[Dutch] Foreign Minister and other officials visited Kyushu area to offer a prayer before the cross

"When turning our eyes on the dark aspect of bilateral ties between Japan and the Netherlands, we see how much pain the war brought to both countries. The names are engraved in our memories of the war."

The above was a portion of a speech delivered by Dutch Foreign Minister Van Aartsen on April 21 at Mizumaki Town in Fukuoka Prefecture in a heavy rain. In front of the Cross Tower on which names of 869 ex-Dutch POWs who died in Japan during WWI were engraved, there assembled the Foreign Minister and 120 Dutch Navy servicemen. They were visiting Japan to attend the commemorative event marking the 400th anniversary of Japan-Netherlands relations and placed a wreath of flowers on the Cross Tower.

Among the ex-POWs was Dolf Winkler (83).

He was held as a POW by the Imperial Japanese Army that occupied Indonesia and brought to a coal mine at Mizumaki Town in 1944.

After the war, he went back to the Netherlands and later became manager of a designing firm. When he became 50 or so, he began suffering from nightmares, always shouting, "Help me!" His doctor told him, "You are still bearing the burden of the war within you."

In order to overcome the terrible memories, he made up his mind to dare to re-visit Japan.

In 1985, he visited the site of the coal mine where he had lost many fellow internees. There, he found a cross still standing in the graveyard although half-buried in the earth.

The cross was presumably hurriedly put up as a grave marker by the mining firm after burying the dead POWs. The mining firm did so because it feared it might be pursued for its war responsibility. But the graveyard was left to run wild.  Winkler, in cooperation with local historical writer Eidai Hayashi (66) and others who guided him to there, appealed to the town government to preserve the cross well.

Later, getting assistance from a civic group at Mizumaki Town, he came to visit Japan almost every year to offer a wreath on the cross together with ex-POWs and ex-detainees.

Since 1967, the Japanese Government, as part of its "project to bridge between Japan and the Netherlands," has invited Dutch persons who attend the wreath-offering ceremony there.

"If those suffering the wounds from the war visit Japan, they can realize the Japanese they will see with their own eyes now are different from those in they remember from the time they were tortured by the Japanese. This is the way I became released from the 40 years of suffering."

From:
DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS
Monday, May 15, 2000

AMERICAN EMBASSY, TOKYO
POLITICAL SECTION
OFFICE OF TRANSLATION SERVICES