Wainem, b. 1925, Mojogedang, Central Java. Wainem was taken from home and forced into prostitution, first in Solo for a year and then for two years in Yogyakarta. During the day in a warehouse, she had to weave mats with other women and cook her own food. Sometimes she was raped right then and there, but most of the time was taken by soldiers to their rooms in the barracks compound. "An Indonesian doctor tested us every week for pregnancy while a Japanese doctor observed. I never became pregnant then." After the war, with a group of women, she walked some 60 miles to get home. © Jan Banning

Japanese Propaganda Poster, WWII (Source: NIOD/KB, NL). "Prevention of espionage week, March 1 - March 7. Stick to the five civilian rules for the prevention of espionage." © Jan Banning

Paini, b. 1930, Getasan, Central Java.? From age 13, Paini performed forced labor at a local barracks. First she had to gather food with a group of servicemen in the surrounding villages, later she dug ditches and worked in the kitchen. In the evening, after work, she was taken from home to the barracks and raped repeatedly. Her older sister also was forced into prostitution, at another location nearby. The man Paini was to marry through an arranged marriage didn't want to have anything to do with her anymore after the war. A second arranged marriage, with an old widower, failed after only five months. After that, she worked for a while as a maid before she started a family with her third husband. "I told him that I had been 'used,' but he liked me anyway. We experienced a lot of joy together. That's why I have a lot of children now and grandchildren." © Jan Banning

Iyoh, b. 1924, Baros, West Java. ?Iyoh worked as a cleaning lady in a Japanese household. A member of the Japanese military, who was a steady visitor there, regularly assaulted the female personnel. He entered Iyoh's room regularly, too, and raped her so brutally that she sustained internal injuries. She decided to run and hid in a nearby factory barracks, where girlfriends nursed her. "I didn't dare go home. I was afraid that my dad would find out I was raped. I didn't want that." Fairly soon after the war she married the love of her life. "He was my cousin, I had gotten pregnant by him, we loved each other." They had 11 children together, seven of whom are still alive. "My children take care of me since my husband died. I've had to work hard enough in the past." She never talks about the war anymore, not with her old girlfriends from the factory, either. © Jan Banning

Umi, b. 1930, Sukabumi, West Java. ?Umi was 13 when two of her sisters were taken to a brothel by Japanese soldiers. She, too, was taken there after a few months. Her two sisters were abused for five months, until that became impossible because of internal injuries. "My sisters were very pretty. The Japanese lined up for them. They protected me, because I was so young. They would say: 'Leave my little sister alone, just take me.' I was taken, too, but not so badly. I still was able to have children." Umi married at a later age, to a family member because no one else wanted her. She had four children. "My children don't have a clue. Because my sisters didn't want it, I've never told them anything." © Jan Banning

Japanese Propaganda Poster, WWII (Source: NIOD/KB, NL). Japanese propaganda aimed at the United States. © Jan Banning

Sanikem, b. 1926, Semanu, Yogyarkarta?. Immediately after her marriage, Sanikem was picked up from the side of the road by Japanese servicemen, taken to a tent camp in the city and raped on a daily basis for months. During the day, she had to help in the soup kitchen cleaning vegetables. After work, she was raped in the adjoining fields or in a tent, where other forced laborers, both men and women, also slept. No one stopped the soldiers for fear of a beating. "The black paint of my bride's decoration was still on my forehead when I was raped for the first time by a Japanese serviceman. I saw him enter the tent. I trembled with fear and was rolled up all the way in my sleeping mat and had to cry terribly." To no avail. "They kept on coming, I was stuck and was afraid they would shoot me to death." Returning home after the war, it turned out there already had been a funeral service for her. "I immediately told my parents and my husband, too. 'You don't have stay with me,' I told him, 'I've been raped.' But praise the Lord, he took me back defiled, even though I had been taken away intact. Fortunately, I was still able to have children. Now I can thoroughly enjoy my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I don't want to think about the past, which I have buried under good memories." © Jan Banning

Ronasih, b. 1931, Serang, West Java. ?As a 13-year-old girl, Ronashi was picked up on her way home from school by a soldier nicknamed "Sideburns" and locked up in nearby barracks. There she was raped systematically for three months by Sideburns and his pal. Her father visited the barracks several times and in vain offered himself as free labor in exchange for his daughter's release. Not until the end of the war was Ronashi, very thin by then, released. "I had to crawl home, I couldn't even walk anymore, I hurt all over." Immediately after the war she underwent surgery for her internal injuries. "I only married late because I first wanted to think, my wounds hadn't healed yet, I was afraid, I wanted to get better first." She's been married five times, divorced several times after just a few months and has never been able to bear children. "I did get injections from the doctor, but it's God who determines whether you have children, not people." Since the death of her last husband, she lives alone, in a small hut, with a few chickens and a goat. "When rice is planted or harvested, I work in the fields, otherwise I sell baked cassavas or bananas. And the grandchildren of my aunt also sometimes give me a little rice." © Jan Banning

Japanese Propaganda Poster, WWII (Source: NIOD/KB, NL). "Shochiku special edition: The Heroic Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi.".(Shochiku is the name of a film production company). © Jan Banning

Aminah, b. 1929, Baros, West Java. ?As a 14-year-old girl, Aminah was forced into prostitution by a group of Japanese servicemen in charge of an ammunition factory where she worked. After work, she regularly was driven in a jeep to a hotel in the city and forced to have sex with several men. "I was ashamed, but at the same time did wonder why, aside from rice, I also received clothes and pieces of fabric as wages, because the other girls didn't get that." She never talked about it with other women factory workers. When she was allowed to go home for a night, she didn't mention it, either, to her sickly mother, a widow who would die during the war. At the end of the war, after being abused sexually for two years, she gained freedom. "I was glad that the Japanese left, that I didn't have to work in the factory anymore, that I was free." She moved in with an aunt, who nursed her for months because she had developed some kind of eczema. She married within a year, to a farmer in her village. © Jan Banning

Emah, b. 1926, Kuningan, West Java. ?Emah was taken from home and for three years forced into prostitution in two different barracks brothels in Chimahi. She received the Japanese name Miyako and daily had to service at least ten men, common soldiers and officers. In the office where the servicemen had to buy a ticket, there were pictures of the girls they could choose from. "Everyone wanted me. They kept on coming, one after the other." She resented her beauty. "I so much wanted to be ugly, because the ugly girls they quickly sent home again. But the beautiful ones had to stay." She stayed at the brothel until the end of the war. When she returned home, it turned out both her parents had died of sadness. She married an older man of Javanese nobility. "I really didn't want to, but I took pity on him. After he died four years later, I never married again, even though I had many admirers." She never was able to have children and adopted two of her brother's children. © Jan Banning

Japanese Propaganda Poster, WWII (Source: NIOD/KB, NL). "Defeat for sure. Our inattention gives the enemy a clear shot." © Jan Banning