Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
The Diary of Prisoner 17326 : A Boy's Life in a Japanese Labor Camp, Hardback Book

The Diary of Prisoner 17326 : A Boy's Life in a Japanese Labor Camp Hardback

Part of the World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension series

Hardback

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks

Description

In this moving memoir a young man comes of age in an age of violence, brutality, and war.

Recounting his experiences during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, this account brings to life the shocking day-to-day conditions in a Japanese labor camp and provides an intimate look at the collapse of Dutch colonial rule. As a boy growing up on the island of Java, John Stutterheim spent hours exploring his exotic surroundings, taking walks with his younger brother and dachshund along winding jungle roads.

His father, a government accountant, would grumble at the pro-German newspaper and from time to time entertain the family with his singing.

It was a fairly typical life for a colonial family in the Dutch East Indies, and a peaceful and happy childhood for young John.

But at the age of 14 it would all be irrevocably shattered by the Japanese invasion. With the surrender of Java in 1942, John's father was taken prisoner.

For over three years the family would not know if he was alive or dead.

Soon thereafter, John, his younger brother, and his mother were imprisoned.

A year later he and his brother were moved to a forced labor camp for boys, where they toiled under the fierce sun while disease and starvation slowly took their toll, all the while suspecting they would soon be killed. Throughout all of these travails, John kept a secret diary hidden in his handmade mattress, and his memories now offer a unique perspective on an often overlooked episode of World War II.

What emerges is a compelling story of a young man caught up in the machinations of a global war-struggling to survive in the face of horrible brutality, struggling to care for his disease-wracked brother, and struggling to put his family back together.

It is a story that must not be forgotten.

Information

Other Formats

Save 3%

£67.00

£64.85

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information