Als ik mijn ogen sluit

When the Japanese occupied the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, in 1942, Dutch nationals living there were considered "enemy foreigners". They were interned in camps, the so-called Jap camps, where they were treated harshly and cruelly. Women and children were locked up in separate camps and this new documentary by Pieter van Huystee is about this group. What was it like for the women and girls who had survived the camps?

It is clear that the camps left great scars, but it becomes equally clear that there was little attention in the Netherlands to the survivors' stories; to their anger and frustration, they were not heard, their suffering was not acknowledged. What doesn't help: there are few photos, there is virtually no film material. There are, however, many drawings.

Van Huystee, whose mother and grandmother were among those survivors, tells their story in this film. With his mother, he could hardly speak about her experiences. She has since died, but now he still asks the questions he had wanted to ask her.