Author: KAN, W. (1911-1983),
Title: Burmadagboek 1942-1945. First edn.
Description: Amsterdam, De Arbeiderspers, 1986. Orig. lettered limp glossy wrap-around wraps.268pp. frontisp. (author's portr.), Many ills. of which full-p., incl. portrs., after drawings on-the-spot and facsims. of official japanese documents, full-p. sketch-map of japanese P.O.W./labour camps of the Burma-Thailand Railroad, concise glossary of japanese and low-malay words, notes to chapters, concise biogr. note on author, some songs as composed by author The printed version of a meticulously kept diary by author, during his stay as a P.O.W., first interned at Tjimahi, in tog. 13 labour-camps alongside the Burma-Thailand Railroad. Originally author, a famous dutch cabaret-player and stand-up comedian was on a tour, together with his devoted wife Corry Vonk, and his group, through colonial Indonesia, when the japanese invasion of Indonesia prevented them to flee. Author was drafted into the Royal Dutch Colonial Army, K.N.I.L., and was taken prisoner by the japanese. He survived 13 camps, and kept-up, besides the slave-labour at the railroad, his métier as cabaret-player and performed before his fellow-inmates. He received a Royal decoration after the war, but decidet to return this on the occasion of the State-visit of the Japanese emperor Hirohito to the Netherlands in 1976. A moving document humain. Fine copy. (name of previous owner on recte of hftitle).

Keywords: diary recollections p.o.w. japanese concentration camps slave labour history pacific war occupation krijgsgevangenen burma thailand siam railroad railway history southeast asia buur