Japanese Registration cards (index cards)

                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      3-6-2017

 

Local Japanese Headquarters made a special card for every Prisoner of War contai­ning the following data:

 

                  Front side

Camp

No.

Name

Date of Birth

Nationality

Unit

Rank

 

Place of Capture

Date of Capture

Father’s Name

Mother’s Name

Place of Origin

Occupation

Destination of Report

Remark

 

                  Back side

Other Informations

 

FRONT SIDE. Text in English or Dutch. After “Camp” and “No.“ stamps were used with Japanese symbols and Roman numbers; new camp numbers were given after scratching the old, when he was transported to another camp (sometimes written outside (above) the framework.

In the left margin sometimes a number is given (2 characters, slash, 2 figures) (as JM/69); this is a telegram number of a POW roster sent to the International Red Cross in Geneva during the war.

BACK SIDE. Here all text was given in Japanese characters (hand written or using stamps). Each line starts with a date (y,m,d) followed by some information as felled sick, died, transported to another camp; the last line shows the date of transfer to the allied authorities.

 

The Japanese registration cards of the Dutch POWs can be found in the National Ar­chive in The Hague (entry 2.10.50.03).  These cards are available on the website:

http://www.gahetna.nl/collectie/index/nt00425, if the POW died during the war or if he should now be 100 years old or more. Cards of other POWs can be asked for by family persons (info@nationaalarchief.nl) giving their relationship and sending a death certificate if he died after the war. The cards of POWs died during the war had already been translated (available on the same website).

 

The identification of the camps on the front side can be troublesome: the camp names are not given, only the district number and the camp number. Dates are given in Japanese notation: year (in Hirohito-years: 17 means 1942, 18 means 1943 and so on), month and day (20-9-15 means Sept 15th, 1945). Many cards are presented on my website including the translation (see below).

 

Translation can be asked for by sending me the card by email (h.beekhuis@planet.nl).

 

 

Examples of Dutch POW cards

Sumatra-spoorweg

Birma-spoorweg

Japan


Navy personnel

Cards of Dutch Navy personnel can be found on http://pow.s-o-o.nl

 

Index