Jodensavanne internment camp

Last updated
Jodensavanne internment camp
De voormalige Jodensavanna aan de Surinamerivier in Suriname, Bestanddeelnr 252-6453.jpg
The site of the Jodensavanne camp in 1947
Suriname location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Suriname
General information
Town or city Redi Doti, Para District
Country Flag of Suriname.svg Suriname
Coordinates 5°25′35″N54°59′01″W / 5.4263°N 54.9835°W / 5.4263; -54.9835 Coordinates: 5°25′35″N54°59′01″W / 5.4263°N 54.9835°W / 5.4263; -54.9835

Jodensavanne (Dutch : Kamp Jodensavanne) was a Dutch internment camp for political prisoners from the Dutch East Indies operated in Surinam during World War II (from 1942 to 1946). [1] [2] The camp was named after a nearby, long-abandoned Jewish colony, Jodensavanne.

Contents

Although the camp was intended to imprison so-called "irreconcilable" German sympathizers from the Dutch East Indies, including supporters of the Dutch NSB and the Nazi Party, roughly a quarter of the prisoners apparently were not supporters of those parties; these included Indonesian nationalists and others. [2] [3] Among the most famous prisoners of the camp were Ernest Douwes Dekker, an Indonesian nationalist, L. J. A. Schoonheyt, a government doctor in the Indies who had become a NSB supporter, and Lo Hartog van Banda, a Dutch cartoonist who had been a Conscientious objector.

Eight people died in the camp during its existence, including two who were shot to death by marines while in handcuffs, which led to a government investigation in 1949–50. [4]

History

Establishment

Since the late 1920s Dutch colonial authorities had experimented with building remote internment camps in the Dutch East Indies for members of banned political parties, most notably the Boven-Digoel concentration camp located near present-day Merauke, Indonesia, where they interned members of the Indonesian Communist Party and other nationalists. The internees in that camp were rarely charged with a crime, but were rather exiled due to the special powers of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (called exorbitante rechten) which allowed disruptive political figures to be exiled or detained in remote areas.

On May 10, 1940, the day of the German invasion of the Netherlands, authorities in the Dutch East Indies enacted martial law and carried out mass arrests of German nationals and supposed German sympathizers living there, including mostly Europeans of German, Hungarian, Czech, and Italian origin, as well as some Dutch with German surnames. [5] Until May 10, the NSB had not been illegal in the Indies, and it was only through the wartime martial law that they were now able to be detained indefinitely without charges. [1] One of these prisoners, Dr. Schoonheyt, had actually been the camp doctor at Boven-Digoel and published a well-known book about it, before becoming a high-profile NSB supporter. [6] These prisoners were initially detained on Onrust Island, Ngawi, and other sites in East Java; none faced trial or were charged with any crimes. [7] After the Netherlands declared war on Japan in 1941, the Indies government found that the Indies was no longer a secure place to imprison them. They exiled roughly two thousand German nationals to India and Siam. [8] In the case of Dutch citizens, they decided to exile the more "irreconcilable" among them to Surinam. The Indies Governor General Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer sent a request to Surinam Governor Johannes Kielstra, who had already interned NSB members in Surinam, and a plan to ship the Indies internees was accepted. [8] These 146 "irreconcilables" were put aboard the ship Tjisedané in Surabaya in January 1942 and arrived in Paramaribo, Surinam on March 21, 1942. [9] Because there were delays in construction of the Jodensavanne camp, the internees spent six months at Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam. [8] [1]

A group of Indies Europeans imprisoned in Jodensavanne, exact date unknown Europeanen uit Nederlandsch-Indie, die werden geinterneerd wegens veronderstelde Duitse sympathieen het kamp te Jodensavanna ten zuiden van Paramaribo, KITLV 19104.tiff
A group of Indies Europeans imprisoned in Jodensavanne, exact date unknown

The camp site which was prepared for them in Surinam was named after the nearby ruins of an abandoned 17th century Jewish settlement, Jodensavanne. [10] Among the officers put in charge were the first camp commander G. Gebuys, camp commander Lieutenant Roos, Captain H. Mouwen, Navy Commander A. C. H. Kuyck, and Troop Commander Colonel Johannes Kroese Meijer, who was later decorated for his wartime service and became a major-general in the Royal Netherlands Indies Army after his time at the camp. [9] Other camps in the area included Copieweg, was also set up for German citizens in Surinam and later for contentious objectors from South Africa and a few Surninam opposition figures, and also camps on the island of Bonaire which were set up for Germans detained in the Antilles. [2] [1]

Active period (1942–1946)

Upon arriving in the camp, internees were immediately put to work in hard labour in a "green hell", denied medication for dysentery, and subjected to degrading hazing tactics, despite not having been charged with any crime. [9] [10] [8] [11] The prisoners were considered traitors for their support for the NSB and Nazi Germany, and therefore the guards treated them mercilessly. The first camp commander, Gebuys, was later said to have told prisoners that they would only be sent to hospital if they died. [12] And the internees were regularly beaten with clubs or had their hands and feet shackled together. [1] Van Banda, the future cartoonist, at times refused his work detail and would spend months in solitary confinement. [10] Two other prisoners went on hunger strike and died as a result. [1]

A hand-drawn map of the camp layout from 1946 (KITLV) Interneeringskamp od Joden Savanne ad Suriname Rivier, schaal 1200, KITLV 51D3.tiff
A hand-drawn map of the camp layout from 1946 (KITLV)

On November 7, 1942, two of the prisoners were killed by marines following an escape attempt. The two killed were L. K. A. Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt and L. A. J. Van Poelje, who were both NSB members. Two other prisoners, C. J. Kraak and J. E. Stuhlemeyer, would have been shot as well if the gun had not misfired. [13] [14] It later came out in the 1949 investigation that they had escaped to a nearby Indigenous village called Casipoera on November 4, but had already been arrested and were in custody for three days when they were tortured and then killed on the direct order of Colonel Meijer. [9]

During the years of operation, the detainees were assigned to three general work details: fishing, wood-clearing, and the operation of the camp's boats. [1] According to some accounts, prisoners were also tasked with clearing Jewish grave sites in the former settlement of Jodensavanne; according to Kraak they were ordered to loot the graves for valuables. [15] [16] [10]

Illustration of Jodensavanne camp buildings by Rolf C. Breier Concentratiekamp Jodensavanne, KITLV 37C165.tiff
Illustration of Jodensavanne camp buildings by Rolf C. Breier

The detainees were not immediately released upon the liberation of the Netherlands in May 1945. In early 1946, the colonial government claimed that the delay was because of a lack of available ships to transport the internees out of the camp. [17] Newspapers in Surinam even feared that the Netherlands was considering keeping the camp open and turning Surinam into a penal colony for Nazi collaborators and other undesirables. [18] While they were still imprisoned, the camp started to fall into disrepair, such as a broken generator which meant that the buildings had no lights for some time in March 1946. [19] It was only on July 15, 1946, that they were finally released.

Aftermath

Ernest Douwes Dekker returned to Indonesia in 1947, which was then in the middle of its conflict to gain independence from the Netherlands. He would later become a member of parliament and notable intellectual of the early independence era. Lo Hartog van Banda returned to The Hague where he became well known as a cartoonist. In 1950, some former European civil servants from the Indies who had been interned in the camp during the war, including Dr. Schoonheyt, were allowed have their records cleared and become civil servants again in the Overseas Service. [20] However, many continued to face the stigma of having been interned as traitors and had difficulty finding work. [8]

J.K. Meijer being awarded the Military Order of William in Semarang, Indonesia, 1948 Generaal J.K. Meyer, onderscheiden met de Militaire Willemsorde, wordt gefelicit, Bestanddeelnr 6592.jpg
J.K. Meijer being awarded the Military Order of William in Semarang, Indonesia, 1948

In 1949, an investigation was launched into the shooting death of the two prisoners Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt and Van Poelje; in particular, the widow of Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt had been very vocal in criticizing the Netherlands and Surinam governments for not investigating the facts of what had happened. [13] The bodies of the two prisoners were exhumed for examination. [1] The presiding Attorney General Grunberg found that the prisoners had not been shot while escaping, but were in handcuffs and were executed in custody. Grunberg initially thought that the responsible officer Meijer would be charged with incitement to murder and that the marines who had pulled the trigger might be charged with murder or manslaughter. [14] Since the marines had dumped Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt, who had survived for a few hours after the shooting, at the steps of the nearest hospital, there were a number of witnesses outside of the camp guard ranks. [9] [11] In the course of the investigation 500 guilders were paid to the surviving internees. [10] However, the commanding officer Meijer was never charged, and was in fact awarded the Military Order of William and later promoted. [2] The matter became a national news story in the Netherlands again in 1972, with more attention given to Meijer, but again he was not charged in connection with the incident. [1] It was not until 1994 that Minister Joris Voorhoeve apologized to the families of the deceased. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Para District</span> District of Suriname

Para is a district of northern Suriname. Para's capital city is Onverwacht, with other towns including Paranam, and Zanderij. Para has a population of 24,700 and an area of 5,393 km2. The district is the mining and forestry centre of Suriname, with many large bauxite mining operations operating. The district is a mixture of forest and savannas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anton de Kom</span> Surinamese resistance fighter and anti-colonialist author

Cornelis Gerhard Anton de Kom was a Surinamese resistance fighter and anti-colonialist author. He was arrested in Suriname and the protest against his arrest resulted in two deaths. De Kom was subsequently exiled to the Netherlands where he wrote Wij slaven van Suriname, an anti-colonial book. During World War II, he joined the resistance, was arrested, and sent to concentration camps where he died. In 2020, de Kom was added as a subject on the Canon of the Netherlands, a chronological list of fifty key events and people in Dutch history to be taught in schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodensavanne</span> Plantation community established in Suriname by Sephardi Jews

Jodensavanne was a Jewish plantation community in Suriname, South America, and was for a time the centre of Jewish life in the colony. It was established in the 1600s by Sephardi Jews and became more developed and wealthy after a group of Jews fleeing persecution in Brazil settled there in the 1660s. It was located in what is now Para District, about 50 km (31 mi) south of the capital Paramaribo, on the Suriname River. Sugarcane plantations were established and Black African people were used as slave labour. At its height in around 1700 it was home to roughly 500 plantation owners and 9000 slaves. The colony faced regular attacks from Indigenous people, slave revolts, and even raids from the French navy. The community eventually relocated to the capital of Paramaribo. Clearing of grave sites and maintenance of the synagogue ruins has been attempted at various times from the 1940s to the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Donders</span>

Petrus Norbertus Donders was a Dutch Roman Catholic priest and member of the Redemptorist Congregation. He served in various missions in the Dutch colony of Surinam. He started working in the capital Paramaribo, but is predominantly known for his work in and around the leper colony Batavia, where he died in 1887. Peter Donders was beatified as 'Apostle of the Indians and Lepers' in 1982. The miracle needed was found in the cure of a Dutch child from bone cancer back in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michiel van Kempen</span> Dutch writer, art historian and literary critic

Michaël Henricus Gertrudis (Michiel) van Kempen is a Dutch writer, art historian and literary critic. He has written novels, short stories, essays, travel literature and scenarios. He was the compiler of a huge range of anthologies of Dutch-Caribbean literature and wrote an extensive history of the literature of Suriname, in two volumes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan van Scharphuizen</span>

Joan or Johan van Scharphuysen, Scharphuizen or Jan van Scherpenhuizen was a Dutch colonist, a judge in Suriname, a slave-trader, colonial governor from 1689 to 1696 on behalf of the Society of Surinam, and a considerable plantation-owner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boven-Digoel concentration camp</span> Prison camp in the Dutch East Indies

Boven-Digoel was a Dutch concentration camp for political prisoners operated in the Dutch East Indies from 1927 to 1947. It was located in a remote area on the banks of the river Digul, in what is now Boven Digoel Regency in South Papua, Indonesia. The site was chosen in 1928 for the internal exile of Indonesians implicated in the 1926 and 1927 communist uprisings in Java and Sumatra. Indonesian nationalists not associated with the Indonesian Communist Party were subsequently also sent there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surinamese people</span>

Surinamese people are people who identify with the country of Suriname. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Surinamese, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Surinamese.

Javanese Surinamese are an ethnic group of Javanese descent in Suriname. They have been present since the late 19th century, when their first members were selected as indentured laborers by the Dutch colonizers from the former Dutch East Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surinam (Dutch colony)</span> Dutch plantation colony in the Guianas

Surinam, also unofficially known as Dutch Guiana, was a Dutch plantation colony in the Guianas, bordered by the equally Dutch colony of Berbice to the west, and the French colony of Cayenne to the east. It later bordered British Guiana from 1831 to 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netherlands–Suriname relations</span> Bilateral relations

Netherlands–Suriname relations refers to the current and historical relations between the Netherlands and Suriname. Both nations share historic ties and a common language (Dutch) and are members of the Dutch Language Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Suriname</span> Aspect of history

The history of the Jews in Suriname starts in 1639, as the English government allowed Spanish and Portuguese Jews from the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy to settle the region, coming to the old capital Torarica.

Adjua Gyapiaba, also known as Ajua Japiaba, Api-jaba and Afi Jaba, was a woman from Elmina in contemporary Ghana, who after a heated argument with a fellow Elminan was expelled by the Dutch colonial authorities to Suriname, where she eventually acquired fame as a herbalist and diviner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aliarcham</span> Indonesian communist politician

Aliarcham (c.1901-1933) was a Sarekat Islam and Indonesian Communist Party party leader, activist and theoretician in the Dutch East Indies. He was a major figure behind the PKI's turn to more radical policies in the mid-1920s. He was arrested by Dutch authorities in 1925 and exiled to the Boven-Digoel concentration camp, where he died in 1933. He became a well-known Martyr, especially among Communists and Indonesian nationalists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copieweg internment camp</span> Building in Para District, Suriname

Copieweg camp was a Dutch Internment Camp for German civilians that operated in Surinam during World War II, from 1940 to 1947. They were interned due to their nationality rather than due to proven support for Nazi Germany, although some of them were widely known to be Nazi supporters. Non-German detainees were also sent to this camp after 1942, including a small group of South African conscientious objectors and a few members of the Surinam political opposition including the politician Wim Bos Verschuur. The camp was built on the site of a Roman Catholic Monastery twenty kilometres from Paramaribo which was expanded to house a larger number of detainees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Johan Alexander Schoonheyt</span> Dutch doctor and political prisoner

Louis Johan Alexander Schoonheyt (1903-1986), commonly known as L. J. A. Schoonheyt, was a Dutch medical doctor, writer, and supporter of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands before World War II. From 1935 to 1936 he was the camp doctor at the Boven-Digoel concentration camp in New Guinea, Dutch East Indies, and is mostly known today for the book he wrote about his experiences there, Boven-Digoel: Het land van communisten en kannibalen (1936). His praise for the conditions in the camp earned him the ire of the internees, Indonesian nationalists, and Dutch human rights advocates; E. du Perron called him a 'colonial bandit', while many internees burned his book after reading it in the camp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soekaesih</span>

Soekaesih was a Communist Party of Indonesia activist known for being one of only a handful of female political prisoners exiled by the Netherlands government to Boven-Digoel concentration camp. After being released she traveled to the Netherlands in the late 1930s and campaigned for the camp to be shut down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suriname during World War II</span>

The history of Suriname during World War II was mainly focused on protecting the bauxite industry and guarding the borders with French Guiana which was part of Vichy France. From November 1941 onwards, 2,000 American troops were stationed in Suriname who transformed Airstrip Zanderij into a major airport, and constructed defensive works. No actual battles took place in Suriname. There was a political crisis in 1943, because Governor Johannes Kielstra used the state of emergency to imprison political opponents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassipora</span> Village in Para District, Suriname

Cassipora is an indigenous village of Lokono Amerindians in the resort of Carolina in the Para District in Suriname. The village is located near the Blaka Watra recreation area. It is also near a 17th-century Jewish village, however only the cemetery remains.

Cornelis Reinhard Vaillant was a Dutch lawyer, judge, and colonial governor. He served as Governor of Suriname from 19 July 1816 until 1 April 1822, and as judge on the Supreme Court of the Netherlands from 1838 until 1849.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 van der Horst, Liesbeth (2004). Wereldoorlog in de West : Suriname, de Nederlandse Antillen en Aruba, 1940–1945 (in Dutch). Hilversum: Verloren. pp. 75–9. ISBN   9789065507945.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Captain, Esther; Jones, Guno (2010). "De interneringen in Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen". Oorlogserfgoed overzee: de erfenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Aruba, Curaçao, Indonesië en Suriname(ebook) (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Bakker. ISBN   9789035135840.{{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  3. ↑ De Graaf, Jan (December 5, 1986). "Hugo Pos rekent af met zijn demonen". Het Parool.
  4. ↑ "Strafkolonie Jodensavanne". Werkgroup Caraïbische Letteren (in Dutch).
  5. ↑ "Intern eeringen in Indië". De Sumatra post (in Dutch). Medan. May 13, 1940.
  6. ↑ van Kempen, Michiel; Dewulf, Jeroen; Praamstra, Olf (2013). Shifting the compass: pluticontinental connections in Dutch colonial and postcolonial literature. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars. pp. 40–54. ISBN   9781443844437.
  7. ↑ "DUITSCHE GEÏNTERNEERDEN NAAR ONRUST". Algemeen Handelsblad (in Dutch). Amsterdam. May 11, 1940.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Futselaar, Ralf; Grevers, Helen (2017). Incarceration and regime change : European prisons during and after the Second World War. New York: Berghahn. pp. 94–8. ISBN   9781785332661.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Getuigenverklaring". De West: nieuwsblad uit en voor Suriname (in Dutch). Paramaribo. October 14, 1949.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Een vergeten schandaal uit onze vaderlandse geschiedenis". De Telegraaf (in Dutch). March 5, 1994.
  11. 1 2 "Rede Findlay in de Staten over de zaak Oldenbarnevelt en van Poelje Mijnheer de Voorzitter". De West: nieuwsblad uit en voor Suriname (in Dutch). February 17, 1950.
  12. ↑ "Naar Joden Savanna". De West: nieuwsblad uit en voor Suriname (in Dutch). Paramaribo. September 5, 1949. p. 4.
  13. 1 2 "Interpellatie Findlay c.s." De West: nieuwsblad uit en voor Suriname. Paramaribo. December 19, 1949. p. 2.
  14. 1 2 "Een afschuwelijk misdrijf". De West: nieuwsblad uit en voor Suriname (in Dutch). Paramaribo. November 9, 1949.
  15. ↑ Wolf, Sig. W. (June 2, 1975). "Jodensavanne: Verwaarloosd monument v. opgejaagde joden". Vrije Stem: onafhankelijk weekblad voor Suriname (in Dutch). p. 2.
  16. ↑ "De Joden-Savanne". De West: nieuwsblad uit en voor Suriname (in Dutch). Paramaribo. September 27, 1948.
  17. ↑ "De interneeringskampen". De West: nieuwsblad uit en voor Suriname (in Dutch). Paramaribo. January 30, 1946.
  18. ↑ "Deportatie naar eldere?". De West (in Dutch). Paramaribo. June 29, 1945.
  19. ↑ "BRAND TE JODENSAVANNA". Het nieuws: algemeen dagblad (in Dutch). Paramaribo. March 18, 1946.
  20. ↑ "Rehabilitatie". De West: nieuwsblad uit en voor Suriname (in Dutch). Paramaribo. February 13, 1950.
  21. ↑ "Indische NSB'ers in concentratiekamp Jodensavanne". Prinses Irenebrigade (in Dutch). Retrieved 18 May 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.