An Indonesian In A Nazi Concentration Camp

PARLINDOENGAN Loebis was the leader of Perhimpoenan Indonesia, an association of Indonesian students studying in the Netherlands, when he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Buchenwald to languish in the infamous German concentration camp for four years until his release by the Allies in 1945.

In an autobiography titled Orang Indonesia di Kamp Konsentrasi Nazi, Parlindoengan Loebis (1910-1994) wrote of the horrifying experience he went through. I should be prepared to be incarcerated for years. That is, if Im not killed outright. To survive in the camp, I must be hard-hearted and unfeeling like a stone. Parlindoengan refused to cry.

Tempo examines the book and interviews people close to Parlindoengan and those with fond memories of the man forgotten by his own generation.