A documentary about the traumatic death of an unknown family member and the impact on the third generation
Does the traumatic death of an unknown family member continue into the third generation? Paul Kotvis goes looking for the answer, because it happened to him. The documentary premiered on October 22, 2022 in the presence of more than 200 guests. Afterwards the reactions were overwhelming, below are some quotes:
'It has become a fantastic documentary with special footage' (Rene Blauw)
'It was a special evening and an impressive film' (Frank Steenhuisen)
'Impressive, very personal, vulnerable and moving with beautiful images' (Elisabeth Van Tuil)
'Special memories, good luck in rolling out your compelling documentary' (Bram Donkers)
'A wonderful evening, we talked about it for a long time' (Tjerk van de Lune, Claudie Bolster)
The project was realized with a crowdfunding campaign at Voor de Kunst, supported by almost a hundred involved donors and was created in collaboration with camerawoman and director Lotte van der Krogt. The camera work in Thailand was done by Frank Holling. Five experts share their experiences in the documentary: the late Louk Bannink, railway veteran, grandson Lars Bannink, Chairman of the Burma-Siam Railway Remembrance Foundation and Pakan Baroe Railway (SHBSS), Mariska Helling, family and trauma constellations, Terry Manttan, Thai-Burma manager Railway Center and Bart Nauta researcher at ARQ, National Psycho Trauma Center.
Journalist Claudia Bolster wrote a review in the Stentor following the premiere.
“While cleaning out his parental home in Bathmen, Paul came across documents, an Indian kris and a ring from his great-uncle Bram Olckers. The entire family had kept silent about him, but Paul unconsciously carried the suppressed grief from an early age. After a number of special incidents, he knew that he had to break that silence after eighty years to heal the trauma.
The psychological wound arose during the Second World War in the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese had taken Olckers prisoner of war in Java. Before the war, the Dutchman lived and worked for the Batavian Oil Company (BPM), the predecessor of Shell. He lived well there and enjoyed his work. This came to a prompt end during the war.
A missing prisoner of war
In 1942, after a harsh journey, he was put to work in Thailand. He had to work as a forced laborer during the construction of the Burma-Siam railway, a 400 kilometer long death railway through the jungle of Myanmar and Thailand. The miserable conditions, the hard work and the one-sided, little food proved fatal after a year. Bram Olckers died at the age of 43. The official cause of death: a deficiency of a multitude of vitamins.
After three years of uncertainty, his parents were informed of his death by a letter from the Red Cross in 1945. Bram was never spoken of again. It remained an untouched chapter of the family. Also with Paul. Recently, sadness started to creep up on him again. He wanted to complete the painful family history by chronologically visiting the last places in his great-uncle's life. His home, the work, the POW camp, the railway, with the final destination being the honorary cemetery in Chungkai, Thailand, which has never been visited by anyone from the family before.
Openness to an underexposed history
You travel along as a viewer in the documentary. Site visits are interspersed with conversations with experts in the field of intergenerational trauma and Australian researchers from the Thai-Burma Railway Center at the famous bridge over the River Kwai, on which Olckers worked, in Kanchanaburi. That information explains the story.
The 50-minute documentary - the debut for filmmaker and director Lotte van der Krogt - is a personal yet factual document that invites more research and openness into this underexposed history of many Dutch people. Illustrative are all those people with a similar past who have supported Paul financially. This first documentary was made possible through successful crowdfunding. The travel story ends with what Paul was looking for: peace for himself and the demons around his great-uncle.
Distribution
After the premiere, the documentary was put online at paulkotvis.nl/documentaire and will be shown in Bronbeek during the annual commemoration of Burma victims. The English version was sponsored by SHBSS and posted on YouTube at the initiative of The Indo Project for visibility in the United States. The documentary is also available at the Thai-Burma Railway Center in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, an international museum with tens of thousands of visitors annually.