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The small country of the Netherlands was hit disproportionally hard by the high and cruel toll its Jewish citizenry suffered during World War II. Not as well-known and perhaps not as well understood is the gruesome fate another group of Dutch citizens suffered during the same war when, on March 8, 1942, the Dutch surrendered their largest colony of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia today) to the Japanese Empire. Following the surrender, more than three years of maltreatment, starvation and torture began for the approximately 200,000 civilians of Dutch origin who were held in “internment camps.” None of the internees were more vulnerable than the women and young girls who experienced sexual abuse, violence, rape, and other unspeakable depravities at the hands of their Japanese captors, guards, and others. One of those women was “Rietje” or “Rietepiet” who on the day of her internment had just turned 16. Several years after the war, Rietje would become the mother of Dutch ....

East Indies , Indonesia General , Dutch East Indies , Miep Bakker , Us Air , Creative Commons , World War , Dutch Jewish , Marianne Des , Winner Freedom , War Within , Des Bouvrie ,