Fifty Years of Silence

Gripping and inspiring, this account tells the story of Jan Ruff-O’Herne and the shattering of her idyllic childhood in Dutch colonial Indonesia. Depicting the Japanese invasion of Java in 1942, this riveting autobiography recounts how she was taken from her mother and two younger sisters and forced into sexual slavery in a military brothel. Following the beatings and rapes she suffered during a period of three months, this record reveals how she was finally returned to prison, only to have her family’s lives threatened if she ever spoke the truth about the atrocities inflicted upon her. Her silence over five decades is portrayed here, broken only by her witnessing Korean war rape victims making public appeals for justice and her resolution to testify and support them. Documenting her courageous confession to her family and her tireless work to protect the rights of women in war and armed conflict, this recollection is a tribute to one woman’s inner strength, constant faith, and unbreakable survival.