Jan O’Herne

　　Allies in adversity, Australia and the Dutch
　　　　　in the Pacific War”Comfort women“

Jan O’Herne was born in 1923 at Bandoeng, in
central Java.
After the Japanese invasion of the NEI, she, her
mother, and her two sisters were interned, along
with thousands of other Dutch women and children,
in a disused and condemned army barracks at
Ambarawa.

In February 1944 a truck arrived at the camp, and
all the girls 17 years and above were made to
line-up in the compound. The ten most attractive,
including Jan O’Herne, were selected by Japanese
officers and told to pack a bag quickly. Seven of the
girls (including O’Herne) were taken to an old Dutch
colonial house at Selarang, some 47 kilometres
from their camp.
This house, which became known to the Japanese
as ”The House of the Seven Seas“, was used as a
military brothel, and its inmates were to become
”comfort women“.

On their first morning at the house, photographs
of the girls were taken, and displayed on the front
verandah which served as a reception area.
Visiting Japanese personnel would then select
from these photographs. Over the following four
months, the girls, all virgins, were repeatedly raped
and beaten, day and night. Those who became
pregnant were forced to have miscarriages.

After four harrowing months, the girls were moved
to a camp at Bogor, in West Java, where they were
reunited with their families.
This camp was exclusively for women who had been
put into military brothels, and the Japanese warned
the inmates that if anyone told what had happened
to them, they and their family members would be
killed.
Several months later the O’Hernes were transferred
to a camp at Batavia, which was liberated on
15 August 1945.

In 1946, O’Herne married British soldier Tom Ruff,
whose unit had protected the camp from Indonesian
freedom fighters after its liberation.
The two emigrated to Australia from Britain in 1960.Portrait of Jan O’Herne, taken at Bandoeng, Java,
shortly before the Japanese invasion in March 1942.

As they were being taken from the camp by the
Japanese, the other female inmates tried to pass
small gifts to the ten chosen girls.
Jan O’Herne received this handkerchief, which was
subsequently embroidered with the signatures of
the seven girls taken to
”The House of the Seven Seas“.
”Kamp 1A“, at Ambarawa, held about 3,000 Dutch
women and children.
This apron was embroidered in 1942 with the
signatures of about 40 of the interned women,
including those of O’Herne’s mother and two sisters.