had their own textile shop in Arnhem. Arrival ‘Being an only child, I was pampered and always ‘At that time, the railway line did not yet run into protected. Like many other Jews, my parents the camp, so when we arrived in Hooghalen we thought they were safe in the Netherlands because had to walk 6 kilometres. In January 1942, the it had remained neutral in the First World War. temperature fell well below zero. Everyone in the Furthermore, both of my grandfathers had been camp was walking around in their own clothes.

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 6 When we arrived in Westerbork, which had variety of factories built. There were numerous previously been a refugee camp, there were traditional workshops, such as a sewing shop, a already some fifteen hundred German Jews there shoemaker’s, a forge and an aeroplane disassembly who had previously fled Germany. In the wake of shop, so that everyone had a job. It was a world Kristallnacht, which had taken place in the night of of make-believe. There was a primary school, a 9-10 November 1938, many Jews wanted to leave playground, and synagogue services were even Nazi Germany as quickly as possible. In order to allowed on Shabbat. Mayors would visit to marry cope with the large numbers of refugees, the Dutch internees. Families remained together. There was government founded the Central Refugee Camp barely any abuse or murder. He had everyone Westerbork in 1939. By this time, it had become work from 1942 until the liberation. There was clear to the Jewish people that they needed to entertainment in the form of a large orchestra, take this threat seriously, and flee Germany. We lectures, and performances by German and Dutch were part of the first group of German Jews living stand-up comedians, until the final train left in in the Netherlands who were called up to go to September 1944. Maintaining this make-believe Westerbork. I slept with my mother in the women’s world and ensuring people were so well cared barracks, and my father had to go to a men’s for and had work is what enabled Gemmeker to barracks. For the first time in my life, I was separated transport so many people with little protest. No from my father, which was a major shock to me.’ one could believe that the next camp would be an extermination camp. Even during the Dutch famine The labour camp of 1944, we still had food. There was a camp hospital ‘My mother was in sheer disbelief at the fact that where the best Jewish doctors and nurses worked. she, coming from an assimilated family, was now Babies were delivered there and operations were imprisoned in a camp. For the first ten months, my performed. Camp commander Gemmeker once had father worked on the land on farms in the province an incubator brought from the hospital in Assen for of Drenthe that were under German guard. My a prematurely born baby, before putting the child mother was made to work in the wash house. I’d whose life had been saved and her parents on a train just turned six, and attended primary school six to an extermination camp. These are the lengths he days a week, where I was taught by Jewish teachers. would go to to keep up the facade.’ Children kept disappearing from my class, but at the same time, new ones kept appearing. This didn’t Everything changed for us surprise me, because we’d also arrived by train. ‘Within ten months, my father managed to get a job I assumed that we would also end up elsewhere in the administrative department. The advantage at some stage. We were required to stand for roll of having a job in this department was that you call to be counted, and would mostly eat mashed had a “Sperre”, which temporarily exempted you potatoes from the kitchen. My mother tried to from transportation. A Sperre was worth its weight protect me from everything. At night, if there was in gold. My father’s department was made up of panic amongst the women because they were on the four camp administrators. When my father got this deportation list, my mother would tell me I should job, everything changed for us. We were given our ignore the squabbling women and get some sleep. own small barracks, number 15, which we shared Because my mother was always with me, I felt safe.’ with Mr. and Mrs. Dresden who had put their two daughters in hiding. In this small house, we had A world of make-believe our own kitchen and own beds. It was a huge ‘Camp commander Albert Gemmeker was improvement. Certain people were allowed to leave responsible for sending Jews, Roma and Sinti for the camp for their work. For instance, my father had transportation. He turned the transit camp into to go and collect evidence for fellow internees who a village heavily guarded by Kapos. Above all, had applied for deferment of deportation because Gemmeker wanted to make himself useful to the they had wanted to go to Palestine before the war German government and keep all of the internees or had family there. Only then would you be eligible in the camp working. This led him to have a whole for a so-called “Palestine certificate”, which allowed

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 7 you to be exchanged with a German prisoner of a wool store and started knitting to pass the time. war who had been interned in the British-occupied On 12 April 1945, we heard fighting in the distance. Palestine. If my father didn’t return in time with the In the afternoon, the Canadians drove into the right evidence, we would have been put on the next camp in their tanks. We dropped our knitting and transport. If he was able to prove a family’s use to ran to greet our liberators outside the camp’s the occupiers, they would be removed from the gates, shouting, “The Tommies are coming!” The deportation list. With the help of a priest who was Canadians handed out chocolate bars and white a member of the resistance in Amsterdam, some bread, and the adults were mostly given packets internees were provided with backdated baptism of cigarettes. Everyone was really happy, and certificates or Christian marriage certificates. Those afterwards all of us had to return to the camp until papers were checked by the camp guards, so the further notice because the area surrounding the stamps needed to be accurate. When my parents camp was too dangerous. The Canadians left for came in from work, they would always play games Assen the same day. It would be another month with me and Mr. and Mrs. Dresden.’ before the Dresden family’s children moved in with their parents at the camp. Naturally, the family Almost transported three times over reunion was a big celebration.’ ‘My father didn’t manage to save either of my grandfathers from deportation to Theresienstadt. After the war One day, our names also appeared on the list. ‘Because we had to remain in the camp for so long, The first time, an administrator who was a friend I saw how members of the NSB were imprisoned of ours secretly removed our names from the list. in the camp after the liberation and how the new The second time, we were standing ready with Dutch guards and former internees would kick our suitcases early in the morning in front of our them. That was horrible to witness. We finally left barracks, when Allied planes started shooting at our the camp in July of 1945. Both of my grandfathers camp. They’d probably mistaken the tall chimney in were liberated from Theresienstadt. Grandad Weyl the camp for a German factory. This caused major went to in America to live with his daughter, where panic and everyone ran to the barracks for shelter. he passed away in 1948 from the consequences of In the chaos, the lists were lost and, fortunately for the war. While she was interned in the camp, my us, our transport didn’t go ahead. The third time mother started a relationship with another man. was when, in the summer of 1944, my father couldn’t My father divorced her immediately after the war in cope with his work anymore and wanted to put us on Assen in 1945. I lived with my mother in Amsterdam the train by his own volition. Sem Dresden convinced and my father was often away. In my teenage years, him otherwise. He said, “Here, you know how things I didn’t understand this and hated my mother and are, but you have no clue as to what’s awaiting her boyfriend, who fortunately suddenly disappeared you there! However awful your work is, you can’t again. My father continued to love my mother and go!” We’d occasionally receive positive reactions they remarried in 1948. They reopened our shop in from families for whom he’d arranged a Palestine Arnhem. During my studies at hotel management certificate. To them, he was a hero! Conversely, college, I met the Swiss man I would later marry and there was a woman who wouldn’t sit next to me have two children and five grandchildren with.’ at the birthday party of an American aunt of mine because she thought my father had sent her whole Fortunate family with a transport.’ ‘Thanks to my parents’ protection, I was spared any suffering during my childhood. I’m always Liberated by Canadian troops positive and, as a survivor, I feel fortunate. In ‘Camp commander Gemmeker and his team fled two 2018, after twelve years of giving talks at German days before we were liberated. We weren’t allowed and Dutch schools as a guest speaker for Camp to leave the camp because there was still heavy Westerbork Memorial Centre, I was awarded the fighting between the Allies and the German army. Bundesverdienstkreuz on behalf of the president Myself and some other children discovered of the Federal Republic of Germany at the German

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 8 Embassy in The Hague for sharing my eyewitness diamond ring for her. When I turned sixty, my mother experiences of the persecution of the Jews. I’m gave me the ring, and only then did she tell me the proud of this award. The Nazis took everything our story behind it. Whenever I wear the ring, I carry the family had, murdered many people and, in a manner history of our survival with me. After I die, the ring of speaking, murdered our name, too. Thanks to the will be exhibited at Camp Westerbork Memorial Verdienstkreuz, the Weyl name has been restored. In Centre with a video of my life story. By telling my a way, it also feels like our honour has been restored. life story, I want to make young people aware of The story that gets the most questions from children intolerance so they’ll fight against discrimination. is the one about my coat. Years after the war, my That’s my biggest wish.’ mother reminded my father about the raw diamonds in the buttons, which he had made into a beautiful Interview: Ellen Lock

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 9 The war has still a grip on me Japanese internment camp survivor Gerard Pauw rescued his mother from the line of fire.

Gerard Pauw lives in Huisduinen, in the far north in Surabaya. Because our father was always away of the Dutch province of North Holland, with his at sea, my brother and I were free to get up to all wife, Corrie. From their home, they have a view kinds of mischief. These were the best years of my of the Huisduinen Lighthouse. Aged 92, Gerard is life. On Sunday afternoons, my parents would want keen to share his experiences of the war while he to play bridge, and would give us money to go to still can. His wife says, “The war often bothers him. the Cineac. It was wonderful to be able to see so He sometimes kicks me during the night. Although many films on just one cinema ticket! Every day, it’s taxing for him, he wants to tell his story.” my brother and I would climb the three tall trees Gerard adds, “Because you never know, there in front of the house, in which we would chase our may still be other camp inmates alive out there. gibbon [monkey] in vain. After we had enjoyed three I miss my three friends from the camp more carefree years in the Dutch East Indies, war broke than anyone!” out with Japan.’

The best years of my life Temporary deferment of Japanese internment ‘My father served in the Royal Netherlands Navy in ‘Shortly before the war, my youngest sister, Gerda, Den Helder. He trained cadets and would be away had volunteered to distribute food to the poor in the at sea for months at a time. My mother married him kampongs. By coincidence, father had just arrived by proxy, which is what you did if you married your in town when his Naval unit received orders to leave partner at the register office in his absence. My for Tjilatjap on the south coast to evacuate the crew parents moved in together at Van Hogendorpstraat members with families. Our cases were packed, 52 and had three daughters: Bep, Sjaan and Gerda. ready for us to follow our father, but then Surabaya I came into the world on 28 September 1927, was occupied by the Japanese. All of the European followed by my younger brother, Cor, six years later. men were interned. After a couple of months, the We had a Roman Catholic upbringing. European women were also ordered to the camps, but thanks to Gerda’s voluntary work, we were given ‘In 1937, my father was stationed in Surabaya for months of deferment. She wore a red armband as the final period of his three-year stint in the Navy. proof of deferment and was able to bring us food We were allowed to go and join him as a family, from work. We were able to entrust a large trunk to and departed separately from Rotterdam with my the parents of her Chinese school friend. Because mother on the passenger ship Indrapoera. I was we were without father’s income, my mother became ten years old at the time, and was given my own adept at finding ways to earn money for shopping. leather suitcase for my things. In Port Said, we were Once, she took a bedspread and used it to knit socks allowed to go ashore for 24 hours, and I got to that my brother and I sold to the Japanese. I also pick a souvenir. I chose a beautiful book containing repaired bicycles in the women’s camp in the Darmo photos of traditional oriental clothing, and it survived quarter, which you could simply walk in and out of at the war in my suitcase. Father rented a house the time. This camp was fairly quickly fenced off and with a large garden for us at Hogendorplaan 46 was guarded by Japanese soldiers.’

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 10 Interned in the women’s camp young and remained with my mother. Naturally, I in the Darmo quarter cried at having to leave my family as we were driven ‘On 11 January 1943, mother had to report at the away in army trucks. Fortunately, my mother had put women’s camp in the Darmo quarter with her a blanket and a little box with a few useful items in five children. We were housed with a French lady my suitcase. Those items would later came in handy. who also had five children. Contact with people A short while later, we arrived in the men’s camp outside the camp was forbidden, but I would pick in Halmaheira, a small village made up of stone ripe mangos from the trees, put them in a stocking houses, which was also part of Semarang. Together and sneakily sell them over the bamboo fence to a with another boy, I was placed in one of these small friend from the kampong. After a month, all of the houses with two men for a maximum period of two internees were made to walk in line to the station in months. The only positive thing about it was that it Surabaya, where we departed in a train with blacked- reunited me with my old classmate Rudie Broekman.’ out windows to an unknown destination. We were able to sit together as a family, but all of the children The 15th Battalion Encampment in Bandung were screaming because there was no toilet in the ‘In January 1944, Rudie Broekman and I were packed carriage. The stench was horrendous. After transported to the 15th Battalion Encampment, four hours, we arrived at Semarang station in Central a former barracks of the Royal Netherlands Indies Java. From there, we were taken to the Gedangan Army (KNIL), in Bandung, together with some Convent women’s camp in army trucks.’ two hundred other young men. The encampment housed around three thousand prisoners of war, All of the older boys were taken to the men’s camp who had been interned there by the Japanese. In ‘When we arrived, we saw several nuns walking the large sheds that housed us, we each had a space across the square in front of the convent. We stood of only 60 centimetres to sleep in. It was cold at in long queues in the courtyard while the Japanese night time, and my mother’s blanket turned out to soldiers counted us, and made us bow deeply to be my salvation. The camp had separate barracks them. As a fourteen-year-old boy, I was made to for the Chinese and Jews. The camp regime was sleep separately with all of the other boys, who run by a single Japanese officer, who maintained were divided between three classrooms. If you a strict regime. Most of the guards, however, were needed to go to the toilet in the night, you had cruel Koreans, who would beat us severely for any to be accompanied by a Japanese guard. I would misdemeanour. see my mother or sisters in the daytime, however, because I worked in the kitchens and would serve ‘As a means of survival, myself and three other men rice or watery soup to the internees. Together with formed a collective known as a “kongsi”. This meant another boy who worked in the kitchens, I would we would work together, share what little food we carry the heavy drums by attaching them to a stick I had, and keep an eye on one another. The other would rest on my shoulder. When we’d cleaned the members of my kongsi were Hans Piepenbrink, Joop large pans, we would throw the crusts we’d scraped Franken and Rudie Broekman. One day, a Korean from them into the disposal chute, which went into guard made Rudie Broekman and I stand opposite the “kali” [river]. Through a crack in the camp fence, one another and slap each other in the face. When I I would watch hungry people from the kampong on didn’t slap Rudie hard enough, the guard punched the other side of this chute fishing grains of rice out me in the jaw. We were made to dig deep ponds of our rice water. in the Japanese officer’s garden. Alongside the shed we lived in, we dug a wide, deep pool we ‘One day, I was washing myself in a packed would swim and wash ourselves in. My kongsi buddy bathhouse, when I suddenly heard several boys Hans Piepenbrink almost drowned in that pool sobbing loudly outside. Shortly after, my mother when he tried to swim in there at night and failed. told me, “Tomorrow, all of the older boys are being Fortunately, we heard him and managed to pull him sent to the men’s camp.” My little brother was too out just in time.’

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 11 Smuggling this cruel Heiho suddenly picked up a steel bar, with ‘A day of forced labour outside the 15th Battalion which he proceeded to strike the people in the front Encampment would earn us five cents and a biscuit. few rows hard in the back of the knees, making them With that money, we were able to buy some extra fall down. When he came to Joop Franken, he just food from the camp’s shop. In my mother’s box was kept on beating him, again and again. Exhausted, a hairpin, which I would use to hide extra money in the monster abruptly stopped and walked away. my thick mop of hair so I could also buy extra food in One of the other boys and I picked up our bloodied the camp. In the camp inspections, this always went friend Joop from the ground, put him in between undetected. Mother had also given me a small glass us, and dragged him back to our sleeping quarters. pill tube capped with a cork. When our heads were Whenever I think about this incident, it still fills me shaved on account of lice, I asked a camp doctor, with sorrow.’ “Could I hide this tube in my anus to smuggle money into the camp?” He told me this wasn’t Unexpectedly liberated dangerous, so from them on I would smuggle money ‘In the third week of August 1945, the Japanese into the camp when I had been selling shirts that had suddenly completely disappeared from the 15th belonged to older camp internees to people from Battalion Encampment. Our Dutch camp commander the kampong. Even though the money stank, it was informed us that Japan had surrendered on never discovered. 15 August. He warned us not to leave the camp because of the threat of attacks by Indonesian ‘Education was prohibited in the camp, but freedom fighters. After a couple of days, to my great Brother Schrader, who had been the headteacher surprise I read my father’s name on the pinboard. of a secondary school would give me fascinating He was on the list of people who were in Australia, lessons in Dutch, English, algebra and geometry. where he was safe in Melbourne. My kongsi buddies On 19 October 1944, he gave me my “first-class were over the moon for me. I received a letter from secondary school certificate”, which was written my sister Sjaan, who was in Semarang in Camp on a sheet of paper from a notepad. We were, on Lampersari, in which she told me that my mother occasion, allowed to write messages in Malay in was in hospital and asked me to come to see her. preprinted Japanese cards and send them to other At the end of August, the Red Cross gave me a free camps. When I received one of these cards from ticket to Semarang. When I arrived at the protection my sister Sjaan, who was interned at the camp in camp in Lampersari, my sister Sjaan was the first Lampersari, it came as a sign of life. She wrote that family member I found. We rented a cart together mother was in Camp Halmaheira in Semarang. to collect my mother from the hospital. We were We’d heard nothing from our father.’ shocked by how weak she was, and the fact that she weighed only 40 kilos. There was heavy fighting Forced labour in the vicinity of the hospital between the freedom ‘We had to build the embankment for the railway fighters and the British Indian Army, so we took our line from Madjalaja to Tjitjalenka. Early in the mother with us straight away on the handcart. We morning of 19 August 1945, I was transported from had arrived just in the nick of time, because a week the 15th Battalion Encampment to Tjitjalenka, which later the freedom fighters murdered the medical lay 25 kilometres east of Bandung, as part of a group staff and the patients and burned the hospital to of around 260 men. Looking outside was strictly the ground.’ forbidden. On the way back, one boy was caught doing so and the whole of our fifty-man work crew The reunion was made to pay. A Korean Heiho was standing ‘Once we’d re-established contact with our father ready with his wooden stick, when our kongsi buddy through the Navy, he had us brought over to Joop Franken said, “I’m going to stand in the front Melbourne. We were taken to Batavia under the line to get it out of the way quickly.” We shouted protection of British Indian Army and, from there, to him that it was a bad idea, and stayed where we we were flown Port Darwin in Australia in a B25 were, at the back. After a few goes with the stick, bomber. My brother and I lay at the front of the

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 12 plane in the glass turret with a fantastic view. account of my colour blindness. After graduating Upon our arrival in Port Darwin, we were first given from secondary school, I acquired a certificate in a medical examination and put in quarantine for bookkeeping. My first job as a bookkeeper was two days. My mother was severely malnourished, in the Naval Air Force’s technical division at De my sister had goitre – an enlarged thyroid gland – Kooy airport. Later, I worked as a bookkeeper for and I had oedema in my left leg. the armament workshops. Throughout my life, I’ve suffered from nightmares about the war, which is why ‘In the night, we were flown to a disused American we lead a quiet life by the seaside. My worst memory army base in Brisbane in a Dakota to convalesce is seeing my friend Joop Franken beaten to a pulp. for a week. After that, we were flown to Melbourne, He was the first of our kongsi to pass away, shortly where our father was waiting to be reunited with us after the war. after having not seen us for four years. The reunion was disappointing, because despite the fact that ‘My wife is my tower of strength. In many respects, I was stood in front, my father rushed past me, she understood what I was dealing with, because she straight into the arms of my mother. Now, I can had had to go into hiding at a very young age during understand it, but I couldn’t at the time. the war on account of her father’s involvement in the resistance. Her father refused to put people on ‘We found out that, during the Japanese occupation the trains to the concentration camps, so the whole of Surabaya in March 1942, he was sailing on one family had to go into hiding. of three Naval ships bound for Australia, when the first and third ships were torpedoed. Father was ‘Through group therapy with Professor Bastiaans on the second ship, which was not torpedoed, and at Centrum ‘45, I learned to talk about my wartime was therefore able to sail on to Australia. We stayed experiences, but my anxieties and nightmares never in Long Island, by the beach, with a hospitable went away. Years later, a psychiatrist prescribed me couple who had five children. I’m still in touch with some pills that helped me to sleep more easily, but one of the daughters. Father’s captain promised the war still has a grip on me. that I could sail back to the Netherlands on his Naval vessel, while my mother and younger brother ‘During the war, our old family photos were kept would fly home. My sisters would never return to safely in the trunk by our Chinese friends. I recently the Netherlands, as they found love and married typed out my wartime experiences for my children in Australia, Indonesia and America, respectively. and grandchildren and supplemented them with Father and I went to Surabaya and collected the photos from the trunk, because I think it’s important trunk from Gerda’s Chinese friend. All of our valuable for them to know why I’m often so tense. I remained possessions had been perfectly kept.’ in contact with all of my kongsi buddies, but unfortunately the last of them passed on recently. I’m no longer able to share those wartime The worst thing is that my friends from the camp experiences with anyone are no longer with us, because it means I’m no ‘Upon returning to the Netherlands, I was able to longer able to share those wartime experiences attend secondary school for three years in Utrecht, with anyone. We endured so much misery together. thanks to my “junior school certificate”. At my new In giving this interview, I hope to hear from some school, I met others who had been in the Dutch people who knew me at that time.’ East Indies and shared the same experiences. Regrettably, I was unable to join the navy on Interview: Ellen Lock

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 13 Jack of all trades, master of most Ed Waisvisz recounts his time in the Dutch East Indies and the effect it has had on his life.

Eduard Arnold (Ed) Waisvisz was born in Sintang four months, we were transferred again, this time (West Borneo) on 17 June 1937, the second son to Tangerang camp, situated in the youth prison of of Jewish parents, Max Waisvisz and Eveline Tanah Tinggi in the west of Batavia, near the railway. de Jong. His father was Inspector of Domestic We stayed there for about half a year until March Administration in Sintang. Ed’s upbringing was not 1944, when we were taken back to camp Adek.’ religious, and his early years were lived in compara- tive wealth and comfort. Towards the end of 1941, Separate sections his father was transferred to Palembang on Sumatra ‘In both Adek and Tangerang, there were separate and the rest of the family went with him. sections for Jews and Iraqis. We were placed in Jewish families, but as we hadn’t had a religious When the Japanese attacked Sumatra, Ed’s mother upbringing, I wasn’t aware of what was happening. left for Java taking Ed and his brother Herman, who I read in Aanspraak, but that was much later of was two and a half years older, with her. On the train course, that the Germans had insisted that the to Palembang, they saw the oilfields burning. They Japanese should house Jewish people away from reached Java safely and settled in Bandung. Soon the rest, which is why we had separate barracks. We after the Japanese occupation, Ed’s father, Max, was would stand for ages under the blistering sun during imprisoned in Muntok on the island of Bangka. roll call because they kept having to have a recount. If any of the women were missing, people would be The Japanese camps whipped. The fear and panic this caused left a deep ‘At the end of April 1943, the women and children impression on me as a child. were sent to the internment camp at Tjihapit, a fenced-off residential area in the north-east of ‘If there was no roll call, the little children would use Bandung. At first, the women were allowed to trade the area as a playground, but this was only allowed with the outside world, exchanging items of clothing as long as it was still daylight. Once, we were for food through the ‘gedek’, the bamboo fence. spotted playing after dark by a Japanese soldier. One day, my mother was standing behind the fence He caught me and made me run round the field when a Japanese patrol guard rammed his bayonet ten times holding my ear and nose with my hands through it without warning in order to force the crossed. After that, he kicked me hard in the back women back. He caught my mother in the face, and sent us all packing. In my memory, I was struck leaving her with a scarred lip for the rest of her life. by an enormous boot. In fact, he wouldn’t have had very big feet, but to a child it felt like the boot ‘At the end of 1943, we were transferred to the camp of a giant. My brother said I flew through the air at Adek, near the railway line from Koningsplein like a football. My back hurt terribly, but luckily the to Meester Cornelis. We were housed in barracks pain started to fade after a few days. Unfortunately, on the site of the General Deli Emigration Office, though, it led to a lot of back trouble after the war. where coolies had been recruited for the tobacco The other strong memory I have of Adek is of the plantations in Deli. The camp was surrounded by mortuary. People died there every day, and as a bamboo fencing and barbed wire. After three or child, I would walk past the dead bodies and wonder

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 14 about the things I saw. I can remember asking myself disembarked in Amsterdam and travelled to if the fly that was crawling out of one nostril was the Arnhem, where we stayed in a boarding house. same as the one I had seen going into the other. I was put into the arts stream at secondary school, Much later, I realised this was impossible, but at the but I found it difficult as I had only had four years time, I didn’t know a nasal septum existed.’ of primary school. At the end of 1950, we moved to Heemstede, and I switched to the science stream. Liberation and repatriation One of our neighbours there was a ships mate, ‘We were in Adek when the liberation came in and he made the world of maritime shipping sound August 1945. As we were leaving the camp, under very attractive. I wanted to be free and discover the protection of the English, I saw the Japanese the world. After the third year of secondary school, being loaded onto a truck. A couple of them had I moved to Vlissingen so that I could go to naval had their wrists broken to make sure they couldn’t college.’ do anything. Even today, if I hear someone gnawing on a chicken bone, I can’t help thinking of that. Life at sea ‘After I got my diploma in 1957, I served as ‘An amphibious vehicle took us out to our ship. apprentice mate for the Dutch Steamship Company. Suddenly, there was enough to eat – the English I loved the life and work on board, but ten- had found warehouses full of food supplies that had hour workdays including four-hour watches only been kept back by the Japanese. There were even exacerbated my back problems. By this time, I was sweets for the children; a real treat. We were taken studying to become third mate in large commercial via Batavia to Medan, our final destination. My father shipping, and I qualified in 1959. Despite my back had survived the war but when we met him again in problems, I was approved for training as a reserve Sumatra, I hardly recognized him. He had a beard officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy. and his stomach was badly swollen with edema. It was there that we heard that my grandparents and ‘In 1960, I started working for Stanvac (ESSO) as other family members in the Netherlands hadn’t third mate aboard commercial vessels sailing to survived the war but had been murdered in Poland. Indonesia. I enjoyed going back to the land of my birth, but on board, the watches were six hours on ‘I spent some time in hospital with the measles and and six hours off, which were often difficult because the effects of malnutrition. Finally, at the end of 1946, of the pain in my back. In 1961, after fifteen months’ we were able to sail to the Netherlands on the motor service, the deteriorating relations between the vessel Sommelsdijk. On the way back, we stopped at Netherlands and Indonesia meant that they had to Attaca where they gave us warm clothing to protect lay us off. I went back home and got a job as third us against the cold when we got to Rotterdam. For mate for the Iranian Tanker Company. In November the first few months in the Netherlands, we stayed 1962, I gained my second mate’s licence and started at my mother’s aunt’s house in The Hague before on the theoretical part of the training for first mate. moving to a boarding house.’ However, my back pain was getting steadily worse and in the end I was forced to stop sailing and look Back in the East Indies for work ashore. At the end of 1963, I started working ‘In 1947, my father went back to the East Indies, for the shipping office of Vinke & Co. The thing I where he was appointed Assistant Resident of West blame the Japanese for most is the damage that Java. We followed him a year later, settling in Batavia kick did to my back as a child; it ruined the career where I went to primary school. In 1949, my father I loved and deprived me of the wonderful times was promoted to Assistant Resident first-class in I could have had at sea.’ Surabaya, so we moved again. For a few months, I went to Bible school. The transfer of sovereignty From employee to entrepreneur was signed in December 1949, and around the ‘In 1964, I met Waanderdina (Wanda) Schurgers middle of 1950, the whole family left for the Nether- and we married on 3 August of the same year. Since lands on board the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. We then we have been inseparable, sharing everything

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 15 life has thrown at us. At first, we lived in Amsterdam case where they made handwriting comparisons, where I worked as editor of the magazine Bedrijf a technique much used in forensic research. Ed en Techniek (Business and Technology) for the Waisvisz explains: ‘You have to look at form and Diligentia Publishing Company. In 1969, I set up texture, the degree to which the letters are slanted, the successful magazine Bedrijfsdocumentaire rounded or joined up, the type of letter, spacing, (Business documentation) for the Born publishing spelling mistakes and punctuation.’ company. We moved to Osdorp, but because of tensions within the company, I left and set up my No time to relax own company in Vinkeveen, specialising in industrial Although they have both turned eighty and have documentation.’ a few health issues, they are still sometimes called upon to act as experts in court cases. There are Graphology and handwriting expertise plenty of other things to keep them busy too. ‘My wife Wanda had to give up her job as a Wanda is bound to her local community and feels doctor’s assistant for health reasons and decided responsible for the wellbeing of the residents to do something in her area of interest, which was (animals as well as people), so that she is sure to calligraphy and handwriting. As I always took her to report any dangerous or undesirable situations her course and picked her up again, I decided to to the agencies concerned. Ed reflects constantly start doing it myself; so we both became qualified on what he sees and experiences, which makes graphologists and certified and court-approved him wonder, ‘Am I the only one who sees when handwriting experts. In 1980, we set up a joint something is wrong that could easily be put right?’ company, E. and W. Waisvisz General Graphology There are often pavements along the inside walls of Agency, specializing in handwriting analysis, second tunnels where the edges form a potential danger. opinions, identity assessments and the psychological He wrote many letters about this, suggesting that it analysis of handwriting. As time went by, we did would be better to paint the edges black and white more and more work for the police, the courts and to make them easily visible. After years of waiting, he the legal profession, but also for businesses and finally saw this implemented. He also has ideas for private individuals who came to us for a second new inventions such as a drill where the drill pieces opinion to challenge the Netherlands Forensic could be changed by simply pressing a button in Institute (then known as the Forensic Laboratory). the manner of a multi-colour ballpoint pen. This idea Several judges based their judgments on the has since been patented in the Netherlands and the conclusions we had drawn.’ United States. He continues to find it difficult to talk about the war, but justice is and will always be of Ed and Wanda’s office at home is still full of the utmost importance. extensive files and thank you letters relating to their work as expert witnesses, from simple fraud cases involving forgery to the infamous Deventer murder Interview: André Kuijpers

Aanspraak - March 2020 - 16 Questions and answers

What can I do if I have lost my annual statement, Where can I find information on allowances or if I have not received it? under the Wubo to cover expenses? If you have lost your annual statement, you can ask Please refer to our brochure entitled the SVB Department for Members of the Resistance ‘Reimbursements and allowances under the Wuv and Victims of War (V&O) to send you another Act and the Wubo Act’ which is available on our copy. We will only send you an annual statement website (www.svb.nl/wvo). If you do not have internet if you are receiving a pension or benefit which is access, you can request a paper copy from our subject to taxation. If you are only receiving a tax- Department for Members of the Resistance and free increment under Article 19 of the Wubo, or Victims of War (V&O). On our website, you can allowances for expenses such as home help, we will also find the policy rules on awarding benefits as not send you an annual statement. formulated by the Pension and Benefit Board (PUR).

What expenses on court fees should I expect I live outside the Netherlands and used to receive if I want to lodge an appeal? a Wuv form around my birthday which I had to In relation to the Dutch schemes for former members complete in order to prove that I am alive. I have of the resistance and victims of war, reduced court not received a form this year. Will it be sent later? fees apply. If you disagree with a review decision At present, we do not send all of our clients outside by the Pension and Benefit Board (PUR) or the SVB the Netherlands a life certificate form in the month and you wish to lodge an appeal with the Central of their birthday. If we do, the form will always be Appeals Tribunal, they will charge a court fee of €48 sent within three months of the client’s birthday. We which has to be paid at the beginning of the appeal keep a precise record of the forms we send and who procedure. You should bear in mind that your appeal returns them. If a form is not returned to us, we will may not be processed if you do not pay on time. send a reminder with another copy of the form.

Do I have to pay for assistance if I want to claim PAYMENT DATES FOR 2020 benefits as a victim of war? Below is a list of the dates on which our payment No, you can get assistance free of charge from the orders will be sent to the banks.The dates for Stichting Pelita, the Stichting 1940-1945, JMW (Joods extraordinary pensions paid via the Stichting 1940- Maatschappelijk Werk), or De Basis. They will be 1945 differ from the dates shown below. The dates happy to help you for free. And of course, the SVB that payments are received in banks outside the Department for Members of the Resistance and Netherlands will also depend on the working days Victims of War (V&O) will also be happy to help you of the local banks concerned. free of charge. If you live outside the Netherlands, you can get assistance from the Dutch embassy 15 January 14 May 15 September without charge. 13 February 15 June 15 October 16 March 15 July 16 November 15 April 13 August 15 December

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