Fifty years of Silence

(The extraordinary memoir of a war rape survivor

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Author: Jan Ruff-O’Herne
Publisher: Mehta Publishing House
(Pp 214, ISBN 978-81-8498-126-1, Rs 300)

An emotional and moving account of a war rape survivor – Fifty Years of Silence is a true story of a woman – Jan Ruff-P’Herne - who was forced into sexual slavery in a brothel for the Japanese military after Japanese invaded Java in 1942 and she was put in Ambarawa Prison Camp. For fifty years, Jan kept silent about her miseries. But in 1992, when Korean war rape victims made appeal for justice on television, Jan decided to speak out. What was more difficult was to tell her family about what she had gone through. Instead of a face-to-face discussion, she resorted to writing a memoir, which finally took the shape of this book. Jan liked to sketch and she has shared the sketches she drew at the brothel and the camp.

The book also has pictures and memories from her childhood – Jan belonged to a rich family…her dreams only to be shattered by the Japanese invasion. Written in a simple yet powerful way, the book outlines the life of a girl, who literally lived through hell. It is an account of her courage, her sufferings and her endurance.