Within Changi's Walls: A Record of Civilian Internment in World War II

When the Japanese captured Singapore in February 1942, the European population was rounded up and sent to internment camps, where they were kept till the end of the war. This is the story of one such internee George L. Peet whose diaries and records preserve a vivid portrait of the triumph of the human spirit in those times. Interned first at Changi Gaol, then at Sime Road Camp, Peet paints a detailed and moving picture of the world behind walls. The internees, mostly British and the upper class of pre-war Singapore society, found themselves in reduced circumstances, dispossessed and humiliated. Their Japanese wardens, while enforcing strict security, left the running of the camps to the internees, who organized themselves into a functioning microcosm of society. Doctors served as camp doctors, farmers grew vegetables, engineers managed water and sanitation, chemists made yeast for bread, and experts from various fields lectured at Changi University. Peet's memoir reveals the strength and ugliness of human nature, focusing on food, comfort, survival, morale, and his longing to be reunited with his wife and children evacuated to Australia.