May 27, 2011

Alternate Camp Name

De Goede Herder (the Good Shepherd)

Camp Location

This convent was located in the southeastern part of the city, in the Meester Cornelis neighborhood. The address was Pasarstraat 122 (now Raya Jatinegara Barat 122). The convent belonged to the Congregatie van de Zusters van den Goeden Herder (Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd).This convent was set up early in 1945 as a hospital camp for sick men from the camps in West-Java.  Nearby Sint Vincentius and Mater Dolorosa were established as the primary Japanese medical service facilities for the camps.

Japanese Camp Commander

Mitsufugi (March 1945 to August 1945)

Dutch Camp Leader

Sister Bank (the “directrice”)

Abbreviations / Notes

n=nuns, mp= medical personnel, sb=sick boys, sm=sick men; Batal=Bataljon; Vincentius=Sint Vincentius
Band=Bandoeng, Bat=Batavia, Tjim=Tjimahi
(1) Part of the group from Tjideng that had prepared Sint Vincentius as a hospital camp.
(2) And on May 13, 1945, May 20, 1945 and May 21, 1945.
(3) And on May 21, 1945.
(4) Medical personnel, formerly employed at the Saint Carolus Hospital.
(5) The group from Tjideng, having set up the camp as a hospital, returned to Sint Vincentius.
(6) From May to August 1945.

Medical personnel

A small group of women (and their children, approximately 20 people in all) from the Sint Vincentius hospital camp were transferred to Mater Dolorosa.  The facility was empty when they arrived; it had been evacuated as a POW camp shortly before. These women prepared the facility for the arrival of critically ill internees, just as they had done at Sint Vincentius. The camp then received male patients from the civilian camps in Bandoeng and Tjimahi. After some weeks, this group of women and children returned to Sint Vincentius.

Nuns

Aside from the nuns of this convent, there were 29 nuns from Camp Kramat to help care for the sick men. An older sister, Sister Bank, was the director (“directrice”).

Internees

Sick men and boys arrived by train from Bandoeng and Tjimahi in Batavia, and were transported from the station to Mater Dolorosa in open trucks. Most were ambulatory. Upon arrival, the men looked appalling: they had hardly any clothes and were unshaven, with hollow faces and long hair. Most arrived on their own mattresses or sleeping-mats. The mortality rate was high: during the months of July and August, 10 to 12 boys and men died per day.After the Japanese surrendered, there were no new arrivals of sick boys and men. Although some were transferred to hospitals inBatavia, the death rate remained elevated for a while.

Deaths

From May to August 1945, there were 276 deaths.

References

Beekhuis, H. et al – Atlas Bersiapkampen, 2009, p. 50 (events during the Bersiap period)
Dulm, J. van et al – Atlas Japanse Kampen, Volume I, 2000, p. 100
Jong. L. de – Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in WOII, Vol. 11B, 1985, p. 833
Jong, L. de – The Collapse of a Colonial Society, 2002 (translation of Vol. 11B)
Liesker, H.A.M. – Oproep, Moesson magazine 42/9 (March 15, 1998), p. 4
Manders, Jo – De lach uit leed geboren. pp. 69-70
Report of the War Crimes Investigation Team, NIOD, IC 080.605
Velden, Dora van – De Japanse burgerkampen, 3^rd Edition, 1977, p. 365
Wal-Meyneken, Suzanne van der – Nederlands-Indische Herinneringen, 2000 (privately-published)
Wolters, Jan – De Lazaristen-missie tijdens de Japanse bezetting, VAP 32 (1946), number 4
Zwitzer, H.L. – Mannen van 10 jaar en ouder, 1995, p. 307

Photographs

Dulm, J. van et al – Atlas Japanse Kampen, Volume I, 2000, pp. 100, 101

Camp Map

Dulm, J. van et al – Atlas Japanse Kampen, Volume I, 2000, p. 100