Nicola Tyrer - Stolen Childhoods

review by Maggie Perkovic on show 1st Sept 2011
WHEN THE JAPANESE ENTERED THE WAR IN 1941 SOME 20,000 BRITISH CIVILIANS LIVING IN ASIA, WERE ROUNDED UP AND MARCHED OFF TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS WHERE THEY WERE TO REMAIN FOR 3 LONG YEARS. OVER 3,000 OF THEM WERE CHILDREN.
IN THIS BOOK THEIR EXPERIENCES OF SUFFERING, ENDURANCE AND BRAVERY ARE PRESENTED TO US, HARROWING AND UPLIFTING THEY ARE TOO.
THESE CHILDREN HAD BEEN LIVING IN A PRIVILEGED WORLD WHERE THEY WERE LOOKED AFTER BY SERVANTS AND SPOILT TO A CERTAIN DEGREE. THE WAY THE MAJORITY OF THEM COPED IN THE MOST TERRIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES CERTAINLY MAKES THIS BOOK A VERY INTERESTING READ. THEY WITNESSED THEIR PARENTS BEING BEATEN AND PUNISHED FOR THE SIMPLEST DEMEANOUR, THEIR RATIONS WERE OF THE VERY BAREST WHICH FOR GROWING CHILDREN THIS WAS AKIN TO TORTURE.
THEY WERE DEPRIVED OF EDUCATION YET IN MOST CAMPS SOME FORM OF TEACHING WAS INITIATED, EVEN IF IT WAS ONLY WRITING LATIN VERBS IN THE DUST!
SOME CHILDREN WHOSE FATHERS WERE IMPRISONED AND WHOSE MOTHERS WERE TAKEN TO HOSPITAL WERE VIRTUALLY ORPHANS DEPENDING ON THE GOOD WILL OF OTHER INTERNEES. AS THE WAR PROGRESSED CONDITIONS GOT WORSE AND WORSE SOME CAMPS WERE WORSE THAN OTHERS. THE BRIGHT AND HAPPY CHILDREN WHO STARTED OFF LOOKING ON THE WHOLE BUSINESS AS A GREAT ADVENTURE NOW LAY IN BED LISTLESS AND WEAK.
THOSE INTERNED IN JAVA AND SUMATRA WERE TREATED MUCH WORSE THAN THOSE IN OTHER
CAMPS AS THEIR CAPTORS HAD BEEN INDOCTRINATED WITH A HATRED OF WHITE COLONIALISM.
THE STORIES ARE VERY HARROWING WITH WHOLE FAMILIES DYING IN THE CAMPS, WITH SHIPS BEING
SUNK AND THE THOSE NOT DROWNED BEING MACHINE GUNNED BY THE JAPANESE AND SURVIVORS TAKEN
TO CAMPS INJURED AND ILL FROM EXPOSURE TO SEA WATER AND SUN.
AFTERWARDS WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER AND THE CHILDREN, GROWN UP AND IN MANY CASES STILL FEELING THE EFFECTS OF THEIR INTERNMENT, THEY DECIDED TO SET UP THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH CIVILIAN INTERNEES FAR EAST REGION TO LOBBY JAPAN FOR SOME REPARATION
FOR THEIR TREATMENT IN THE CAMPS. THEY WON NEITHER AN APOLOGY NOR A SETTLEMENT FROM THEIR FORMER CAPTORS BUT AS LATE AS THE YEAR 2000 THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT PAID £10.000 TO EVERY BRITISH CITIZEN THAT HAD BEEN INTERNED.
THAT HELPED A LITTLE, THOUGH NOT ALL CLAIMS WERE SETTLED. NO OTHER GROUP OF CHILDREN HAD THEIR CHILDHOOD STOLEN FROM THEM THE WAY THESE CHILDREN HAD.
GROWN UP WITH CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN, THEY RARELY MENTION THEIR PAST SUFFERINGS NOR COMPLAIN OF WHAT IS PAST BUT AS ONE PRIEST SAID WHO SHARED THEIR ENDURED INTERNMENT 'THEY WERE ALL LITTLE HEROES' AN EPITAPH THAT FITS THEM WELL.
A GREAT READ MAKES YOU THINK A LOT AND ADMIRE THAT GENERATION AFRESH!!