…I have forgiven the Japanese for what they did to me, but I can never forget. For fifty years, the 'Comfort Women' maintained silence; they lived with a terrible shame, of feeling soiled and dirty... I hope that by speaking out, I have been able to make a contribution to world peace and reconciliation, and that human rights violation against women will never happen again.
— Jan Ruff-O'Herne
United States congressional hearing 2007
REPRODUCED COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL P02652.001
Spotlight:
Jan and seven other young women from her camp were forcibly installed at a brothel called 'The House of the Seven Seas' at Semarang. She was 21.
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