Michiel Schwartzenberg

Hello, my name Michiel Schwartzenberg and live near The Hague in the Netherlands and I work for the Netherlands Red Cross at the Netherlands National Archive.

How did you become interested in FEPOW history?

In 2005 I started working at the Netherlands Red Cross WW2 Archive. A large part of the Archive deals with the War in the Far East; both the (military) Prisoners of War in Asia and the civil internees in the Netherlands East Indies of WW2. Another part is the war of independence of Indonesia. My interest began as I gained in depth knowledge of these three aspects of Dutch colonial history through accessing the documents and rolls that form the administration of history.

Currently I am (still) working on a book about the RAPWI (Recovery of Allied Prisoners & Internees) the adhoc organisation in the British army tasked with finding and evacuating the PoW in South East Asia.

Work outside RFHG

A Dutch book on lesser known aspects of the Burma Thailand Railway.