Our programme about books from Literary Travel Book Store Evenaar in Amsterdam.
Part 12: ‘Love in times of war’ by Annegriet Wietsma and Stef Scagliola. The subtitle of the book is: ‘Our boys and their concealed children in the East’.
This book is about the ups and downs of Dutch soldiers in the Dutch Indies. On their way east they were already warned not to have sex with the women over there, because the risk of STDs would be enormous.
In total 135.000 men were sent to the Indies between 1946 and 1949. You could not expect these men to live all these years in celibacy. It is well known thousands of concealed children were conceived. That is one side of the matter, the fact that the children exist.
On the other hand we have the quest of the adult children to their biological fathers, many years later, both in the Netherlands as in Indonesia. That is where the book is about: the long and often desperate search for their fathers. Sometimes they hold only a piece of paper with a handwritten name, only to find out those fathers don’t want any contact. Understandable, because those fathers don’t want to be confronted with a slip 50 or 60 years ago: how to explain this to your wife and children?
A fascinating story that continues on the website www.oorlogsliefdekind.nl, where children and their fathers can go to find more information and help in their search.
Duo Wietsma Scagliola has pulled out all stops with facts and personal stories, which make it a very interesting book.
For more information and help: www.oorlogsliefdekind.nl
Music from Indonesia: this will automatically bring forward the gamelan. Gamelan Degung a CD with Ensemble Lingkungan Seni Degung with vocalists Euis Komariah and Ida Widawati.
Part 1:
a. Palwa, Prawa. 10.06
b. Bima Mobos Catrik-Dareuda 9.22
c. Mangari 4.46
d. Palsiun 11.41
e. Lutung Bingung 4.17
f. Sangkur Ratu 9.17
g. Gambir Sawit 3.02
[CD Gamelan Degung Pan 2053]
Part 2: Yendisare Aimando. 3.23
Uitv: Paduan Suara.
[CD Discover Indonesia SFW CD 40484]
More information: www.evenaar.net
