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The Johan Franco branch of the IJsselstein family
Victims of the Japanese occupation
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During the Second World War, countless residents of the Dutch East Indies of European or Indo-European descent were taken prisoner by the Japanese occupiers. This page mentions five of them: the cousins Hendrik, Jan Fortuin, Rudolph and Christiaan Beijen/Beyen, and Piet, the son of Hendrik.
In the diagram below, the boxes with the names of these five people are colored blue. Their mutual family relationships are made clear via the lines to the white boxes.  Because they served in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL), the five men were regarded by the Japanese as prisoners of war. Life in the camps was extraordinarily harsh. Their Japanese internment cards are held at the Dutch National Archives. The Japanese kept records of their prisoners on these cards. Below are brief details about the five men, with links to further information. Hendrik Beijen After the Japanese invasion, Hendrik Beijen (1895-1945) was held first in prisoner-of-war camps on Java. Later he was forced to work on Sumatra on the notorious Pekanbaru railway. A few weeks after the Japanese surrender, he died as a result of the hardships he had had to endure. Click here for more information about Hendrik. Piet Beijen Piet Beijen (1923-1997) was the son of Hendrik. He served as a soldier in the KNIL and was taken prisoner in 1942, shortly before his nineteenth birthday. He was interned in various camps in Thailand and was liberated in August 1945. Click here for more information about Piet. Jan Fortuin Beijen Jan Fortuin Beijen (1912-1991) was acknowledged as a son by Hendrik Rudolph Beijen junior. He had entered service with the army and, after his arrest, was transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp near Tokyo. There he was forced to perform labor for the Japanese war industry. After the Japanese surrender he was brought back to Java. Click here for more information about Jan Fortuin. Rudolph Beijen Rudolph Beijen (1912-1944) was a son of Johan Franco Beijen. He was a sergeant-major in the KNIL and was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese in March 1942. He lost his life in September 1944 when the transport ship Junyo Maru, which was on its way to Sumatra, was torpedoed. Click here for more information about Rudolph. Christiaan Beijen Christiaan Beijen (1914-1997) was a brother of the aforementioned Rudolph. After the outbreak of the war with Japan he was called up for the KNIL, where he worked as a motorcycle dispatch rider. After the army's surrender he initially remained free, but in 1944 he was nevertheless arrested and taken to Sumatra. In August 1945 he was able to return to Java. Click here for more information about Christiaan. |
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