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A strange dream

During the night from 15 to 16 February 1945
I dreamed that Mary Ockhuyzen and us were adrift in a wild river. We, Annemarie, Gretel and I grabbed a boat and came ashore. She wanted to climb a wall on the shore but there were snakes everywhere and she didn't dare to climb up and she slid off into the river because she was tired. We looked everywhere but couldn't find her.

In de nacht van 15 op 16 Feb 1945 droomde ik dat Mary Ockhuyzen met ons in een woesten rivier dreef. We, An, Gr en ik pakten ons aan een boot vast en kwamen an land. Zij wilde een muurtje aan 't oever klimmen maar overal waren slangen en zij durfde er niet op en omdat zij moe was glee zij weg in de rivier. Wij zochten alles af maar vonden haar niet.

11 Aug 45

Reini is jarig - geen koffie op bed maar tante Rut ( Mevr Kersten) schuift ons een beker hete thee onder de klamboe. Reini, onze gedachten zijn bij jou geliefde jongste. God behoede jou! 26 jaar, een man ben je geworden in de gevangenschap. Wat brengt ons de dag? Ik ben al dagen ernstig ziek tot een geraamte afgemagerd en dood zwak. Gretel en Annemarie zorgen engelachtig voor me. Al hun brood geven ze aan mij. Annemarie zoekt en kookt groenten. Gretel doet nog wat heel anders. Het is een beste dag en wij zijn blij. Kijk maar Reini. (illustrated with a simple drawing of three dancing stick figures)

11 Aug 45
It's Reini's birthday - no coffee in bed but aunt Rut (Mrs Kersten) reaches under the mosquito net with a a mug of hot tea. Our thoughts are with you my dearest youngest. God protect you! 26 years, you have become a man in prison. What will the day bring? I have been seriously ill for days, a mere skin and bones and deadly weak. Gretel and Annemarie are caring for me like angels. They give me all their bread and Annemarie looks for greens to cook. Gretel does something else. It is a nice day and we are happy. Look Reini!

Woensdag 3 Mei
In all stilte nog komen de meisjes mij feliciteren. Ook Mevr de Bree en de kinderen weten het en feliciteren mij. Ik krijg van Mevr DB.

Wednesday 3 May
It is still quiet when the girls wish me a happy birthday. Mrs de Bree and children also know and congratulate me. I get from Mrs DB..

This is where Meta's entries end. She died in August, the day the Japanese surrendered and she did know that the war had ended.

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I have created this blog to read and communicate to my family members the content of the diaries, notes, letters and other writings I have from my grandmother Meta Peelen-Reith. Meta lived in the first half of the 20th century and experienced two world wars. The last one killed her when she succumbed to the effects of the malnutrition and dysentery she endured in the Japanese Concentration Camp on Java that she was interned in in 1944. She died on 25th August 1945, ten days after Japan surrendered. Meta kept a diary in those camp days, using a school exercise book. She took a great risk to keep this diary, because paper and pencil was forbidden by the Japanese camp guards and punishment was brutal for those who transgressed this rule.  The diary is written in Dutch in pencil, and overwritten in ink later, it seems, and it is sometimes difficult to read, because the writing is faded and smudged in places. As I go through the diary I'll provide both the Dutch original t

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