Song of Survival: Women Interned

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Song of Survival provides a window into an often overlooked dimension of World War II--the imprisonment of women and children in Southeast Asia. It is Helen Colijn's memoir of the three and a half years she spent in a Japanese prison camp on the island of Java. Colijn and her family were living in the Dutch Indies when the Japanese army invaded. When her family's attempt to flee failed, Colijn ended up in one of the many Japanese internment camps for the duration of the war. The conditions were harsh, food was scarce, and medicine was unavailable, but the women who survived the starvation and disease somehow found the courage to persist. They found faith and resiliency in their comraderie with each other and in their voices. To help sustain them in their captivity, the women created music with lyrics expressing hope and the sentiment that the world has seen too much war. This moving account of extraordinary women inspired the film Paradise Road and should inspire its readers as well.


From Library Journal
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.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


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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.


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