Rita De Clercq Zubli (1929–2012)
Teoksen Disguised: A Wartime Memoir tekijä
Tietoja tekijästä
Tekijän teokset
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Muut nimet
- La Fontaine de Clercq Zubli, Rita
La Fontaine, Charmaine (birth) - Syntymäaika
- 1929-12-17
- Kuolinaika
- 2012-11-21
- Sukupuoli
- female
- Kansalaisuus
- Indonesia (birth)
USA - Syntymäpaikka
- Subang, Indonesia
- Kuolinpaikka
- Merrimack, New Hampshire, USA
- Asuinpaikat
- Sumatra, Indonesia
Nashua, New Hampshire, USA - Ammatit
- memoirist
administrator
transportation arranger
businesswoman - Lyhyt elämäkerta
- Rita la Fontaine de Clercq Zubli was born in Subang, Indonesia to a Dutch-Indonesian family. She was 12 years old at the time of the Japanese invasion in World War II. Her parents feared that occupation troops would sexually abuse her, so they disguised her as a boy named "Rick" -- an identity she maintained for a harrowing three-and-a-half years as her family was shuttled between prisoner-of-war camps. She learned to speak Japanese and English and became a translator for a number of Japanese commanders. After the war, she graduated from high school and worked for the BPM oil company, arranging flights and transportation for their employees. Her next job was with the Consul of the Netherlands in Palembang, where she served as an administrator for several years. There she met her future husband, Jacobus (Dan) de Clercq Zubli, a Dutch rubber planter; they married in 1953 and had four children. Political unrest forced them to move to the Netherlands, from which they then immigrated to the USA in 1960. She started a specialized typing service, mainly for Harvard and MIT students. More than 60 years after the war, she wrote her memoirs. Her book was published in 2001 as Disguised: A Wartime Memoir; a translated version in Indonesia became an instant bestseller.
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
Tilastot
- Teokset
- 1
- Jäseniä
- 66
- Suosituimmuussija
- #259,059
- Arvio (tähdet)
- 4.0
- Kirja-arvosteluja
- 6
- ISBN:t
- 3
What hit me as I was reading, was that this was definitely written through the eyes of a young person thrown into difficult circumstances. I personally do not believe that this youngster was given the full authority that was described, but I do believe she was involved in all the situations at the side of leadership due to her uncanny ability to learn languages. Already fluent in Dutch (her first language) and Indonesian (the language of the serving class), at the beginning of the war she quickly picked up rudimentary Japanese and was awarded a job as a clerk for the first prison camp she and her family were to live. At that time, although life was very difficult for the prisoners, she took Japanese language courses to improve her situation - mostly for more food and comfort goods which were rewards for learning the language and customs of her captors.
For nearly 3 years and 3 different prison camps, Rick worked as a clerk and interpreter for the Japanese. She must have been a charming, charismatic youngster, as she was able to keep herself in good positions and therefore help her family who were confined to the prisons where she often stayed on the commanders compound with better food and sanitation. I think that due to her situation, she was able to bond with her captors and speaks of them in positive and caring terms. Definitely a protection mechanism which cannot be faulted!
Toward the end of the war, prison situations became horrific and this is where Rick had to spend much of her time actually in the prison and this is were the horrors of what the prisoners went through are described more fully than before. You see the snapshots of memories - the skin and bone/scarecrow description of the people. The lack of sanitation, medical care, food supply, etc.
I do recommend this for anyone who has any interest in Pacific part of WWII, Especially if you don't know much, this would be a good introduction as in the Pacific, life was brutal for everyone under the thumb of the Japanese.… (lisätietoja)