Enforced prostitution in Western Borneo during Japanese Occupation/Commentary
Purpose of the original document[edit]
After World War II the International Military Tribunal for the Far East was created to prosecute the major Japanese war criminals. After its location it is also referred to as the "Tokyo Trials", like the Nuremberg Trials in post-war Germany. Evidence on war crimes committed in de Dutch East Indies was collected by the Dutch military intelligence.
The proceedings, evidence, indictments, defence pleas and verdicts were mimeographed for use by the tribunal. The full set of these documents take up 182 boxes, or 22.8 m of shelf space in the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD). In the Netherlands alone there are three libraries with full sets: NIOD, Groningen University and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Probably more sets can be found in other Allied countries and Japan.
Because the trials were conducted in English, all tribunal documents were presented in this language. As fotocopiers did not exist at the time, every single original document for the tribunal was typed on stencil and then multiplied. The lines marked /s/ are exactly as in the mimeographs, but refer to real signatures in the original documents.
Document structure[edit]
The first page of the document is a certificate attesting that the content of the next two pages really is a report in the records of the Dutch military intelligence. These records are kept secret but it is very unlikely that the officers involved have committed perjury. By itself, the certificate does not say anything about what happened in Western Borneo. Mr. de Weerd only witnessed that Mr. Jongeneel stated under oath that the next two pages really are the report of Mr. Heybroek, who investigated what happened in Western Borneo.
Pages 2 and 3 are the investigator's account of what happened. The last lines on page 3 indicate that Mr. Heybroek, who could translate Japanese, used two sources: interrogations of Japanese war criminals and sworn statements of persons concerned. Among the latter, the statement of an Indonesian medical officer is explicitly mentioned as important proof that the Tokeitai was involved in forcing women into prostitution.
The document bears two numbers: a "document number" 5330 was put in the header of each page as part of the mimeograph. Probably all documents that were to be multiplied were numberd sequentially at the time. The "exhibit number" is shown two times, both on the first page only: small in the upper right corner en a lot bigger in the lower left corner. In both cases this number was not a part of the mimeograph, but added later using a stamp and a ballpoint, probably after the document had been presented in court.
Glossary[edit]
Below some specific terms in the document are explained. For those interested in making comparisons with documents in Dutch, explanations in that language have been added in italics. For more extensive information on the meaning of a term, wikilinks to Wikipedia have been added. These articles in Wikipedia have little direct relevance for the subject of this document; information about forced prostitution by the Japanese military can be found under "Comfort women".
Batavia
- large island in South East Asia
- groot eiland in Zuidoost Azië
C.O.
- Commanding officer
- bevelvoerend officier
Ex.
- exhibit
- bewijsstuk
Indo-European
- Eurasian, of mixed Dutch-Indonesian descent
- Indo-europese, van gemengd Nederlands-Indonesische afkomst
Japanese Naval Occupation
- administration by the Japanese navy during the occupation of Indonesia; only the islands of Java and Sumatra were administered by the Japanese army
- Bestuur door de Japanse marine tijdens de bezetting van Indonesië; alleen Java en Sumatra werden door het Japanse leger bestuurd
Nefis
- Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service
- Nederlandse militaire inlichtingendienst
N.E.I.
- Netherlands East Indies
- Nederlands Indië
- major city on Borneo
- grote plaats op Borneo
R.N.I.A.
- Royal Netherlands Indies Army
- Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger (KNIL)
/s/
- signature in original document
- handtekening in oorspronkelijk document
Tokei Tai
- Tokeitai, military police of the Japanese Navy, comparable to the Kempeitai in the Japanese army
- Tokeitai, militaire politie van de Japanse marine, vergelijkbaar met de Kempeitai
Conformity of this document[edit]
The original mimeograph has been carefully copied from the original in the library of Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD). It was of course not possible to preserve the original formatting, but all of the text is presented in the original order.
Only the references by rank and name to some persons have been omitted and replaced by placeholders. Dutch privacy regulations prohibit official bodies to facilitate publication of any names of victims, suspects, convicts or witnesses as long as they are still alive. NIOD for this reason has to refuse permission to divulge these names, unless there is proof they have died.
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