You step off the evacuation list - which name do you cross out?

Kus Damstey, a former prisoner of war and later a prominent figure in the Dutch intelligence community, navigates a complex life marked by survival, secrecy, and a quest for meaning. Born in Friesland, Netherlands, in 1902, Damstey's early life was shaped by loss and ambition. After a brief military service, he moved to Indonesia, where he quickly established himself in law and local governance. However, the fall of the Netherlands to Germany and the subsequent Japanese occupation led to his internment as a prisoner of war, where he endured brutal conditions while forced to build the Pekanbaru Railway.

Following the war, Damstey returned to a changed Indonesia and took on various roles, including a prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, where he confronted the very atrocities he had survived. His post-war career saw him oscillate between civic leadership and military organization, ultimately leading him to the deputy directorship of the Dutch Domestic Security Service, where he modernized the agency while maintaining a low public profile.

In a surprising turn, at the age of 84, Damstey chose to document his experiences in a memoir focused on his time as a prisoner, a stark contrast to his otherwise guarded life. This late-life revelation raises questions about the nature of survival and the burdens of memory, as Damstey reflects on the cost of his experiences and the lives of those who did not survive. His story serves as a reminder of the complexities of identity and the enduring impact of trauma, even as he navigated a life characterized by both public service and personal concealment.

A survivor of the Pekanbaru Death Railway returns from forced labour to run Dutch intelligence and quietly shapes what a nation may know - which name do you cross out?

You step off the evacuation list - which name do you cross out?

In this episode, we follow Jacobus Sinninghe Damsté from his childhood in Huizum to his years in the Dutch East Indies, through imprisonment on the Pekanbaru Death Railway, and into a postwar career that placed him at the centre of Dutch security. What choices did he make, and what did those choices cost others?

Person: Jacobus Sinninghe Damsté Date of birth: July 16, 1902 Location: Huizum; Surabaya; Pekanbaru; Jakarta Event: Forced labour on the Pekanbaru Death Railway (May 1944-August 1945) Role: Head of the Netherlands Security Service (twelve years)

- Born in 1902 in Huizum, raised by a physician father and notable for an early absence of his mother. - Studied law at the University of Groningen, moved to Surabaya, joined a prominent law firm and married Johanna Greebe in 1928. - Active in civic life in Surabaya: city council member, club president, and local association secretary before his first wife’s death in 1935. - Conscripted into the Landstorm, captured after Japan’s advance, and moved through multiple camps before being forced to build the Pekanbaru Death Railway. - Returned to Jakarta in November 1945, resumed administrative work by January 1946, and later spent twelve years running Dutch intelligence with almost no public record except one quoted line.

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