The Sumatra railroad
THE SUMATRA
I 11 ;WJ >1
Henk Hovinga
Final destination Pakan Baroe, 1943-1945
HENK
HOVINGA
This is the gripping historical tragedy of the 220
km railroad that bored its way through the hot,
humid Sumatran jungle during World War II. The
railway was commissioned by Japan and built with
the blood and tears of Allied prisoners of war and
press-ganged Javanese romushas.
Henk Hovinga interviewed nearly one hundred
former railroad workers and did painstaking archi
val research. The result is a moving book, richly
illustrated with numerous authentic drawings of
life in the internment camps, charts and photo
graphs.
The original Dutch version of The Sumatra Rail
road has become the standard work on the crime
of the Japanese railroad construction in Indonesia.
Unfortunately this indescribable human catastrop
he has always been overshadowed by the drama of
the notorious Birma Railroad.
This work is first and foremost a posthumous
tribute to the thousands of slave workers who lost
their lives for the Pakan Baroe Railroad. At the
same time, it is a homage to the survivors, for
whom the war traumas would never end.
FINAL DESTINATION PAKAN BAROE. 1943-1945
KITLV Press Leiden, 2010
392 pp.
Hardcover
illustrated, incl. colour
ISBN: 978 90 6718340 6
Price: 29,90
Reuvensplaats 2,2311 BE Leiden
Postbus 9515, 2300 RA Leiden
tel. +31 (0)71 527 2372, fax +31 (0)71-527 2638
E-mail: kitlvpress@kitlv.nl
KITLV/Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde te Leiden
is opgericht in 1851KITLV is een instituut van de
KNAW/Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen
www.kitlv.nl
30 Moesson
Moesson #3 september 2010.indd 30
26-08-10 11:08
