Song of Survival: Women Interned / Edition 1

by Helen Colijn

Overview

Thrown into the whirlwind of dark forces unleashed with the onset of World War II, a young woman, Helen Colijn, her sisters, and father flee the oncoming Japanese army. Helen Colijn's account of her wartime experiences is a window into a largely overlooked dimension of World War II — the imprisonment of women and children in Southeast Asia by the Japanese and how these prisoners of war responded to their dire circumstances. The conditions were terrible. Food was scarce; medicine unavailable. Held in captivity for three and a half years, more that a third of the women in Helen's camp died of disease or starvation. Yet their courage, faith, resiliency, ingenuity, and camaraderie provide us with enduring lessons on living. Though the prisoners had no musical instruments, they had their voices, and from memory scored classical works for symphony and piano. The music that helped sustain them while in captivity is a lasting and precious gift of these women to a world that has witnessed far too much war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781883991142
Publisher:	White Cloud Press
Publication date:	11/01/1995
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Editorial Reviews

Colijn tells the remarkable story of her family's internment by the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Her account grips the reader from the very first pages, relating the events leading up to the family's capture, the tragedy that internment brought, and ultimately their release at the end of the war. The family was separated in captivity, but Colijn and her two sisters were able to remain together with other Dutch, Australian, and English women. Reflections on the hardships of prison life are sobering: Internees relied on a variety of rituals, such as lectures and language study, to carry them through their darkest days. A vocal orchestra was formed to help distract and comfort all involved from the horror they were living through. The "Captives' Hymn," composed by one of the internees, is a testimonial to the faith the women had. Song of Survival will bring a new dimension to the courage that was a hallmark of World War II. For public libraries.-Dorothy Lilly, Grosse Pointe North H.S. Lib., Mich.

Library Journal