Helen Colijn (1920–2006)

In 1939, eighteen-year-old Helen and her younger sister, Antoinette, went to visit their parents in the Dutch West Indies for a planned three-month break before returning to the Netherlands and school. Their father, Anton, was a geologist working for a Dutch subsidiary of Shell oil company. When war broke out in Europe, the girls stayed on with their parents and younger sister. One month after Pearl Harbor was attacked, so was Tarakan Island. Their father helped destroy the oil facilities to keep them out of the hands of the Japanese. Their mother was a Red Cross nurse and was held hostage upon pain of death in attempts to keep the Dutch from implementing their scorched earth policy. Their father escaped.

Not knowing the fate of their mother, the three girls and their father board a ship evacuating civilians to Australia. It was sunk by Japanese fighter pilots, however, and they had to escape on lifeboats. Eventually they made it to Sumatra, but were eventually caught and interned. Helen spent three and a half years in Japanese interment camps for women and children. One of the ways in which the women maintained moral was through vocal performances. In particular they recreated orchestra works using only voices.

After the war, Helen pieced together her diaries to document her experiences, but it wasn't published until 1995 when interest in the camp's music led to public performances. In addition to the book, there is a documentary also called Song of Survival. A film featuring Glenn Close called Paradise Road was released in 2001.

The book was a gripping account of a young woman's wartime experiences and an important first-hand account of life in a woman's interment camp. The lack of emotional excess or hyperbole made the story even more impactful. I couldn't put it down.… (mehr)

First published in the US in 1995. Inspired the movie "Paradise Road." This is an account of the author's three years imprisonment in a Japanese camp on Sumatra during WWII, her childhood before the war on the island of Tarakan and her escape from Tarakan with her fathers and sisters. It tells of the uplifting influence of a singing group in the camp comprised of Dutch Australian and English women prisoners. A television documentary entitled 'Song of Survival' was based on events recorded in this book. Includes an index.… (mehr)

I loved this book. Having visited Holland a couple of times, I felt the author did an amazing job at explaining Dutch ways. There were some things I remember and others that I had forgotten plus I learned so much that I never knew. This isn't a tourism book or history book, it's a book of how it feels to be in Holland. I didn't know how much I miss visiting there. It made me long for the Dutch traditional ways.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy learning about other countries, if you plan to visit or like me, just to bring back memories of a beautiful land and it's unique people.… (mehr)