Source: https://www.trijaya-travel.com/memories-of-indonesia-historical-places-of-the-past/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 18:43:14+00:00

Document:
Guests who visited Indonesia in search of places of the past.
The colonial times ended many years ago. However many people have memories of this period as it was part of their lives. Some returned to Indonesia to search with memories tours for the places where they, or their parents or grandparents, had lived. They were looking for old houses, hospitals, plantations and former prison camps where they or their family had stayed during the Japanese occupation.
Since 1992 Tri Jaya Tour and Travel has received guests who were in search of former Japanese civil internment camps. Most of them stayed in camps on Sumatra, some on Java. Below is a list of guests who travelled with Tri Jaya Tour & Travel over Sumatra and Java in search of these places.
The first part of the stories below is a shortened version of my presentation Twenty Years of Return Tourism on Sumatra and Java. This text has been presented at the conference “Travelling Heritages. Return-tourism of WW II-veterans, survivors and relatives to and from Indonesia and Japan”, October 20 and 21, 2011 at Dutch Institute of War Documentation in Amsterdam.
In the text I use initials, if people would like to get in touch with one of the persons listed below you can send me an email. The information about Rudy Kousbroek and Hans Vervoort are quotations of publicized work, therefore I present them with their full name.
The second part consists of people who travelled with Tri Jaya from 2012 on and who were looking for places of their past or their family. Part of this group of people had lived in Indonesia before, during or after the war. Some of them were looking for Japanese camps, many others were just in search of the ‘memory lane’ of them or their family.
In 1993 Tri Jaya assisted with research for the documentary Het meer der herinnering (The Lake of Reminiscence), about the youth of the Dutch author Rudy Kousbroek. The following year the filming took place in Sumatra. Rudy Kousbroek was born in 1929 in Pematang Siantar on the island of Sumatra. During the Japanese occupation of Sumatra, Kousbroek was interned in the Sungai Senkol camp near Medan and the Sirengorengo camp near Rantau Prapat.
Kousbroek was the best known of the Dutch who later wrote about Indonesia’s colonial period as well as about the experience of the Dutch in Indonesia during the Japanese occupation.
“My father was district officer in Pajakoemboe on Sumatra. In April 1942 my father ceded civil authority over Pajakoemboe to the Japanese Army. Shortly after we were interned. We were taken to a school in Bukit Tinggi (Fort de Kock) and later we were moved to Padang. In December 1943 we were moved to Bangkinang. There we stayed until September 1945. We had lost all our material possessions and after the war had nothing. But my parents were able to give us all a good education, including university studies.” Mr. F. visited Sumatra in 1993 to look for the places of his youth.
“I spent the first three years of my life in Japanese civilian internee camps in Indonesia. I was born in Kotaradja (Banda Aceh) in August 1941. When I was six months old my family moved to Medan. After the Japanese invasion of Medan in March 1942, my father was taken prisoner and transported to Burma. We who remained were put in the camps in Poeloe Brayan.
(The European quarter Tjideng in Batavia (Jakarta) in August 1942 became the first camp for women and children prisoners; Pakanbaroe Railroad. The 220 km. long railroad was constructed from Pakan Baroe to Moeara, the end of the railroad of West Sumatra. The railroad was planned to connect Pakan Baroe with the west coast and to facilitate exploitation of the coal mines near Tapoei in the central mountain area. The start of the construction was in March 1943 by Romushas from the Pakan Baroe camp. Construction of the final track started in March 1945, around 70,000 Romushas died for the construction of this railroad. At 18 September 1944 the Japanese cargo ship Junyo Maru was torpedoed off the coast of West Sumatra, in Bencoolen district near Mukomuko. Approximately 1796 POWs and around 4000 Romushas drowned during this disaster. (Dulm 2000: 65; Hovinga 2010: 42, 50-60).
through the Indonesian archipelago. The other book deals about her greatgrandfather the missionary who worked in the 19th century in Pakantan in Sumatra’s interior and built a Mennonite church in this place.When the area of Pakantan was hit by an earthquake she arranged via her contacts that financing from the European Union was send to Pakantan so that the demolished village could be rebuild. Hereafter Pakantan made her honorary citizen.
Rien de V. on his Father Joan de V.
In 2007 Rien de V. and his family came to Sumatra in search of the places where his father Joan de V. (1928-1991) had lived and stayed in Japanese camps. They also went to the location of the Sirengorengo camp where his father had stayed. Together with his mother, elder sister and her baby, Joan, then a youth, was taken to camp Aek Pamienke. Hereafter Joan was taken out of Aek Pamienke because of his age and put in the Si Rengo Rengo camp where his father also was interned. In the 1950s Joan de V. got a scholarship from Shell and made a good career in the Netherlands.
Brian Ernest M. about his uncle Desmond Charles K.
The story of Tjerk O., by his second wife Nynke O.
So far the extract of the stories presented at the conference about return tourism. Below follows a list of people who travelled with Tri Jaya from 2012 on in search of places of memory of them or their family. Many of them travelled with 2 or more people, I only mention the persons who had specific, nostalgic requests, not the rest of the group. I also do not describe the rest of their tour in Indonesia they made with Tri Jaya Tour & Travel. I only mention the places of their personal interest.
2012 Erik van der Z. revisited Balimbingan, the tea plantation near Pematang Siantar where he was born.
2012 Roel van P. was born and lived till the age of 7 on the plantation Tandjung Morawa of the Senembah Tabacco Company near Medan where his father had worked. After that they moved to Java in Bondowosso where his father became director of the Besoeki Tobacco Company. He revisited the places of his youth.
2012 Joppe G. was looking for the hospital in Binjai where he was born. His father worked at the plantation Bandar Klippa near Binjai.
2012 Janneke, Ajold en Hella R. came to Sumatra to visit North and West Sumatra, especially Padang, where their father was born and their grandfather was in the 1920s judge in the court of justice.
2012 Carolien van de W. Her grandmother lived in Surabaya and Medan, her great grandfather worked for Lindeteves Stokvis in Medan. Carolien visited places in Medan and Surabaya.
2012 Cobien C. made a nostalgic tour to Medan where she was born and visited plantations such as Batang Serangan en Tandjung Kleling where her father had worked.
2012 Marja van D. came to Sumatra to visit the plantation Sei Bamban where she had lived.
She even met former playmates from her youth 50 years ago.
2012 Taco B. visited Perbaungan and Pematang Siantar where his family used to live.
2012 Hanny L. looked for the Japanese camps Bangkinang and in Padang where she was interned during the war. In Padang she searched the location of her father’s ice factory Potoyo Ice and their house. Her father drowned at the sea disaster of the van Waerwijck in June 1944.
2012 Gerrit K. looked for places in Medan and Pangkalan Brandan. The father used to work for the oil company Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij (BPM), nowadays Shell, in Pangkalan Brandan.
2012 Olly O. travelled to Jogyakarta where his father was born. Further on he visited the Tjimahi (Lewangadla) cemetery where the family was buried.
2012 Martine W. her father was born in 1941 in the hospital in Bindjei. Later they lived in the Manggalaan (Jl Diponegoro) in Medan. The grandfather worked at the plantations Rotterdam A, Rotterdam B and Namoe Trasi. Her father, sister and grandmother were interned in the Japanese camp in the Plantersschool in Berastagi and the Aek Pamienke camp. After the war they lived in Willembarenslaan (Jl. Magelang) in Medan. Martine W. visited all the places of memory of her family.
2012 Hans S. was born in Malang, lived in Surabaja till World War II, was interned in Semarang and went to Holland upon conclusion of WWII. He had never been back to Indonesia up to 2012 when he travelled to all the places of his youth.
2013 Wilma B. visited the plantation Bekalla where she was born in 1954. She had memories about the plantations Boekit Melintang, Batang Serangan and the places Bindjei and Stabat.
2013 Michiel D. visited the plantation Tandjong Koeba where his grandmother was born. Michiel his father was born in Medan.
2013 Frits H. came to look for the former Deli Company plantations Sempali and Rotterdam A where his father had worked.
2013 Marcel van E. made a nostalgic Java program in Jakarta, Bandung and Jogyakartan where he used to live.
2013 Michiel M. revisited his place of birth Pladju near Palembang where he was born in 1950. In Pladju was a BMP oil plant. His father used to work for the BPM.
2013 Almiera R. made a trip over Java to place the ashes of her mother at the cemetery Rangkasbitung where her family was buried. After that she visited the village Sindang Laut near Cirebon, where her mother was born. She also visited the war cemeteries Pandu and Kalibanteng where family members were buried.
2013 Jan van G. was born in Gunung Sitoli on Nias island where his father was government official. After that the father worked in Gunung Tua till 1942 when he was put in a Japanese camp. The family van G. stayed in camps in Padang Sidempuan,Tarutung, Pematang Siantar, Brastagi and finally in Aek Pamienke. Jan van G. visited all the places of his youth.
2013 Jaap ter M. made a tour over Sumatra and visited his place of birth, Padang.
2013 Ideke S. R. was born in 1934 in Medan. Her father was a contractor, his company was located besides the palace of the Sultan of Deli. The family lived in Jl. Kartini. Ideke was interned in the camps Glugur, Poelo Brayan and Aek Pamienke. Her father died in the Pakan Baru camp. She returned to the Netherlands with her mother and little brother in 1946. In 2013 she revisited the places of her childhood.
Marbau, Pernantian Estate and Brussel Estate as well as the location of the former Japanese camp Aek Pamienke.
2013 Sheila M. travelled with her mother who wanted to see her house of birth in the Menteng quarter in Jakarta and the hospital where Sheila was born.
2013 Dorothée and Alex E. visited the plantations Cinta Raja, Gunung Melayu Estate, Belawan port and Tanjung Balai as places of memory.
2014 Albert V. was interned in the Japanese camps in Bandung. His father established the Rathkamp pharmacies in Medan, Sukabumi, Ceribon, Tegal, Semarang, Jogya , Purwokerto, Solo , Malang, Surabaya and Probolinggo. The Rathkamp pharmacies are now taken over by the Kimia Farma pharmacies.
2014 Elize M. Her father came in the 1940s as military soldier to Medan. Elize was looking for places where her father was photographed like in front of the Grand Mosque in Medan.
2014 Ingrid M. was looking for the house she was born in Pladju near Palembang. Her father worked for the BPM.
2014 Baukje D. was born in Jogyakarta and lived for some time in Sigli in Aceh. During the war she was interned in Poeloe Brajan and Aik Pamienke. After the war they lived till 1949 in the Mackaylaan (Jl. Walikota) corner Beatrixlaan (Jl. Cik Ditiro) in Medan. She was looking for their former house in Medan, the highschool, the hospital of the Deli Company as well as Brastagi.
2014 Fedde van den B. his grandfather had the company Toko Mann in the Kesawan. The family was interned in the camps Pematang Siantar, Brastagi, Poeloe Brajan, Gloegoer and Aek Pamienke. Fedde also visited the port of Belawan, Brastagi and Lake Toba as places of memory.
2014 Hans K. lived after the war in Medan. He revisited Hotel de Boer (Hotel Dharma Deli), Kesawan, Jl. Tjut Nja Din, Jl. Dr. Mansur, Jl. Ampera, Jl. Tilak, the Medan Tennis Club, Tjong A Fie Mansion, the Khalsa English School and the St. Jozef School as places of memory.
2014 John V. used to live in the 1950s in the former Grand Hotel Medan and was looking for places of his personal memory.
2014 Paul L. revisited the house he used to live in Medan. Further on he visited Prapat where he had memories.
2014 Willemijn L. visited the Wingfoot plantation Dolok Merangir where her father used to live as a boy. Further on she went to Pematang Siantar, Brastagi and Parapat, the places her father had told her about. She also went to Aek Pamienke, where her grandmother was interned.
2015 Mrs. T. visited Bandung where her father had grown up. Her father Peter T. had studied law in Leiden, the Netherlands. Peter T. became famous from the book “Soldaat van Oranje” (Soldier of Orange) as he together with Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema crossed the British canal from the Netherlands to England and became adjudant of Queen Wilhelmina. The book Soldier of Orange was filmed and also a successful musical was made of it.
2015 Marten W. visited Medan as his grandmother’s brother used to live here.
2015 Ellen F. used to live on the plantation Laras where she has memories of the house, the river, the sisal factory, the tenniscourt and the school. Furtheron she looked around in Pematang Siantar to her former boarding school and on the plantations Dolek Sinumba, Dolek Ilir, Tindjowan and Sidamanik to places of memory. In Prapat she was looking for the holiday homes Meerpaal, Honk and Horas, as well as the Villa Marienhat where Soekarno had been interned.
2015 Hans H. wrote: “I was born in the former Batavia shortly before the Japanes occupation. My father Hendrik H. was a government official and was imprisoned by the Japanese. My mother fled with me to Australia. My father was interned in the Tjimahi camp 5 in Bandung. My uncle Willem H. was a medical doctor working for the coalcompany on Sabang where he lived before the war. My grandfather has been mayor of Batavia.” Hans H. visited all the places of his personal memory.
Belawan harbor, Pematang Siantar and Tarutung where his father stayed in military camps. Further on Prapat, Sibolga and Medan. On Java, he went to the cathedral in Jakarta, Tandjong Priok harbor, the Koning Willem III School in Meester Cornelis, nowadays Depok, and the Puncak pass.
2015 Marjan P. wanted to visit the sisal plantation Laras of the Handels Vereniging Amsterdam or Amsterdam Trading Company (HVA) where her grandfather was administrator.
2015 Patricia T. used to live in Medan where she had memories, as well as in Prapat.
2015 Remco T. his father was born in Medan and was looking for his birthplace.
2015 Ute M. lived in the 1970s in Medan and therefore revisited the city after more than 40 years.
2015 Wytse K. was born in 1938 in Tebing Tinggi. During the Japanese time he was interned in Aek Pamienke. He revisited his places of personal memory.
2016 Jaap van H. visited Sumatra in April 2016. Jaap was born in 1937 in Medan where his father worked before the war at the research station for the rubber and palm oil in Kampong Baru. He has looked for all the places with personal memories of him and his family in Medan and surroundings. He even entered his former home in Medan which still exists. He has been interned in the Japanese camp of Tanjung Morawa and Aek Pamienke. He visited the locations of the Japanese camps of Glugur, Pulau Berayan, Brastagi, Aek Pamienke, the location where the Hariku Maru sank off the the coast of Tanjung Balai, the location of the Pekan Baru camp and the Bangkinang camp.
visited the cemetery Lewigajah near Cimahi.
2016 Hans, Yvonne and Nico van der M. Their father was Chief of Police in Balige before the Second World War. The three children van der M. came to Sumatra and travelled to the places of their childhood. They were born in the 1930s in Balige and now revisited the places of their memories. They were interned in the Aek Pamienke camp.
2016 Margreet L. came to Sumatra in November 2016 with her mother and daughter in search of places from the youth of the mother. The grandfather worked as an engineer before the Second World War at the Deli railway company. Mrs L. was born in 1929 in Senna street in Medan and was curious to see the places of her childhood again. In her youth Mrs. L. spent her holidays in Brastagi, where the DSM owned a few villa’s. She had been interned in the Japanese camps of Gloegoer, Pulau Berayan and Aek Pamienke.

References: V. 
 V.

 V. 
 V. 
 V. 
 V. 
 V.