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 The story of warlovechild Anne-Marie
At my parent's home in the hall closet there was a green military bag from my father from his service in the Dutch-Indonesian Army. It was strictly forbidden for me to take a look in that bag. If as a child you are not allowed to do something, it only gets more attractive, and I've obviously tried to find out several times what secret stuff was hidden in there. But my parents always noticed it, maybe I shifted something by accident or so. Then it was again made clear that it really was forbidden to do so.
What I also considered funny: when they were mad at me, they sometimes called me ‘Samirin’. When I asked why they did that, they shrugged their shoulders. It was just a word, nothing more, they answerd. I attached no significance to it.
Only in my twenties, when I left home to live on my own, they told me the truth. In the military bag, next to my father’s military belongings, they kept a paper with the act of abdication by my biological mother. I was an adopted child. They found it very hard to tell, it was a lot of moaning and groaning. But they wanted to avoid that I would hear the truth from others.
I actually still know nothing
It was not nice to hear, but I left it behind me. I have had great parents, and it has never really bothered me. I hardly have more information than what they told me that moment when I left home. I was born in a hospital in Jakarta on April 26, 1947. That was written down in the act of adoption . With the name of my mother, in quotation marks: “Samirin”. I do not know if that’s her real name because of those quotation marks. But now I finally realised why my parents occasionally called me so. It seems that my father had come to the hospital to take a look after my birth, but that was it. I also have the idea that I was about three months old when I was adopted. So my mother must have left me for adoption almost immediately after my birth. But I really do not know anything for sure. You ask me how I know these faint details about my biological father and mother? It sounds silly, but I have no idea. Actually, it is that you ask me now, that I think about it...
Out of the blue siblings?
 The first three years of my life I lived in Jakarta with my parents. In 1950 we moved to the Netherlands , like so many others. I have some vague memories. On a big boat with a lot of people, arriving in the cold winter. With oversized winter clothes we were taken to hostels. And so I grew up in the Netherlands. I’ve always been an only child . Probably my parents could not have children themselves, hence my adoption.
I never felt an urgent need to find out about my past. Not until I heard about your project War Love Child, five years ago, when you just started. That was the moment I got curious . My parents had already deceased, so I could ask them nothing. But if I had tried, I would never have gotten much more information anyway. They were both Dutch-Indonesian people, and this kinds of subjects were not negotiable.
An exciting adventure
The first year after I posted my call to the website of War Love Child, I frequently visited the site to check whether there was any response. But I had no expectations, there were so few clues. Only ‘born in April 1947 in Jakarta’ and ‘maybe my mother’s name was ‘Samirin’. What can someone else do with this lack of information? But now, after five years, suddenly someone responded . Because of my picture I had attached: I apparently look alike to the oldest sister. The reaction is not really a shock for me, I do not have hard feelings about my obscure origins. But of course I am curious. Not only their father, but also three uncles have been in Indonesia on military service. So if not fathered by their father, I can still be a daughter of one of their uncles. I’m going to contact them, of course. Even if it turns out we are not acquainted at all, it certainly is an exciting adventure.
For an update of the quest of Anne-Marie for her family, read 'Another family reunion?' and for the result, check her story 'Anne-Marie back to zero'. |
The documentary
