Song of Survival: Women Interned [Paperback]

Helen Colijn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997

Thrown into the whirlwind of dark forces unleashed with the onset of World War II, a young woman, Helen Colijn, her sisters, and father flee the oncoming Japanese army. Helen Colijn's account of her wartime experiences is a window into a largely overlooked dimension of World War II — the imprisonment of women and children in Southeast Asia by the Japanese and how these prisoners of war responded to their dire circumstances. The conditions were terrible. Food was scarce; medicine unavailable. Held in captivity for three and a half years, more that a third of the women in Helen's camp died of disease or starvation. Yet their courage, faith, resiliency, ingenuity, and camaraderie provide us with enduring lessons on living. Though the prisoners had no musical instruments, they had their voices, and from memory scored classical works for symphony and piano. The music that helped sustain them while in captivity is a lasting and precious gift of these women to a world that has witnessed far too much war.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Helen Colijn was a 20-year-old Dutch woman living with her parents on a small island near Borneo when the Japanese invaded in 1941. Shipwrecked, she and her two younger sisters were captured by Japanese soldiers and shuffled from concentration camp to concentration camp for the duration of World War II. This book chronicles their personal travails and the horrible sufferings of the British and Dutch women with whom they were interned. Perhaps more significantly, it tells the remarkable story of Margaret Dryburgh, a Presbyterian missionary who gave her fellow prisoners a means to survive spiritually: the vocal orchestra. Working from memory, she reconstructed the "Largo" from Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, and works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Ravel, and Grainger--and taught them to a chorus of prisoners. Even the often-brutal Japanese guards were moved by the concerts, Colijn reports. Although this book often glosses over the horrors, it is a moving account of some remarkable women and the music that sustained them.

From Library Journal

Colijn tells the remarkable story of her family's internment by the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Her account grips the reader from the very first pages, relating the events leading up to the family's capture, the tragedy that internment brought, and ultimately their release at the end of the war. The family was separated in captivity, but Colijn and her two sisters were able to remain together with other Dutch, Australian, and English women. Reflections on the hardships of prison life are sobering: Internees relied on a variety of rituals, such as lectures and language study, to carry them through their darkest days. A vocal orchestra was formed to help distract and comfort all involved from the horror they were living through. The "Captives' Hymn," composed by one of the internees, is a testimonial to the faith the women had. Song of Survival will bring a new dimension to the courage that was a hallmark of World War II. For public libraries.?Dorothy Lilly, Grosse Pointe North H.S. Lib., Mich.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: White Cloud Press (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883991145
• ISBN-13: 978-1883991142
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars compelling, true, mind & soul opening in our computer world, October 4, 1999

By 

(Maureen Colijn Morris)[e-mail] (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of Survival: Women Interned (Paperback)

I am related to Helen Colijn and so glad she wrote this true story. The experiences that she, her sisters and parents, my folks, etc have passed onto us have been amazing. I am now 40 with 4 kids of my own. I retell this story that she wrote to help my kids, and myself, relate to the true meaning of life. I hope we can raise future generations to have the dignity and stamina to sing through both the prosperous, as well as the survival, times. (There is also a PBS documentary video (same title) and then a full movie called Paradise Road, by the same director of Driving Miss Daisy, based partly on this book.) Thanks Helen!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It brought back memories, April 4, 2000

By 

F.M. Fullerton (Tyler, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of Survival: Women Interned (Paperback)

I too was a POW of the Japanese and as I read Helen's story, I had tears in my eyes for I could feel the things she and the others were going through. The sickness, starvation, no medical supplies and rain and mud, cold wet quarters and back breaking work from dawn to dusk; and for what? A cup of watery rice; and in the end death. It is a story of survival and the music helped the POWs. The music the two ladies were able to recreate, and the choir gave the prisoners a brief respite from the daily grind of their prison drudgery and misery, and the uncertainty of what could happen at any time at the hands of the unpredictable Japanese soldier. All he had to do was account for a body. And all that mattered to the camp commander was a body--dead or alive..

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Moving Message of Faith, April 10, 2004

By 

"scholarlykatie" (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of Survival: Women Interned (Paperback)

It wasn't long ago that America watched "Paradise Road" in movie theaters across the country. Audiences were captivated with the story of a young girl and her family's struggle to survive imprisonment by the Japanese. Like many moviegoers today, the audience may not have read the inspirational work behind the motion picture. Helen Colijn's Song of Survival is a real story. The experiences that Coljin documents in her work are real. The author gives her readers a glimpse of her life, and that of the other women imprisoned in Southeast Asia by the Japanese during World War II. Readers follow Colijn through the experiences of a shipwreck, being captured, and being imprisoned for three-and-a-half years.

Based on her original manuscript written just after her imprisonment, Colijn's story is one of hope and perseverance. Many other books written by soldiers and survivors of World War II are laden with hardship and sadness especially those books detailing the accounts of brutality of the Japanese during their quest to expand their empire westward through Asia such as The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Colijn's story is unique in that it details true survival of not just the body of the imprisoned, but the soul as well. The women of the camp in which Colijn was imprisoned used music to life their spirits and "free their souls" from detainment.

Reading a book such as Song of Survival can open up a new door to the way in which we learn about prisoners of war. Colijn describes disease and starvation leading to the deaths of more than one-third of the population of the camp (Colijn 159-169). "Before our internment was over, twenty-six Dutch children lost their mothers," she says (Colijn 162). But all the while, the women kept their spirits from breaking entirely through singing classical songs and even performing vocal concerts among themselves (Colijn129-146). Colijn gives her readers an idea of the sisterhood within her camp among the prisoners. This feeling of family is often discussed within the realm of the formation of a brotherhood-such as is seen in Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose--of soldiers, but is rarely seen in accounts of imprisonment. The work is so poignant because Colijn is able to draw from true personal experiences.

The author teaches her readers that even during imprisonment, with just a little faith and a little music, souls will have the ability to wander free. By using an effective autobiographical format, Colijn tells her story from a very personal perspective. She recalls the events so vividly that it is impossible for readers not to feel the same emotions that the prisoners felt. Colijn's work is so well crafted that even her feelings of optimism shine through the seemingly unpromising situation. As trite as it may seem, Colijn notes that several women even made "liberation dresses" to wear for the day that their camp was liberated by the Allied forces (Colijn 129).

A book such as Colijn's is an important element in any study of World War II as it not only brings to light the idea of hope in spite of hardship, but it also shows what seems to be a neglected area of war accounts-the struggle of women as prisoners of war. A personal account of the struggles of being imprisoned by the Japanese that is so seasoned with hope is rarely seen. Colijn serves the women of her camp well with Song of Survival. With the work of one author, hundreds of women's stories will live on to be read by future generations who will bear witness to the events taking place-the immense struggle-during World War II. Song of Survival will live on long after the last survivor passes away. It will carry a message of faith and perseverance for the women in Colijn's camp who kept hope alive through their immense personal strength.