Amsterdam working on monument to honor WWII "comfort women"

The municipality of Amsterdam and investigative journalist Griselda Molemans are working together on a monument to honor “comfort women” - women who the Japanese occupiers forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers during World War II. The monument could cause some diplomatic tensions with Japan, Trouw reports.

Japan is against monuments honoring “comfort women” because, according to the Japanese government, the women were not forced to work as sex slaves. Pressure from Japan forced the German city of Freiburg to scrap plans for a monument. And a monument in the American city of San Francisco immediately soured its relationship with its Japanese sister city Osaka.

“Many countries don’t even start. Trade relations with Japan take precedence,” Molemans said to Trouw. She finds it important for the Netherlands to stand firm and get this monument. “I still sometimes hear terms like ‘Jappenhoeren,’ many people don’t know what happened in the Dutch East Indies at the time. I don’t want these women to become just a footnote in history.”

According to Molemans, the Netherlands also has a responsibility toward the women forced to work as sex slaves. After the war, the Dutch State and Royal Family confiscated part of the women’s earnings, Molemans and Follow the Money revealed last year.

According to the FTM investigation, Japan deposited some of the money earned in the forced brothels into Japanese banks, with which Japan financed the war. When these banks were dismantled in 1945, the Dutch State and Royal House, as major shareholders, received a share of the proceeds. The Netherlands got 155 million euros, for which the victims have never been compensated.

Over 70,000 women from the Netherlands and the former colony of the Dutch East Indies were forced to work in Japan’s brothels, Molemans said. A small number of them are still alive. In total, Japanese occupiers forced about 500,000 to have sex with Japanese military personnel. Most of the women were from Korea.

Molemans hopes the monument in Amsterdam can offer comfort and support to surviving relatives in Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as the other countries affected. “I have spoken to the victims as well as their daughters and granddaughters. The trauma is still alive, even among the younger generation.”

A spokesperson for the municipality of Amsterdam told Trouw that the city is delighted that the monument will be placed there. The Japanese embassy in The Hague would not respond to the newspaper's questions abou the monument.