The Book About 'Comfort Women' That Could Not Go Unwritten

Crushed Flower

Eight Women and their stories about Japanese forced Prostitution
Author: Marguerite Hamer – Monod de Froideville
Translation: Emma Wilson

In 2013, “Crushed Flower” was published in the Netherlands. This book tells the stories of eight Dutch women who suffered unimaginable horrors, having been forced into prostitution by the Japanese in camps and brothels in the Dutch East Indies during the Second World War. 

Marguerite Hamer, the author of the book, was the official confidant for these women for many years. With permission from the victims, she recorded their stories. The aim of the book is clear: we can never forget what happened to them.

Over the years, “Crushed Flower” saw such international success that the rights were sold to publishers in Japan, Korea and China.

On 15th August 2020, it will be 75 years ago that World War II officially came to an end, on Victory over Japan Day. It is on the anniversary of this very day that “Crushed Flower” will be launched in English.

Eight women tell of their own experiences of being forced to work as sex slaves, so-called “comfort women”, throughout World War II, both inside and outside the Japanese camps in the former Dutch East Indies.

Their heart-wrenching stories are filled with misery, frustration and fear, and they detail the horrors of the Japanese brothels they found themselves in. Despite the horrific abuse these women suffered in their youth and the lack of understanding they were met with upon their return to the Netherlands, their strength and perserverence was unparalleled. The women continued with their lives, and hid away their traumatic pasts.

They could never fully forget what happened, they simply learnt to live with it. But sooner or later, their trauma always surfaced, casting a lead grey and lead heavy shadow over them.

These poignant stories are a significant piece of history that should never be lost. To this day, they should be taken as a lesson – a lesson in universal human rights, everywhere, and towards everybody.

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