Carmen Emanuels, a 92 years old Dutch survivor of Japanese-run internment camps in WW2

The following is an online conversation between Carmen Emanuels, an internment camp survivor, and online users of the website Reddit. Users commented with their questions and Carmen responded online through her grandson’s account.

Grandson: "Grandma is sitting right next to me and is ready to answer (almost) any question about her while I do the typing. Her memories are very special and by remembering we can commemorate her relatives and other victims of the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies."

Question: With your brother and father taken separately from your mother and yourself, how long did it take to reunite the four members of the family? Were you together in the camp, or were you only able to reunite after the war?Answer: We were separated for three years from each other. After the war we were reunited. My father was placed in a military camp. My brother in a civilian camp. My mother and me in a female camp. There were no phones or any other form of contact.

Question: You look amazing for 92! I know very little about the Japanese-run Dutch camps. What was your experience like?Answer: I learned that there are two types of people. Bad people and good people. I have seen terrible things. Maybe I have pushed away things. But the most important thing for me is that I discovered that there are a lot of good and sweet people that help each other. Especially in the camps where we could sleep in spots of 65cm from each other and were heavily undernourished with no prospect.

Question: Have you visited Indonesia since being interned? If you have, did you go out of your way to see what the areas that used to be internment camps turned into?Adapted from: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5vcixe/i_am_carmen_emanuels_a_92_years_old_dutch/

Carmen Emanuels, a 92 years old Dutch survivor of Japanese-run internment camps in WW2

Answer: Yes I have. 29 years later. I haven't been to the locations. I saw no reason in revisiting the awful memories. But I did enjoy the contact with the population, the atmosphere and the mountains. It was like coming home but unable to stay.

Question: How do you view Japan now?Answer: Normally. Like every other country with different cultures. They are our allies now and you should be respectful to allies. I will not go there though.

Question: How did you mentally get through each day? I ask because I just can't imagine being a prisoner. Thank youAnswer: Especially in the beginning I convinced myself that the war would be over in months. As the war continued you try to keep that hope and continue to tell to yourself that the allied would win. The last six months were hopeless. I was convinced that we would never get out. That would have been so if the war continued for two months more. The Japanese were planning to transport us to rocky islands to die.

Question: How did you get through day by day?Answer: In a workgroup. We did gardening. We worked in the kitchens. We carried wood. We digged holes. We loaded an unloaded cars. Feeding pigs. I was also an assistant to a dentist for a couple of months. Later when we were freed I continued that in the ravaged hospital. It convinced me to become a dentist. There was a lot of smuggling in and out of the camps. As much as it was possible. Most people traded for food. But there were also people who smuggled not for themselves but for others.

Question: Did you interact much with the guards? How were you treated? Was the camp only for Dutch females, or were other types of women there too?Answer: No. We didn't interact with the enemy. Adapted from: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5vcixe/i_am_carmen_emanuels_a_92_years_old_dutch/

Carmen Emanuels, a 92 years old Dutch survivor of Japanese-run internment camps in WW2

I was horribly treated. Undernourished. Heavy work. Much was forbidden. We had no contact with outsiders. No radio, no phone, no letters, no newspapers.There were many foreign people in the Dutch Indies. Some were allied, some were axis. The allied were put in the camps. Whether they were German, Italian or whatever. Now that I think of it, every white woman wanted to be in the camp because they would be arrested. In some way it was safe to be in the camp.Follow Up Question: What was unsafe outside the camps?Follow Up Answer: Yes. Especially for white women because they would stand out. The Japanese would arrest them immediately. Often they would be illegally outside of the camps. Indigenous people could also betray you out of fear. This also made it hard to get access to food.Connection Questions:In what ways was Carmen’s experience similar to David Ehrlich’s?

In what ways was Carmen’s experience different from David Ehrlich’s?

Why do you think the school pays money, pulls you out of class and has you listen to a Holocaust Survivor? What are we trying to teach you?

Adapted from: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5vcixe/i_am_carmen_emanuels_a_92_years_old_dutch/