Batavia                    Mater Dolorosa              West-Java

 

                                                                                                                                                                     May 27, 2011

Alternate Camp Name

De Goede Herder (the Good Shepherd)

 

Camp Location

This convent was located in the southeastern part of the city, in the Meester Cornelis neighborhood. The address was Pasarstraat 122 (now Raya Jatinegara Barat 122). The convent belonged to the Congregatie van de Zusters van den Goeden Herder (Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd).

This convent was set up early in 1945 as a hospital camp for sick men from the camps in West-Java.  Nearby Sint Vincentius and Mater Dolorosa were established as the primary Japanese medical service facilities for the camps.

 

Japanese Camp Commander

Mitsufugi (March 1945 to August 1945)

 

Dutch Camp Leader

Sister Bank (the “directrice”)

 

Transports (source: Atlas Japanse Kampen)

Date

Arrived from

Transferred to

Number

in

transport

Total

number

in camp

Individual

type

xxx xx, 1945

Bat: Vincentius

 

20

 

mp (1)

May 10, 45 (2)

Tjim: 4e en 9e Batal

 

760

 

sb,sm

May 10, 45 (3)

Band: 15e Batal

 

523

 

sb,sm

May 12, 1945

Bat: Kramat

 

29

1300

n (4)

xxx xx, 1945

 

Bat: Vincentius

20

 

mp (5)

xxx xx, 1945

 

Bat: Vincentius

100

 

sm

xx xx ,45 (6)

 

Deaths

276

 

sb,sm

 Aug 23, 1945

 

 

 

1000

mp,sb,sm

Abbreviations / Notes

n=nuns, mp= medical personnel, sb=sick boys, sm=sick men; Batal=Bataljon; Vincentius=Sint Vincentius

Band=Bandoeng, Bat=Batavia, Tjim=Tjimahi

(1) Part of the group from Tjideng that had prepared Sint Vincentius as a hospital camp.

(2) And on May 13, 1945, May 20, 1945 and May 21, 1945.

(3) And on May 21, 1945.

(4) Medical personnel, formerly employed at the Saint Carolus Hospital.

(5) The group from Tjideng, having set up the camp as a hospital, returned to Sint Vincentius.

(6) From May to August 1945.

 

Medical personnel

A small group of women (and their children, approximately 20 people in all) from the Sint Vincentius hospital camp were transferred to Mater Dolorosa.  The facility was empty when they arrived; it had been evacuated as a POW camp shortly before. These women prepared the facility for the arrival of critically ill internees, just as they had done at Sint Vincentius. The camp then received male patients from the civilian camps in Bandoeng and Tjimahi. After some weeks, this group of women and children returned to Sint Vincentius.

 

Nuns
Aside from the nuns of this convent, there were 29 nuns from Camp Kramat to help care for the sick men. An older sister, Sister Bank, was the director (“directrice”).

 

 

Internees

Sick men and boys arrived by train from Bandoeng and Tjimahi in Batavia, and were transported from the station to Mater Dolorosa in open trucks. Most were ambulatory. Upon arrival, the men looked appalling: they had hardly any clothes and were unshaven, with hollow faces and long hair. Most arrived on their own mattresses or sleeping-mats. The mortality rate was high: during the months of July and August, 10 to 12 boys and men died per day.

After the Japanese surrendered, there were no new arrivals of sick boys and men. Although some were transferred to hospitals in Batavia, the death rate remained elevated for a while.

 

Deaths
From May to August 1945, there were 276 deaths.

 

References

Beekhuis, H. et al – Atlas Bersiapkampen, 2009, p. 50 (events during the Bersiap period)

Dulm, J. van et al - Atlas Japanse Kampen, Volume I, 2000, p. 100

Jong. L. de - Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in WOII, Vol. 11B, 1985, p. 833

Jong, L. de - The Collapse of a Colonial Society, 2002 (translation of Vol. 11B)

Liesker, H.A.M. - Oproep, Moesson magazine 42/9 (March 15, 1998), p. 4

Manders, Jo - De lach uit leed geboren. pp. 69-70

Report of the War Crimes Investigation Team, NIOD, IC 080.605

Velden, Dora van - De Japanse burgerkampen, 3rd Edition, 1977, p. 365

Wal-Meyneken, Suzanne van der – Nederlands-Indische Herinneringen, 2000 (privately-published)

Wolters, Jan - De Lazaristen-missie tijdens de Japanse bezetting, VAP 32 (1946), number 4

Zwitzer, H.L. - Mannen van 10 jaar en ouder, 1995, p. 307

 

Photographs

Dulm, J. van et al - Atlas Japanse Kampen, Volume I, 2000, pp. 100, 101

 

Camp Map

Dulm, J. van et al - Atlas Japanse Kampen, Volume I, 2000, p. 100

 

 

Mater Dolorosa Camp Map

 

 

Index           Camps on Java